Insurance Claim, Bad Quality Replacement

[sharpie]

Hey Regional Fellas (and lady folk if any),

I got into a pretty low-speed accident about a year ago and had repairs done on the other parties collision policy. I've been pretty unimpressed with the quality of parts that were used and feel like my car has lost its soul a little and my love for my car is waning. I tried to live with it, and just let it be as the car is getting pretty old and high in mileage.

I feel like I just hit the last straw on this whole ordeal when I had to replace my headlight bulbs this week. I knew I had a replaced housing from the accident and knew it was aftermarket. I didn't know how bad of quality these replacement parts were until now. It's so bad that they use a Toyota style swinging-clip to hold the bulb into the housing and the quality of light output has been absolute shit.

My community question is can I still raise issues to my original claim being one year away from incident and repair? What kind of verbiage should I used to help my case. I plan to make a call Monday to make a stink about this. Look how bad this is! (pic below)

also is there an insurance company in Massachusetts that are a little more receptive to customer desire to use OEM parts or at least LKQ? And to use aftermarket as last resort (instead of other way around).



Left beam is OEM, Right beam is aftermarket.

[Shanster]

Hey Regional Fellas (and lady folk if any),

I got into a pretty low-speed accident about a year ago and had repairs done on the other parties collision policy. I've been pretty unimpressed with the quality of parts that were used and feel like my car has lost its soul a little and my love for my car is waning. I tried to live with it, and just let it be as the car is getting pretty old and high in mileage.

I feel like I just hit the last straw on this whole ordeal when I had to replace my headlight bulbs this week. I knew I had a replaced housing from the accident and knew it was aftermarket. I didn't know how bad of quality these replacement parts were until now. It's so bad that they use a Toyota style swinging-clip to hold the bulb into the housing and the quality of light output has been absolute shit.

My community question is can I still raise issues to my original claim being one year away from incident and repair? What kind of verbiage should I used to help my case. I plan to make a call Monday to make a stink about this. Look how bad this is! (pic below)

also is there an insurance company in Massachusetts that are a little more receptive to customer desire to use OEM parts or at least LKQ? And to use aftermarket as last resort (instead of other way around).



Left beam is OEM, Right beam is aftermarket.

I have Liberty Mutual and they have been awesome.

[The Fat Kid]

You might be SOL since the accident was a year ago, but worth making some phone calls. I have not needed a car repaired for 15+ years, so I can't help regarding current repair procedures for insurance companies.

Good luck!

Edit to add: My wife works in the insurance industry; I will ask if she has any ideas.

[tchuck]

...



Left beam is OEM, Right beam is aftermarket.

I had that same issue recently and it turned out that my bulbs weren't fully seated in the housing. Here's what it looked like:
.

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And here's after I pulled the headlights and properly seated the bulbs.
.

[cb4rings]

FYI. You have the right to require OEM parts when your car is repaired no matter who is paying for the claim.

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[The Fat Kid]

I asked my wife regarding your issue and she is pretty sure you don't have any recourse since you accepted the repairs.

[shonseb]

I had a similar problem where the repairs were not done to the standards of original and I provided photo evidence documenting the problems with the car because the original repair was not done properly. This was over 1.5 years later after the original accident. The insurance company sent an adjuster out to inspect my claim and the adjuster agreed that the quality of work was subpar and the issues I was experiencing with the car were a result of the subpar repair work. The work was done at the shop that was contracted by the insurance company and so my work was covered under lifetime warranty through the shop and insurance company. But they will not cover anything besides the work they did. Any damage done afterward as a result of the subpar work was not covered. You should be able to get your repairs redone if you show them the evidence of the subpar work. BTW the insurance company I dealt with was GEICO.

[sharpie]

Thanks fellas (and fellas wife), all your input are very helpful. I plan on making a call on Monday and will let you guys know how the events pan out in the time to come!

Oh and i forgot the saying; "pics or it didn't happen." So here's a pic from the accident:





And here's my sweet red rental I had during the repair. It was an absolute terror in the three craziest storms we had last year. Wish I had my quattro & snows then:

I asked my wife regarding your issue and she is pretty sure you don't have any recourse since you accepted the repairs.

Thanks for checking man. I can definitely see this side of the coin and probably don't stand much of a chance. I'll let you and everyone else know how my call with the insurance goes though. Worse they can say is no-- go fish.

I had that same issue recently and it turned out that my bulbs weren't fully seated in the housing. Here's what it looked like:
.

