No Money in Panel Beating? In Perth?

[buickman]

Originally Posted by trublu

You cannot blame the Insurance companies alone for substandard repair work, the Panel beating businesses themselves are also to blame.

I tend to agree with you but others don’t by the replies as in the past some panel shops bribed the assessors with gifts for favours and the repairs were still sub stand even though their quotes were higher or shown the other shops quotes to match it then find extra issues when taken back to the shop to jack the cost up. Now with high strength steels and specialised equipment needed to repair modern cars a lot of the smaller panel shops would not be able to afford to get the latest equipment to repair them on top of finding good workers. The assessors are on KPI’s and less corrupt now and the customer sometimes has the choice to take a cash settlement for the cheaper quote then pay for their car to be repaired to their preferred shop. But in the end you need some type of cover on your car to protect you from others that might not have any cover.

[BadMax]

Bribes are not gone, there are still assessors out there that will accept bribes. From a simple bottle of scotch to a free tow or repainting of items.
Insurers insist on equipment levels and up skilling staff and in the same breath they are squandering over a few dollars on a job. You also have assessors, assessing jobs that are not a tradesperson, let alone from the industry. Much like a butcher telling dentist how to extract a tooth!

[buickman]

I did say they were less corrupt but totally eradicating dodgy people from any industry is not going to happen but if caught their employment is on the line. Assessors have lap tops with costs and hourly rates that they can refer to that has been programed into them or ring a dealer or other parts supplier to price parts. It helps being from the trade but not required they also get training and the person also needs some customer relations to try to get to point of a positive outcome. You can be the greatest Tradesman in the industry but if your nature is blunt and unpleasant with no skills to deal with some difficult customers you’re not suited to that position.

[BadMax]

Yep, I hear ya.
In respect to writing quotes, not every programme can 'write' a quote one that is promoted as such is lacking many features and functions for the Australian market. I know for a fact, assessors are trained and told to 'trust the system' which is inadequate for various reasons.
I believe is vital for someone to have experienced the industry before assessing, not just a simple loss adjustment course.

Perfect example, I had an assessor write his own quote on a job. I got the job in and he'd quoted 1.5 hours to repair the quarter panel. I called him and he refused to believe me it needed replacing so I escalated the issue and had an experienced assessor come out.
Without looking at the quote, he said it needs replacing. I told him to flick through the quote, he saw what was asked and promptly apologised on behalf of the company.

As I said, untrained assessors are demanding jobs be done for xyz or xyz repair process when they have no experience, resulting in rubbish repairs and potentially dangerous cars.