Anyone here on the board have any repair work done by a body shop and they used "used" parts from another vehicle. I live in Charleston SC and on DEC 14 was hit by another drive and did minor body damage but significant damage to the front left wheel. Well due to the holidays the body shop couldn't even get the car in until JAN 6. Car goes in JAN 6 and discovers suspension damage. Talked to adviser and said the first parts when they arrived were damaged. Curious to me as how a new part would be damaged and that's when they said they used "used" parts for the repair. I called my lexus dealership (body shop not at LEXUS but owned by same company, RICK HENDRICK) and they said there are warranty issues with using USED parts. I told them to use only OEM parts. Insurance (not mine) had to re-approve claim Wondering if anyone else has the same issue. Its been almost two months now and I don't know when I am getting my LEXUS back.

 

Do you have the estimate from insurance that was sent to the bodyshop? That estimate shows where they source the parts from.

 

If you had run the claim thru your insurance, they take better care of you because you are the paying customer. You also have power to dictate the details, such as OEM parts easily. They then collect from the other(at fault) insurance company, including your deductible. Doing it the way you did means you're at the mercy of the other person's insurance and you have to sometimes put up a fuss to have your car repaired with OEM parts and other details (such as repairing to your satisfaction). I think that's why there's an issue, not because of the body shop. They just do what the insurance company tells them to do. It sounds like you're making progress and getting OEM parts. It stinks that you've had to wait so long.

 

Insurance is supposed to make you whole, which means to restore you to the condition you were in before the other guy crashed into you. You had used parts on your car before the wreck, so ordinarily you're not automatically entitled to *new* parts after the wreck. That sucks, I know.

You are, however, entitled to OEM parts, and many ins. co's will try to have the body shop put some aftermarket junk on there that almost never looks right. And if putting used OEM parts on your vehicle would void aspects of your CPO warranty, then you wouldn't be made whole by them installing used parts, so that's how you angle for new ones.

BTW, especially since they've annoyed you, don't forget to pursue a diminished value claim if they end up using less-than-perfect condition used parts. SC doesn't usually entertain diminished value claims, but if your car is worth less post-repair than it was pre-repair *because of the quality of repair* you might be able to get a couple grand out of them.

 

IIRC during repair of my last collision several years ago, I discovered parts related to vehicle safety were to be OEM, with those not related to safety it was permissible to use "LKQ" (like in kind and quality - "read" that as aftermarket). I questioned things when I saw that acronym all over the repair invoice. Don't recall whether this was just particular to my state of MA.

 

LKQ is also a national chain of salvage yards, so be sure you know what your invoice is actually saying.

 

Clemsonee, we're all hoping you get OEM parts at no cost to you. It seems that Eslader and I have different understanding of which insurance company is handling your repair. Also if used parts were discovered on your car from a previous repair or used parts were ordered and discovered by you before installation. Hope you can clear this up for all. In my experience, diminished value claim sounds good and possible. But two different occasions I asked and ran into insurance saying they don't cover that (time to hire a lawyer) and the other time was told to get a written statement of before and after condition of the car from a third party. I asked several dealers do this, no cooperation, they don't want to go to court. Plus it has to be a professional that appraised your car before and after. About impossible without a lawyer. In reality, it's expensive and difficult. Just my experiences.

 

It depends on the state whether or not you'll get diminished value. If you were in CA at the time of your wreck, you should have gotten it because CA law provides for a diminished value claim even if the repair is done perfectly with brand new OEM parts, because a wreck on your vehicle history report automatically lowers the value of your car no matter how well the repair was done.

The fun thing is that a lot of insurance companies hope that you don't know everything you're entitled to, and will try to fudge their way around paying what they're required to pay. Happened to me a couple of years ago when we had a hailstorm that destroyed our roof and the siding on 1 side of the house. My state requires them to replace all of the siding if the color won't match. They tried very hard to get us to cave to them only replacing the 1 wall despite a distinct color mismatch, and it was only when we told them we know what our state requires and our next letter will be to the attorney general that they obeyed the law.

Oddly, that same company paid up immediately without any fuss on the diminished value claim when a teenager hit my wife's car.

As for which ins. co OP is dealing with -- I don't know, but it doesn't really matter beyond OP's deductible -- if the other guy had no insurance then OP is working through their insurance and has to pay a deductible. If the other guy had liability insurance then the deductible will be taken care of by that ins. co (and taken out of the other guy's pocket).

 

I am going through the at fault party's insurance (Not Mine)

They have agreed to put new OEM parts but it was several phone calls and hours of work.

Eslader thanks for the heads up on the diminished value claim, I will do some additional research

 

I doubt you'll get diminished value if they're using new OEM since your state apparently doesn't recognize inherent diminished value, but there's no harm in trying!

 

My cars had diminished value. I couldn't find any insurance law/ruling that addressed my diminished value in a way I could get it without the help of an attorney, time and money. But in reality, I'm not the kind of person who asks and them lays down. I wrote to insurance commission and was told they can't help me. I told insurance company I was writing the commissioner, they didn't change their stand. In a perfect world, we would be made whole and get what's legally ours. Insurance companies deal with this every day and know the loopholes and what they can get away with. I'm glad your house situation was as simple as you indicate and you got the extra money. That's a different insurance situation that diminished value. I'd say we're both right to a degree and that lots of variables enter into the outcome. This forum isn't about who's right but giving info in a manner that reflects the possibility that there's more than one way a situation can go. Glad you're here helping.

 

[QUOTE=swfla;10727791That's a different insurance situation that diminished value.[/quote]

But points to the absolutely correct point that you made that insurance companies will, in general, bend over backwards to find excuses to not pay what they're supposed to pay. You're also correct that you would at that point have probably needed at minimum a nasty-gram on a law firm's letterhead to get them to do what they were supposed to do.

Me too! I hope you didn't think I was arguing with you or saying you're wrong.