FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Tony Lombardozzi (CCRE president) email: tony@acrsnetwork.com  phone: 603-886-1800
Lou Russo (CCRE office) email: ccreoffice@aol.com  phone: 877-700-7743
Dick Strom (CCRE member) email: moderncol@qwest.net phone: 206-310-2008

Coalition for Collision Repair Excellence (the CCRE) Condemns Silencing of Study That Finds Insurers Defraud Consumers and States, Placing Motorists at Risk

In a press conference scheduled for October 31, 2006, the Anti-Fraud Committee of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) was to release the findings of their study which concludes that insurers cheat consumers and states out of millions of dollars by systematically underwriting insurance estimates.

After months of good work collecting and reviewing hundreds of estimates from various insurers in 10 states, the Anti-Fraud Committee was prepared to expose the routine practice of insurer underwriting of estimates by over 100%, thus resulting in thousands of less-than-adequately repaired vehicles being returned to our highways.  However, insurance-related forces within the CIC itself put a stop to the release of this vital information that could have benefited consumers, states, and collision repairers, and would have brought scrutiny to the manner in which insurers control the collision repair process, potentially putting consumers’ lives in danger.

The Coalition for Collision Repair Excellence (CCRE) publicly condemns this deliberate suppression of evidence concerning fraud – or at best, gross ineptitude – on the part of insurance companies, and demands that they immediately stop this practice.  The CCRE also calls on state officials to investigate the practice of insurers’ systematic underwriting of estimates, which was substantiated by the findings of the CIC Anti-Fraud Committee, and establish whether certain consumers are driving unsafely repaired vehicles because of this insurer practice.

“In many states, it is a crime to allow an unsafe vehicle back out on the highways,” said Erica L. Eversman, J.D., Chief Counsel for Vehicle Information Services, Inc.  “I expect to see states take action on the Anti-Fraud Committee findings.  People’s lives are at risk, and that should be every state’s primary concern.”

“Insurers have no business in the collision repair business,” states Tony Lombardozzi, President of the CCRE.  “Collision repair is a profession that takes knowledge, skill, and integrity.  At the CCRE, we expect every one of our members to follow a code of professional conduct that requires each member to deliver a safe, proper repair as requested by the vehicle owner, not some slipshod repair as is often dictated by insurers.”

Mr. Lombardozzi continues, “The CCRE is a peer network for collision repairers, and does not allow insurers to join their ranks or otherwise influence their decisions.  The suppression of the CIC Anti-Fraud Committee findings is an unfortunate example of how once well-intentioned organizations often become influenced, corrupted and controlled by those with competing interests.  For this reason membership in the CCRE is open only to repairers.”