Another Black Eye

For the third winter in a row, CBS News has given the collision repair industry a black eye through incomplete reporting on its evening newscasts.The most recent piece aired on Feb. 11 during the "Eye on America" segment of the news and was revisited the following morning during the network's "Early Show."The coverage focused on the ongoing litigation brought by the California Attorney General against Caliber Collision Centers, which is based on an investigation by the California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR). You can read about the details of the broadcast, and the reaction from industry members, in our front-page news story, "CBS News story on insurer-owned shops criticized as 'sensational'. "

One can't help but suspect this is the latest entry in the public relations offensive by the BAR. Unfortunately, the impact of the highly sensationalized broadcast will be felt far beyond the borders of California.

This is not the first attempt by CBS to examine the collision repair business. In early February 2002, the network detailed the BARs fraud investigation work and included a video clip of Warren Samm, a chief investigator for the BAR stating that in "90 percent of the cases I do, I uncover some amount of fraud."

Later that year, in December, CBS again produced a segment that featured the BARs investigative efforts on fraud. In that piece, CBS detailed improper repairs discovered by the BAR and implied that shops not only act fraudulently far too frequently, but that insurance companies are complicit in this fraud against consumers through their direct repair programs. An Allstate PRO shop had repaired the vehicle CBS chose to highlight in the piece after a referral from the insurer.

Unlike the two previous CBS News segments that focused on the issue of fraud and the BAR's ongoing investigation against collision repairers in the state, this segment quickly blew past the issue of fraud and focused upon the issue of insurance company ownership of collision repair facilities. Because Caliber has received investments from insurers, the segue from fraud to insurance company ownership was a natural for the show's producer.

For viewers who are part of the collision repair industry, the televised report was nothing more than old, but troubling news. Actually, the promos that ran before the segment were far more concerning for many repairers. Those in the general public who viewed the CBS report will certainly have more reasons not to trust a body shop or an insurance company when it comes time to repair accident damage.

The lone bright spot in the coverage was the interview with Ron Pyle, president of the Automotive Service Association (ASA), on the "Early Show," which detailed collision repair issues for consumers, including what they need to know when choosing a repair facility. In the segment the previous evening, PyIe had explained ASA's motivation behind its support of legislation limiting insurance company ownership of repair facilities. Proponents of this legislation have a valuable video clip to show legislators whom, they hope, will support restrictions on insurance company ownership of shops.

Interestingly, the most glaring omission was any mention of the results of the BAR's study that was concluded last fall, owhich was mentioned in the previous CBS News segments. Perhaps the criticism of the BAR's methodology has had an impact-at least on CBS.

Currently, the repair industry in California is anxiously awaiting the findings of the legislatures Sunset Review of the BAR. Many hope that the industry's concerns regarding the efficacy and operation of the BAR will be heeded to improve both the regulatory environment for businesses and real consumer protection. California repairers need to make their concerns known to legislators, and they need the support of the broader industry.

[Sidebar]

Those in the general public who viewed the CBS report will certainly have more reasons not to trust a body shop or an insurance company when it comes time to repair accident damage.

[Author Affiliation]

Russell Thrall III

Editor in Chief

Russell Thrall III

Editor in Chief

russ@thrall3.com