Question for you insurance pros

[El Cheapo Loco]

Wife's car was rear ended at a crosswalk. Took it to Mercury's recommended shop for an estimate and was told that insurance companies will no longer authorize OEM parts. The shop is only allowed to use aftermarket or used parts. Mercury also told us we can only get a rental car if the at-fault driver has rental car on his policy.

So here are my questions:

1. Since I'm not at fault, don't I have the right to repair my car to the original spec with OEM parts? It seems an incredibly unfair practice to deny OEM parts especially to the victim.

2. Since I'm not at fault, why should I have to pay for my rental car? Doesn't the at-fault party's insurance company has the responsibility to take care of all my expenses?

Thanks and feel free to give me any recommendations.

[HyeWarrior]

1. I have NEVER heard of refusal to replace OEM parts. That’s a load of horse shit in my opinion and I’d fight them to show me that in the contract. I don’t believe that for a second.

2. I’m far from a pro, but I believe it would fall on you if you have rental car coverage in the case if the at-fault party doesn’t have rental car coverage. But I can be wrong, I’m far from an insurance pro.

The OEM thing is a load of bull though

[zx10guy]

1) You have to look at your policy to see what it states. Contrary to popular belief, there are clauses that state the insurance company can use aftermarket or equivalent parts. I went through this recently with State Farm and Liberty Mutual. We were not at fault and the car was never in a wreck before this incident. You have to work with a good body shop. They know how to "work" the system. The body shop I took our car to followed the rules and came up with justifications on why OEM was necessary. And because they have a relationship with the dealer we bought our car from, they were able to match aftermarket pricing with OEM parts. The insurance company was happy, they're happy because they still made a profit, and we're happy because we have OEM new parts.

2) I've never heard of this issue with the rental car. My understanding is rental car coverage is only for situations where you the insured have to get a rental car because your car is in the shop for body work. In your situation, rental car coverage should be charged against the at fault person's liability coverage. The only time rental car coverage becomes an issue is if the fault isn't determined early and you have to use your own coverage to get your car fixed while the insurance companies battle it out.

[socal619]

1) You can choose any body shop to go to... only reason why your ins company wants you go to thier recommendadtion shop is due to cost and guarantee work if there's any issues.


2) If you have rental policy or not, you should be able get into a rental car up to 30 days only... since you not @ fault. A least get into something that's comparable to your damage car or entry level.


Is mercury your guys ins or the other party? If it's other party ... If I was you..i go w/ your own ins... and have them go @ it...

[MKSixer]

Sorry about the accident and I'm glad everyone is ok. Call their insurance and use these words, "I believe in keeping everyone's insurance costs down just as your company does. As my car was wrecked through no fault of my own, I must insist that it is returned, as-close-as-possible, to its original specifications and to do that you need to use OEM parts. We have this single opportunity to do this by you agreeing to my request. Failing that, I will have to engage legal counsel which will drive the cost of this claim up exponentially. Can you help keep our insurance costs down by agreeing to this request right now?"

I've done both times my M6 was hit through sheer driver stupidity and they accused with no questions asked about OEM parts and the adjustments including the $475 front end alignment when they only budgeted about $85. They wanted absolutely nothing to do with an attorney being engaged.

Good luck-mk

[qba335i]

1) reach out to the insurance company that the other person used. Tell them you want to select your own body shop and just drop off your car. Tell the body shop to ONLY use OEM parts. Preferably pick a certified body shop.
2) if there are any issues with option #1 call your insurance company and finish the repair. You will pay the deductible and your insurance company will bill the other insurance company and refund you the deductible later.
3) as far as rental this should be paid by the other company.


Insurance companies are for-profit companies. They want to maximize profit => high premiums and lower claims/payments. They have to fix your car - but you have to make sure it's up to your standards.

[CTinline-six]

Depends a lot on what company you have and your policy, you have to read the fine print. The company I worked for claimed that they wanted to put people's cars back to how they were before the accident. Apparently using new OEM parts would be making the car better than it was before the accident in their mind, so they only used aftermarket parts or used OEM parts. This is likely what the company you are dealing with thinks as well.

