Stop getting shafted when the insurance company totals the car.
How my shop made six figures in profit in a few weeks billing insurance for total losses, without paying a tech or doing a single repair.
You did all the work. Then they totaled it.
Then the adjuster tells you:
“We’re not paying admin fees.”
“We only pay storage up to our daily cap.”
“Sorry, there’s nothing we can do.”
What if total losses became the highest-margin work in your shop?
Results from my own shop. Yours depend on your claims, your state and your follow-through.
Real checks from my shop, on cars the insurance company totaled.
Every one of these cars was a total loss. We didn’t fix them, and we still got paid for our work, our lot and our storage. Customer names, claim numbers and bank details are blurred. The amounts are real. I started charging more and more as time went on.
11 checks, $109,124.40, all on totaled cars. These are my shop’s results in just a few weeks.
They threatened to sue. Then they paid in full.
A GEICO total loss, a 2020 Buick Encore. Our invoice was $10,422. The letter we got said only $2,041.20 of it wasn’t in dispute: take that and release the car, or face a lawsuit, a $100-a-day fine and their attorney.
A scary letter is a negotiating move. When your paperwork is signed and your charges are documented, you don’t fold.
The tow truck driver writing us a check for a totaled car.
The insurance company totaled it. We billed for our work, our lot and our storage, and the check got written at a table in our shop before the car was released.
This isn’t a theory. It’s a check, in my shop, on a car the insurance company totaled.
Meet DSM Negotiator, the Dent Shop Manager total loss software. It does the paperwork fight for you.
You’ve seen the checks. DSM Negotiator is the software we built to run that same process on every car: one place for each total loss, from the day it’s towed in to the day the check clears.
Its AI reads the insurance company’s emails and writes your replies. We spent countless hours on every way insurers try to get out of paying, and wrote a response for each one. Now it’s behind one button.
Demo case with made-up names and numbers.
From the tow-in to the check, step by step
You don’t write the letters, add up the storage or look up the law. You read what it wrote, send it, and deposit the check.
What 10, 20 or 30 total losses are worth
Find the row that looks like your season. Each bar is what you could bill on your total losses at $5,000, $7,000 or $10,000 per car. The black bar at the top is DSM Negotiator for a whole year.
Examples only, not a promise of results. Your numbers depend on your claims, your state and your follow-through.
At the low end, 10 totals at $5,000 is $50,000 against $1,999. The software is the black sliver at the top.
Everything you need to collect.
$1,999 a year, with the full Annual plan of Dent Shop Manager included.
- ✓ Customer total-loss guide What to tell the customer the day the car is totaled, so they stay on your side.
- ✓ Step-by-step negotiation instructions Every pushback the insurance companies use, and the response for each one.
- ✓ Authorization and work order forms The paperwork you need signed before the car is ever written up.
- ✓ DSM Negotiator The AI that drafts the letters and the invoice and keeps the file.
- ✓ The full Dent Shop Manager system Hail maps, canvassing, the claims CRM, paperwork and payroll, unlimited users.
Included: full access to the Dent Shop Manager system
DSM Negotiator comes with the Annual plan of Dent Shop Manager, the shop system it plugs into. Unlimited cars and team members, on the web and on iPhone and Android.
Doing it alone costs more than $1,999.
Most shops fight their first total loss with a phone call and a homemade invoice. The insurance company handles these every day. You handle a few a season, without the training, the customer guide or the scripts. The money you leave on the table while you figure it out is more than a year of the software.
One lowball you accept, or one car that leaves before you are paid, costs more than a year of DSM Negotiator.
Not legal advice. DSM Negotiator is software, not a law firm. Results are not typical or guaranteed.
On the training you will learn:
- → Why the insurance company owes you for the work you did before they totaled the car
- → How mechanic’s liens and the cost of adjusting a loss actually work, in plain English
- → The exact excuses adjusters use, and what to send back
- → How to bill admin, gate and storage on every total loss without losing the customer
Rather talk it through one on one? Book a time on my calendar
Straight answers.
Is this legal?
Yes. Everything we bill is backed by the law and by attorney-reviewed citations. The software cites claim-handling rules only where they exist for your state, and you review every letter before it goes out. It is not legal advice and not a law firm.
Do I need to be good at negotiating?
No. The software reads what the adjuster sent and drafts the reply. Your job is to read it and press send.
What does it cost?
DSM Negotiator is $1,999 a year, and it includes the full Annual plan of Dent Shop Manager. The training is free.
Does it work in my state?
You can bill for your work in any state. Where we’ve verified the law, letters carry attorney-reviewed citations. Everywhere else they argue from your facts and paperwork and cite no statutes. Lien and storage rules vary by state, so check yours.
What if the customer tries to pick up the car?
The car stays until the total loss bill is paid. The customer signed that in your contract, and that’s what a mechanic’s lien is for. Stay calm, explain the bill goes to the insurance company, and get the adjuster on the phone together.
Why do you give me a step-by-step guide?
Because getting paid starts on day one, not when the car gets totaled. The guide shows you what to get signed, what to document and what to say, so every total loss is one you can bill.
What if the adjuster pushes back?
Paste the reply in. The software reads the new tactic and drafts the next, firmer letter.
Results described are from the founder’s own shop and are not typical or guaranteed. Dent Shop Manager is software, not a law firm, and nothing on this page is legal advice.