We are asked this one frequently, and we see it in what our customers are looking for online. People want to know about saving money by “saving” their deductible. This is a really misleading term, and frankly we believe less reputable body shops use that term for a reason. When you hear the word “save,” it’s natural to think that something is being done with our benefit or well being in mind. But often that couldn’t be farther from the truth. It entices you the customer into situations you may not be comfortable in if you saw the big picture and all of the small moving parts. Let us explain.
Saving a deductible is a scenario in which your auto body shop will quote a price for your repairs, and promise to save you your deductible so that you, the car owner, will not have to pay anything out of pocket. They achieve this by:
Quoting the estimate higher than necessary
This allows them to deduct the surplus to offset your deductible. You may not pay anything but beware. Your insurance company would be less than happy to make this discovery.
Using cheaper parts
They may quote your repairs at a certain cost, but when the time comes to do them they may order cheaper parts to lower the cost of parts and offset your deductible. Simply put, cheap parts don’t last and are less safe for you and your family. So what are you really saving here?
Skimping on the essentials
A body shop could cut corners throughout the repair process to lower the cost piece by piece. This includes not performing the little things that add up like proper corrosion protection coatings, or skipping certain repair steps or pieces altogether. They may try to convince you that there is no harm done in looking past a few smaller ticket items in the pursuit of saving you some of your valuable money. But what does that get you in the long run?
Not offering a guarantee or warranty on their work
Some auto body shops present what appears to be an OK deal by telling you they’ll waive the guarantee or warranty on their work to save the deductible. This may seem good in the moment, but if the shop is less than reputable, you’ll have no way of getting your repairs fixed should they wear too quickly or break. That’s unacceptable in our book.
Leaving hidden damage
Sometimes it’s not just the little things they’ll skip. There are some body shops that will skip vital repairs altogether knowing that it would only be down the road that you would discover it. By doing this and not providing a warranty, there’s really nothing you could do should your car turn out to be unsafe or shoddily repaired.
So how do you avoid this potentially hazardous scenario?
Easy. When looking for an auto body shop if you are presented an offer to save a deductible for you, we highly recommend taking your business elsewhere. Although it may sound nice, when a body shop offers to save your deductible for you, it’s not really you they are doing it for.
Schaefer Autobody does not offer to save our customers their deductibles. We value the work that we do and we value you as a customer and a member of our community. We would never offer to engage in any business practice that could put you or your family at risk, or provide you with a less than quality repair. We believe in our work so much, we offer guarantees on all of the work we do for as long as you own your vehicle. That’s the Schaefer Autobody promise.
Schedule a repair or estimate with Schaefer Autobody today.
