How body shops trick people into getting the repair job

Here's a little trick we used to do back in the day-

Sometimes, the person who wrecked will say, "I already have a body shop". And the chaser will say, "that's OK, let's just let them tow it to get the car off the street, you can work that out later."

The next day, the body shop calls the insurance company, posing as the customer, saying, "go write an estimate and let them fix my car." Then, they call the customer, posing as the insurance company, saying, "let's let them fix the car because they are a good body shop and we do a lot of business with them."

The deal is done and the car is getting fixed. Cha-ching.

Corruption in Chicago- Ambulance Chasers

I was an ambulance chaser for many years in Chicago. I have seen first-hand, how a 50-dollar bill can get a car towed into your body shop from any accident in Chicago. Of course, that was twenty years ago, so it's probably a hundred dollars now. The fact is, nine out of ten Chicago cops will play ball. That other one, the one that won't, is either about to retire and doesn't want to take any chances, or he will call his own chaser, one he trusts.

If you doubt it, all you have to do is get a police scanner, listen for accidents, then go to them. I guarantee you will see the same few people showing up at almost every accident. They will talk to the people who wrecked, sympathize with them, then offer to call a two truck for them. Helpful strangers, that's what they appear to be. They will tell you that their buddy, who owns a body shop, will take the car and bill the insurance company for the tow. most people will take this offer just to get their car off the street.

Then, of course, the body shop calls the insurance company and gets them to come out and write an estimate, which of course leads to them getting the job to repair it. Pretty slick, huh? Welcome to Chicago.