D.A.R.E and Chipio

[sunshine wr]

Thought everyone should lookout for this in your area ! On the way home from church today, my family and I stopped to get gas at our local Kroger gas station and low and behold, there were 5 young ladies and 1 young man doing FREE windshield safety inspections with the DARE Program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). I asked them what was going on, and they explained it to me. I asked them who they were with and they said DARE and I said, no who is the windshield repair company and they replied "Chipio." I gave them a business card and said no thank you. I proceeded to watch them do several surface chips. I came home, put on my uniform and got in my lettered business car, then proceeded to return to Kroger. I then watched them do several more surface chips and started explaining to their "technicians" that they were committing insurance fraud. The one young lady turned around and said to me, what is your name? I asked her how long she had been doing windshield repairs and she replied "6 weeks." I told her I have been doing windshield repairs for 10 years and that she was committing insurance fraud. She just looked at me and said "oh" and continued what she was doing. I contacted the store manager of Kroger and made him aware of what was happening on his property and he said he knew that the DARE Program was out there conducting WS safety inspections. I informed the store manager what they were doing was actually committing insurance fraud. The manager had already had complaints from customers prior to me speaking with him. After I had explained to him what they were really doing, he proceeded to shut them down and remove them from the premises.

I returned home and immediately contacted John Lindsay, VP of DARE, who to my surprise answered his phone on a Sunday afternoon and was quite intrigued to say the least at what was happening in the name of DARE. He advised me that he would look into this matter extensively and get back with me and was very appreciative of the information that I had provided him with.

So if anyone has Chipio in their area, and it appears they are using the DARE Program as sponsors, you might want to let Mr. John Linsday know immediately. His phone number is 310-433-5450.

We work too hard in this industry to allow this to continue. All your support is greatly appreciated! http://www.dare.com/chip_program.asp

[Frank EU]

Great post. Well done, mavericks like this should be banned forever.

[DryStar]

Good for you Sunshine!

I had a similar (not chipio) company working in my area that marketed 12 of our largest car washes for the last 6 years. Took me 3 years to to get them shut down. Unfortunately, they will just set up under a new company name and get away with it again until they're exposed once more. Not sure how much they scammed insurance and insureds for repairs during that period but it was substantial.

[jhickman1]

Im sure this is probably a stupid question to yall but could someone explain to me how you could determine and prove it was insurance fraud?

[sunshine wr]

yea they are here under 3 different names .
most of the people doing these "repairs" Are unaware what they are doing is fraud and not real repairs. they are doing what they've been shown and told were repairs after a "1-2 day training" period.

[sunshine wr]

Im sure this is probably a stupid question to yall but could someone explain to me how you could determine and prove it was insurance fraud?

billing insurance for surface chips as actual breaks is insurance fraud !

[Windshield911]

Im sure this is probably a stupid question to yall but could someone explain to me how you could determine and prove it was insurance fraud?

Usually those surface chips which I just call them "nicks" will never spread. Most windshields have them and I never do anything with them. If a customer is adamant about it , I'll throw a drop of resin in there and cure it w/o charging the customer. Billing insurance companies for this is unethical. Our #1 priority is prevent spreading of a chip, and these surface pits don't spread, so charging customers or their insurance for "fixing them" is a bad rep on the industry.

[sunshine wr]

Sorry if I broke forum rules in this topic - moderators feel free to edit with no hard feelings from me , but , I'm pretty worked -up over this !

[jhickman1]

Im sure this is probably a stupid question to yall but could someone explain to me how you could determine and prove it was insurance fraud?

billing insurance for surface chips as actual breaks is insurance fraud !

oh ok... I thought they were doin regular repairs

[Glasseye]

Claiming surface chip repairs as "full" repairs, from the insurance company in the UK, is recognised as fraud. The insurers do investigate and take action against guilty companies. The highest fine I am aware of was £1 million pounds.