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Auto Body Shops Urge Support For Attorney General's Consumer Protection Legislation
The Auto Body Association of Connecticut (ABAC) today urged support for stronger anti-steering laws, noting the state Insurance Department has done little to protect consumers from coercive auto insurance company practices.
The organization of statewide auto body repair shops called on the legislature to adopt new consumer protection legislation as proposed today by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Blumenthal's proposal is stronger than a bill approved in Committee during the last session of the Legislature. The bill was about to be called for a vote in the full General Assembly when the session ended.
During a press conference today at Denya's Auto Body in Meriden, Blumenthal announced his call to the legislature to strengthen Connecticut's anti-steering laws because existing laws are too easily skirted or ignored by auto insurance companies and even the State Insurance Department.
Steering, an illegal practice, occurs when an insurance company tells a consumer what body shop to use for repairs following an accident. Insurance companies regularly try to ignore weak existing regulations by suggesting, for example, that repairs will take longer if a consumer goes anywhere other than to the company's "preferred" shop.
"Your car, your choice - ought to be the watchword in auto repair," Blumenthal said. "Consumers deserve to choose where a car is repaired. No insurer should straightjacket or corral consumers, forcing them to use a so-called preferred shop. This legislation, which I have advocated for years, would preserve consumer choice and industry competition - deterring anticompetitive relationships between certain insurers and auto repairers." |
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