Drivers should consider rental car insurance

Local repair centers juggle an influx of winter customers
By DEBBIE KELLEY
THE GAZETTE
January 31, 2008 - 12:48AM

Slick roads from a regular cycle of wintry storms have caused pileups at local auto body shops.

Red Noland Collision Center is booked until mid-February to repair wrecked cars that are drivable, said Dale Francis, body shop manager. It’s one of the city’s largest dealership-owned collision centers, with a 25,000-squarefoot shop, 30 employees and $6 million in revenues last year.

Vehicles that have to be towed to the shop are accepted immediately but can take a month to six weeks to get fixed, Francis said. “It’s unusual for us to be backed up this far, but we can only schedule so many cars — we can do 230 a month,” Francis said.

“You can just see customers’ eyes twitch — it’s already a negative situation — when we tell them we’re looking at six weeks. They just can’t believe it.”

That’s why motorists should have rental-car insurance to defray the cost, State Farm Insurance agent Mark Campbell said. About 75 percent of customers at Wilson’s Auto Collision Inc. have rental-car insurance, said Ray Wilson, owner of the shop founded 22 years ago Friday.

“We tell them to call their agent to see if they qualify, because out-of-pocket rental is expensive and rental-car coverage isn’t,” Wilson said.

Various roadblocks can delay restoring a vehicle to its pre-crash condition, whether it was involved in a minor fender bender or a rollover. For example, Campbell said the insurance claim process can stall if the insurance company has to order an accident report from the police to verify fault.

Securing an appointment at a local body shop and getting parts to make the repairs also can add time. Severely damaged vehicles sometimes need parts that can’t be found in local parts stores, Francis said.

Wilson said his 14 employees are working as fast as they can, but they also are running several weeks deep in appointments. It’s the same at Black & White Auto Body & Paint, said Rick Lujan, owner and general manager of one of the city’s largest independents.

“You don’t need a lot of snow — just a couple of inches on the ground make a huge difference for body shops,” he said.

This winter has been more treacherous for local drivers than last winter, which brought several major blizzards, because motorists tend to stay off the roads during blizzards but feel more confident to venture out when snowfall is lighter, Lujan said.

To handle his shop’s load, Lujan has added four technicians for a total of 20 employees. “People don’t like to wait too long,” he said.

But it’s hard for auto body shops to gauge business volume, Wilson said.

“Everybody seems to get in a wreck that morning of a storm. Customers don’t just trickle in — they come all at once, and all of a sudden you’ve got an overflow,” he said.

Along with having to endure longer wait times, many motorists needing body work have high deductibles that must be paid out-of-pocket. Higher deductibles lower auto insurance premium costs, and Francis said he’s seen deductibles as high as $3,000.

It doesn’t take much of an impact, said State Farm’s Campbell, for the repair bill to top $1,000.

Lujan said it’s not unheard of for his body shop to fix a vehicle with $12,000 to $15,000 in damage.

And though winter brings a flurry of business, it’s not necessarily the busiest season for collision centers. About 11,000 cars in the area were damaged in a hailstorm last summer, Francis said.

As Wilson said: “It’s the snow and ice now. It’ll be the wind and sand damage in the spring, hail in the summer, then back to snow. Being weather-related is just the nature of our business.”

First auto insurance rate-setting hearing opens

By Jeffrey Krasner
Globe Staff / January 10, 2008

Insurance Commissioner Nonnie S. Burnes yesterday kicked off the first rate-setting hearing under a new auto insurance system that allows insurers to set their own rates, subject to government oversight. Attorney General Martha Coakley had called for the hearing to examine rates filed by Commerce Insurance of Webster, the state's largest auto insurer.....read the full article here.

Survey: Teens Want Friends to be Safer on Roads

With motor vehicle accidents claiming between 5,000 and 6,000 teen lives each year, a new survey commissioned by Allstate Insurance reveals that many teens do not take personal responsibility for safe driving and continue to engage in dangerous driving behaviors.

While nearly 90 percent of teens surveyed said they hope their friends will be safer on the road in 2008, just 11 percent included "driving more safely" among their personal New Year's resolutions. One-third (34 percent) of teens surveyed reported being frightened as a passenger because the driver was being careless, but did not say anything to the driver.

