Streamline Your Car Repair Invoice for Insurance Industry

Car repair invoice for Insurance Industry

was a Friday morning so March 31st Sierra Herrera was headed to work when she hit a deer wrecking her car she had the vehicle towed to a body shop where she was initially told the fix would take about 10 days but when they discovered more damage things started unraveling the shop let me know that they found some issues with my radiator support and it was going to take an additional like 30 days potentially to get the parts ordered and sent in by may she says her insurance company told her there was no longer an adjuster on her claim and they wouldn't be paying for anything else they didn't really give me any recommendations for what to do after that just that they weren't going to pay any more money and they didn't want to come look at it anymore or do anything here the weeks dragged on in Sierra's insurance company in the shop were still at odds they were clashing they weren't going to come to an agreement and I wanted to find a way to like middle man this I don't know anything about cars eventually she forced her insurance company back to the table using the appraisal Clause the appraisal Clause is huge Chad Keefe is the general manager at furley's a different shop than the one Sierra used he's also an active member of the auto body Association of Texas the insurance company doesn't agree with the body shop that's fixing your car and say you're you know several thousand dollars different and the insurance isn't budging then you can evoke the appraisal cost that's when three independent parties meet to decide what the true damages are basically those three will look at the damages review write their own assessment of the damages and it takes two of them to agree for it to be bonding the appraisal Clause isn't free you as a consumer have to hire an independent appraiser which costs hundreds of dollars then the insurance company hires an independent appraiser and you both split the cost of an Umpire when it was all said and done the appraisers agreed true damages were forty six hundred dollars more than what Sierra's insurance company tried to pay if she hadn't used the appraisal Clause her only options would have been to pay that difference herself or take the insurance company to court if you can go through the appraisal and stay out of the courts it's probably the best way to go most Auto insurers give their customers access to an appraisal Clause however Kiki says some companies are starting to quietly remove the Clause from their policies in 2025 the auto body Association of Texas will push for a new state law not only requiring auto insurance companies to have appraisal Clauses but making the loser foot the bill for both parties appraisers now insurance companies would have to make sure they're right before they go into that because they know if they lose they're going to have to pay everything another tip to help consumers avoid Auto Repair headaches includes adding an oem endorsement policy to your plan for an added fee each month some insurers will put it in writing that they'll pay for New Quality Parts when your car needs repairs that way when you get involved in a wreck you're guaranteed OEM parts and which are Factory Parts the same parts that came with your car that were crash tested with your your vehicle when it was built four months after Sierra hit that deer she finally got her car back in top-notch condition a lengthy ordeal she hopes others can learn from melaninatory CBS Austin news thank you for watching please hit the Subscribe button and get the latest news by downloading the CBS Austin news app