Airport Auto Center

STRANGE BUT TRUE: Collision Repairers Find Cocaine in Salvage Door

airportautocenter — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:43:31 +0000

Another reason NOT to use used parts when repairing a vehicle…

Approximately $150,000 of drug concealed in door originating from Dallas, Texas salvage yard.

Collision repairers at a Poplar Bluff, Mo., shop discovered $150,000 of cocaine concealed in a used door it ordered from a Dallas, Texas salvage operation.

The SUV door apparently originated from a car wrecked in the Dallas area, impounded by police but never claimed. It was then junked for parts.

When the door showed up at the shop, five plastic storage containers holding six pounds of cocaine were found in it. Police are investigating where the drugs may have come from.

STRANGE BUT TRUE: Man Orders Pizza After Crashing Car Into Restaurant

airportautocenter — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:13:41 +0000

A Lincoln, Neb., man made the best of a bad situation after driving his car through the front door of a pizza restaurant by ordering a pie for himself.

Local news station WOWT Channel 6 reports that just before noon on Wednesday, Jan. 9, an elderly man got his foot stuck on his car’s accelerator and drove into a Valentino’s pizza restaurant. As concerned bystanders called 911, the man ordered a pizza from inside his car, according to ABC’s KLKN.

Witnesses say the man didn’t appear to be hurt or in shock; however, he was taken to a hospital as a precaution. No other injuries were reported.

Unfortunately, the man didn’t receive his pizza before he was transported to the hospital.

Nebraska Central News’ KOLN-TV said the health department visited the restaurant to make sure none of the food had been contaminated during the crash.

Although the crash caused no major structural damage to the building, the restaurant closed its doors for the remainder of the day.

California Insurance Department Approves Aftermarket Parts Regulations

airportautocenter — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:12:32 +0000

Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced that the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved amended regulations submitted by the California Department of Insurance (CDI) regarding the use of non-original equipment manufacturer (OEM) replacement crash parts.

“The amendments build on existing protections by requiring insurers to settle automobile insurance claims using repair standards described by the Bureau of Automotive Repair, and not the insurer’s own standards of repair,” said Commissioner Jones. “This also places greater accountability on the insurer when they require use of an aftermarket replacement part so that damaged automobiles are repaired properly and safely.”

After investigating complaints from consumers and automobile repair shops and evaluating the law, CDI drew the conclusion that defective or otherwise non-compliant aftermarket parts continued to infiltrate the repair process due to insurers’ failure to perform the necessary steps to ensure public safety. CDI had been made aware of defective aftermarket bumper reinforcements, hood latches and other safety-related parts being required by insurers that otherwise were not compliant with current repair standards. CDI had also been made aware of substantial costs borne by automobile repair shops and their customers associated with installing defective or poorly fitting parts required by insurers.

Prior to beginning the formal rulemaking, CDI listened to stakeholders representing consumers, insurers, automobile repair shops, distributors and automobile manufacturers. CDI also held a pre-rulemaking workshop in November 2011, which included strong representation of many stakeholders involved in the process.

Specifically, this rulemaking will strengthen and enhance current law by:

• Requiring an insurer to pay for the costs associated with returning a defective part and the cost to remove and replace the defective part with a compliant non-OEM part or an OEM part
• Requiring the current insurer’s warranty be expressly stated in the estimate of repair generated by the insurer
• Requiring an insurer to cease use of a part known to be non-compliant, and to notify the part distributor within thirty (30) days
• Requiring an insurer to pay for an amount to repair the damaged vehicle to its pre-loss condition in a good and workmanlike manner, based upon the repair standards required by auto body repair shops licensed by the Bureau of Automotive Repair.

Consumer Reports Again Reminds Car Owners to Avoid Aftermarket Parts

airportautocenter — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:22:48 +0000

In a post-Labor Day news release, ConsumerReports.org is once again reminding consumers how to avoid a claims-related problem should they be unlucky enough to have been involved in one of the estimated 75,000 to 100,000 auto insurance claims that will be filed as a result of the holiday weekend.

“In our most recent surveys,” the organization said,”10 to 26 percent of filers encountered a claims-related problem, depending on the carrier. So it pays to know the right procedures for filing a claim and how to deal with any glitches you might encounter.

According to the release, “Picking a top-rated insurer is also key to controlling your costs. An insurer can charge less in premiums but cost you more overall by lowballing loss estimates, forcing the repair shop to cut corners, and making you pay extra for the manufacturer’s replacement parts if you choose them over cheaper knockoffs.”

