Crash Champions has been sued multiple times in recent years over how it pays and classifies workers, most notably a Washington state class action that reached final approval in October 2025 for up to $2 million. A newer federal collective action filed in 2026 alleges the collision repair chain misclassified estimators nationwide and denied them overtime. The company also carries a heavy volume of consumer complaints about repair quality. Here is where each Crash Champions lawsuit stands and what it covers.
The $2 Million Washington Pay Transparency Settlement
Douglas Hein v. Crash Champions, LLC et al. was filed in Washington state court and removed to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington (Case No. 2:24-cv-01176-LK). The suit alleged Crash Champions posted jobs in Washington without the wage scale or salary range required by the state’s Equal Pay and Opportunities Act.1Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Equal Pay and Opportunities Act
The class covers anyone who applied for a Crash Champions job in Washington between January 1, 2023, and April 10, 2025, where the posting did not include the required pay information.2Crash Champions Settlement. Hein v. Crash Champions Settlement Crash Champions denied the allegations and any liability but agreed to settle.3ClaimDepot. Crash Champions Settlement
The settlement fund ranges from roughly $1.22 million to a maximum of $2,065,300, with the final figure tied to the number of valid claims.4ILYM Group / Court Filing. Hein v. Crash Champions Settlement Notice Eligible class members who filed a valid claim share the fund equally, with estimated individual payouts of at least $651.35 and a possible ceiling of $5,000. Deductions include up to $609,263.50 in attorneys’ fees, up to $10,000 in litigation costs, and a $10,000 service award for the named plaintiff.3ClaimDepot. Crash Champions Settlement
The court granted preliminary approval on May 30, 2025, and held the final approval hearing on October 16, 2025.4ILYM Group / Court Filing. Hein v. Crash Champions Settlement Notice According to ClaimDepot, the settlement received final approval that day, and the administrator, ILYM Group, Inc., began issuing checks of $1,061.91 per approved claimant in January 2026.3ClaimDepot. Crash Champions Settlement
Why the Case Was Worth $2 Million
Washington’s Equal Pay and Opportunities Act requires employers with 15 or more workers to include the “most reasonable and genuinely expected” wage range in job postings, along with a description of benefits. Vague language like “and up” does not qualify.1Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Equal Pay and Opportunities Act Under the version of the law in force during the class period, each noncompliant posting exposed an employer to $5,000 in statutory damages per applicant, which is how a routine posting practice can produce a seven-figure class action.
Washington later softened the law through Substitute Senate Bill 5408, signed by Governor Bob Ferguson on May 20, 2025, and effective July 27, 2025. The amendment replaced the flat $5,000 penalty with a sliding scale of $100 to $5,000, added a five-business-day cure period once an employer receives written notice, and eliminated liability for third-party sites that scrape and republish postings.5Washington State Legislature. SB 5408 Bill Summary The Hein class period ended before those changes, so claims were valued against the older, more punitive framework.
The 2026 Overtime Collective Action
On May 12, 2026, Glenn Lucero filed a collective and class action against Crash Champions in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Case No. 1:26-cv-05476), alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act.6Justia Dockets. Lucero v. Crash Champions LLC The complaint targets the company’s treatment of employees in the “Estimator” role.
