If the insurance company or repair shop doesn’t agree, it’s often a loser. And that problem could get worse as key consumer protections quietly disappear from some automotive policies.
Evaluation rights, or RTAs, have long been a standard part of car insurance. This is a general provision that grants the policyholder the right to request a neutral third party assessment if the repair shop and insurance company do not agree to what will cost the repair of the vehicle after a collision.
But now repair experts say some insurance companies are removing clauses from their policies – and have begun pushing back laws requiring them to keep it.
In May 2025, two states passed bills to stop this new trend. Both laws – Texas Senate Bill 458 and Washington Senate Bill 5721- require insurers serving states to include valuation clauses in all auto insurance contracts. Other states may continue. Until then, in many parts of the country, the fate of this consumer rights has been kept in the hands of insurance companies.
How does evaluation rights work?
If you have comprehensive and collision coverage, i.e., car insurance that includes coverage for physical damage to the vehicle, the insurance policy likely includes a short clause known as an assessment clause or an RTA. If your insurance company and a collision repair shop are modifying your car, if there are differences of opinion about how much it will cost to repair your vehicle after a crash, you can call this clause and request a third-party rating to resolve the dispute.
Evaluation rights play a key role in the repair process, California body shop manager Andrew Batenhorst said he is handling dozens of RTA claims. With the increasing cost and complexity of repairing vehicles, insurance company repair estimates are increasingly diminishing to estimates created by repair shops.
“There will be disagreements,” he says. “However, there should be a mechanism in policy that allows independent parties to mediate these types of situations.”
In most cases, Batenhorst said consumers who invoke the right to valuation do so to avoid taking on large amounts of out-of-pocket costs for repairs that the insurance company doesn’t cover. “It’s not often,” he says, “When I use the ratings well, the insurance company is forced to pay fairly for the way the car is repaired, and it works.”
But he adds, “The insurance industry is not necessarily a huge fan of it.”
Why do insurance companies don’t want the right to be evaluated?
The right to assess grants consumers an important measure to resolve disagreements between repair shops and insurance companies during a car insurance claim. But Batenhorst says insurers are becoming more critical of the valuation process. “Most people don’t know,” he says. “However, most large companies are actively working to remove the provisions in their policies that grant valuation rights.”
That could be scary. After all, as Batenhorst points out, insurance companies rarely ask for a third opinion on how much repairs cost. So, if the appraisal clause is removed from the insurance contract, consumers may lose more than their insurance companies.
But behind the insurers’ ambiguity over RTA clauses is more than attempts to shake up from paying higher claims. Brandon Vick, the Pacific Northwest Regional VP of the National Association of Mutual Insurers (NAMIC), says that while valuation clauses remain standard for most insurers, there are concerns that expensive valuations could raise operating costs.
Take Washington State, where Senate Bill 5721 has just passed. Most state insurance companies already had these provisions, Vic said. But for those who don’t, the new requirement in the law to add valuation clauses could cause “some increase in rates.”
Vic is not the insurance industry member who expresses these concerns. Representatives from the Northwest Insurance Council and the American Real Estate Victim Insurance Association (APCIA) oppose SB 5721 in front of Washington state senators and argue that by requiring that assessment clauses should be requested in all automotive policies, more drivers will invoke the right to evaluate and therefore “reduce costs over time.”
Generally, we believe these are private contracts and that additional missions are likely to incur some cost.
– Brandon Vic, Regional Vice President, Pacific Northwest, Namic
Does the right to the assessment invoice increase the cost of car insurance?
Insurance lobbyists warn that embarking the right to assess under state law will reduce the cost of coverage, but how serious is the threat?
Let’s take a look at Rhode Island. Rhode Island is one of the only states in the country that has existing rights to the assessment law. Senate Bill 925 of 2023 revised the state’s Unfair Claims Practices Act to establish a legal right to assess all Rhode Island car policyholders, regardless of the status of their car insurance.
Auto insurance fees for two years after SB 925 came into effect on Rhode Island. I have it It has increased. However, that increase is much more reflected than changes in the Unfair Claims Practices Act. Markets such as increased vehicle theft, rising healthcare costs and a nationwide shortage of automotive technicians have all contributed to a 20% increase in Rhode Island’s auto insurance costs over the past two years.
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Changed from 2023 to 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island | $2,441 | $2,679 | $2,946 | +20% |
| US | $2,013 | $2,349 | $2,638 | +31% |
However, when average Rhode Island car premiums increased by 20%, the average national insurance costs increased by 31%. In other words, drivers in Rhode Island have actually seen car insurance premiums rise at a slower speed than the entire country, following the 2023 assessment law rights.
How the recent RTA bill has gained support from the insurance industry
Insurance organizations have expressed opposition to passing rights to application laws such as SB 5721 in Washington and SB 458 in Texas, but both bills have undergone major changes to make them more acceptable to insurers.
“One of the major changes we could secure” at Washington SB 5721 was the removal of the “insurer pays” provision. Under the original bill introduced in February, if the final decision on the appraiser’s losses was $500 more than the insurer’s estimate, the entire cost of the appraiser, including appraiser and attorney’s fees, will be refunded to the insurer.
The Texas RTA bill received a similar edit. An earlier version of SB 458, proposed in 2023 but not passed, specified that if the repair cost was found to be $1 more than the insurer’s initial estimate, the insurer would be required to assess the policyholder and pay its own. The versions set to take effect in September this year do not include such provisions.
Which states have the appropriate assessment measures?
Currently, there are only US states that currently have laws that require the right to be evaluated as part of a part of the law or a necessary part of all automobile insurance contracts.
In addition to Rhode Island, laws in Alaska and Massachusetts require insurers to include valuation clauses in all individual auto insurance contracts. In Virginia, there is no statutory requirement for insurers to include appraisal clauses, but standard automobile policies include this clause, and insurers that limit their valuations to only total losses may be in violation of Virginia Department of Insurance regulations.
And Texas and Washington are not just states proposing new assessment rights this year. In May, New Jersey lawmakers introduced a bill that required insurance companies to include RTA clauses in all automotive policies.
However, in most parts of the United States, the right to assess in the collision repair process is voluntarily recognized or revoked by the insurer. Also, while the valuation clause remains standard for most insurers, the passing of the new law indicates that it is becoming a cost that not all insurers are in charge.
How to protect your rights to evaluation
- Please check your policy: Don’t wait in the middle of a claim to read detailed prints of your automotive policy. Granting an insurance contract that understands your rights can help streamline the claims process (make sure you are in charge of proper coverage first).
- Consider shopping: If you are not satisfied with the current auto insurance policy provisions, we recommend you shop for an insurance contract with another insurance company. In addition to getting quotes, research how different carriers handle claims through user reviews and third-party ratings, such as the JD Power US Auto Claims satisfaction survey and the crash network insurance company report card.
- Compare the costs and benefits of valuation. If your policy includes evaluation clauses, understand the costs associated with requesting an evaluation and compare it with potential benefits.
- Keep an eye on your state’s automatic repair laws: More states could pass laws like Texas and Washington to promote stronger legal protections for the rights that crash repair advocates value.
