The last thing anyone wants to deal with after they’ve been in a car accident is insurance claims and piles of paperwork. Unfortunately, it’s a reality we all have to face once in a while. Dealing with insurance is never an enjoyable pastime, but in order to get safely back on the road in good time, it’s a requirement.
If you’ve been in a collision and have auto body damage that needs repairing, you’ll have to file a claim with your insurance company. As we went over in a previous post, you have the legal right to choose where your car is fixed – don’t let the insurance company try to back you into a corner and make you go to one of their “preferred” repair shops if you don’t want to. At Cline Collision, we know that this is probably a stressful time for you. That’s why we take care of the paperwork for you.
When you first make a claim with your insurance provider, make sure you record the claim number. That’s all we need. Once you come in and provide us with your claim number, we’ll take over from there. Our process involves writing out our estimate and repair order, which we provide to your insurance company. Then they’ll send someone out to inspect the vehicle themselves and prepare their own estimate (they can do this right here at our shop). The estimates should match or be very close, and you should receive copies of both.
From there, we begin the repairs and auto body work. On the insurance paperwork, we’ll list out everything we do to the car – parts used, the prices for various services, and everything that was replaced or removed. During the repairs, we may have to add “supplements,” or parts and services we didn’t initially expect. We always get approval through the insurance company before we do this. In the end, you’ll receive the original bill, plus any supplements that were required. Your insurance will receive all this paperwork as well, and once you’ve paid your deductible, they should approve and cover the rest. Because we get approval for everything we do, you shouldn’t have any issues.
This is the way we operate, and it works. We want this process to be as stress-free as possible for you. That’s why we take care of the paperwork and dealing with insurance approval so you don’t have to. If you have any questions, please let us know! We’re here to help.
