What are the steps, from the wreck to the keys?
Ten steps. The first three are the ones that decide how the rest of it goes.
- You get a claim number. Call your carrier, or the other driver's carrier if they are accepting the loss. The claim number is the one piece of information a shop genuinely needs to start.
- The vehicle goes to the shop you picked. Not the shop the adjuster named. In Texas your insurer can recommend a shop and cannot require one — here is how that choice actually works.
- Someone writes down the damage. Every damaged part, and what each one needs — repair, replace, refinish. At United Auto Works this takes about thirty minutes, it is free, and the written report is yours to keep whether or not we do the work.
- That list goes to the insurance company. Photos, the report, the parts list. This is the document the whole claim runs on.
- The adjuster reviews it. Sometimes the carrier agrees with the list as written. Sometimes it comes back with questions or a lower figure. That back-and-forth is normal. Questions about our estimate and the repair come to us, and we answer them. Coverage questions stay between you and your carrier.
- You authorize the repair. Nothing gets taken apart before you say so. The insurance company pays what it approves under your policy; you approve the work.
- Parts are ordered. The vehicle is scheduled around when they land.
- The vehicle comes apart, and hidden damage shows up. This is the step nobody warns people about. See the next section.
- Body, paint, and reassembly. The panel is straightened or replaced, the color is matched and blended into the surrounding panels, and everything goes back together.
- Calibration, final check, and pickup. If your vehicle has cameras or sensors that the repair affected, they are recalibrated before the car leaves. Then the keys go back to you.
Why does the repair change after it already started?
Because the first estimate is written from what can be seen with the vehicle still together.
A bumper cover hides the reinforcement bar behind it. A quarter panel hides the brackets. Nobody knows what a bracket looks like until the cover comes off. When it comes off and there is more damage than the estimate listed, the shop writes it up and sends it back to the carrier as a supplement — an addition to the original estimate, with photos of what was found.
Supplements are not a sign that something went wrong. They happen on most jobs of any size. What matters is who chases them.
If the shop sends the supplement, calls the adjuster and answers the questions, you hear about it after it is approved. If the shop hands the supplement to you, your repair waits on how fast you can get an adjuster on the phone.
Ask which one it will be before you leave the car anywhere.
We send the paperwork. Bring us the claim number and we send your insurer our estimate, the photos, and every supplement, and we answer the adjuster's questions about the repair. Coverage and settlement decisions stay between you and your insurer.
Walk in at 4712 Englewood Ave during shop hours — no appointment — or call or text (806) 808-0990 if you would rather come at a set time.
Who does what — you, the shop, and the insurance company
| The work | Who does it | What it needs from you |
|---|---|---|
| Opening the claim | You | One phone call to your carrier |
| Choosing the shop | You | Tell the adjuster where the car is going |
| Writing the damage report | The shop | Bring the vehicle in |
| Sending photos and paperwork to the carrier | The shop | The claim number |
| Reviewing the estimate | The adjuster | Nothing |
| Documenting and discussing the supplement | The shop and the adjuster | Nothing |
| Authorizing the repair | You | A yes |
| Ordering parts | The shop | Nothing |
| Body, paint, and reassembly | The shop | Nothing |
| Recalibrating cameras and sensors | The shop | Nothing |
| Paying any deductible that applies | You | Your share of the repair bill |
Read the middle of that table. Everything between "bring the vehicle in" and the deductible is work somebody has to do, and the only question is who it lands on.
When do I pay my deductible?
If a deductible applies, it is your share of the repair cost, and it usually goes to the shop, not to the insurance company. Many shops collect it before the vehicle is released.
Your deductible is the part of the repair your policy leaves to you. The carrier usually pays the approved amount minus your deductible. Common comprehensive and collision deductibles are $250, $500, or $1,000, but yours is whatever your declarations page says it is.
Your deductible is set by your insurance policy, not by the shop. If your insurer applies a deductible to a covered claim, that amount is generally yours to pay under the policy. United Auto Works does not pay, waive, reimburse, or hide customer deductibles. If a shop offers to eliminate your deductible, make sure you understand exactly how that will be documented and presented to your insurer.
If you file directly with the at-fault driver's insurer and that insurer accepts liability, you usually do not pay your own policy's deductible. If you use your own collision coverage, your deductible may apply up front and may be recovered later through subrogation — a question for your adjuster, and worth asking early.
What happens to the cameras and sensors after the repair?
If your vehicle has lane keeping, automatic emergency braking, blind spot monitoring, or adaptive cruise control, some of that hardware lives in the parts that get repaired. A camera behind the windshield. A radar unit behind the bumper cover. A sensor in a mirror housing.
Move any of it, or replace the panel it sits in, and it has to be recalibrated — aimed again, precisely, so it knows where it is pointing. A camera a few degrees off is worse than no camera, because you will still be trusting it.
We are responsible for that recalibration when your vehicle needs it, and it happens before the car goes back to you. Ask any shop what it does about this, and ask before you leave the car.
What slows a repair down?
Four things, in the order we see them.
- The wait before anyone looks at the car. Nothing moves until the damage is written down — not the adjuster, not the parts order, not the schedule. Cars have arrived here after sitting somewhere else for more than two months with no estimate written yet. That is not everyone's experience and we will not pretend it is, but it is what has come through our door.
- The supplement round. Every time hidden damage is found, the file goes back to the carrier and waits for an answer.
- Parts. Some arrive in days. Some are on back order, and nobody on either end controls that.
- Silence. A claim with an unanswered question sits still. This is the one a shop can prevent, by calling instead of waiting.
We will not put a date on your repair here. That number depends on your vehicle, your damage, and your parts, and you get it from us with the estimate rather than from a web page.
Bring us the claim number. Walk in during shop hours and we go over the whole vehicle, write down every damaged part and what it needs — about thirty minutes — and the report is yours to keep. Then we schedule the repair.
Text photos to (806) 808-0990 for a free estimate, or walk in at 4712 Englewood Ave. We speak English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
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