A bill has introduced in the Minnesota House that aims to “prohibit an adjuster or insurer from certain actions relating to motor vehicle repairs and claims.”
The current law requires an insurer to provide the following advisory to the insured at the time a claim is reported:
“You have the legal right to choose a repair shop to fix your vehicle. Your policy will cover the reasonable costs of repairing your vehicle to its pre-accident condition no matter where you have repairs made. Have you selected a repair shop or would you like a referral?”
The bill, H 2919, aims to remove the portion of this advisory that asks, “Have you selected a repair shop or would you like a referral?”
The bill goes on to add the following proposed wording to the law: “An insurer is prohibited from attempting to influence the insured’s or claimant’s choice of repair shop.”
H 2919 also would prohibit insurers from:
- “[specifying] a price for a part or other materials necessary for the satisfactory repair of the vehicle; or [requiring] a vehicle to be repaired with a specific part or product solely because it is the least expensive part or product available;”
- “[requiring] a vehicle to be repaired with a part that costs less than the reasonable and necessary amount of the part. For purposes of this section ‘reasonable and necessary amount’ means the amount determined by the original equipment manufacturer and estimating systems required to repair a vehicle to the condition before the damage to the vehicle occurred;” and
- “[disregarding] a repair operation or cost identified by an estimating system, including the system’s procedural pages and any repair, process, or procedure recommended by the original equipment manufacturer of a part or product.”
The bill was introduced on May 20 and referred to the House Commerce Committee.
Click here for the full text of H 2919.