Getting Dinged

Auto-body shop owners accuse insurers of steering customers wrong
By: Joy Lanzendorfer


For nearly two years, Gene Crozat has been blowing the whistle on crooked insurance companies, and now it looks like someone is finally paying attention. The owner of G&C AutoBody, with three stores in Sonoma County, has been steadily complaining about insurers steering customers away from shops of their choice or refusing to pay all of their repair bill.

In fact, he has been involved in almost 800 complaints to the California Department of Insurance. He also assisted customers in filing 250 cases in small claims court against insurance companies, winning all but 16. As a direct result of his actions, the GEICO car insurance company has been ordered to appear in a hearing in front of the Department of Insurance on March 15 to answer allegations.

And that's just the beginning. Crozat is bringing the industry's problems out into the open. "Every industry has its dirty laundry," he says. "Right now you are getting into the auto-body industry's dirty laundry." read more