According to the complaint, Crash Champions classified Estimators as exempt salaried employees from at least December 2020 through January 2025, even though their duties were non-managerial and did not involve independent discretion on significant matters. On that theory, the employees were owed overtime for hours over 40 per week that they never received.7ClassAction.org. Lucero v. Crash Champions LLC Complaint
When Crash Champions reclassified Estimators as hourly, non-exempt employees in January 2025, the suit alleges, the company did not pay back wages for the earlier misclassified period. It also claims that after reclassification the company kept miscalculating overtime by leaving non-discretionary bonuses out of the regular rate, specifically “ATE” sales bonuses and monthly “Transition” retention bonuses.7ClassAction.org. Lucero v. Crash Champions LLC Complaint
The proposed FLSA collective covers all U.S.-based Estimators classified as exempt and paid on salary between May 12, 2023, and January 6, 2025, who worked more than 40 hours in at least one week. A second proposed collective covers non-exempt hourly employees nationwide who received commissions or non-discretionary bonuses and worked overtime within three years before filing. The plaintiff demanded a jury trial and seeks back pay, liquidated damages, and attorneys’ fees.7ClassAction.org. Lucero v. Crash Champions LLC Complaint As of mid-2026 the case is in its early stages, and plaintiffs’ counsel is seeking additional employees to opt in.8ClassAction.org. Crash Champions Overtime Lawsuit
Other Employment Cases
A separate FLSA overtime suit, McIntyre v. Crash Champions, LLC (Case No. 2:25-cv-01665), was filed October 24, 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The court stayed the case on December 29, 2025 and dismissed it on January 23, 2026. The publicly available docket does not state the reason for the dismissal.9CourtListener. McIntyre v. Crash Champions LLC
In California, a class action filed in October 2022 in Los Angeles County Superior Court (Case No. 22STCV34689) named MT Collision Centers, Inc., MT Collision Centers, LLC, and Crash Champions, LLC. Named plaintiff Maria Vazquez alleged failure to pay minimum and overtime wages, denied meal and rest breaks, unreimbursed business expenses including personal cell phone use, inaccurate wage statements, and untimely final wages, along with unfair competition and PAGA claims.10Zakay Law Group. Vazquez v. MT Collision Centers ComplaintClass Action Lawsuit Against MT Collision Centers and Crash Champions
Steckiewicz v. Crash Champions (Case No. 2:25-cv-05421) was filed September 19, 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania before Judge Mark A. Kearney. The docket categorizes it as a civil rights employment matter; specific allegations are not detailed in the public summary.11Law360. Steckiewicz v. Crash Champions
Consumer Complaints About Repairs
Outside the courts, Crash Champions has drawn a heavy volume of customer complaints. As of mid-2026, the Better Business Bureau profile for the company’s Westmont, Illinois headquarters lists 293 complaints filed over the preceding three years, 259 of them categorized as service or repair issues.12Better Business Bureau. Crash Champions LLC BBB Complaints The BBB customer review score sits at 1.19 out of 5 stars across 134 reviews.13Better Business Bureau. Crash Champions LLC BBB Customer Reviews
The complaints follow recognizable patterns. Workmanship comes up most often: paint overspray, mismatched parts, loose body panels, and components that fail shortly after service. Some customers reported that repaired parts, including bumpers and wheels, detached while driving.14Better Business Bureau. Crash Champions LLC BBB Complaints – Page 12 Delays are a recurring theme, with repairs stretching months past initial estimates. Communication problems also show up frequently, with customers describing unreturned calls and difficulty reaching assigned representatives. Several reviews allege that managers denied responsibility for visible defects, sometimes attributing damage to pre-existing conditions.13Better Business Bureau. Crash Champions LLC BBB Customer Reviews Other complaints involve missing personal property, disputed storage fees, and allegations that insurance funds were misapplied. Of the 293 tracked complaints, 224 were categorized as “answered” (meaning the business responded but the consumer did not confirm satisfaction) and 69 were marked resolved.
About the Company Being Sued
Crash Champions was founded in 1999 by Matt Ebert as a single shop in New Lenox, Illinois. It rebranded in 2014 and expanded rapidly after private equity firm A&M Capital Opportunities took a majority stake in 2019 when the company had eight locations.15A&M Capital Opportunities. A&M Capital Opportunities Announces Sale of Crash Champions Its 2022 merger with Service King Collision, backed by Clearlake Capital Group, added more than 330 shops and pushed the combined company past 550 locations and 9,200 employees.16Clearlake Capital Group. Crash Champions Announces Growth Investment From Clearlake and Strategic Transaction With Service King Crash Champions now describes itself as the third-largest collision repair operator in the country and the largest still founder-led, with Ebert continuing as CEO.17Crash Champions. Our History The company operates more than 650 locations across 38 states.