Originally Posted by CTFSportSE

As I said before, aftermarket parts aren't the devil. If it had been a cheap vehicle or something with high miles, I wouldn't have given a rat's ***. My car had just hit 30k and its a limited edition: 1 of 300 and I didn't want it put back together cheaply to the financial benefit for the insurance company of the woman who hit my car. Aftermarket parts aren't necessarily inferior, but they DO negatively impact resale value and if my car ever has a 'Condition Report' written for it, for whatever reason, any CR Writer worth their pay would be able to distinguish and note the aftermarket parts.

As for my dealings with the insurance company: They were ridiculous at best. At one point, the adjuster told me their company wasn't going to fix my car and as quickly as she got off the phone with me, she called the bodyshop and told them they wouldn't be paying for the damage to my car, that my car was no longer affiliated with their company, she put a stop payment on the check sent to the bodyshop, and canceled my rental on spot (the day after I filled it up. ).

I immediately called her supervisor (who never did return my call, which went against company protocol (claims supervisors are to return all calls placed before 4pm ET the same day - I called at 10:30), so I called back the next day and kept getting switched over until I got somewhere. I had to call the appraiser who inspected my car, who is the one who 'brokered' the agreement where I got OEM parts. At one point, the adjuster tried to tell me that using OEM parts would put my car back in better than condition than it was prior to the wreck. I lost it. She called me back the next day and told me they decided to re-visit my claim and agreed to the use of OEM parts and I got another rental ('15 Camry that I drove twice because it smelled inside).

Different states have different laws/regulations regarding the use of aftermarket parts. My state, Kentucky, allows them to be used unless the owner of the vehicle can come up with a third party analysis of the parts to state that they are not in "like kind or quality" and of course have solid proof. I was fighting an uphill battle, but dug my heels in because I'm not going to take a significant financial loss due to someone else's negligence.

I got my car back yesterday and I was overall very satisfied with the repair. I took the car back because I found a SLIGHT 'run' in the clearcoat and I'm picking it up again in a couple of hours. The repair has a 'lifetime' warranty. I topped it off for $4.50 just after picking it up and drove it 26 miles before returning it. When I pulled into the bodyshop the second time, I was averaging 49.2 MPG. I'll never get tired of that.

I came very, very close to just letting them use aftermarket parts and my plan was to sell it in and get a '15 Golfsportwagen TDI SEL manual. For now, I'm glad things worked out the way they did.

Originally Posted by lexusrus

I'm happy to hear all worked out for you.

My new RC-F only get around 12 mpg in Sport + mode! ! I missed the 44+ mpg in my CT200h!!!