Belt Auction

Why do they cut the seat belts in newer cars after a collision?

Under orders from the Insurance company our body shop cut both front seat belts in our car the moment it was delivered to them after a heavy collision with a deer. Why do they do this? The vehicle in question is a 2006 Malibu Maxx. Normally I would not care, but the cutting of the seat belts almost brought the cost of repairs to the point where they were going to write off the car.

Public Comments

1. Seat belts and crash helmets are designed to work ONCE. They are making sure no miserly fool re-uses them.
2. this is to minimize the liability. the insurance company does not want to pay on a claim where there may have been a faulty seat belt used at the time of a collision you could dispute or argue with them about the cost of cutting the belts. you could have offered to cut them yourself at no cost. remember this. what the insurance company says is not gospel. everything is open for discussion. It's an adversarial process just like the court system. they are the enemy and will try to pay as little as possible and would fight to the death to keep every penny. you need to be just as aggressive. what you get from them depends on how good your argument is. trust me I have been successful against them.