Your Right to Choose Your Repair Shop
After an accident, the insurance company may hand you a list of "preferred" or "network" shops. Here's the part many drivers don't know: in Texas, the choice of repair shop is yours.
What Texas law says
Texas law prohibits insurance companies from requiring you to use a particular repair shop as a condition of covering the repair. An insurer may recommend shops from its network, but it cannot force the choice — and it cannot deny an otherwise covered claim just because you picked a shop outside its network.
What a "preferred shop" list actually is
Insurer networks (often called direct repair programs) are business arrangements between insurers and shops. Network shops can be perfectly good — but the list exists for the insurer's convenience as much as yours. Being outside a network doesn't make a shop worse, and being on one doesn't make a shop better. What matters is the quality of the work and who the shop answers to: at Pronto Body Shop, we work for you, the vehicle owner.
How to exercise your choice
- Tell the adjuster which shop you've chosen — simply saying "I'm having it repaired at Pronto Body Shop, 1420 Myrtle Ave, El Paso" is enough.
- Give the shop your claim number and the insurer's contact information.
- Let the shop and the insurer coordinate from there. We handle that communication for our customers every week.
If you feel pressured
If an adjuster implies your claim will be slower or smaller because of the shop you chose, you can ask them to point to the policy language that says so — your policy is the contract that governs the claim. You can also contact the Texas Department of Insurance, which regulates insurer conduct in the state.
We've been El Paso's family-owned body shop since 1979, and our owner's 20+ years in the insurance industry means we know both sides of this process. Read next: whose insurance pays.