Top Reasons Your Insurance Company May Deny Your Phoenix Body Repair Estimate

You’ve likely been in an accident at some point or another. You have also likely found that the process for getting your car repaired is fairly simple: You call the insurance company to file a claim, you head to a body shop to get an estimate for the body repair, and you get the car fixed. The insurance company might send the check to you, or it might send the check to the repair shop.

Either way, you probably haven’t had much trouble getting your claim paid out — unless there were issues over who was at fault.
However, it is not uncommon for insurance companies to disagree with the estimate that the body shop provides and refusing to pay out the full cost. If the car has already been repaired, you might then be stuck with the remainder of the bill.

Top Reasons Your Insurance Company May Deny Your Phoenix Body Repair Estimate

Understanding what can cause these disputes can help you avoid such a situation. Here are a the most common reasons why your insurance company may deny your body repair estimate:

The Type of Part Being Used

You might think that the best replacement part for a vehicle would be the one created by the original manufacturer. However, most insurance companies are looking for the most cost-effective solution, which would mean using an after-market part.

If the Phoenix body repair shop provides an estimate using a part from the original manufacturer, the insurance company might reject it. If the repair has already been made when you file your claim, the insurance company may only pay the amount estimated for an after-market part, or it may refuse to pay for that part of the estimate entirely.

Whether to Replace or Repair

The repair shop might say that one of your vehicle’s parts needs to be replaced, but the insurance company may say that a repair is adequate and will refuse to pay for anything else.

Parts of the car’s body are the most common source of this dispute. For example, the body shop may say that a side panel needs to be completely replaced to preserve the structural integrity and safety of the vehicle, but the insurance company may feel that simple body repair such as popping out the dents will be enough to take care of the issue.

You may be able to fight the insurance company on this issue, but be prepared for a long fight and be ready to get legal help if you think it worth it.

How Much Labor Costs

There can be great variation in how much body shop technicians charge for their time. In fact, the largest portion of the bill whenever you get your car repaired — whether for body repair or mechanical repairs — is often the labor charge.

Unfortunately, the insurance company may not agree to pay the labor rate that’s being charged. Think of the same way that your health insurer will pay the “usual and customary charge” for a doctor or dentist visit. Your auto insurance company has a “usual and customary charge” in mind for automotive labor, and if the shop charges more than that, the company won’t pay it.

How Long a Repair Will Take

Every day that you are out of a car, your insurance company may be paying for you to have a rental car. The longer your car takes to be repaired, the more your insurance company has to pay, regardless of the cost for the repair itself.

Every hour that the repair takes, your insurance company is also paying a labor rate. The insurance company may think that the repair is taking longer than it should, drawing out the labor costs, and will refuse to pay the bill. Excel Collision gladly deals with the insurance company for you.

Errors in the Estimate

The more serious the accident, the more repairs your vehicle is likely to need, and the more opportunities there are to make an error in the estimate.

The estimate could leave out something important that needs to be repaired, or it could add in something that doesn’t need to be repaired. Since the insurance company sends out its own representative to evaluate the damage and take pictures of everything, the company will be able to spot these errors in the estimate and will call them out. Of course, this is something that you want the insurance company to do so that your vehicle gets all the repairs that it needs and you aren’t paying for anything that it doesn’t.

Working with the right Phoenix body shop is one way that you can avoid these disputes and ensure that your full estimate is paid for your vehicle’s repairs. The best thing you can do is call your insurance company to find out its preferred shops.

Excel Collision and Glass Centers works with numerous auto insurance companies and is a preferred shop for many. Our technicians strive to provide accurate body repair estimates so that there aren’t any disputes with the insurance company and customers can get their claims paid quickly. We have several locations in the valley to make getting estimates and repairs more convenient for more customers. We work on most vehicle makes and models, and our staff is all highly trained and experienced. We do everything we can to make your car look as good as new after an accident — maybe even better than it did before the accident. Call us today to get a body repair estimate.

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Excel Collision and Glass Centers in ArizonaExcel Collision and Glass Centers

West Mesa
1135 S. Center Street
Mesa, AZ 85210

East Mesa
6343 E. Test Drive
Mesa, AZ 85206

Apache Junction Repair Facility
610 E. 39th Ave.
Apache Junction, AZ 85119

Apache Junction Satellite Location
3400 S. Tomahawk Road
Apache Junction, AZ 85119