There's a movement among some independent auto repair facilities to denounce Insurance Company Authorized Repair Facilities (called DRPs, for Direct Repair Providers) and to unite against the entire concept of DRPs.
DRPs are usually large shops in any given market. They have courted, or been courted by the various insurance companies and have contracted with them to provide repair services on your vehicle at a discounted rate that saves the insurance company money in your payout. In exchange, the insurance company agents and adjusters encourage you to take your vehicle to one of these shops for your repairs, providing the repair facility with a large referral network for new business.
The insurance companies put conditions on the time, manner, and method in which repairs can be completed in order for a shop to remain in good standing on the DRP list. Those conditions may include the labor rate an shop can charge, the type or parts they have to use or where they have to buy them from, and, most recently, a requirement that they warranty their work for life. We see a conflict in this situation because those conditions also require the shop to perform the work at sharply discounted rates.
This puts the repair shop in a precarious position. They have to do the work as quickly and as inexpensively as possible, and still warranty it for life. There's a saying: "Cheap, fast, or good. Pick any two." We believe that, and warrantying a fast and cheap repair for life creates the difficult situation of accomplishing all three of those things.
We don't decry DRPs. At Vision Collision, we've chosen not to pursue being a DRP so that we can control the variables and margins in our repair process in such a way that the benefits are passed on to you and to us, rather than to the insurance company. Our choice allows you to keep you in the driver's seat, and keeps our loyalties with you rather than split with an insurance company contract. We are friendly with insurance companies and work with all of them, and we wish success to the shops who do wish to be DRPs. We won't join the "Anti-DRP Movement," but we will gladly maintain our position as an Independent Repair Facility and we can all mutually and peacefully coexist.
However, recently, several big name insurance companies have been running adversarial television ads suggesting that if you don't use a DRP, you might end up with a car that is two different colors and you definitely won't get a warranty. There are good quality repair facilities that are DRPs. There are good quality repair facilities that are independent (and we fancy ourselves ones of those!). There are DRPs that are lousy, and there are independent shops that are equally so. Contrary to these advertisements,
a shop's DRP status or lack thereof is not a reliable litmus test for quality, integrity, or reliability.
A good repair shop that operates with integrity and performs quality repairs will stand behind their work. At Vision Collision, we offer a Lifetime Written Warranty on our repair work.
We stand behind our work because it's the right thing to do, not because a third party told us we have to.
The Warranty is in force for as long as you own your vehicle. If you would like to view a sample warranty, you can do so by clicking
here.
Lastly, remember that choosing a repair facility is entirely YOUR decision. It is against the law for an insurance company or its representative to pressure or instruct you to use a shop of their choosing. For more information on the statute and your rights, click
here.
Thank you for considering Vision Collision for all of your auto body repair and paint needs in the Phoenix area.
