Lately the collision repair industry has become riddled with consolidators that buy up groups of shops with the intention of ruling the world. It's an exaggeration - but only slightly so; they definitely intend to dominate the market. Two things that do not mix well are service oriented business and large scale profit margins. They are applying new world corporate antics to an industry that has no room for mass production.
The first challenge for the monster is to quickly establish a huge customer base (and let me stress quickly). These consolidators are funded by large venture capital firms, so it is imperative that they show a profit almost immediately in order to maintain funding. Since trustworthiness cannot possibly be proven in such a short amount of time, it is impossible for them to directly attract the number of customers necessary to hit their large budget (in a market like Memphis, 15-20 million dollars per year with an average ticket of $3,000). This is where they got the idea to side with the insurance companies to pursue business. That eliminates the need for an advertising budget or anything else that involves friendly contact with the public.
Don't go thinking that the insurance companies are missing out on all the fun. Realizing, of course, that they are in almost complete control of the work flow for the monsters, the insurance companies have awesome leverage. You could see how easy it would be for them to make a statement like, "We'll see to it that you get all our work if you'll lower your parts mark-up and charge less for labor." Everyone involved seems to forget that the work is not theirs to give, it's YOURS!
If all that is not enough to get you stirred up, try to imagine how a manager - who incidentally has no knowledge of how to fix a car - will get caught up in budgets, deadlines, quotas, and all the other hassles of corporate business. If he ever did have concerns about how dangerous an improperly repaired automobile can be in a future accident, those fears will almost surely become lost in the shuffle. Being thorough is not profitable in a streamline budget. Quotas have to be met and their outlandish numbers require a great deal of labor. These issues don't change the fact that "good help is hard to find." If you put a hundred 18 year olds in a room and ask them, maybe 10 of them will say they are interested in body work as a career. When placed in an intensive training situation seven will fall out because it's too hard, the hours are too long or they just don't get it. The 3 remaining can look forward to 5 years as an apprentice under a well trained technician before they can be depended upon to properly repair a damaged vehicle.
The bottom line is that consolidation of collision centers does not work and until we, as consumers, stop feeding them, they will continue to ruin this industry. You should view a shop reference from an insurance company the same as if the IRS referred you to the accountant to handle your audit. They are paying the bill so they don't have your best interest at heart. The cheaper it is....the better off they are. We are given, by Tennessee law, the right to total discretion on who handles our repairs. We must all realize that, and exercise our right to put a stop to this madness.