The group suggests that consumers turn to the Consumer Reports Car Insurance Buying Guide and their Guide to Insurance Claims for advice on how to “get your due” from car insurance policies.

In the April 2012 Consumer Reports Money Adviser, the group warns, “You might be pressured to take your car to a shop in the insurer’s direct-repair program or to use cheaper replacement parts instead of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts. You’re under no obligation to accept either. Tests have found that some non-OEM parts fit poorly, are more prone to rust and corrosion, and might not meet federal safety standards.

Consumer Reports notes in its Car Insurance Buying Guide that, based on its surveys, respondents’ satisfaction with repairs was significantly lower among those who felt pressured to use DRP shops and non-OEM parts. And respondents who said they were pressured to use non-OEM parts had significantly more problems with their repairs.

Chevy Dealer Sells Car for Wrong Price, Buyer Arrested

airportautocenter — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:42:34 +0000

A Virginia man spent four hours in jail after purchasing a Chevrolet Traverse from Priority Chevrolet in Chesapeake, VA. The dealer’s sales staff accidentally sold the SUV to Danny Sawyer for $5,600 less than they should have, and when Sawyer refused to sign a new, more expensive contract for the correct amount, the dealership called the local police alleging the buyer had stolen the vehicle. Law enforcement then picked Sawyer up and held him for four hours before getting the situation straight.

Dennis Ellmer, president of Priority Chevrolet, says he owes Sawyer an apology on behalf of the dealership, and had intended to do right by the buyer by letting him have the vehicle at the agreed-upon price. But Sawyer’s lawyer says it’s a little too late for saying sorry. The briefly-incarcerated owner has filed two lawsuits against the dealer, accusing the business of malicious prosecution, slander, defamation and abuse of process. All told, the suits seek a total of $2.2 million in damages, plus attorney fees. That $5,600 seems awfully cheap now.

Protect the interior of your vehicle with The Shade, Retractable Shade

airportautocenter — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:03:54 +0000

Consumer Reports 2012 Car Insurance Buying Guide

airportautocenter — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 18:54:00 +0000

Getting started

Those quirky characters in auto-insurance TV ads might give you more laughs than actual savings, according to a 2009 survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Only 14 percent of 4,500 ConsumerReports.org subscribers who compared premiums found that they would save money by switching insurers.

That doesn’t mean shopping is a waste of time. But it’s only one way to save on auto premiums, which these days are buffeted by a slew of variables, such as:

Rising costs

Auto-insurance premiums are up 10 percent since 2008, compared with zero for overall inflation. That’s a big change from the three prior years, when rates rose 1 percent per year on average.

Credit-based insurance scores

Hard times have hurt many consumers’ credit scores. That could result in rate increases, thanks to most carriers’ use of credit-based insurance scores in setting premiums. Consumer advocates (including Consumer Reports) have long argued that credit-based scoring is unfair because scores are not related to accident risk. But legislative efforts in 27 states to ban or restrict the practice over the last two years have been unsuccessful.

Uninsured motorists

The recession has prompted unemployed consumers to go without insurance, which could shift some or all of their liability costs to you.

Data mining

Some insurers use consulting firms that mine databases for personal policyholder information that may or may not be accurate. One company claims to dig for information about your kids, your marital status, your job, and other data with which to confront you for a possible rate hike.

Corner-cutting repairs

Some insurers push policyholders to get their cars fixed at specified repair shops, which left our readers less satisfied, so that the companies can cut costs, often through use of cheaper aftermarket replacement parts.

Some cost factors are beyond your control, but there’s still plenty you can do to cut your premiums for the auto coverage you need.

Control insurer cost factors

Do an annual rate check

Check rates from other insurers annually to make sure you’re getting the best deal. But if you’ve been with the same insurer a long time, it might be tough to beat its rates. That’s one reason shopping around didn’t pay off for our survey respondents: More than 60 percent have been with the same carrier for 10 or more years. “Insurers reward longevity, particularly loss-free longevity,” says Bill Wilson, associate vice president for education and research at the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America. Long-term policyholders get bumped up into better rate tiers.

But most consumers, 75 percent, haven’t shopped for auto insurance in the past year, and of those who did, most researched only one or two companies, according to a recent insurance-industry survey. By looking father afield, you’ll have a better shot at savings.