"Our survey found that teens are making New Year's resolutions about getting better grades, exercising more and other good things, but far too few are resolving to be safer drivers," said Victoria Dinges, Allstate assistant vice president of Public Social Responsibility and mother of a teen driver. "Car accidents are the leading cause of death for teens in the U.S., and the holidays are among the most dangerous times of the year for teens on the road. Unfortunately, our survey shows that teens have other things on their mind than driving safely."

According Allstate's survey, approximately 40 percent of teens surveyed plan to exercise more and 40 percent hope to improve their grades, while only 11 percent will resolve to drive safer in 2008, ranking dead last in the survey.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents admitted to driving more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit, 22 percent have raced another vehicle and 19 percent have received a traffic ticket. Eighteen percent of respondents admit to being a passenger in a car being driven by a teen who was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Further supporting the importance of peer influence that exists among teen drivers who are willing to break the law yet want their friends to drive safer, respondents were specifically interested in having their friends eliminate unsafe practices including driving without seatbelts (41 percent) and speeding (40 percent). And, while teens may be excited about the new MP3 player their friend as a holiday gift this year, they don't want them distracted by it while driving. More than two-thirds of teens surveyed said they wanted their friends to avoid technology distractions (i.e. texting, talking on a cell phone, and scrolling through an MP3 player) while driving.

"These are alarming results considering every year for the past decade between 5,000 and 6,000 teenagers were killed in motor vehicle accidents. No other hazard or behavior comes close to claiming as many teen lives," Dinges said. "As we reflect on our lives and see what we can be doing better for the upcoming year, encouraging safe driving is a great conversation for parents to hold with their teens. Parental guidance and involvement in these first and defining years is critical for young drivers."

Allstate said a recent study published by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development indicates intervention materials, such as a parent-teen driving agreement for newly licensed drivers, reduces high-risk driving behaviors such as texting.

The Allstate survey also shows that many teenagers are familiar with drivers contracts and that nearly one third (30 percent) of teens who have heard of these agreements have signed one. The dialogue that the contract opens – dialogue that needs to be sustained between parents and teens – can be just as important as the signed agreement.

"By opening up a dialogue with teens, parents can influence their child's behavior – and nearly half of teens are having 'good conversations' with their parents about the importance of safe driving," said Dinges. "However, the research shows the dialogue needs to be frequent and meaningful; a parent-teen driving contract is a good starting point for these discussions."

Source: Allstate

Mapquest Printout Leads to N.Y. Insurance Fraud Sentencing

According to the MA Assocation of Independent Agents, for every $10 consumers pay in insurance premiums, $3 goes toward paying fraudulent claims. - The Howes Insurance Agency

A 36-year-old Rochester, N.Y. man, whose Mapquest directions led police to his home, was sentenced to five years probation in Monroe County Court on Nov. 26 for trying to fraudulently obtain a $10,282 insurance settlement.

Craig C. Wilson, of 24 Alfie Dr., was sentenced by Rochester City Court Judge Thomas Rainbow Morse. Wilson pleaded guilty to insurance fraud on Sept. 17, admitting he falsely reported that his sports utility vehicle had been stolen so he could collect on an insurance claim.

Wilson was arrested by Rochester Police after authorities recovered his 2002 Mercury Mountaineer in the parking lot of a Jacksonville, Fla., apartment complex two months after he had reported it stolen. The SUV was discovered when the apartment complex owner complained to local police about the abandoned vehicle.

Investigators said Mapquest directions from Wilson's home to the Jacksonville site printed nine days before the reported theft were found inside the vehicle. They said the vehicle also contained paperwork describing airline transportation from Jacksonville to Rochester. Wilson reportedly has acquaintances in Jacksonville.

Authorities said Wilson confessed to filing the fraudulent insurance claim when he was confronted with the evidence.

The investigation was conducted by Gary S. Sullivan of the Frauds Bureau of the New York State Insurance Department and the Auto Theft Unit of the Rochester Police Department. Geico Insurance Co. assisted in the investigation.

Assistant Monroe County District Attorney Casey Spencer prosecuted the case.

Source: New York State Insurance Department