My little sister lives in Austin. Over the week end she was rear ended while waiting for a stop light. Because she has a Cadillac SUV and had some minor work done there before, she took it to a local Cadillac dealer to get it estimated. Turns out they are hooked up with Farmers, the insured's insurance company, and they and the local Farmer's rep started pressuring her to accept their estimate and do the work there, including using "refurbished" parts. I had one of my Mustangs hit by a Farmer's insured last December and let a body shop do the work that was set up with Farmers this way do the work. To make a long story short, the body shop made loud noises about wanting to total it, saying it was within 90% of the cost of totaling. I held my ground and made them repair it. They insisted on replacing the front bumper cover with a repop, instead of repairing the old one, and cut corners on the labor. I was never happy with the fit and finish of the parts (paint work looks good, though), even after their "do overs". At my urging she went to another body shop (Austin Body Shop maybe?) Any advise from HAMBers in the Austin area on how Texas law works in regards to this sort of thing, and recommendations about a shop named Austin body shop, or on a good local bodyshop to do the work NOT affiliated with Farmers. Thanks in advance to anyone in Austin who can help.
In Texas, the owner can specify OE parts and decide who does the work. The other party, if liable, is responsible for actual costs to repair. The shop doing the work is required to meet the standards of the OWNER's insurance company, bank and any industry groups to which they are a member. I like Anderson Lane body shop and the one out at 183 and Anderson Mill with the car sticking out of the fence. Stay away from Apollo.
One more thing. She may also be entitled to compensation for diminished value. This is especially the case where partial painting comes into play. No matter how good the repair, the blemish on a Car fax report diminishes the value. If she hasn't engaged her own insurance company, she should. They have body shops they certify and will back her on the OE parts, sign off of finished work and support diminished value determination.
The only body shop I have used in town was Ellis and Salazar. I saw the official Volvo parts, they showed me the work and the paint match and work was quick and nice.
I've been striping for bodyshops for 30 years and man things are getting crazy in that biz. My bro owns one in Missourri and he's getting out. For one thing if you are a DRP shop the insurance companies own you. Problem is, the customer gets caught in the middle and the shop does as well. The insurance companies are very well trained to confuse the customer by insisting they use used parts (you don't really think the salvage yards sell all their parts to the general public do you). The customer is already confused over the accident and insurance people know that so they work off emotions. It's all psychology. I know people who do adjusting and tell me that they work for the ins co so they are out to save as much money for them as possible. That means getting by with whatever it takes to enhance the ins co boittomline. As for striping at body shops, I have my prices and will not back down from what the ins co wants to pay. If they try to screww me out of my money I tell them to get someone else. My mother in law was rear ended by an off duty cop about 12 years ago. He was horriblly rude towards a teribly confused 68 year old lady and it was totally his fault. What did they get out of the deal? Very rude insurance people and in the end only 1500 bucks for a car (90 Chevy Caprice) the ins co thought was not worth more than that. It may not have been worth that much to them but to my Pop-in-law it was the only car they had and ran perfect. We could not get past the cop being an out right asshole. I found out who he was, went to his office and pretty much got in his face about it. He never tried to push his official position on me but basically told me there was nothing we could do. I tried to get the in-laws to sue but no attorney would take the case because a sherrif was involved. What we are seeing now with insurance cos getting billions in bailoiut money just shows you who really rules the planet. Like I said in my comment in the thread about a few (not all) rod shops taking advantage of the customer, even with collison work, it may be a good idea to take an experienced person with you when dealing with a collision shop and the insurance co.
FWIW when I got in an accident a couple years ago(some druggie hit me head on while I was waiting at a red light-scary) the best advice I got was to get a lawyer. He protected my rights and got me taken care of medically and financially. The first thing the insurance company did was begin a very, VERY smooth process of looking for ways to deny my claim and reduce my compensation. Did I mention they're good? They're DAMN good! You don't even feel the knife go in your back. You need someone that knows the game and the rules, and that's what my attorney did for me. Mr. Slicky slick at the ins. co. actually stuttered after I told him I had representation and the charm went right out the window LOL It s great though because then you don't have to talk to them yourself anymore. Good luck whatever you do, but if you wanna get an attorney, you gotta do it FAST, within a few days of the accident if at all possible.
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