I recently spoke to some UK auto damage appraisers and was alerted to a scam some Direct Repair auto body shops have been doing when they know a field representative is never going to inspect the vehicle. Many insurers who rely strictly on a level of “trust” with a DRP facility can be taken for hundreds of thousands of dollars by this trick. Insurers in the United States who place a high regard on DRP usage could be fooled as well. Frankly, I had never heard of the scam but what a shop does is simply use a “plastic wrap” and create the appearance of cracked glass, panel scratches and dents. The photo looks real enough but the truth is much different. If an auditor is not really concentrating and looking for such things, this could easily slip by.
This is yet one more reason why we are firm believers in having a trained set of eyes inspect every vehicle in person.
Here’s a sample of what we were able to accomplish right here at the office on our own personal vehicles.
