State Farm's "Preferred" Auto Body Shop Performs Unsafe Repairs 

Most respect to you guys for showing the bad repairs from the shop

We repaired a Tahoe and when we took the front bumper we found several paint sticks wrapped in painters tape used to shim bumper to be straight. On the homemade shim was written "We want to thank State Farm for not allowing us to replace this bumper bracket"........LMAO

is not the bodyshop techs to blame, it's the owners of the shop when they don't want to replace some parts. techs just do as the are told.

If an insurance company recommends a shop, it is to save the insurance company money!

thanks for the info gentlemen, nice to know someone is looking out for the consumer....

I've been in the industry for many years and on both sides of the table. I've been a technician, an estimator, a production manager, and I've worked for one of the major insurance providers. I can tell you with 100% certainty that if you're not seeing shops removed from a carrier's preferred list for poor repairs, that situation is definitely the exception and not the rule. I've seen shops get pulled from DRP programs for very minimal things, as long as there are a solid selection of shops in that market for those carriers to choose from to include on their list. The problems come from a market with several shops that do sub-standard repairs consistently with poor management and poorly trained technicians. Unfortunately, if you live in one of those markets, you're subject to this kind of scenario.

I sometimes beleive there are no real craftsmen in the US. Only greedy losers. This looks to me like a minor accident and it's looks completely shit afterwards. In Russia and so there are people who can repair a completely totalled car that they repair perfectly. Look for Arthur Tussik for instance. Now, that's a real craftsman with only a few cheap tools.

that's why i only take my car or truck to a bodyshop with no DRP and a good reputation because the insurance companies have to pay full pop and not rushed threw and done cheap

Great video! Body repair is extremely difficult and specialized work that requires a lot of talent. It's great to see a shop that knows the difference between a cheap, lousy repair, and doing it right. Shame on that other shop for charging for parts that weren't replaced and work that wasn't done.

i agree there should be a license holder making these repairs. i can imagine how many shady chop shop style companies and technicians are repairing cars.

This is a 9 year old video and we still see the same poor repairs! There is no recourse for shoddy repairs

I have been around the auto body industry for over 25 years, take great pride in my work, but I can also see how easy it is for some to cut corners. Insurance companies have many body shops hands tied by cutting repair times, and allowing aftermarket parts in place of OE. Quality repairs should always be made to pre accident condition, but it's hard to do. Great video.

Do not blame the techs. Most body shop owners care about one thing , the bottom line. If the shops maintain their satisfaction rating insurance companies don't care. Very few people actually check on the repairs being done to their vehicle. My advice, pay the shop a few visits while repairs are underway and demand oem parts !!!

I would like this video for my customers in my shop. I'm a small business that stand on quality safe repairs

Lol I wanted to but an salvage title vehicle and then have it fixed but it seems that these shops might get uncomfortable when they are rained on with arising questions and concerns.

well i got sent to one of these preffered shops an their labor price was outrageous so i decided to cash in on it and fixed and painted my car for less than a third of the cash they gave me but thats mostly because i grew up doing bodywork with my dad every summer so the moral is shop around find a shop that will do a quality job without high labor rate and use their preffered shop for their high estimate labor price usually they wont argue with the price and you can get a check and cash out and fix it yourself if theres no other hidden damage of send it to your shop of choice

The problem is the industry in general! There’s a severe deficit of quality techs working on cars today. Young people do not want to work with their hands and there’s more people leaving the industry than there are coming in. And insurance companies are more interested in getting your car out as fast and as cheap as possible so they pay less in rental and they prefer after market parts. Most techs not all usually just care about taking short cuts because they get paid on a commission basis. The majority of people working in body shops are felons, drunks, druggies and just low iq low life’s in general.

No matter who fixes it once a wreck always a wreck

A preferred shop is not depend on its work, but the relationship it had or the deal it had with the insurance company. Every time an accident happen involved the insurance company, a appliser will come and check it out, make a report on what need to be fixed, where to get the parts ( mostly used or after market parts), and they they keep on pushing to finished the car quickly by saying I am only paying this many day for rental, no more and scare the customer to go to their preferred shop. This is how it work in Ontario.

Wife just had an accident in 2013 Veloster and we have State farm. Suggested Classic Collision body shop and the reviews are terrible,not sure if I want to take my car there for repairs since so many customers had issues with this shop. All front bumper,hood,and radiator support damage. Quote was just under 5k, just need to make sure she is safe driving after repairs.

Help... Is there anyone in Denver CO area I can trust for repair? Thanks for the great video.

Where do we get a vehicle checked out that my van should have been totalled. It cost more to fix it then what I owed on it . And it's never been the same . It jolted my ride so hard , I've had to replace the alternator twice and the battery 4 times. It's broken down for over a week now. And still is .

well,all body shops charge for work they haven't done at some point,all they care is to make as much money they can for very minimum work!

I don’t know about the USA but here in Canada as a licensed technician I can refuse to do a bad repair as a matter of a fact I would recommend it as you too can be held liable if this persons was to get injured or worse yet killed some might say well I would loose my job but ask yourself were is your moral system at that is the bottom line some techs NOT all of them are also just worried about making hrs to get paid in a flat rate system so it is up to everyone involved to ensure that the quality repair is all that matters

It is worth noting that often times a customer will agree to, or will request corners being cut if it means saving them a deductible. Also if there is previous-unrelated damage and they want that fixed at the same time, they will opt for out of sight-out of mind thought pattern. Vanity is the powers that be for most customers. Beauty over function with less spent.

It is always good to have a shop that you trust in case of an accident, never rely on insurance to find a shop for you. here is what you do if that happens. Get the insurance adjuster estimate first. find three well known body repair shops and have them give you an estimate. take the high estimate and compare it with the insurances one. if the numbers are close enough than great, have the insurance cut a check for the balance. and remember when getting an estimate from any shop, it is just a rough estimate, there could be more inside damages once the shop pulls off the damaged parts on the outside, so be clear with the repair shop that if any extra repairs needed, to let you know so you can have an adjuster come out again to inspect it so they can cover it as well. just saying

That is not a car liner bench where u measure from

Great Vid Billy.

We had a problem like this with American Family. They finally got the law involved, place closed down and owner charged. American family went to another repair shop and they are great.

Due to my own idiotic fault I solidly hit a center concrete media that was about at least 4" high. I swerved to avoid a vehicle on my right that I thought was coming into my lane. I overcompensated and swerved heavily straight into and onto that concrete median. Drivetrain failure light came on stating to drive slow and safely to dealer. The rear tire went fault, and I lost all power steering. It was VERY heavy to steer. Engine ran great. The road had too much traffic to stop so I drove about 2 block to my doctors office, which is where I was initially headed and luckily made it. I looked outside and there is no visible exterior damage. The right rear tire is flat, and I was running AS performance tires due to the all season weather around here. I looked under my 2016 340i and I can easily see what looked like either a starter motor or power steer motor lying on the ground attached by it's wiring. It didn't fall off even during the very slow 2 block drive. However, I did see the under carriage shield that BMW uses and it was seriously tore up, pushed from the front to the middle of the car. I think that is what was causing all the scraping noises. As I said the cars system never said it stop or shut down, just that there was a drive line malfunction and to drive cautiously. The power steering was gong and turning the wheel was VERY hard. I think the part I saw hanging was the PS electric assist pump. I called my State Farm insurance and BMW roadside. BMW had a flatbed there VERY quickly within 20 minutes. The lady from State Farm stated that if my BMW dealer was no on their "preferred" list, then it would take longer to get my car fixed. I told here since this was a not even a 1 year old BMW, then I wanted BMW to fix it. She said that would be no problem just that they would need to send out their own adjuster to make the assessment with BMW. Honestly I was please with the response. I was not pressured nor told no, and was assured that I can get my BMW fixed wherever I wanted. She also make a positive comment by saying that since I did not have an accident in the past 10 years that that would be to my benefit. Unfortunately over a year ago I decided to go with a $1000 collision deductible due to my great driving recorded, which is now not flawless anymore. :) And I don't have rental car coverage either. I'm very glad that no on else was involved and on on get hurt. Parts can be fixed. Good luck out there and be careful.

