Bridging the Gap: The Crucial Conversation Every Shop Must Have

by Douglas Begin, MABA Vice President

In the modern collision landscape, the “set it and forget it” repair model is dead.

For decades, the industry operated under a quiet understanding: the customer drops off the keys, the shop negotiates with the appraiser, and the car is returned two weeks later with the bill settled. But as vehicle technology has evolved into rolling supercomputers and insurance profit-margin strategies have tightened, that bridge has collapsed.

Today, the most important tool in your shop isn’t a frame rack or a scan tool – it’s the initial consultation. To survive and protect our customers, we must shift the narrative from “working with the insurance” to “working for the owner.”

The Fiduciary Myth

The biggest hurdle we face is a fundamental misunderstanding of the insurance contract. Most vehicle owners believe their insurance company has a fiduciary responsibility to act in their best interest. This is a myth.

Insurance companies are for-profit entities. Like any business, their primary goal is to minimize overhead. In our world, “overhead” is the cost of your repair claim. The less they spend on the proper calibration of a blind-spot monitor or the replacement of a one-time-use structural rivet, the more capital they retain to invest for higher returns.

We must be candid with our customers: the insurance company is a third-party payer; they are not the repairer. Our contract is with the vehicle owner, and our mandate is dictated by the manufacturer’s (OEM) repair standards, not an adjuster’s spreadsheet.

Safety v. Settlement

There is a widening chasm between what is required to repair a vehicle safely and what an insurance company is “willing to pay.” We are legally and ethically obligated to follow OEM procedures to ensure that the next time that vehicle is in an accident, the crumple zones and airbag timing function exactly as designed. We aren’t just repairing a car for the owner; we are repairing it for their children in the backseat and for every other driver sharing the road.

This often leads to a short-pay scenario. When an insurer refuses to pay for a necessary pre-scan, a required sectioning procedure or specialized materials, the owner needs to understand that this balance doesn’t simply disappear. It becomes an out-of-pocket expense or a point of contention that they, as the policyholder, must help resolve.

Empowering the Consumer: The Path to Change

Real change in the Commonwealth market won’t come from shops yelling louder at appraisers. It will come when vehicle owners realize they have skin in the game. We must educate them on two critical fronts:

1. Documentation and Involvement: The owner must be involved in every step. Every time an insurer denies a safety-critical procedure, it must be documented and shared with the owner. Transparency is our greatest defense.

2. The Right to Appraisal: Many owners don’t even know their policy contains a “Right to Appraisal” clause. When negotiations hit a wall, this is often the most effective tool to bypass a stubborn adjuster and get a fair assessment from independent parties.

3. The Hard Truth: If insurance companies are cutting corners, it’s because they’ve learned they can get away with it. They rely on the path of least resistance.

A Unified Front

For the industry to improve, the “us versus them” dynamic between shops and insurers needs to evolve into a “shop and owner versus the problem” dynamic. This means synchronized action.

When a shop encounters bad-faith tactics or blatant disregard for OEM safety standards, we should be filing complaints with the Auto Damage Appraiser Licensing Board (ADALB). Simultaneously, the vehicle owner must file a complaint with the Division of Insurance (DOI). One complaint is a nuisance; a thousand coordinated complaints are a movement.

The New Standard

The “two-week call” is over. The new standard is a partnership. We must look our customers in the eye and explain that while we will fight for them, they are the ones who hold the contract with the insurer. We provide the expertise and the safety; they provide the authority.

By bringing the consumer into the fold, we stop being the “expensive shop” and start being the “safe shop.” We aren’t just fixing cars anymore – we’re defending the right of everyone in the Commonwealth to drive a vehicle that has been restored to its original safety specifications, regardless of what a profit-driven algorithm suggests.

Want more? Check out the May 2026 issue of New England Automotive Report!