Facts About "Burying the Deductible"
From time to time, all body shop owners are faced with requests from vehicle owners to “bury the deductible” when automobile damage is covered by collision insurance. At this point, the owner of the vehicle should be advised that before he/she takes the vehicle around the corner to “a shop that will bury the deductible”, he/she should consider the following points:
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Conspiring to “bury the deductible” is committing fraud against the insurance company and is against the law.
Insurance company appraisers know the cost of repairs, as well as the body shop and cannot be fooled by inflated or incorrect repair estimates.
If a shop agrees to “bury the deductible” it has to take short cuts in making the repairs, and the vehicle owner will get a second rate repair, which depreciates the value of the vehicle.
A body shop willing to cheat an insurance company will be equally willing to cheat a vehicle owner.
A body shop never really “absorbs” the deductible. The value is taken right out of the job, so it is the vehicle owner who takes the loss.
If the body shop decides to cut corners on the job and it ends up second rate, the vehicle owner has no one to complain to if he/she conspired to “bury the deductible.”
The smart thing for a car owner to do is to protect his/her investment by getting a first class job from a first class shop and be glad that all he/she has to pay is the deductible.
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