One Way Collision
Owners Bob & Jane Dehnel purchased the business in 2004 (formerly Taylor Body Shop). We have lived in Merrill over 25 years and raised our family here. We support many community events and are active members in organizations such as the Merrill Area Chamber of Commerce, Merrill Area United Way, Merrill Optimists and Merrill Ice Draggers.
Our industry related involvement includes membership in the Central Wisconsin Auto Body Association and WACTAL (WI Auto Collision Technicians Assn Ltd). We value continuing education and have achieved I-CAR Gold Class certification which is the highest ranking. Our technicians are also ASE certified.
About Insurance Un-Truths
These are often heard phrases from insurance companies when you want to bring your vehicle to any shop that is not on their list and what our response is.
They are not one of our network shops and they are not on our list, we can't guarantee the repairs.We are not on everybody's list. That is because we do not want to be. We identify the vehicle owner as our primary customer, not the insurance company. As for guaranteeing our work, they do not need to as we have our own nationwide lifetime guarantee. When have you ever seen an insurance company with a car being repaired in their office? Truth is they will send you back to whomever you selected off their list.
If you use them, we can't get an adjuster out for several days. If you take it to our network shop we will have someone start on it right away.This is just another ploy to steer you. We have heard insurance companies tell our customers how busy they are and they can't get someone out for 7 or 8 days, when we know their staff appraisers have little to do. Most companies are required to appraise a vehicle within 72 hours.
If you use that shop you will have to pay for your rental out of pocket.This is not true, but some insurance companies will try to force you into a rental reimbursement, which means they will either try to get you to pay with a credit card and then reimburse you, or offer to send check for x amount of rental days (which you should promptly refuse to do). Most companies have direct bill agreements with rental companies, but they do not always disclose that. Always remember as a claimant against a company, that you also have specific rights that a policy holder may not have.
They charge more than the prevailing rate and you will have to pay the difference in repair cost.There are very few cases where we have charged a customer the difference between what the actual cost were and what the insurance company was willing to pay. We will say that each customer collected the difference from the insurance company after a few phone calls. The law states the insurance company will pay the cost of repairs and case law has already determined that labor rate differences of $2 - $4 and hour in a given market area is reasonable and competitive. Sometimes when there are discrepancies in the repair cost because a carrier is trying to force us to do something that is not in your best interest we can assist you in filing the complaint with the State Department of Insurance. It is a simple form that we will fill out for you and email it.
Claims take longer to settle if you use them.Well, we do look after everything for you, including making rental car arrangements and dealing with the appraiser. The only thing that takes longer is they are sometimes slow to respond and they do not pay us as quickly as they pay their preferred providers.