Several years ago, the driver’s side power window of my car came off its track and fell into the inner door wall. It was late fall, getting cold, so I stopped into the first auto glass repair shop I found. They removed the inner door panel and told me the “two clips” welded to the window had broken off. “The two clips can’t be replaced as they’re a part of the glass. You’ll have to replace the entire unit.”
I asked how much the repair would cost and when they could do it. “We’ll have to order the window, but we can have it tomorrow. It’ll be $195.00 installed.” I told them to place the order and put me on their schedule.
As I was walking out the door, the clerk asked who my auto insurance agent was. I told him, and he said, “I know John. You may have insurance coverage. I’ll let you know tomorrow.”
I checked in the next day and the window was replaced. “You’ll need to sign the invoice, but your car insurance covered everything.” As I reviewed the bill, I noted the final repair was $465.00. “You told me the repair would be $195.00.”
That’s when he said, “Yes, but your insurance company will pay $465.00 so that’s what we invoice. “We collect what they’re willing to pay.”
Which brings me to today. A couple weeks ago, I backed into my sister-in-law, Kathy’s, car. It was in my driveway, and my mind was somewhere else when I backed out. I consulted my insurance company, told them I’d get some estimates, and decide whether I’d file a claim or just pay for my stupidity myself.
Kathy got two estimates. The first was for $2,528 and the second was for $2,809. I took the car to get a couple more estimates myself. As I checked in to each site, I told them it would be a “self-pay”. I’d pay the bill. The lady at the first place presented an estimate for $1,716 and the second place provided an estimate of $1,386. Same car. Same repair. Same computer driven estimate document. Four very different prices.
As I reviewed the four documents, I discovered four different hourly labor rates. They were: $48.00, $50.00, $55.00 and $62.00. The high estimate charged $62.00, and the low guy charged $55.00. The highest estimate decided the job would take 10.7 “body labor hours” and the lowest said 13.3 hours. The difference in “paint labor hours” was negligible. None of it made any sense.
The largest difference was for a new door “skin”. The two high bids listed $998. The two lowest bids listed $186. That’s an over $800.00 difference on a single item. The two high bids anticipated an insurance payment, while the two lowest bids knew I’d be paying. Bingo.
The guy with the low bid could do the job the following week. The high bid guy said “mid-March”. The high bid guy only does insurance work. He won’t take self-pay jobs. The low bid guy gets the highest online ratings.
And so, my friends, that’s what’s wrong with the world. Some guys are trying to make a buck, and some are trying to fleece us. We all need to make a living and be paid an honest wage, but abuses of the system will remain as long as no one says, “stop the madness”.
As for me, I paid for the work myself and I’m checking for cars parked behind me more carefully.
For almost 40 years I sold accident insurance to schools & colleges. We processed the claims in our office, so I saw all the bills. One hospital within 100 miles of Kalamazoo charged $25 for one aspirin. They charged that much, took what insurance would pay and wrote off the balance. Why did they do this? So that they would get paid the maximum amount possible. Nothing like “ethics” in medicine.