Both the shops doing the inferior repair and the insurance company pushing for cost control and lowered cycle time. When shops do repairs like this, the insurance company, much more often than not, looks the other way. Unless someone is killed, they honestly couldn't care less because there is no rral finacial repercussions to them. They simply refer the customer back to the shop to fix it again, pay another shop to fix the problem and charge the original repair shop for the corrective repair, or total the car and charge the original shop back for the work done. It doesn't really cost the insurance company anything more than it would have if the car was fixed correctly or totaled from the beginning. There needs to be accountability place on not only the repair shop, but the insurance company that endorses them. Start mandating big fines against insurance companies when one of their preferred shops cuts corners and all of a sudden, there will be far less drp shops and the focus will shift from cheap to correct repairs. Until it starts cutting into profit margins enough that it makes more financial sense to pay more to fix it right than the cost saving from the current drp model, it will never change.

A good shop makes more money on ordering more parts, or writing for more labor to repair a floor pan like that, for example we make close to 50% on every part we order for a job. total hackery. maybe the estimator didnt write enough hours on that body repair/replace, and the tech just cut corners

We call that a butcher job of a half assed where I come from. Lots of our work is trying to fix a butcher job

Once a car gets smacked it is never the same.I dont care who fixes it. The Insurance company should just replace the car. Insurance companies love your premiums but dont give a shit about you when you need them. 99 % of bodyshops are scammers too. Not to mention tow trucks.

i used to do body repairs it shocking what some bodyshops do i've seen dozens go out without being checked for faults and many i wouldn't accept, when my wife had an accident 3 years ago we took our car to the insurance recommended bodyshop i asked to speak to the bodyshop manager, i clearly said to him any fault i will find as i worked in a bodyshop and guess what i founds faults but not major faults just a bit of paint correction needed ,since the accident i have used them again for some private work and guess what i get flawless work from them now. the trouble with most bodyshops from major insurance companies everything is timed so you take your car in with a front end damage assessor then says this car will need 15 hours to fix imo this is wrong as it leads to mistakes being made,my advice if your car is ever damaged and you're unsure of the quality from the bodyshop you have been told to take it to ask to see other cars they have repaired waiting for customer collection...

Looks like a Mexican repair! In Mexico they might do things this way, here in America we pay alot of money for are automobiles. This has gotten out of hand in the last decade or longer. The insurance companies don't care anymore it's all about kick backs And what shop can do it cheaply. It would scare most people to know what was fixed not fixed are just piece milled it together. There is alot of cars that are repaired and sold back on dealer lots that came from auctions they know the buyers only have so much time to go over a car and you can't get underneath them to really inspect the car. So pay a trusted body man and mechanic to go over your next car purchase. This could save your life! The money that can be spent on electrical problems from flooded and wrecked cars. Have you ever noticed the used car lots that have cars on the lot with new headlight on just one side are a fender painted and same goes for the rear of the car. Have %ss body men leave a trail of signs telling you to stay away and please do.

Greedy insurance companies are the problem, not the body shop. Get you car fixed wherever you want, if the insurance company won't pay the full amount then sue the person who hit your car for the difference.

