Mike Orso, president of the New York State Auto Collision Technicians Association (NYSACTA), and Ed Kizenberger, NYSACTA executive director, addressed steering, airbag record keeping and imitation parts, model legislation topics that will be discussed during next week’s meeting of The National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL). For more information on the legislation, visit www.ncoil.org.

Regarding steering, NYSACTA criticized the requirement of a “pattern of violations” before a penalty can be assessed. “How many violations are enough 10 or 100?” Orso says. “We feel one is too many and it has given insurers a large loophole to step through that needs to be closed. As long as its known that one company is steering then the laws need to change to tighten the regulations to where any reported violation proven is met with a fine.”

Orso cited a New York Insurance Department report that said some insurers aim to steer 40 to 60 percent of its claims to program shops, while others give rewards for successfully steering repairs to program shops. “I think the handwriting is on the wall in big block letters that some insurers do not have anything good planned for consumers or small business,” he says.

Regarding airbags, he says, “In New York we already have airbag recording laws as part of the DMV regulation and a conditioning payment provision in Insurance Regulation 64 where insurers owe the consumer payment regardless of repair status, if a loss occurs. Further insurer involvement requiring receipts is not necessary unless insurers want to by contract make their own DRP shops produce invoices, then so be it. They can put a provision in their own contract.”

Orso sited a series of articles on airbag fraud in ABRN and said New York repairers don’t see any incidents of fraudulent airbag repairs from collision shops. Click on airbag fraud for a link to a series of articles in ABRN on that topic.

Regarding imitation parts, Orso says, “There is no conclusive proof that the non-OEM crash parts are equal in form, fit or finish to OEM. New York has regulations regarding parts status also already. Almost every manufacturer has a position statement that imitation parts are not equal to OEM and may void warranty. They are not crash tested. I do not see an insurer who is truly concerned about their policyholder’s safety taking the risk to require the use of untested parts that could undermine the safety of the vehicles or occupants.”

Insurance policies should indemnify policyholders, not save insurance companies money, he said. “Rewriting policies and deductibles so that consumer’s pay for more of the cost because an insurance funded group decides imitation parts are equal to OEM is unfair to consumers.”

“We are contacting every one of our representatives in the legislature so that they aware of our concerns,” says Kizenberger. “We will rally our members across New York if any of these proposals are anti-consumer or unfriendly to the collision industry in New York. We recommend all other states do the same.”