AASP/NJ Addressing Member Appraisal Clause Dispute with Progressive
Disputes over the cost of proper automotive repairs between repairers and certain insurance companies are becoming a common occurrence, according to Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of New Jersey (AASP/NJ) Executive Director Charles Bryant. “Over the past few years,” he says, “and especially since recent insurance reforms resulting in Progressive Insurance Company returning to New Jersey, a large number of AASP/NJ collision members have reported extreme difficulty in reaching agreements with Progressive on the cost to repair collision-damaged vehicles.”
AASP/NJ has repeatedly suggested that members invoke the appraisal clause as the fastest and most economical means of quickly resolving these types of issues, but the shops have been running into more and more problems lately with companies like Progressive. “On a repeated basis, AASP/NJ members have invoked the appraisal clause when these kind of disputes arise. Invoking this procedure has repeatedly resulted in increasing the claim settlements – sometimes by thousands of dollars more than what Progressive was originally willing to pay,” Bryant states. “However, Progressive recently began to claim that their policies do not have an appraisal clause, or that the appraisal clause had been revised and now only applies to disputes on the value of a total loss vehicle. This is unacceptable.”
AASP/NJ is presently addressing this with the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance to get to the bottom of the allegation that Progressive Insurance Company has either altered or removed the appraisal clause from their auto insurance policy presently sold in the state, and if so, what it means. “We are going to figure this out,” Bryant adds. “Our members are struggling enough without having the rules changed unbeknownst to them.”
For more information on AASP/NJ’s NORTHEAST™ Automotive Services Show, please visit
www.aaspnjnortheast.com.
