What do they mean by “Certified”?

When you contact your insurance carrier to inform them of your accident, they will attempt to entice you to bring your car to one of their “Certified repair facilities”. But make no mistake, when they say “Certified” what they mean is “certified by them” which really means, “Contracted with them,” and we all know how that works. When a facility is contracted with an insurance company, the repairs are performed for an agreed contracted rate. This rate is ALWAYS much cheaper than what the shop charges normally. When the shop gets paid less, your car receives less care and attention to detail. Your car becomes a “quantity, not quality” job and is rushed-through to ensure the maximum profit is attained by the shop. The insurance companies try to counteract this effect by offering a lifetime, limited warranty on the repairs. They tell you that if the shop does not complete the job to their or the “industry standard” satisfaction they will pursue making the shop correct the mistakes. Unfortunately, the insurance company’s opinion of a job well done does not usually parallel to yours and in the end you will end up fighting the insurance company to repair your car properly instead of the repair shop because the repairs shops warranty runs out in 6 months. Insurance companies are experts in stalling and 6 months of giving you the run around is no challenge. Another thing insurance companies excel at is defending themselves in court. History shows us there is little hope once the situation escalates to that level.

There are many levels of certification for all aspects of mechanical and collision repair. Someone simply stating that a shop is certified should raise a red flag. Do they mean they are certified for paint application and general body repairs? Not necessarily. They may only be certified in one or the other. Maybe they are only certified in glass repair. In most cases they won’t tell you unless you ask because they know they are not certified for all the necessary repairs and if you can’t trust them to repair all the damage to your vehicle, why would you give them the job?

At Import Collision, we are not only certified in all aspects of your vehicles repair but are certified to work on some of the most prestigious cars in production. OUR LIFETIME WARRANTY and GUARANTEE OF SATISFACTION statements are clear and true. If you are not satisfied with the repairs, there are no questions asked. We are committed to delivering the best service from the moment you first call to the moment you are completely pleased with your repair and experience.

We encourage customers to compare our services and quality of workmanship with other repair shops. If you choose to have another facility perform the work, we will conduct a Free Faulty Repair Inspection for you when the work is completed. We also offer Diminishing Value Calculations so you know how much that damage you repaired really affected your investment.