Auto Body Shops Fighting Car Insurance Companies

The Auto Body Association of Connecticut just had their annual meeting, and for the fourth year in a row had Attorney General Richard Blumenthal talk to them about car insurance companies and their illegal practice of “steering” business to auto body shops that they have arrangements with. Blumenthal said that it is illegal for any car insurance company to try and get their customers to go to specific auto shops just because they might get cheaper parts or kickbacks.

Blumenthal went on to say that it was illegal for the auto insurance companies to threaten delays, guarantee work, lower deductibles or premiums, etc. just to get a consumer to use their shop. He said that some state officials are just as much as to blame as the auto insurance companies are, and puts most of the blame on the insurance department.

The insurance department has so far not taken a stance on a bill that Blumenthal has submitted that would “specifically prohibit insurers from funneling business to certain shops” by using threats or scare tactics to get them to use it. Some auto insurance companies would tell their insured that they can’t guarantee the work at another shop, or that it would take longer for the repairs to take place, etc. He said that all repair shops will also have to post signs in their shops that say that consumers can go wherever they want, not where their car insurance company tells them to go.

The department’s new commissioner, Thomas Sullivan, has already started handing out the new signs that they can post, and he is behind the law that Blumenthal is looking to enforce. The auto insurance industry is not happy, they feel that they are being targeted unfairly, and that they are just trying to make smart business partnerships. Blumenthal doesn’t care what their stance is; the fact is that what they are doing is illegal.

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