Auto repair quality in Progressive Concierge shops ranked lower than industry average in J.D. Power and Associates Insurance Claims Study
The results of amsurvey by J.D. Power and Associates - may have come as a shock to the nation's number three auto insurer, Progressive, but not to the post-repair inspectors and vehicle owners who have seen all too frequently the inferior quality work coming out of Progressive's Concierge body shops. In fact, to say quality is anything better than poor, based on what I've seen, would be a gross understatement. Progressive's customers obviously agree with me.
The J.D. Power and Associates Insurance Claims Study reported that repairs undertaken through Progressive's network of fifty-four Concierge repair facilities in thirty-nine of the nation's major metropolitan markets are little faster, and a little less expensive than the industry average. For that, Progressive is to be praised.
But there is a different story to tell when it comes to quality [see footnote]. Concierge customers ranked repair quality they received below industry average - even lower than the quality Progressive customers received when they elected to have cars repaired in shops other than Concierge.
Moreover, Progressive's Concierge shops follow only Allstate for bragging rights to the industry's highest failure rate, which causes claimants to be burdened by the need to make return trips to body shops to correct work that wasn't fixed right the first time.
Says the study, "If there is a clink in the armor for Progressive, it is that the end product, the vehicle repair, lags the industry both in terms of customer perception of quality as well as necessity for repeat visits to the body shop, which work to drive back up the claims costs saved due to the concierge business model."
What is especially bad for Progressive is that as a result of the insurer taking direct control of the repair - everything from the initial estimate to the final inspection - customers see Progressive as being directly responsible for the quality of the job. And isn't that the way it should be when an insurer wants to act as the repair expert and call the shots during the repair at the body shop?
Consumers are not fools
Generally speaking, consumers by and large accept at least some personal responsibility for the outcome of a collision repair job, especially when they are involved in the decision making process. When the job doesn't turn out right these consumers will often blame poor quality work, in large part, on body shops they chose to deal with, even in cases where the insurer pressured them into selecting from a preapproved list. This is the rule among competitors of Progressive.
But Progressive is the exception to the rule; 63 percent of Concierge customers blame their substandard repair directly on Progressive, the insurance company that took their money in exchange for the right to stand in their place in dealings with the body shop. As far as consumers are concerned, the hand-off approach that Progressive advertises makes the insurer solely responsible for the outcome of the repair whether good or bad.
According to J.D. Power and Associates, 48 percent of a customer's overall impression of his/her insurer is driven by their claims experience. The worst part for Progressive is that we know from historical data that customers who are to some degree dissatisfied are more apt to shop for coverage among other insurance companies, and are less likely to renew policies with the same insurer.
Can Progressive turn customer opinion of Concierge around?
Progressive's Concierge service already rates high for courtesy and friendliness of its staff who meet personally with claimants to obtain authorizations, take the keys, explain the repair process and provide them regular updates while the car is out of commission. Consumers favor this personal approach above that of the impersonal call center whose customer service employees are faceless and seemingly less empathetic to accident victims.
But Progressive can't forget that collision repair is, first and foremost, about repairing the car to preloss condition. Everything outside of performing the needed repair is of less importance, including to some degree, daily communication with the claimant.
Most consumers expect to be treated politely by claims staff, and there are no extra points for doing what's expected of you. But I think I speak for the majority of consumers when I say emphatically the most important consideration is getting the repair right the first time. That's an expectation, too. In fact, if every time a consumer looks at his/her car he or she believes they got the high-quality repair they expected and paid for, they'll be more willing to put up with the shortcomings of the claims department staff.
Often collision repair shops have blamed Progressive for hiring young, inexperienced, college-educated females and paying them an above average wage to don their short skirts and high heels and beat consumers and shops down to the bottom dollar without even knowing the nomenclature of parts on a car. On the surface it may seem to some to be a good move to pay an inexperienced employee a few dollars per hour to negotiate a reduction in hours from a repair shop estimate normally billed at more than $40 per hour. However, in my opinion, if Progressive is to turn its Concierge program around and gain the confidence of its customers, it will have to pay money sufficient to attract better quality shops into its program, even if those shops refuse to negotiate on how a car should be repaired and the amount of money it takes to accomplish the repair.
Unfortunately for Progressive, body shops on the high end of the quality spectrum won't likely see the need to negotiate with insurance staff that lacks an understanding of vehicle safety and crashworthiness - even when the negotiator looks like a Cover Girl model. So it will have to step up to more experienced adjusters as well.
Now that I've had my rant, here is my advice to Progressive: Spend more money in the shop where additional claims dollars can buy higher quality parts and labor. Save the money you're spending employing cute girls whose jobs are to negotiate and con customers into believing they received a good job even when they didn't. While the present approach may have seemed innovative and forward thinking to the bean counters, take it from one on the streets looking at the work everyday. The Concierge claims model ain't workin' and your customers in the 2007 J.D. Power and Associates Insurance Claims Study just told you so.
**NOTE** Often consumers asked to rate the quality of repairs don't understand the intricacies of collision repair well enough to spot anything less than the most glaring of deficiencies. Therefore, it is with all probability that the number of consumers dissatisfied with repairs at Concierge facilities would be much greater than the number found in the The J.D. Power and Associates Insurance Claims Study if repairs were to have been viewed through the eyes of an auto inspector knowledgeable in collision repair techniques for the brand of car being scrutinized.
This post sponsored by; Bernard's Advanced Collision.
