Hi all! I need some adjusters input.
My car was rear ended early ‘26, the other party’s insurance covered it.
$5900 was paid out to shop, $840 for loss of use + $700 rental + $1300 first payment to me before body shop was paid.
Prior to picking up car, I asked the body shop if there is anything else needed from me, they said they received all the money.
When I got there to pick up, they asked me “you had money sent to you right? we need that” essentially.
I said whatever, sent it along, and picked up car early March.
I just got a notification that the shop submitted for an estimate change. I called insurance, she was suspicious too, especially since they had a field inspection set despite me having my car for months, and spoke to the shop (who treated her rudely and defensively) and said “this is normal, its a ‘calibration deal” (a term she had never heard.)
Is this some money grab months later from them? How could they even have a field inspection set? Id be less in their business and annoyed if they hadnt pulled that little last minute money grab from me. How could they even have a field inspection, what could any of this mean?
Thank you all!
My body shop is confusing me and my adjuster… is this weird?
byu/ThrowRA87528028 inInsurance
Posted by ThrowRA87528028
5 Comments
Body shops are a huge source of scams. Was this part of the carriers network or did you choose them? I wouldn’t worry about it, you did the right thing telling them to call insurance. You have your car, not your insurance, be done lol
The shop submitted a final supplement after you received your car for the calibrations of the driver assist and safety systems, this is very common practice unless it’s a carrier you cannot release the car without all payments accounted for. And they didn’t pull a last minute money grab from you they needed the initial payment of $1300 that was made out and paid to you for the repairs the shop performed.
What are you driving? Sounds like they had to send it to dealership after bodywork to get safety systems calibrated. Probably a $600 to $900 charge. Insurance needs to pay it. I would think anyone in the industry would know what a calibration is. Almost Any car made in the last 20 years needs it.
“I just got a notification that the shop submitted for an estimate change. I called insurance, she was suspicious too, especially since they had a field inspection set despite me having my car for months, and spoke to the shop (who treated her rudely and defensively) and said “this is normal, its a ‘calibration deal” (a term she had never heard.)”
This is confusing. Did the insurance company inspect the vehicle, come up with a repair cost and the shop repaired it for that amount. The shop is now asking _you_ for additional money?
If the shop is asking you for payment, why not call them and have them send you an invoice for the difference. At the same time, ask them what the additional amount is for. Ask them why they did not bill the amount before you picked up the vehicle. Start there. You don’t have all of the info needed so there is no way to reasonably answer your question.
So I also had an incident this year. The body shop had the insurance appraiser out 3 times while they were working on it and each time the insurance sent a new estimate. The first check got sent to me because the insurance was still trying to get me to take it to their shop, the follow ups to the body shop. At the end I knew what the final estimate was and that it added up to the total of the checks insurance had sent out, one of them to me, and I had a cashier’s check for the amount of that first check.
But that was all decided before the car was finished. Which took 2 months (grumble).