Insurance Repair Talk

Jun 30, 2026

By Gene Petty | All Access Podcast, Dent Repair Now

There's a problem brewing in the PDR industry, and it's not a new dent tool or a tough panel. It's the insurance industry — and it's getting worse.

A Real Claim, A Real Mess

A customer brought in a truck with serious damage — what looked like a deer hit that left feet of damage across the rear door, in front of the wheel well, and on the bedside. After a FaceTime walkthrough with his tech Shannon, Gene Fetty of Dent Repair Now wrote the job at $4,800. Significant work, but fair.

The customer filed a claim. The insurance company ran a photo estimate through their app and came back at roughly $3,000. That part wasn't a surprise — Gene preps every customer for low photo estimates. What was a surprise came later.

The Adjuster Who Refused to Come Out

When Gene filed for a supplement and the assigned adjuster called back, he wasn't calling to schedule a visit. He was calling to say he wasn't coming. Period.

"You're not a body shop. We wrote this for conventional repair. We're not wasting our time."

Gene has been doing PDR insurance claims since 2008. In 18 years, he had never once had an adjuster refuse to inspect a vehicle. The adjuster hadn't seen the car. Didn't want to. The estimate was the estimate, and that was that.

How a Speakerphone Turned the Whole Thing Around

Gene called his body shop partner Joey, who came by, looked at the truck, and agreed immediately — the door needed a full skin replacement. Not a repair. A door.

Joey texted the original adjuster, Jim, who called him back. What Jim didn't know was that he was on speakerphone, with Gene standing right there. Jim began venting about the "dent guy" being out of his mind.

"He's standing right here," Joey said.

Dead silence.

The conversation that followed was direct but professional. Gene didn't ask for a PDR premium — he just asked for a fair, properly written conventional estimate. Jim agreed to come out Tuesday. Progress.

The Systemic Issue: Virtual Estimating Is Failing Everyone

The speakerphone moment made for a good story. But it shouldn't take a moment like that to get an adjuster to look at a car.

Insurance companies have been pushing photo-based estimates for years, but the shift has accelerated — and gotten stranger. Rather than routing photo claims to centralized call centers, some insurers are now pushing them to local adjusters to write virtually. The result: adjusters who are already overworked are writing estimates on cars they've never seen, based on photos that can't capture the full extent of damage.

Gene's theory on why: insurers know a large percentage of claims will never be repaired. Every dollar they short on an estimate that goes unchallenged is a dollar saved. It's not a bug in the system. It might be the feature.

Erie Insurance Is Pulling Field Adjusters — And That's a Problem

For PDR shops in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, Erie Insurance has long been the gold standard — fair, professional, great to work with on both the policyholder and repairer side. That reputation was built, in part, on in-person adjusters who could see damage with their own eyes.

Gene recently learned that Erie is pulling all of its in-person automotive adjusters from the field before year end. Every claim goes virtual.

For shops doing serious collision PDR work, this is a significant setback. The relationships that made things work — the adjuster who knew your work, trusted your estimate, and didn't make you fight for every line item — are going away.

What PDR Shops Can Do Right Now

Collision Hub's Kristin Feller gave a talk on insurance claims handling at a recent industry event that Gene recommends highly. The core message: adjusters are increasingly script-driven, and the language you use matters more than ever. Generic pushback won't work. You need specific, documented, manufacturer-backed language to counter scripted denials.

For example, when an insurer says calibration isn't required after a bumper removal, the correct response isn't frustration — it's pulling the OEM procedure for that specific vehicle that states otherwise, and citing it by document and version.

That kind of preparation takes time. But for shops where insurance work is a significant revenue driver, it's not optional.

The Conversation the Industry Needs to Have

Gene is asking PDR professionals — especially those doing collision and smash work — to share what they're experiencing. What's different this year? Where are the delays? What's working when you push back?

The PDR industry has made enormous strides on the collision side over the past decade. Better tools, better techniques, and hard-won credibility with insurers. The shift to virtual estimating threatens to erase much of that progress.

The answer probably isn't buying a blow-up paint booth — though Gene floated it — but it is going to require the industry to think strategically about how it communicates, documents, and advocates for fair compensation.

PDR Expo 2026

Gene will be presenting at PDR Expo 2026, September 25–26 at The Rio in Las Vegas. His session covers cold glue from the ground up — theory, technique, and a live hands-on segment where attendees will do actual repairs on a live car. Details at pdrexpo.com.