.
And here's after I pulled the headlights and properly seated the bulbs.
.

Thanks for this info but unfortunately the substrate the bulb would go into, for the aftermarket housing, isn't like OEMs, there's no guides for the three notches and at the same time, it isn't held in by the three notches you would see in OEM housings, it's got this stupid swinging spring clip pressing the bulb against the housing (something like this: https://wiki.bentleypublishers.com/d...0823170&api=v2). I tried rotating the bulb and even tried holding it flush against the housing with not much change.

FYI. You have the right to require OEM parts when your car is repaired no matter who is paying for the claim.

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I know we can ask for OEM parts, but I've heard of instances where the insurance company countermeasures by saying that the insured will have to cover the difference to obtain the OEM, especially for a car this age. Will let you guys know how the call with insurance goes though!

I had a similar problem where the repairs were not done to the standards of original and I provided photo evidence documenting the problems with the car because the original repair was not done properly. This was over 1.5 years later after the original accident. The insurance company sent an adjuster out to inspect my claim and the adjuster agreed that the quality of work was subpar and the issues I was experiencing with the car were a result of the subpar repair work. The work was done at the shop that was contracted by the insurance company and so my work was covered under lifetime warranty through the shop and insurance company. But they will not cover anything besides the work they did. Any damage done afterward as a result of the subpar work was not covered. You should be able to get your repairs redone if you show them the evidence of the subpar work. BTW the insurance company I dealt with was GEICO.

This gives me a little hope!

My only doubt in trying to line up my story with yours is that the insurance adjusters might put up a fight as this isn't directly the shops worksmanship that's being questioned (which could easily be reconciled), it's instead a customer questioning the insurance for guiding the shop to a shitty catalog of items which they might not openly admit to.

My deep thought (i know, "what did momma say about thinking too deeply!") into this has me surmising that insurance big brother puts a guiding, almost forceful, hand onto the repairing shops. The work the shop performed in my case was fine. It was because the insurances' policy to use aftermarket parts (and kickbacks back to the shop) that guided the shop to procure subpar aftermarket parts from a limited catalog. And believe it or not, I rejected two headlight housings before this one for 1. the silver trims inside the housing was actually gold... and 2. the moving parts were over extended touching the front facing glass.

Kind of messed up what I had to go through to continue to get a subpar part and this is why i'm kind of trying for new insurance company that would put me at ease about these things instead of making me worry about the quality of parts they're putting into my car. I've been thinking Arbella for some time, anyone have experience with them claims-wise?

[The Fat Kid]

I had a similar problem where the repairs were not done to the standards of original and I provided photo evidence documenting the problems with the car because the original repair was not done properly. This was over 1.5 years later after the original accident. The insurance company sent an adjuster out to inspect my claim and the adjuster agreed that the quality of work was subpar and the issues I was experiencing with the car were a result of the subpar repair work. The work was done at the shop that was contracted by the insurance company and so my work was covered under lifetime warranty through the shop and insurance company. But they will not cover anything besides the work they did. Any damage done afterward as a result of the subpar work was not covered. You should be able to get your repairs redone if you show them the evidence of the subpar work. BTW the insurance company I dealt with was GEICO.

That could be good news for the OP

[tchuck]

...

Thanks for this info but unfortunately the substrate the bulb would go into, for the aftermarket housing, isn't like OEMs, there's no guides for the three notches and at the same time, it isn't held in by the three notches you would see in OEM housings, it's got this stupid swinging spring clip pressing the bulb against the housing (something like this: https://wiki.bentleypublishers.com/d...0823170&api=v2). I tried rotating the bulb and even tried holding it flush against the housing with not much change.

...

The spring clip is oem. Your other headlight doesn't have one? What's the brand/part number of the suspect housing?

[sharpie]

The spring clip is oem. Your other headlight doesn't have one? What's the brand/part number of the suspect housing?

I'm almost positive the clip isn't there for my b7 halogen. I have a spare driver side housing I'll take pics from when I'm home (will edit this reply), and when I get some sun after the coming storm, will get comparison pics of the aftermarket housing.

Edit: Here's a pic of an OEM housing I have on hand (from a previous swap out). I wish this was the passenger side so I could actually do something within my own power...

