Actually, it could be any color, but blue is what we see more often. What I’m referring to is when a shop writes an estimate and provides photos with marks placed on parts in the photo that are included in their estimate. This is something that started showing up a few years ago. It was a bad idea then and has been a bad idea ever since. The reason is because it tends to lead the examiner to believe that if the part is marked, then replacement or repair is justifiable. That is not always the case.
Have you ever seen an item on an estimate marked “CR” or “OR”? If so, you’re probably dating yourself as being involved in the industry for a number of years. These acronyms were used by a body shop to put the examiner on notice that an item on the estimate was a “C”ustomer “R”equest or “O”wner “R”equest item. We don’t see that anymore and the reason is that the shops have drifted away from preparing estimates of collision or comprehensive damage only. The majority of estimates include repairing everything that is wrong with the vehicle, whether it is part of a claim, old damage or unrelated mechanical failure. Items that are marked blue and included on the estimate are often justifiable to the shop by saying it is up to the insurance company or examiner to determine whether or not an item is part of a claim. Shops have distanced themselves from the decision-making of what is part of a claim and what is not.
We have clients that allow us a certain amount of latitude when it comes to damage appraisals. If we receive a claim and a shop has prepared an estimate, then we have the clients authority to recommend payment based on the shop estimate or hire an outside, local appraiser to inspect or inspect it ourselves. One thing for sure is if we receive a claim with a “Blue Mark” shop estimate, the vehicle is going to be physically inspected.
There was a claim that spawned our decision to make more inspections. A truck at a well established dealership listed a steering box on their estimate. The steering box had the blue mark but when we reviewed the photos, we found it difficult to relate steering box damages to the accident. I personally drove 200 miles one way to inspect this truck and when I did, I found that not only had the steering box recently been changed, but the fluid lines were not even the same configuration for the truck on which the box was installed. After questioning the body shop foreman and service manager, I discovered that they had changed the steering box using the box off of our truck to repair one of their customers vehicles who was desperate to deliver a load. I did not even get an apology when it was obvious they were caught, trying to deceive us on this claim. The body shop foreman laughed, saying insurance companies rarely question his estimates.
We don’t see blue marks as often as we use too, but when we do we find major discrepancies almost 100% of the time.