A former State Farm policyholder is considering filing suit against the company after she says there were attempts to coerce her into allowing her vehicle to be totaled.

New York resident Brittany Rosario took her car to Metro Auto Body, a repair facility her family has relied on for several years, after a truck clipped her bumper. Had it not been for the shop, Rosario told Repairer Driven News her car probably wouldn’t have been repaired.

“Their [State Farm] main concern was marking my car as a total loss and then anytime I would speak to them, it was just, ‘When will you sign your title over to us?’ They were not interested in fixing the problem,” she said. “What they did to me, I feel, was criminal. They literally tried to force me to hand over my car to them knowing that there was nothing really wrong with it.”

Kevin McSweeney, a Metro Auto collision estimator, worked on Rosario’s behalf to resolve the claim. He said the damage to Rosario’s vehicle was 36% of the 75% total loss threshold that is required under New York state law.

“We’ve been battling back and forth with State Farm for a couple of years now,” he said. “Most of our disputes have to do with labor procedures and labor rates. Now that State Farm went from original or recycled [parts] to aftermarket, it’s been a consistent battle.”

Copart CEO and Director Jeffrey Liaw noted during the company’s Q3 2024 earnings call in May that a 14% decrease in new and used vehicle prices, increased accident severity of 9%, and elevated repair costs drove a strong and continued recovery in total loss frequency back to pre-pandemic levels.

“[W]e note very different total loss practices across insurance companies, even for like vehicles, and so the dispersion of practices today indicates that there are insurance companies who are leaving money on the table by repairing cars they arguably shouldn’t in the form of, certainly, delayed and extended rentals they’re paying for as well as the repairs and the supplements themselves,” he said.

“It’s easier for any insurance company to say if the repair estimate exceeds X percent of the intact value, you total it. If it is less than that, you don’t. But in practice, you’re actually better off making individual vehicle decisions… If market circumstances were never to change, there still remains abundant opportunities to make decisions better and faster for insurance companies.”

Rosario’s vehicle was first deemed repairable by State Farm. However, Metro Auto disagreed with State Farm on using an aftermarket wiring harness, which McSweeney said would have voided the warranty.

“They ignored her the entire time,” McSweeney said. “They ignored us the entire time. We went as far as doing a state [insurance department] complaint. Nothing came of that. There was nowhere to go. We were backed against the wall just trying to do the right thing for this lady… In the end, we got it all done. She was very, very happy. She ended up canceling her policy with State Farm the day she picked up her car.

“I actually went as far as ordering the piece that they had told me to buy and I even sent them photos and said, ‘Hey, look, this piece does not fit this car. This is an aftermarket piece. You can’t guarantee and warranty the job this way,'” he said. “And then at that point, they just turned around, without any discussion with us or the customer, and said the car is a total loss.

When asked about Rosario’s claim and State Farm’s total loss process, a company spokesperson said, “State Farm has nothing to share with Repairer Driven News.”

Metro Auto eventually got payment for the repairs to Rosario’s vehicle through a third-party claim with the other driver’s insurance company since they were at fault for the collision, McSweeney said.

“With Metro [Auto] fighting for me, I feel that’s the only reason why I got my car back,” Rosario said.

McSweeney said he believes State Farm badly handled the claim out of retaliation for a lawsuit Metro Auto filed against them earlier this year on separate claims regarding alleged underpayment and breach of contract.

“We get along with just about every other insurance company,” he said. “Of course, we’ve had our disputes and disagreements but it’s never been like the way we deal with State Farm… There is really not another company that we don’t reach great prices with. It’s a shame because the guys [State Farm adjusters] that do come down here, they’re not bad people. It’s just their hands are tied. They’re not able to negotiate… We’re at the point where if we could see less State Farm, we would but they are taking over our market.”

Images

Featured image credit: JHVEPhoto/iStock

Images of Brittany Rosario’s vehicle before and after repairs provided by Metro Auto Body