US Workshops Suing Insurers For Pushing Cheap Parts, Labour

Insurance companies in the US have been accused of pushing cheap and arguably dangerous repairs on damaged vehicles in order to keep costs down.

Workshops tasked with repairing vehicles damaged in collisions believe that the use of cheap non-genuine parts are putting lives at risk. 

The issue, and it is one that is a similar point of friction in the Australian crash repair sector, is of insurance companies putting undue pressure on crash repairers and insisting on cheaper substitute parts to drive repair costs down.

Customers report being ‘guided’ toward workshops that follow an insurance company’s ‘rules’, with workshops that object to the practice of cut-price repairs quickly falling from the list of recommended repairers.

So workshops in the US are doing what the US does best; they’re suing the insurance companies. More than 500 workshops from 36 states are involved in the class action.

CNN reports that cars have been sent back out into the traffic with superglued headlights, damaged wheels, rusted second-hand parts and faulty aftermarket panels; according to some panel beaters and attorneys general.

NSW