Insurance Woes
Wednesday, November 26, 2008If you ever had a claim on your vehicle, and gone through the insurance company to get it fixed, then you might know what it’s like. First of all, they swear up and down that after market parts “meet or exceed” OEM. “If they don’t fit, we’ll replace it for OEM.” “The warranty for the aftermarket parts are 5 years, where OEM is only one.” Bottom line was that they would NOT use OEM, only after trying the aftermarket.
Fix-it day comes, and the bumper doesn’t fit right. Basically, the car is finished, except now the front bumper has to come off, returned (but it is painted already), a new OEM bumper shipped in, fitted, painted, finished. All this to save around $40 in the first place.
So, I’m not sure what to advise. You can cut a deal w/ the body guy and agree to pay the difference up front for OEM parts, or go through the hassle of doing it this way. Had I known about paying the difference, I would have done that up front. At least for the bumper. But even then, it seems wrong to have to pay extra to have the car fixed proper…
