At fault insurance company refusing to use OEM parts

Thanks for everyone's advice! I'm definitely going to keep pushing for OEM parts. Going to call some shops tomorrow and see what they say. If not, I'll check with my insurance to see what they can do. I'll also be trying to get DV. Does anyone have advice how to go about getting the before and after quotes? Would quotes from the dealership be sufficient, or would I need to look into hiring a 3rd party DV appraiser?

 

Nice find, I was just about to post to mention that. My favorite body shop is OEM only so that’s the only place I’ll go. Worked out for the hit and run on my truck and the soccer mom who backed into the wife’s car in the last year alone. Damn Jersey drivers...

Also nice to see you’re using State Farm. If you can’t make progress with the other insurance I’m sure SF will get that deductible back, particularly given the facts of this crash. But I’d recommend that as a fall back if you can’t get it worked out on your own. Good luck man!

Oh and it seems I get a chance to pull out the obligatory

 

Following. Curious to see how you prove diminished value other than selling at a loss over book value right after the repairs...

Also, I'm not surprised that those shit-for-brains insurance asshats wanna refuse OEM parts (side note: liberty mutual sucks because they do that too) but they shouldn't be able to get away with it. It's on thing if it's your insurance company paying for repairs to your truck after you wrecked it, because you sign a policy that says so. But OP never agreed to have his truck fixed with shitty China parts in the event somebody else wrecks it.
I would make damn sure to hound them until they fork over money for a proper repair. Not OP's fault their insured can't drive and who gives a crap about their shareholders returns. Not me...

 

In Washington State, I have had motorcycle and auto parts replaced with oem. In the case of the auto, I had to insist on oem and they reluctantly complied.

 

Most people aren't even going to look at the estimate unless they are paying out of pocket, so insurance companies get away with a lot.

In my experience, non-OEM parts usually have fit issues that cause extra work -- but the job only pays a certain number of hours. That said, most OEM parts have minor dings that have to be addressed, but that's a lot easier to deal with than a janky part.

 

You should be dealing with your agent, not with the at-fault party’s insurance company. I’m a long-standing State Farm customer, and they’ve always fought for what’s in my best interest. Hope things get resolved to your satisfaction.

 

Maybe it's a state-by-state thing, but I *always* go with claims through *MY* insurance company. They can deal with the asshole's budget insurance company. Let Mercury struggle to get payment from the General. Not my problem.

-Craig

edit: haha... I didn't see the comment right above mine, which basically said the same thing.

 

You have no idea what you are talking about. OEM is much higher quality than what is available aftermarket. You do want your panels to line up, right? You get what you pay for with OEM.

 

False.

In fact OEM does NOT mean its a Toyota part or manufactured by the same company who produced for the factory line. After the production year it basically just means OEM design equivilent.

I’ve had aftermarket/OEM equivilent replacement parts that were far superior than factory parts.

 

This. Depends on the part and the manufacturer.

 

Prepare to be underwhelmed. I was luckily one of the last cars hit, so the damages were really minor.

The accident also broke the top mounting bracket on the headlight assembly so my Taco’s driving around like:

 

Update: talked to the collision department at ES Toyota. Things like this is really common and said they deal with the insurance to either make them pay for OEM or the shop eats the difference. I’ll be going to them Monday to start the repairs and I’ll definitely make sure to get that statement in writing.

 

Not underwhelming at all, genius tie-in with Forest!

 

This. I was reading through the thread hoping someone posted this.

And if your agent gives you the shuffle, either find another agent and move your business and/or go over their heads. Most of these are like 'franchised'. Meaning while they should have the same quality responses, they may not.

The whole 'paying and waiting' sounds like malarkey, especially since there is a vehicle, and admission and a police report.

OTOH your driveable. If it takes patience to get your best result, so be it.

 

I was recently bumped and had the same questions. I was lucky in two directions in that first, the repair parts quoted for my rear bumper ran higher than OEM replacement panels and second, the bodyshop I use will push for OEM as part of the deal.

I'm hoping that when it goes in they just see damage on the end cap and the step. The woman that bumped me is trying to avoid a surcharge on her end and wants to pay for any supplemental damage out of pocket rather than go through insurance again (my initial check was under the surcharge threshold) and I'm trying to early some good karma by working with her and the shop to get my truck back to 100% without causing her insurance to shoot up.

That being said, I had an addendum on my policy that gave me OEM parts for 3 model years, although a model was considered new in June of the prior year (ie June 2015 for a 2016 truck). I think I'd prefer used OEM over new non-OEM based on my experience even using CAPA panels.

 

Update: I started to talk to my insurance and the main issue I ran into was that I did not have rental reimbursement on my policy because we had a spare car at the time. I’ll check into how much that is going forward. Getting the other insurance to pay for the rental if they weren’t going to do the repairs was going to be much more of a hassle than it was worth.

There has been hidden damages found so it’ll be longer than originally estimated. However, the insurance sent over an appraiser for the diminished value. They offered $2284.00 which is more than I started to think it’d be because the NADA and KBB value of my vehicle was only slightly more than $20k. They instead used the MSRP quoted by dealers in the area which was $28,550.

I honestly think it’ll be difficult to argue for a higher offer other than the fact that it is based on an arbitrary percentage. I know I shouldn’t accept the first offer but if I can’t find a reasonable argument why the offer was low I’ll probably accept it.

 

Winner winner chicken dinner. I used to be a buyer for LKQ, then an operations manager. LKQ is the largest vehicle recycler/salvager in the country and serve as the #1 source of OEM replacement parts, parts that are obtained through salvage. OEMs are required by law to only produce a limited amount of spare parts, and this number can be offset by the number of salvage parts available. In fact, it's not uncommon for damaged vehicles only 1-2 years deep in the model run to only have spare production parts available. After that, OEM parts (usually salvaged), OEM-quality aftermarket parts (CAPA certified), and cheapo aftermarket parts are your options. There is nothing wrong with salvaged or CAPA parts. There is a lot wrong with the cheapo aftermarket junk. Lumping them all together is also wrong, and treating them interchangeably shows ignorance in the subject. That being said, high quality/cost, CAPA certified parts are generally the best, unless by some miracle you can get production quality parts. Salvage OEM parts almost always require rework due to damage incurred from excessive handling, and body shops hate dealing with it.

Edit note: I'm mostly talking about vehicle body parts. Mechanical and interior parts are a whole other can of worms.

 

Another note, especially if you have headlamp assembly damage, those are one of the few components that are supplied by the OEM over a long period of time. Not even CAPA parts are as good as OEM, so make sure you get Toyota (or their supplier) replacements.