Questionok... my names devon... im in syracuse NY, and i do body work... i took courses for it back in highschool and now i just enojoy doing it occasionally on my own time.... i do side jobs for anyone who asks of my services. but until now i hadnt delt with insurance.... people came to me so they wouldnt have to deal with insurance, actually. but now, i just did some work on a friends van that got estimated for needing 3,000 of work. insurance is supposed to be paying for what i did, but me not being a licensed body shop owner, and having not finished everything on the estimate list.... im not sure exactly what needs to be seen on my "rapair order" form, and how to go about this with the least hassel from her insurance company. only reason im worried is that it cost me only 500 dollars including new parts to fix the car,... and not everything from the estimate list was replaced. alot of it was bullshit charging done on the body shops part, but as we all know theres nothing thats gonna change how things are done. i know this might be considered insurance fraud, but the cars fixed,... uppon insurance company inspection, they wont find any complaints with my work, other than the fact i dont own a body shop. i just dont want the woman who already bought the parts out of her own pocket, to be left hanging by the insurance company because she let a 19 year old fix her car. and id like to be paid myself. i was just going to charge a bit more for labor, and see how close i could get to a 3,000 dollar bill. but thats about all my plan is... i dont really know what else to do in this situation. i need some help without being criticized for going about this all the wrong way. if theres anyway you can help me... * something i can write on the recept, something i have to include or not,... id appreciate it very much... thank you sir for your time, and if you could get back to me soon, itd be very helpfull..
have a good one.
*Devon
AnswerHi Devon,
I am not familiar with specific New York laws regarding body shop licensing, etc..
In most cases that I am aware, the insurance company is responsible for paying the vehicle owner. It is then the vehicle owners decision at to whether to get the vehicle repaired or not or to have it partially repaired. I think that as long as enough of the work was completed as to make the vehicle safe and it is able to pass state safety inspection, you should be just fine. If you are trying to write a repair estimate for the insurance company, you will need to include all parts costs (list price), labor charges per item, paint time, & paint & materials cost. If you know anyone in the body shop business, maybe they would let you use their computerized estimating system to create an real estimate.
I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh
