NoPistons -Mazda Rx7 & Rx8 Rotary Forum - you have the right to have your vehicle repaired

I have touched on this subject from time to time, but it still amazes me how people get suckered into using the insurance companie's repair shop.

I learned something today- that not only cant they force you to use thier company, they cant even SUGGEST it unless YOU ask them for a shop.

Dont let your insurance company push you around, all states have anti-steering laws.

"In addition to forbidding insurance companies from requiring consumers to repair their cars at a specific shop, Section 2610 of the insurance law also prohibits companies from recommending or suggesting to their insureds that repairs be done at a particular place or shop unless their insured expressly asks for a recommendation. That means a company cannot make a referral to its direct repair shop during the claims process unless and until their insured asks for one."

if anyone cares to read up on a recent NYS investigation:

http://abrn.search-autoparts.com/abrn/arti...l.jsp?id=577010

some other quick facts:

• required of some customers that a damaged vehicle be inspected at that company’s drive-through facility, in apparent violation of a regulation requiring this inspection to take place at a time and place “reasonably convenient to the insured”;

• set a goal of having 45 percent to 60 percent of repairable vehicles repaired at network shops; and

• told an insured to bring his car to a network shop for inspection, and stated that the repairs could be done there, while another claim representative said repairs could be done at the network shop in half the time an out-of-network body shop would take.

“We felt the sheer numbers and frequency of complaints and calls we were receiving from consumers and shops especially with certain companies, caused us to act,” says Mike Orso, president and CEO of Nick Orso’s Body Shop and president of the NYSACTA. “Lets say our alert level was raised to red.”