Laura Bertolli

This story will be aired tonight at 11 pm on Bay Area channel 7. Check out the pic when he was in the shop interviewing me for the story. Pretty cool, huh?

Today at 6 pm on ABC channel 7 in the Bay Area, I will be on Michael Finney's Seven on your Side segment. He did a story on aftermarket parts and the autobody industry. New legislation introduced in the California State Senate would penalize insurers that require repair shops to install aftermarket parts on a vehicle that is still under factory warranty. The bill (S.B. 1059) was introduced in January by Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) and sponsored by the Collision Repair Association of California (CRA). The bill is designed to prevent repairers and customers from inadvertently voiding the factory warranty on a vehicle in case of a failure caused by an aftermarket part. A few weeks ago, Michael, Sen. Migden, my customer, Tommy Kesecker and i were filmed for the piece at Bertolli's Auto Body. I support the bill. I'd love to hear from you if you see it.

to past and future customers of Bertolli's Auto Body. In this day and age of corporate greed, the insurance companies are making it harder for consumers to exercise their legal right to use the auto body repairer of their choice. There is an anti-steering law, but it is never enforced, so the insurance companies break the law all day long. Most people just don't want to fight for their rights and simply go where ever the insurance company tells them to go. This restraints fair trade and affects the quality of auto repairs. The shops on 'the list' are really extensions of the insurance company and the first thing on their mind is to save the insurance company money or risk losing the 'list' status. At Bertolli's , we're not on any list because we want to fix cars the way WE (the repair professionals) would want our car fixed, and at a fair price. Our customers have to be strong willed and courageous to stand up to the insurance company and say,