We Work With All Insurance Companies
Your insurance company does not choose your body shop. You do. That is not our opinion. It is New Jersey law.
Whoever you are insured with, bring the claim to Kearny and we will handle the estimate, the adjuster and the paperwork.
Get an Estimate
Your Right to Choose Your Own Repair Shop
What New Jersey Law Says
New Jersey law, N.J.S.A. 17:33B-36.1, prohibits an insurance company from requiring you to use a particular repair shop. Your insurer may recommend one. It may tell you the process will be smoother if you do. It cannot make it a condition of your claim.
That distinction gets blurred constantly, usually not maliciously. An adjuster says "we'll get you into one of our shops" and it sounds like the procedure rather than an offer. Most people never realize there was a decision to make. There was, and it is yours.
Why It Matters Who the Shop Answers To
A shop that depends on one carrier for a steady stream of work has a relationship with that carrier to protect. That is not an accusation, it is just how incentives work. We have no such relationship with any insurer, because we are not on anybody's program. When we argue for an original manufacturer part or an extra operation, the only interest we are representing is yours and your vehicle's.
Licensed, Certified, and Independent
Mickey's Auto Body is a licensed New Jersey auto body repair facility, and our technicians are I-CAR certified, the industry's independent training and certification standard for collision repair. We have repaired cars, trucks and fleet vehicles from this shop on Schuyler Avenue for over two decades. None of that depends on an insurer's approval, which is rather the point.
How a Claim Works at Our Shop
Report the accident to your insurer as normal and tell them the vehicle is going to Mickey's Auto Body at 282 Schuyler Avenue in Kearny. Bring it to us and we will inspect it properly, taking panels off where the impact warrants it rather than doing a walk-around, and write you an estimate.
From there it is our job, not yours. We submit the estimate, deal with the adjuster, photograph and document any hidden damage found at teardown, and file the supplement to cover it. If a proposed repair would leave your vehicle short of factory standard, we say so and show why. You pay your deductible; the balance is settled with your insurer.
Written Estimates, Whatever You Decide
Estimates are written and carry no obligation, including when you are still working out whether to claim at all. On a smaller repair it is genuinely worth knowing the number before you involve your insurer, because a claim on the record can outlast the dent on the door.
Every Carrier, Personal and Commercial
We handle claims from every insurance company, including commercial fleet insurers, and we repair personal vehicles and commercial and fleet vehicles alike. The pages below cover the carriers we see most often in Kearny and the surrounding towns, but if yours is not listed, nothing changes. Bring us the claim.
- Written estimate, no obligation
- Estimate submitted to your insurer for you
- Adjuster negotiation handled on your behalf
- Hidden damage documented and supplemented
- You pay your deductible and nothing more
- Written workmanship guarantee on every repair
Claims We Handle Most Often in Kearny
State Farm
State Farm collision claims, handled directly with their adjusters. You choose the shop.
GEICO
GEICO collision claims, handled directly with their adjusters. You choose the shop.
Progressive
Progressive collision claims, handled directly with their adjusters. You choose the shop.
Allstate
Allstate collision claims, handled directly with their adjusters. You choose the shop.
Liberty Mutual
Liberty Mutual collision claims, handled directly with their adjusters. You choose the shop.
Nationwide
Nationwide collision claims, handled directly with their adjusters. You choose the shop.
USAA
USAA collision claims, handled directly with their adjusters. You choose the shop.
Travelers
Travelers collision claims, handled directly with their adjusters. You choose the shop.
NJM Insurance
NJM Insurance collision claims, handled directly with their adjusters. You choose the shop.
Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock collision claims, handled directly with their adjusters. You choose the shop.
Insurance Claim Questions
No, New Jersey law (N.J.S.A. 17:33B-36.1) prohibits an insurer from requiring you to use a particular repair facility, so the choice of shop is legally yours no matter what your policy says or what you are told when you report the claim. Your insurer may recommend a shop on its own program, and may tell you the process is simpler that way. Recommending is legal. Requiring is not, and steering you by implying otherwise is exactly what the statute addresses.
It depends on the type of claim and on fault: an at-fault collision claim commonly affects your premium at renewal, while a comprehensive claim such as hail, theft or falling debris generally does not carry the same impact, and a not-at-fault claim settled against another driver's policy usually does not either. Your carrier and your policy decide the specifics. It is worth asking them directly before you file, and worth having our written estimate in hand first so you know the real number you are weighing.
Compare the repair estimate against your deductible: if the repair costs little more than the deductible, or less, paying out of pocket usually makes more sense than filing, because you carry most of the cost anyway and avoid any effect on your renewal. Larger repairs, and anything structural, almost always justify a claim. We will write the estimate first, at no obligation, so the decision is made against a real figure rather than a guess.
No, your deductible is set by your policy, not by which repair shop you choose, so you pay us the deductible and the balance is settled directly with your insurer exactly as it would be at a shop on their program. Being independent means the repair standard is set here rather than negotiated down by a program agreement, which is the part that affects your car rather than your bill.
We photograph and document the additional damage, reference the manufacturer's published repair procedure and the part numbers involved, and file a supplement with your insurer to cover it, which is a routine part of almost every claim. Initial estimates are written from what is visible, and the damage behind a bumper cover or a fender is not. Finding it later is normal. Building the repair around a number that was never real is not.
Your insurer declares a total loss when the estimated repair cost plus salvage value passes a set percentage of the vehicle's actual cash value, commonly somewhere around seventy to seventy-five percent depending on the carrier and the policy. Structural damage moves a vehicle toward that line quickly. A documented estimate gives the adjuster a real figure to work from, and it is also what you need if you intend to dispute the valuation.
Yes, Mickey's Auto Body is a licensed New Jersey auto body repair facility and our technicians are I-CAR certified, which is the collision industry's independent training and certification standard. We have repaired cars, trucks and fleet vehicles from this shop on Schuyler Avenue for over two decades, and none of that depends on an insurer's approval.
Yes, we handle claims from every insurance company, including commercial fleet insurers, writing and submitting the estimate, dealing with the adjuster and filing any supplements on your behalf. We are not on any carrier's repair program, which means we handle every insurer the same way and push back when a proposed repair would leave your vehicle short of factory standard.
Yes, bring the vehicle to 282 Schuyler Avenue in Kearny and we will inspect it, document the damage properly and write you a detailed estimate with no obligation, whether or not you go on to file a claim or book the work with us. Having that estimate in hand before you speak to your insurer is the single most useful thing you can do for the claim.