For example, a San Diego multicar couple in their 40s with a 17-year-old male driver on their policy and no violations or accidents might jump at Progressive’s $6,104 annual premium if they were already paying $8,593 to Farmers Mid-Century. But they’d find even lower rates at State Farm ($4,625), Safeco ($3,717), Geico ($3,648), and USAA ($2,883), according to rate comparisons published by the California Department of Insurance.

Check whether your state insurance department provides rate comparisons; go towww.naic.org/state_web_map.htm to find a link to your state’s agency. You can also compare multiple insurers online at Answer Financial, Insure.com, InsWeb, and NetQuote. You usually won’t get an immediate quote online, but you will get e-mail messages from hungry agents.

Consider forming a relationship with an independent agent, who will check rates for you at a range of carriers.

Pick a top-rated insurer

Saving is not only a matter of finding the lowest premium. An insurer can charge less in premiums but cost you more overall by lowballing loss estimates, hassling the repair shop to cut corners, and forcing you to pay extra for the manufacturer’s replacement parts if you choose them over cheaper knockoffs. It can also unfairly jack up your premiums after an accident.

To get the best service when you need it most, consult our Ratings, which are based on the experiences of 28,241 ConsumerReports.org subscribers who filed a claim between 2006 and the first half of 2009. Eighty-six percent of them were highly satisfied with the handling of their claims. Among the highest-rated groups were NJM, USAA, Amica, and Auto-Owners, with overall satisfaction scores of 92 or higher. Availability for some insurers is limited by region or policyholder eligibility rules.

All rated companies did well, but some did better than others. Only 10 percent of Auto-Owners policyholders complained about claims-related problems, such as delays and disputes over fault or damages. By contrast, 26 percent of Commerce customers had a complaint in that area.

Set the deductible right

A higher deductible reduces your premium because you pay more out of pocket if you have a claim. Hiking your deductible from $200 to $500 can cut your premium on collision by 15 to 30 percent. Go to $1,000 and you could save 40 percent. If you have a good driving record and haven’t had an at-fault accident in years, if ever, opting for a higher deductible on collision might be a good bet. Just make sure you can afford to pay it if your luck runs out.

Review all of your coverage

Your liability coverage pays for bodily injury and property damage that you cause in accidents. Don’t get caught short by reducing your liability limits to the state minimums. Buying more coverage might seem like an odd way to save, but the benefit comes if you have a costly claim, which can put your personal assets at risk. Buy standard 100/300/100 coverage, which pays for bodily injury up to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident, and property damage up to $100,000. If you have a high net worth, boost bodily injury to $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident.

One of every six drivers today may be uninsured, according to the Insurance Research Council. If you get hit by an uninsured at-fault driver, you’ll have to pay for repairs out of your own pocket and sue the at-fault driver for damages. Protect yourself by buying uninsured/underinsured motorist protection with the same limits as your liability coverage.

You can probably cancel your collision and/or comprehensive coverage when the annual cost equals or exceeds 10 percent of your car’s book value. Otherwise, you could end up paying more over time than you would recoup for repair or replacement of your damaged, stolen, or totaled vehicle.

If you have another car that you can use while your vehicle is being repaired, you don’t need to pay for rental-reimbursement coverage. Dump roadside assistance if you have an auto-club membership that’s a better deal. Think carefully about personal-injury protection and medical-payments coverage: Forget it if you have good health coverage; keep it if you don’t or if your usual passengers might not be well insured.

Watch crash repairs closely

Claims payment is where the rubber hits the road. Your insurer might push you to use shops in a direct-repair program (DRP) or use cheaper replacement parts, rather than the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts. Tests have found that some non-OEM parts fit poorly, are more prone to rust and corrosion, don’t always meet federal safety standards, and may not provide good protection in a crash.

In our survey, respondents’ satisfaction with repairs was significantly lower among those who felt pressured to use DRP shops and non-OEM parts. And respondents who said they were pressured to use non-OEM parts had significantly more problems with their repairs.

Take advantage of discounts

Discounts are designed to attract the business of lower-risk drivers. Those drivers include students with good grades, new drivers who have taken a driver-training course, older drivers who have taken a refresher course, and members of affinity groups, such as college alumni and certain occupations and professions. Antitheft and safety equipment can also get you a discount.

Insurers also offer discounts if you buy your homeowners, renters, or life-insurance policy from them. But be sure you check out total costs both ways: premiums from different insurers combined compared with single-insurer packages.

