If you are in a car collision, forget for a minute who is at fault. The insurance company will try to repair your car with used parts. They won’t try, I was too nice. They will repair your car with used parts! How can this be legal? I think this is very unfair, but it is nevertheless perfectly legal. Insurance companies across the United States are cutting costs and repairing cars with cheaper parts. Forget the original manufactured parts; you get some nice parts of taiwan. What if none are available? You will get a nice recycled piece from a junkyard!
In other words, your BMW will not receive genuine BMW parts; you will get something of lower quality. Adjusters will argue that this used part, second-hand parts, remanufactured parts, original equipment manufacturer (OEM), or after-market parts are just as good, if not better, than the originals. I think this is a questionable statement.
I hate to report that this is very “normal” for all insurance companies. Your carrier and the carrier of the person who hit you will do the same. They will set the price for the cheapest parts to repair your car. It gets worse. The insurance company will also make sure that you don’t go to the dealer for repairs. You have to go to a body shop that has a “reasonable and necessary” labor fee. Insurance companies argue that the dealership’s hourly rate is much higher than the average auto body shop in your area and therefore unreasonable. They only owe reasonable expenses, so you will carry the bag. It doesn’t matter that you have automatic collision coverage and full coverage. The insurance company will fight you over this.
How can they get away with it? Insurance companies are very good litigators and lobbyists. The theory is that insurance companies owe you “to return you to the position you were in before the accident.”
They argue that at the time of the accident you had a “used vehicle” (unless you had just pulled out of the parking lot). Since your car is used, its parts are used. Therefore, they will only pay for used parts. If no used parts are available, then they will “allow” new parts, but only OEM parts (made in countries outside the US).
So what are your remedies? How can you protect yourself? This is one that is difficult to combat because most attorneys will not be involved in motor vehicle crashes that do not involve some type of bodily injury. Then you will have to fight alone. You can do one of two things. You could pay the difference between the second-hand parts that the insurance company wants to buy and the original parts that you need. You would also have to pay the difference between the labor rates.
You can also request a letter of guarantee directly from the insurance company. A letter of guarantee is a document in which the insurance company agrees to repair your car in case you have any problems with the parts and / or the workmanship of the body shop. The damages must be directly related to the collision of the car in question. Insurance companies will try to look in the other direction when you request this letter. They will tell you to ask the body shop directly. Don’t let them do that. You want guarantees from the insurance company. They are the ones who tell you that these pieces are like new. If you ask and are firm, you can get guarantees in writing.
