Your Right to Choose a Repair Shop
In California, you — not your insurer — choose where your vehicle is repaired. Here's what that right covers and how to use it calmly.
The short answer: in California, the choice of repair shop is yours. Your insurance company may recommend shops in its direct-repair network, and those recommendations can be genuinely convenient — but a recommendation is all they are. Under California regulations, an insurer cannot require you to have the vehicle repaired at a specific shop.
What insurers may and may not do
An insurer may suggest network shops and explain their benefits. It may not tell you a repair won't be covered because of the shop you chose, and it may not steer you with misleading statements about a shop you've selected. If you've chosen your shop, a simple sentence is enough: “I've selected my repair shop; please work with them directly.”
Coverage decisions — what the policy pays for — always remain with the insurer. Choosing your own shop doesn't change your coverage; it changes who advocates for the quality of the repair.
How we fit in
Once you've chosen GEM Collision, we help coordinate with your insurer: sharing the estimate and photos, documenting supplements when disassembly reveals more damage, and answering the adjuster's questions. You stay in control; we handle the back-and-forth.
Working through an insurance claim?
You choose the shop. We help manage the repair — documentation, supplements, and adjuster communication.