At least two insurers offer discounts in some states based on electronic monitoring of your driving habits. With Progressive’s “Snapshot” discount, eligible drivers in 22 states plug an electronic data recorder into their car’s data port (available only for cars from model year 1996 or later). The device tracks miles and time of day the car is driven and how often you brake suddenly. If the device shows that you drive less than average, avoid operation from midnight to 4 a.m., and don’t stomp on the brake pedal, you might get up to a 30 percent discount. If it shows that you’re a riskier driver, you could see your rate go up by as much as 9 percent in some states. If you quit the program, Progressive won’t use the data to set your premium, except in Alabama, where the insurer can use it for a year after you quit.

State Farm’s “Drive Safe & Save” discount, available only in Ohio, uses your GM vehicle’s OnStar system to track and transmit monthly odometer readings. A 30- to 49-year-old driver who pays $600 per year in premiums, for example, will get a 9 percent discount if he drives 13,000 miles per year and a 23 percent reduction if he drives only 6,000 miles. But if he’s rated as “short annual mileage,” less than 7,500 miles per year, he could end up paying more if the data show that he drives more.

Maintain a good credit score

For some consumers, the recession has dragged down credit scores and their close cousins, credit-based insurance scores, which most insurers use to set auto premiums. In general, lower scores produce higher premiums, but the impact varies unpredictably because insurers use different rate-setting formulas. So if your insurer hiked your rate based on your score, start shopping for a lower premium.

Most states allow insurance scoring, so take steps to protect yourself: Regularly check and correct credit-reporting errors; avoid department-store credit cards, which can hurt your score; pay bills on time; and keep your credit balances low in relation to your credit limits. If your finances have been adversely affected by the recession, military deployment, divorce, job loss, death of a family member, or medical problems, ask your insurer for an exception. You should also ask to be rescored once per year.

Report reduced mileage

A major cost component in auto insurance is miles driven per year. The average is about 12,000. But if you’ve changed jobs and commute fewer miles, the lower mileage might translate into lower premiums. A new job that’s only 6 miles closer than your old one could reduce your annual commuting miles by 3,000 and cut your annual premium by $50. Let your insurer know if you’ve retired or lost your job; your reduced driving could cut 5 to 10 percent off your premiums.

Your insurer usually won’t contact you to ask whether you’re driving fewer miles, but it might find out if you’re driving more. Twenty-eight of the 30 largest auto insurers have worked with Quality Planning Corp., a California company, to investigate whether their policyholders deserve rate increases.

For example, QPC compares individual policy information–say, coverage for a Ford F-250 pickup used for pleasure, not business–with hundreds of millions of records from numerous public and proprietary databases. If QPC finds the driver’s name on, say, a database of licensed contractors, that raises a red flag. If your 16-year-old son buys electronics and mails in a warranty card including his name and address, that information can be cross-checked to see whether you’ve listed the teenager on your policy. If you listed yourself as married and pay a lower rate than you would if you were single, QPC might be able to check up on you.

When a red flag is raised, QPC calls the policyholder to ask questions about it, according to Bob U’Ren, senior vice president at QPC. The company reports the information to the insurer only if it’s verified by the customer, U’Ren says.

Choose your car wisely

Vehicle damage is the biggest cost component for auto insurers. So your premiums will vary by auto model. When comparing models, ask your car dealer to show you the “Relative Collision Insurance Cost Information Booklet,” produced annually by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Highway Loss Data Institute also posts data on collision, bodily injury and property-damage liability, and other types of losses by vehicle model at hldi.org/research/hldi/composite_intro.html. Or ask your insurer for premium quotes on the different models under consideration.

Beware of scams

Plenty of crooks rip off drivers with staged accidents. Fraud investigators describe a scam in which a driver swoops in front of your car, then slams the brakes, forcing you to rear-end him. The result can be an at-fault accident claim against you, fake injuries, and exaggerated damage costs. You get the stress of a crash and legal claims, a bad mark on your driving record, and higher premiums for three years.

Avoid that by always following good driving practices, including maintaining a safe distance from other vehicles, not speeding, remaining alert at all times, and never tailgating. Keep a camera in your car to photograph a crash scene. Always call police to file an official report.

Manage teenage-driver risk

Teenage drivers have higher accident rates, so adding a teenager to your policy can hike your costs by 50 to 100 percent. Immaturity and lack of driving experience help make motor-vehicle crashes the leading cause of death for U.S. teenagers. You can protect your child and cut your rates.

Make your child take a driving course before getting a license. Then make sure he or she complies with all laws and drives in a safe manner, with loss of driving privileges as the punishment for violations.

