"The reason I'm snapping them right between the eyes at the start is because I have no intention of settling," said Crozat, owner of G & C Auto Body, which operates shops in Santa Rosa, Petaluma and San Rafael, Calif. "I want to take them to the courtroom and get some of these issues settled. I don't intend to keep it quiet because I don't intend to settle it at any time. Why not turn the lights on and say, 'Everyone, let's sit down and watch this fight.'"

Crozat and his legal team gathered representatives of about 40 Northern California shops at a meeting in Sacramento this past November to discuss what shops can do to combat steering by insurers and to explain the type of documentation shops need to gather for a legal fight.

“You can't count on legislation. You can't count on the Department of Insurance. The legal system is the last potential remedy," attorney Mark Venardi of Venardi Elam in Walnut Creek, Calif., told those at the meeting in Sacramento.

Crozat said his goal with such meetings is to help shops struggling with the tactics he said State Farm uses to direct customers to its “Select Service” shops, and to the insurer's refusal to pay the labor rates of shops not on the program.

"I would like to see shops that have the same problems but don't know what to do or how to deal with it be in contact with some lawyers who are very capable and know the issues," Crozat said.

For its part, State Farm adamantly denies any allegations that it steers customers to or from any shops.

“It is the vehicle owner's choice where to have his or her car repaired, and State Farm supports that choice,” a company spokesperson said.

State Farm and some shop owners have even questioned Crozat's true motives in the effort.

“Gene Crozat has employed these types of tactics ever since he was removed from our Select Service program,” Bob Devereux, a spokesman for State Farm told BodyShop Business . “State Farm does not admit repairers to the program based on anything but program guidelines, and Crozat said he would stop his tactics if readmitted to the program.”

Peter Bizaca, a spokesperson for G & C, said State Farm's efforts to call into question Crozat's motives are misguided.

“It was inevitable that State Farm was going to fight back,” Bizaca said. “But our position is we're doing this for the greater good and not just so we can get back on their list. That's not the idea.”

Byron Orris, owner of Byron's Auto Body in Napa, Calif., was among those at Crozat's Sacramento meeting, and said he too has experienced State Farm's efforts to steer work away from his shop. Although he shares Crozat's views, he knows that Crozat has come to confidential settlements in similar legal fights with insurers, including GEICO, in the past. He questions how Crozat's company can participate in some insurer direct repair programs but complain about other insurers steering work away from G & C.

“If Gene sees it as a win to just to get back on (State Farm's) program, that's not a win for me,” Orris said. “Steering is not right no matter who you steer (work) to.”

But Crozat said his public approach to the State Farm lawsuit is based in part in his determination not to settle the matter privately.

“If I come up and slap you right in the face, I know we're going all the way,” he said. “So I said, ‘Why don't I start off by slapping them in the face?'”