Repairing Your Car With Insurance Claim Money: Use a Repair Shop or Do the Work Yourself?

When your automobile is damaged in an accident, and you carry collision coverage on your auto insurance policy, your insurer agrees to “make you whole” (less your deductible). Simply stated, this means that your insurer is responsible for putting you back in the position you were in prior to the accident. If that means that before the accident you had a 2001 Toyota Camry, for example, with no bumper damage and no damage to the right tail lamp, the insurance company is responsible for paying for the repairs to the bumper and the right tail lamp if that is the damage that resulted from the collision. Whether or not the work is actually done by a repair shop or you do it yourself, is immaterial. They must pay for it and it is up to you to see that the repairs are completed (or not). Some insurers will ask you to go to a particular shop with which they might have an agreement, but you do not have to do this. You can go to any shop you like, or your own garage. The only caveat, however, is that some insurance companies will stand behind the shop’s work if they recommend the shop. That is, if something goes wrong with the repair, they will make sure it is made right and they will cover it. If you do something wrong in your repair of the vehicle, they are not going to guarantee your work and they will not likely pay any more for a mistake to be corrected.