State law guides for collision repair shops

The guides

• Can the insurer make your customer use their shop?

  In most of these states, the law bars an insurer from requiring a customer to use a particular shop, though the conditions vary. Many also limit when an insurer may recommend a shop, usually by requiring it to tell the customer they are free to choose.

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• Who pays storage on a total loss, and what can a shop charge?

  Many of these states put a duty on the insurer: pay reasonable storage, or give notice and time to move the car before storage payments stop. The notice ranges from 72 hours in Florida to three working days in New Jersey, five calendar days in Washington, and "reasonable" notice in others.

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• Can a body shop keep the car until the bill is paid, and can it sell it?

  In most of these states a shop that repairs a vehicle at the owner's request has a lien for the bill, and many let it keep the car until paid. The lien usually depends on keeping possession, can be capped by the written estimate, and often ranks behind a lender already on the title unless the shop gives notice.

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• Can the insurer make you use aftermarket parts, and what must it disclose?

  Most of these states let the insurer write aftermarket crash parts, but only with disclosure: the estimate must identify each non-OEM part, and many require a notice, often in 10-point type, that the parts maker rather than the car maker provides the warranty. Several also require the parts to be at least equal to OEM in kind and quality, fit and performance.

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• Can your customer invoke appraisal when the insurer's number is too low?

  Only a few of these states require an appraisal clause or set out how appraisal works by statute or rule; Texas, Massachusetts and North Carolina go furthest. In most states appraisal is a matter of the policy's own wording, and the law speaks to it only in passing, for example when a total loss claim is reopened.

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• How does the insurer set the labor rate, and do labor rate surveys have rules?

  Very few states regulate labor rate surveys. California has the most detailed rules, Massachusetts passed a survey law in 2026, and a handful of states set a standard such as the prevailing competitive price or market price, or require the insurer to explain how it set labor costs.

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• Can the insurer cap paint and materials?

  Only a few of these states address paint and materials caps directly. California and Virginia bar capping by statute, and Illinois makes unreasonable caps on paint or materials an improper claims practice.

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• How long does the insurer have to respond, decide and pay a claim?

  Most of these states set day counts, but they differ in what starts the clock and whether the days are calendar, business or working days. Acknowledgment deadlines commonly run 10 to 30 days, decisions follow a completed proof of loss, and payment is often due within a set number of days after the amount is agreed.

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