There was the option for policy holders to pay a bit more and have their cars fixed with new OEM parts, but that costs extra and had to be agreed upon as part of their existing policy at the time of the accident.

A way around this was usually to take it to the dealer for body repairs. If you take it to another shop with the aftermarket parts option the insurance company will always choose the cheapest.

Also, a word of advice is NEVER go with their recommended shops. Those shops usually have deals with the company and often do shoddy work or use parts that are not up to spec. My guess is that if you insist on getting it repaired at the dealer, and escalate the situation to the claims manager you will get what you want. Insurance companies are all about bending the rules to get what is best for them until they get push back from the customer. Usually people are not educated on their policies and get taken advantage of. The insurance company banks on people not reading their policy, and most people don't.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by HyeWarrior

1. I have NEVER heard of refusal to replace OEM parts. That’s a load of horse shit in my opinion and I’d fight them to show me that in the contract. I don’t believe that for a second.

2. I’m far from a pro, but I believe it would fall on you if you have rental car coverage in the case if the at-fault party doesn’t have rental car coverage. But I can be wrong, I’m far from an insurance pro.

The OEM thing is a load of bull though

See my post above. Many companies share the philosophy that replacing parts with brand new OEM parts puts the car in a condition that was better than it was before the accident, and aftermarket or used parts puts it in the SAME condition as it was before the accident.

I'm not saying I agree with this, but it is pretty universal through all the companies I dealt with as an adjuster, including Gieco, AllState, Progressive, State Farm, etc.

[bimmer456]

In California you can go to any shop of your choice including the dealer for repairs.

[Hawkeye]

I am sure California has all of it's own rules about this (like they do for everything else). I would stick to advice from people that have dealt with something similar in CA only if I was you.

[JohnnyCanuck]

With respect to aftermarket or OEM parts, that is usually at the discretion of the insurer unless you have a replacement cost policy/endorsement/rider. Generally, the age of the vehicle will dictate the availability of parts (often reconditioned used OEM parts are utilized).

As for the rental car, if you do not have loss of use coverage, your insurer is not obligated to provide you with a car. You will have a claim against the liable party's insurance for your out of pocket expenses. A lot of insurers will cover and roll it in to their subrogation claim if fault is clear, but that's a courtesy and not an obligation.

[Maynard]

Much good advice here. I haven't had a major claim for about a decade, but the routine that has worked in past is to use a good, independent body shop - they are independent b/c they won't play ball with the corner-cutters, but you need to ensure they are also good quality. They should be able to work with you, but sometimes this means they have to actually install the cheapo pieces and then show they do not fit adequately - talk it over beforehand to be sure they are OK with this (they'll probably open with that - it is usually their main selling point). Most all policies have some lingo about replacing things 'as good as new' which they use to cover non-OEM parts (same way that an indie mechanic does not void warranty if using aftermarket parts, those are certified 'good-nuff'). If, however, you or the body shop clearly states why they are defective or not good enough, then they replace w/ OEM (drove me nuts that they had to put on a bunk bumper before admitting that, yes, it really was 2 inches too narrow - and under the guise of 'cost cutting').

And if your wife (and any other passengers) aren't already back to feeling fully ok, get it checked out. 'Whiplash' gets a bad rap for being a crock, but it really does happen, and can take a lot of expensive physical therapy to finally correct. I see a lot of patients who blew it off for the first few months, then had real trouble getting it covered.

There is also a very good thread on here about trying to recoup the diminished value, if this was a significant repair; worth a search. Cali is pretty consumer-friendly, so they may make it a bit easier to do that?

[El Cheapo Loco]

Thank you everyone for the replies. Josh and Johnny are pretty much confirming that the insurance company has the right to deny OEM parts. But the frustrating part is that Mercury is MY insurance company. Shouldn't they be representing me and fight for my rights? Now I'm thinking of dealing directly with the liable insurance company and play hardball with them.

Sounds like everyone agrees that the liable insurance company should pay for the rental car IF liability has been accepted. This just happened over the weekend so the other insurance company has yet to accept liability.

