Insurance Company asking to see my parts invoice

[Dnzauto]

Dear all,

 

I have a question... we are a very reputable mechanic shop in Southern California.... we sometimes have to deal with insurance companies ( not extended warranty), and this is the first time I am running into this.. so I want to get your opinion and if anyone knows the law on this....I also want to note, I don't have anything to hide from them, I just disagree with anyone/any company that wants to see more than they are required to see...... We need to do a cat converter and O2 sensor replacement on an 2006 BMW X3 , long story short, customer put diesel instead of gas 6 months ago, and thank God I made a note that the cats and O2s might prematurely go bad due to this at that time.... now insurance approved the job.... they asked to see my parts invoice...... technically I have nothing to hide.. my local dealer gives me 25% off the list, and the estimate is based on the list price....

 

Question is, again, do they have a right to see my parts invoice that I receive from the dealer, and am I in the clear to sell it at list while I am getting a 25% discount....

 

Really appreciate any input..

 

 

Regards

 

E

[Joe Marconi]

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[HarrytheCarGeek]

I black out the numbers. I have the adjustor sign a non disclosure agreement and a notice requirement if any third party is contacted.

 

They don't like it, heck soon they know you are business savvy too. Just look at the numbers they are putting out as reported by njaba1.org here.

[Marksas]

I am also in the collision repair business and this is common practice. In my auto repair business we pretty much do what Joe does. Really the insurance company is not your customer, they are middle men trying to work on behalf of the customer and limit their exposure. The reality of it is that you give the invoice to the customer which is then "proof of loss" the carrier has contract with the customer to cover repairs. If the carrier disagrees then that's between the customer and the carrier.

Even in the collision business I have had people run in my children and I just instruct the shop to repair the vehicle and give me an invoice. I call the carrier and send them the invoice and the want to argue every time because I used OEM parts and they located used and aftermarket.. I just tell them I really don't care what they found here is my prof of loss, either pay the full bill or I will just file against the other driver and you can represent them in court.. They always pay the bill..

Don't show them invoices.. We don't have anything to hide either. I don't ask my insurance carrier to see their costs for my insurance. I tell them I went to the grocery store the other day and bought some tomatoes.. I thought they were a little expensive so I asked the manager if I could see the invoice for what they paid, they laughed at me.. The insurance person always says that's different and a dumb analogy. I tell them it's is just as crazy as their request..

[Dnzauto]

thank you everyone, I am hoping this thread will be informative to us all

 

hope all are having an awesome Sunday

[natsurgeon]

This is an attempt to scrutinize your price. The insurance company will try to make you appear to be the bad guy. The collision repair industry has mostly succumbed to to this treatment by the insurance companies in order to secure a flow of future jobs. You can charge what ever you want in this FREE market. The wonderful thing about capitalism is you are free to operate and position yourself in the market place however you choose. The market will either see value in what ever you charge or shut you out. You're the guy taking all the risks! Anything else is socialism/communism The way Joe handles it is exactly right. I've doing the same for years.

[mmotley]

Yea, I had an insurance company try this once. Luckily I couldn't find the receipt (it was in my toolbox back when I still worked on cars) and they gave up. Once I had a moment to wrap my head around what they were trying to do, I said never again will I play their games. My price is my price, we do a damn good job at what we do, and if they want some backwoods, shade tree mechanic to do the work for $50/hour and parts at cost, good luck!

 

*Somewhere on this forum, someone posted something like "try walking into walmart and ask to see their invoice on the TV's they sell." We're no different. Literally everything you buy has been marked up. Everything! Our business is no different

Edited August 1, 2016 by mmotley

[Dnzauto]

thank you everyone for your input, customer is a good and loyal one and understands how hard I tried for insurance to cover the initial repair and how skillful I was when I noted the possible future prematurely worn out parts... so if it comes to that, I will collect the difference from the customer anyhow, but my main thing is, although I am only adding 25% premium to my cost, I am not willing to let anyone know what they don't need to know

 

I wish everyone who deserves it, a successful shop, life and happiness )))

 

the ones causing bad reputation to our line of work, I am hoping the public will eventually separate the lemons