“From The Desk of CJ” is a monthly feature that will appear in the D&S Automotive Newsletter. Follow along as CJ Paterniti, D&S Vice President, shares his thoughts and expertise on the collision repair and automotive industries.
Last month, we gave you the chance to submit your questions to us so that we could give you answers from our automotive professionals. The response was great, and we enjoyed answering many of your questions. We’re going to give you a few more answers next month, but there was one question in particular that I thought was important to answer publicly this month.
Here is the question:
‘When dealing with a repair through my insurance company, do I have to go to one of the repair shops that they say, or can I go to a shop of my choice?’
-William M., Cleveland
Thanks for the question, William. Though the insurance companies may recommend certain collision repair shops to you, you do not have to go to those shops for your repairs. You are entitled by law to go a shop of your choice that you personally feel comfortable with.
Some insurance companies offer a lifetime warranty on possible defects in workmanship if they do go to a direct repair shop, which does often lead a customer to go to a shop that the insurance company recommends rather than one of their own choosing. If someone does not have a preferred repair company that they work through, this is often the direction that they choose for their repairs.
When choosing a collision repair shop to service your vehicle, it is important to look at the certifications that each shop has. D&S Automotive is officially certified by Assured Performance Collision Care as having met the industry business standards required to be an official Collision Care Provider. We are a “Preferred Repair Facility” for many vehicle manufacturers and insurance companies, and any insurance company will be happy to work with us, as we have an excellent relationship with all insurance companies.
One large benefit of D&S is convenience. We make the collision repair process incredibly easy for you, and all that you need to do is drop off your vehicle and leave in a rental. We’ll handle the insurance company and the repair; we even have rentals available on site.
Our technicians at D&S are I-CAR Certified and are sufficiently trained to repair all makes and models of vehicles, correctly and efficiently.
Ultimately, the choice of where you take your car for repairs is your decision.
Check back next month as we’ll answer several more questions that you submitted to us last month!