[UncleWede]

On the deductible part if you claim thru YOUR insurance and the other driver is AT FAULT: Your insurance company is NOT allowed to recover your deductible for you in Cali.

[El Cheapo Loco]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

On the deductible part if you claim thru YOUR insurance and the other driver is AT FAULT: Your insurance company is NOT allowed to recover your deductible for you in Cali.

Seriously? WTF kind of law is that? Thanks for letting me know. Guess we have to wait for the other insurance company to accept liability. It should be a given since it's a rear end accident.

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by El Cheapo Loco

Seriously? WTF kind of law is that? Thanks for letting me know. Guess we have to wait for the other insurance company to accept liability. It should be a given since it's a rear end accident.

There is every possibility that State Farm just didn't WANT to do that, but I vaguely recall asking my lawyer father and I think he confirmed. I think I ate the $250 on my truck, wasn't worth the hassle.

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCanuck

With respect to aftermarket or OEM parts, that is usually at the discretion of the insurer unless you have a replacement cost policy/endorsement/rider. Generally, the age of the vehicle will dictate the availability of parts (often reconditioned used OEM parts are utilized).

As for the rental car, if you do not have loss of use coverage, your insurer is not obligated to provide you with a car. You will have a claim against the liable party's insurance for your out of pocket expenses. A lot of insurers will cover and roll it in to their subrogation claim if fault is clear, but that's a courtesy and not an obligation.

OP, this is the post you want to take information from. I work in the industry.

[El Cheapo Loco]

Originally Posted by Chihuahua

OP, this is the post you want to take information from. I work in the industry.

Yes I realize that, thank you. We are lucky it's just the bumper cover so it's not the end of the world if it's not OEM. We will try to fight for it though. As for the rental car, we will wait for the other party to accept liability and then claim for the rental car.

[JohnnyCanuck]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

There is every possibility that State Farm just didn't WANT to do that, but I vaguely recall asking my lawyer father and I think he confirmed. I think I ate the $250 on my truck, wasn't worth the hassle.

I can't comment on CA law and in my days as a claims guy I never saw a jurisdiction with that particular dumbass rule. Including deductibles in a subro is no effort and it's one of the few guaranteed thank yous in the adjusting game when you get to send a claimant a cheque for recovered deductibles. Can't imagine why an insurer wouldn't want to bother (it's literally adding one payment line to the release and one line to the subro cover letter).

[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by El Cheapo Loco

Yes I realize that, thank you. We are lucky it's just the bumper cover so it's not the end of the world if it's not OEM. We will try to fight for it though. As for the rental car, we will wait for the other party to accept liability and then claim for the rental car.

What model of car is it?

[El Cheapo Loco]

Originally Posted by Chihuahua

What model of car is it?

Update... the other party's insurance company just accepted liability. That should make things much easier. I'm going to try to bring it to a dealer for an estimate.

It's a 2012 Toyota 4runner. The body shop told my wife that they are not allowed to use OEM parts unless that car is less than a year old.

[amgraham]

On our Liberty policy, because of that arrangement BMW has with them, our X5 is covered for new, OEM, replacements but the other car(s) are not. I inquired about adding that but it adds a fair bit to the policy. When I had an accident a few years ago in another car that was determined to be my fault, Liberty wanted to use aftermarket or what they called "OEM Surplus". Indeed, they sent an "OEM Surplus" (read as factory 2nd) that my auto body guy (friend since high school) had to fit up and take pics and show them it was unacceptable. He also bargained to get a bit more of discount on the OEM from the dealer, using online pricing from other dealers. He was able to get it covered. Since the accident isn't your fault, the last option isn't very attractive in your case but... You could fund the difference in price if having non-OEM is a concern. I know... it shouldn't cost you anything but, if you want it "right", that just might be what's required. ...or take it to another shop. I've never had any issue taking cars to whatever shop I wanted. I didn't always take them to my buddy until he opened his own shop. He told me when I was in there... The only company that really gives him grief on this sort of thing, or even in general, is GEICO. They short him on everything. If somebody comes in with a GEICO claim he just says thanks but... no thanks.