[mc52]

I have State Farm on my work truck and had an employee of mine drive it into a wall. State Farm only allowed oem parts or a like new used oem part used on the repair. It was explained to me by the adjuster that there were huge lawsuits due to poor performing aftermarket parts in accidents and State Farm wants no part of it. Will not allow anything aftermarket.


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[tchuck]

I'm almost positive the clip isn't there for my b7 halogen. I have a spare driver side housing I'll take pics from when I'm home (will edit this reply), and when I get some sun after the coming storm, will get comparison pics of the aftermarket housing.

Edit: Here's a pic of an OEM housing I have on hand (from a previous swap out). I wish this was the passenger side so I could actually do something within my own power...

Ahhhhh. It's halogen. Now it's starting to make sense. Maybe they gave you a xenon passenger housing? Those are the ones with the spring clips. Both my b5 and b6 have them, and I checked with a friend who has a b7 with xenons and they have the spring clips as well. Seems like a pretty easy mistake for a shop to make.

The brand/part number from the pass housing would really put this issue to bed though.

[Shanster]

I have halogen housings that you can have for free. They won't have any lens covers though. I'm bi-xenon and I bought them for their fresh lens covers. But the rest is good. If you pay for shipping, I'll mail em to you. I'm crazy busy and not sure when I could meet up to give em to you in person.

[sharpie]

Ahhhhh. It's halogen. Now it's starting to make sense. Maybe they gave you a xenon passenger housing? Those are the ones with the spring clips. Both my b5 and b6 have them, and I checked with a friend who has a b7 with xenons and they have the spring clips as well. Seems like a pretty easy mistake for a shop to make.

The brand/part number from the pass housing would really put this issue to bed though.

Nah, a xenon housing actually would have room for the ballast and is built differently. this was just a cheap aftermarket using their own ingenuity to replicate the original equipment. I could dig up the invoice from the repair but probably not worth the trouble.

I'll come back with pics once the snow passes.

I have halogen housings that you can have for free. They won't have any lens covers though. I'm bi-xenon and I bought them for their fresh lens covers. But the rest is good. If you pay for shipping, I'll mail em to you. I'm crazy busy and not sure when I could meet up to give em to you in person.

Thanks Shanster. I might take you up on the offer if the insurance route doesn't work and I'm looking to take on some DIY. Who knows, maybe I'll dress this pig with some lipstick by getting some bi-xenons myself!

[Atmmac]

The key here is finding a good body shop to do your repairs. They can reject parts from the insurance company and say it's of poor quality and/or doesn't fit. I had a similar situation where someone backed into my car and their insurance (commerce) was paying. Sent aftermarket parts for the car and I had shop reject them. Then the OEM parts were sent. Avoid commerce insurance at all costs. I have Vermont mutual now and the service is unreal. Highly recommended.

[sharpie]

Update: Insurance sounded like they didn't really want anything to do with the process and diverted me to the shop for reconciling. Contacted the shop and they said to swing by for them to check it out and next course of action if needed.

I've been busy with work so won't have a chance to stop by in the next couple weeks. :(

The key here is finding a good body shop to do your repairs. They can reject parts from the insurance company and say it's of poor quality and/or doesn't fit. I had a similar situation where someone backed into my car and their insurance (commerce) was paying. Sent aftermarket parts for the car and I had shop reject them. Then the OEM parts were sent. Avoid commerce insurance at all costs. I have Vermont mutual now and the service is unreal. Highly recommended.

Definitely noted. Unfortunately have Commerce. And thanks for the recommendation will shop with them in mind!

[Blockburner]

The state of ma. Does not require oem on anything past 2years of age or 30k miles. You do have the option to pay extra on your premium for oem. Insurance companies do not have to replace with oem unless you pay the fee monthly .

[the huff]

I had a similar experience with Commerce via third party insurance claim (someone backed into my car). I used a Commerce "approved" shop Dewire Bros in Newton. The repairs they did were a joke. Had visible and could feel noticable clear line on hood and fenders, huge gap between fender and sideskirt. I complained to them and to Commerce on multiple occasions. They fixed some of it but when it came down to it, the aftermarket parts didn't fit properly. They made some story about the supplier / insurance forcing parts on them yadayada. Commerce finally sent a supervisor out from Hallmark (their adjuster service) who after consulting with a similar B6 S4 said repairs were within industry acceptable tolerance. I think short of suing you may be out of luck if repair shop doesn't help out.

Bottom line I would never use Commerce or Dewire Bros. Had excellent experience with Hollis Autobody in the past and will go their for any future body work.