Consider having your teenager wait until age 18 or 19 to get a license, instead of the usual 16 in most states or as young as 14 in some. Inform your insurer if the child isn’t licensed or is away at college without a car.

Beware of hidden cost factors

Are low-cost replacement bumpers safe?

A number of auto insurers have recommended or required use of aftermarket crash parts, which are often produced in overseas factories and can be significantly cheaper than the parts from original equipment manufacturers. Unfortunately, the parts might also be cheaper in quality.

Some safety experts are concerned about the internal bumper parts: a bumper beam, bumper isolators, foam, crush cans, brackets, and radiator supports. In a frontal crash, those pieces work together to properly transmit the crash pulse, or vibrations from impact energy that moves through the vehicle, to air-bag sensors and away from the passenger compartment to reduce or prevent injury.

“There’s a lot of engineering that goes into making a crash-protection system,” says David Zuby, chief research officer for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “You can’t willy-nilly change those parts because the system may not work the way it was designed.”

In July, Ford reported that its engineers had found alarming differences in two aftermarket parts tested. One bumper bar was made of mild steel, instead of the ultra-high-strength steel that the original Ford part uses. A radiator support was made of plastic instead of the magnesium used in the Ford part. In computer-simulated crash tests, the fakes changed the timing of the crash pulse, which might affect air-bag deployment.

“Differences in material could result in a difference in the timing of the air-bag deployment,” says Mike Warwood, Ford’s parts marketing and remanufacturing manager. “The air bag might deploy earlier than it should or later than it should. Or it might deploy when it shouldn’t or not deploy at all when it should.”

Ford’s testing follows a demonstration last year by Toby Chess, a master collision-repair instructor, who used a reciprocating saw to easily slice through an aftermarket bumper bar. The saw couldn’t cut through the original automaker bumper bar.

Some insurers have suspended use of the bumpers in repairs. In February, the Certified Automotive Parts Association, which certifies the quality of some aftermarket replacement parts (but not bumpers), tested a sample of aftermarket bumpers. It found “serious deficiencies” in metal hardness, material thickness, and fit.

Bottom line

Don’t let your insurance company pressure you into using aftermarket collision-repair body parts, especially safety-related ones. If your car has already been repaired, check your invoices or ask your insurer to see whether aftermarket parts were used. If knockoffs were used, demand that they be replaced with original equipment.

We now offer WheelSkins Genuine Leather Steering Wheel Covers

airportautocenter — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:03:11 +0000

1979 Toyota Pickup Restored!

airportautocenter — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 18:04:23 +0000

Check out our latest restoration, a 1979 2 wheel drive Toyota Longbed Pickup — the Cyan to Purple Mirage striping and blue candy pearl stripes turn heads!

Insurers Tend to Overcharge Long-Term Customers Study Says

airportautocenter — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:44:21 +0000

A consumer advocate study from Texas “strongly supports” the notions that shopping around for an auto insurance policy can produce savings for a policyholder and that the longer a policyholder stays with a company, the stronger the likelihood they’ll be paying more than they should.

A policyholder who stays with the same company for more than eight years, according to estimates from the study produced by the Office of Public Insurance Counsel (OPIC), could save 19 percent on annual premiums when switching insurers.

“This study supports what we have believed for a long time,” OPIC executive director Deeia Beck said in a statement. ”Consumers must shop their policies to ensure they aren’t overpaying for insurance.”

The average policyholder at an insurer for up to two years usually won’t realize any savings from switching, according to OPIC projections, but a policyholder at an insurer between two and three years can see average savings of 5.2 percent. That figure increases with every year a policyholder is at a company, peaking at 19 percent for a customer at an insurer between eight and nine years.

The OPIC notes that customers who insure both their cars and home with the same company may have to insure both with the new company in order to realize those savings.

High Retention Rates Mean Many Customers Could Be Overpaying

Several studies back the fact that insurers hold very high retention rates for their policyholders, which could mean that consumers are missing out on savings.

A July report from J.D. Power and Associates showed a split trend: The portion of consumers shopping for auto coverage hit its lowest point in five years, but those who did shop around switched providers at an all-time high rate.

That study found the average shopper switching their auto coverage carrier saved $359.

A 2010 study from Deloitte found that 4 out of 10 auto policyholders were with their insurer for more than a decade and that 6 out of 10 of policyholders “rarely or never shop their policy for a better deal.”

(via Autobody News October 2012)