“Who Guarantees Repairs?” The Insurance Company or the Auto Body Shop?

After an accident, one of the most common things you’ll hear from an insurance company is ‘if you take your car to a shop that’s not on our referral program or preferred list, we won’t warranty or guarantee the repair’.

“We Can’t Guarantee the Repair…”

This statement isn’t just misleading, it’s completely false. The insurance company does not, has not and will not warranty the repair even if your car is repaired at their direct repair facility.

Let’s say you do follow their recommendation, and take your car to one of their shops. If there are problems with that repair, the shop itself is liable, in exactly the same way that K & M is liable for any of the repairs that we perform.

The shop you choose, whether it be an insurance preferred shop or an independent shop, is solely responsible for the warranty on the repairs to your vehicle.
So why do insurance companies make this misleading statement to their policyholders? It’s just another scare tactic.

In reality, the insurance company itself doesn’t provide any guarantee. In fact, with the pressure they place on their shops to turn out high volume, they create an environment that’s more likely to result in bad repairs.

But they don’t have to worry about that. Because ultimately, the shop is responsible.

At K & M Collision we don’t participate in referral networks. Our only priority is to serve our customers by fixing their car the right way. You can rest assured that any repair that comes through our doors is guaranteed for life.