This is why I only trust going to 1 place near my house, I know the quality of work is 100% legit and nobody is getting kick backs. I think that's another thing to question, at the scene of an accident don't ask the tow driver where to take it ask a Police officer

Great video!

well, the insurance company sugest where to take your car to be repaired, however you can take your car to any place you want,now did she buy her car brand new or used? if she bought her car used it's posible that the vehicle alredy had been damaged and later she had an accident, most of the time the insurance doesnot pay por prior damage, and in most cases the body shop documents prior damage found, lets the insurance know about it, so they don't get sued for improper repairs, so this guys are only saying, unsafe repaired done by state farm's DRP boy shop but are not saying all the facts of what happen ther are alot of people out there trying to strick fear on people, to finish let me finish with this, if you take your car to body shop that is not a DRP shop make sure the give you a warranty on the work they do, because DRP shops or insurance direct repair shop will give you a lifetime repair warranty for as long you on the car on part, wormanship, and paint only because you faund a bad aple doesnot mean all are bad, and we dont know all the facts of this video

the reason why body shops do a half ass job is because they get shit for doing it 50 per hour while mechanical shops get 100 per hour

and wt difference is this going to make 2 out 10 dont really care about any of this u must knw that this is all about u fools making ur self look good its all about making ur selfs money

Ok I have worked for insurance companies and managed body shops in California. The video states the body shop was paid to replace damaged parts. The BODY SHOP did not replace the parts if the insurance company paid for the parts and the shop didn't do quality repairs---this is the fault of the body shop. This body shop in this scenario are the crooks--the shop should have been reported to BAR in Ca. This shop should be closed for the bad quality repairs. It is also not true that body shops are not removed from insurance DRP programs. Believe me if a shop loses their contract with an insurance in my area all the local shop know about in a few days. The problems is that shop open and close all the time. The industry is so competitive that lower quality shops are cutting deductibles, and even giving money back to customers. The insurance pays for a repairs and lesser quality shop are not doing what that are paid for, lets not act like the shops, and customers are not involved in some scenarios. The shops that are run as true professionals are the only shops that will survive in the long run..I hope

It bothers me that this more than likely isn’t the full story. DRP shops have all the tools at there disposal to get exactly what they need to repair the vehicle. It’s not fair to blame the insurance company for a poor repair from the collision center. In the video he stated that the insurance company did pay the body shop to repair/replace the parts. That means the body shop was paid and choose to cut corners. Now of course it is the insurance fault to because they should do routine checks and random select vehicles to inspect. Now that being said we don’t know what the true discuss was between the customer and body shop. She could have easily asked not to have certain items done to save her deductible. I will also say regardless what the insurance company decides to do as a collision center it is your job to inform the customer what is needed to have the vehicle repaired back to pre-existing condition. Even if that means that you have to contact the customer and let them know it’s an extra expense that the insurance wouldn’t cover. Then you let them decide what they would like to do.

If you Google "Pack Brothers" one of the first suggestions is "Pack Brothers Lawsuits." I wouldn't trust anyone from this shop if my life depended on it. They're just suit happy people looking to get rich by suing insurance companies. Disgraceful.

WOOOOW!!

PLEASE READ MY REPLY TO MAKE STATE FARM PAY EVERY CENT IN A CLAIM

If you guys want to complain about rust and corrosion protection, cars should only be on the road for 6 months from brand new. After that send it to the junk yard.

Billy, I love what you are doing here....but let's make sure our statements are ALL completely factual when we are arguing about safety. I agree this is a completely unsafe vehicle. The front bumper reinforcement being the biggest offense. But let's say what leaving this bumper reinforcement on this car will really do and not make sensational comments like the "motor will get shoved back into the front seats", that are not factual. Sensationalizing anything with statements that are not 100% factual damages our credibility and these type of hack repairs need to be exposed so when we do let's make sure everything is 100% fact based.

I have State Farm and i will NOT be told where to take my vehicle for repairs, its my vehicle not theirs, point blank they(State Farm) is tryin to get by as cheap as they can and jack our ins rates, they have been terrible within the past 10 yrs or so

While I don’t agree with the spare tire compartment repair, that’s not a structural part. Meaning that’s not designed to absorb impacts and protect you, it helps but that’s the job of the frame rails and rear crash bar. The vehicle is not “unsafe” just one repair wasn’t done and it’s a simple fix.

So why the insurance is to blame for? The insurance did not fix the car. The shop did and it was the shop who took the short cuts

You can't trust any mechanics!!!!