You pick the shop. Not your insurance company.

Can my insurance company make me use their shop?

No. Under Texas law, an insurer can suggest a repair facility. It cannot condition your coverage on using that facility, and it cannot deny coverage just because you went somewhere else.

What it can do is keep a network. Most carriers run one — you will hear it called a direct repair program, or DRP. Shops in the network agreed in advance to certain rates and certain procedures. That agreement is between the shop and the insurance company. You were not part of it, and you are not bound by it.

So when the adjuster says "we recommend," that is accurate. When anyone says "you have to," that is not.

Why does the adjuster push one shop so hard?

Because it is easier on their side, and that is not a conspiracy — it is arithmetic.

A network shop has pre-negotiated labor rates, a standing agreement on parts, and a direct line into the carrier's system. Files move faster. Fewer phone calls. Less back and forth over a supplement.

The trade-off is that the shop with the pre-negotiated rate has two customers: you and the company that sends it volume. Most of the time that works out fine. When it does not, the disagreement is about who absorbs a cost, and you are the one driving the result home.

That is the whole tension, stated plainly. It is not a reason to refuse the recommendation. It is a reason to know you are allowed to weigh it.

Does it cost me more to pick my own shop?

Usually not, and the answer is more specific than yes or no.

Your policy pays what it considers a reasonable cost to repair the vehicle. That number does not change based on which shop you pick. What can differ is the shop's estimate — and when a shop's estimate is higher than the carrier's, the two of them negotiate. That negotiation is called a supplement, and it happens on almost every job of any size, in network or out.

The row that matters is the fourth. A shop outside the network has one customer, and how well your file moves depends on whether it is willing to do the work: documenting the repair and answering your adjuster's questions about it.

Ask that question directly before you leave the car anywhere.

How soon will someone actually look at my car?

Ask for that date specifically. It is the question people forget, and it is usually the one that costs them the most time.

Everybody asks how long the repair takes. The wait that actually hurts comes earlier — the wait before anyone opens the file, walks around the vehicle, and writes down what is wrong. Nothing moves until that exists. Not the adjuster, not the parts order, not the schedule.

So when you call a shop, ask two separate questions and listen for two separate answers:

1. When can you look at it?
2. When can you start the repair?

If the answer to the first one is a date next week, that date is the real start of your claim, and every other date moves behind it.

We have seen what that wait turns into. Cars have arrived here after sitting somewhere else for more than two months, still waiting on the first estimate. Not on parts. Not on the repair. On the estimate. Sometimes the shop was backed up. Sometimes the claim was stuck on the carrier's side. Either way the owner had no vehicle, no paperwork, and no way to tell which of the two was holding it.

That is not everyone's experience, and we are not going to pretend it is. It is what has come through our door, and it is why the question above is the first one on our list.

At United Auto Works, the answer to the first question is today. Walk in during shop hours and we go over the whole vehicle and write down every damaged part and what it needs — about thirty minutes, and the report is yours to keep whether or not we do the work. Then we schedule the repair.

What do I actually have to do?

Four things, and none of them require you to argue with anyone.

1. Tell the adjuster where the car is going. You do not need permission. You need them to have the address so the file goes to the right place.
2. Get the claim number. It is the only piece of information the shop genuinely needs to start.
3. Ask the shop who talks to the insurance company. If the answer is "you do," you have just found out what the rest of the claim will feel like.
4. Get the damage in writing before anything is authorized. Not a verbal number. A written list of what is damaged and what it needs.

You do not need an appointment for any of it. Text photos of the damage to (806) 808-0990 and we send back a free estimate in minutes. Walk in during shop hours and the fourth step happens the same day, or call or text and we will book you a time.

What if I already dropped the car at their shop?

You can still move it.

Nothing about leaving the car somewhere signs away the choice. Call the shop, tell them you are picking the vehicle up, and tell your adjuster where it is going. If any work has already started, you will owe for what was done — ask for that number before you move.

Move early if you are going to move. It is simpler on the first day than on the fourth.

What should I look for in the shop I pick?

Six questions, and the answers should be immediate.

• When can you look at it? Not start it — look at it. Get a date.
• Who calls my insurance company — you or me?
• Do I get the damage in writing, and do I keep it?
• What happens if you open the panel and find more damage? (You want to hear the word supplement, and you want to hear that they handle it.)
• Will you tell me if the repair is not worth doing?
• What happens to the cameras and sensors after the repair? Modern vehicles use them for lane keeping and emergency braking, and some repairs move them out of position. The shop is responsible for getting them recalibrated before the car leaves.

A shop that gets uncomfortable at question one is telling you something useful.

We work with every insurance company. Bring us the claim number and we send your insurer our estimate, the photos, and any supplement, and we answer the adjuster's questions about the repair. Coverage and settlement decisions stay between you and your insurer.

Text photos to (806) 808-0990 for a free estimate, or walk in at 4712 Englewood Ave.

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