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VOL. 2 ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 2013
Indiana Autobody Association Expresses Support for SCRS Position Statement
Quintela Sues 21st Century A Second Time for Short-Pays, Makes ‘Cents out of Sense’
Mississippi Collision Repair Association and Parts Suppliers File Suit Against PartsTrader
Eddie Quintela, Owner and President of Collision Concepts of Delray Beach, FL has once again found it necessary to file a lawsuit against 21st Century Insurance on behalf of his customer who made a claim under their policy with the carrier. In 2012, on behalf of his company’s customers, Quintela filed three separate lawsuits against 21st Century of which the insurer agreed to settle before the trial dates. In addition to the disputed amounts, the insurer paid all of Eddie’s legal fees and costs. In spite of recent claims whereas the insurer has provided full payments, as of late, 21st Century claims representatives have elected to once again deny payments for the repairer’s
The Indiana Autobody Association (IABA) has announced its full support of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists' (SCRS) recent position statement on insurer mandates (see p. 8 this issue). The IABA believes that all repair decisions, vendor selections and business processes should be left to the collision repair professionals who work on vehicles and have been entrusted by the vehicle owners to make correct repair decisions. The IABA also believes that the intent of these mandated programs is not to improve efficiency in any current business process, or for the ben-
efit of the vehicle owner. It believes these attempts are solely driven by insurers and other third parties seeking to make additional profits and gain control of the collision repair business through practices that can be considered extortion and tortious interference, as previously identified in the 1963 Consent Decree (see page 15), and the IABA will pursue to deter these actions using the fullest extent of the law. ASA President Dan Risley has also made ASA’s position clear that it is against all forms of direct repair program requirements to use specific suppliers or products (see p. 19.)
The Mississippi Collision Repair Association and Parts Suppliers are seeking industry support in suit against State Farm and PartsTrader. Over 30 plaintiffs, mostly Mississippi body shop owners, have filed an injunction against State Farm and PartsTrader in an attempt to prohibit the insurer from forcing any Select Service shop in Mississippi to use PartsTrader. The suit was filed Aug. 28 by Jackson, MS-based attorney for the nearly three dozen plaintiffs, John Arthur Eaves, Jr., in the Hinds County, MS, Chancery Court against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and PartsTrader LLC.
Plaintiff include the Mississippi Collision Repair Association (MSCRA) OEM parts dealers and other parts suppliers and dozens of collision repair principals, including prominent local repairers John Mosley (Clinton Body Shop) and Doug White (Capitol Body Shop). The suit seeks the court’s declatory judgment and injuction to block State Farm from requiring the PartsTrader ordering process in Mississippi. The requested injunction is to: 1) Prohibit the Defendants from forcing implementation of PartsTrader in the State Farm Select ServSee Suit Against PartsTrader, Page 14
by Barrett Smith
posted labor rates, processes and procedures as deemed to be reasonable and necessary to properly restore their customer’s vehicle. As Such, Quintela, on behalf of and with the full support of his customer, has Eddie Quintela found it necessary to once again file a lawsuit against the insurer on his customer’s behalf for such denials. “As in the past with this company”, states Eddie, “they pay us only after we file suit but before they go before a judge and/or jury. Thereafter they pay in full for every needed material, process and rates for a while… See Quintela, Page 19
Special SNAPSHOT of the Collision Industry, survey by Collision Repair Educational Foundation and I-CAR p. 22
State Farm and PartsTrader Offer More Info on Roll-Out, Use of the System by John Yoswick
Whether or not they participate in State Farm’s Select Service program, shops and parts vendors still have lots of questions and concerns about PartsTrader as State Farm continues its roll-out of the program. Here is some additional information addressing some of those questions that representatives of State Farm or PartsTrader have provided. Roll-out schedule. PartsTrader rolled out in September in major markets in California, Nevada and Utah, and in October in Michigan and Ohio. It will reach major markets in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee later this year. Vendor choice. Shops are not required to get price quotes from anyone beyond their designated preferred dealer. In fact, Partstrader’s
Dale Sailer said, the system defaults to sending a job’s parts list only to the shop’s preferred dealer, though the shop can expand the search from this default. State Farm does not get data about whether a Select Service shop’s parts list for a job went only to the shop’s preferred dealer for quotes. A shop can “direct order” a part through the system without waiting for any parts quotes; State Farm does know, however, if a Select Service shop does this. And if a dealer always gives a shop the same discount, the dealer can set the system up to automatically respond with that discount to all requests for quotes from that shop. “Dealers don’t have to hire a whole bunch of people to fill out quotes,” Sailer said. See More on PartsTrader, Page 24
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