Auto Insurance Companies Behind the Times

Auto insurance companies pay for your car when it is in an accident – that is the whole idea of having auto insurance. However, the body shop owners are saying that the amount that the auto insurance companies are paying those that fix your car for their labor, is a little behind the times. They say that auto insurance companies are paying them pretty much what they were paying nineteen years ago.

They say that Massachusetts auto insurance industry has to come up with better rates, or they won’t be able to service their customer’s cars any longer. They say that the amount they are being paid is just way too low below what they can afford to live on anymore.

Several members of the auto repair industry spoke out at the Committee on Financial Services’ hearing at the State House last week, and they say that House Bill 1085 is a necessity if they are going to survive. The bill will increase the labor rates that are currently paid by the auto insurance companies to those who do auto repairs in the Commonwealth.

The auto insurance companies paid $30 on average per hour in 1988, and pay $34 per hour now. The labor rates that the Massachusetts auto insurance companies are paying are among the lowest in the nation, which is just not acceptable to those that are trying to pay their bills and run their businesses. They say it is affecting the kind of help that they are able to hire, because no one wants to work for that kind of money.

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