Insurance Frustration!

[Jetboy]

So I was in a minor fender bender in a parking lot. Damage to bumper, headlight, and fender. Got an estimate at a body shop, and it was as expected. $2050. Okay. It was the other party's fault and insurance is going to pay for the damage.

I visit the Gieco insurance adjuster who proceeds to determine that they could plastic weld new tabs into the bumper, weld up the crease after straightening it out, and repaint it. Are you F'ing kidding? That's not a reasonable repair for a 2015 vehicle. They also want to use an aftermarket headlight assembly. Um... no. GTFO. Neither are adequate repairs for a relatively new vehicle.

I said as much and explained that welded plastics will create brittle areas that won't last and the insurance lady basically said she was an expert and that's a good quality repair. I understand that she may not know I have done composite manufacturing and I'm pretty familiar with plastics, but I don't know if Toyota uses polypropylene, ABS, Polycarbonate, polybutylene terephthalate, or any other similar plastic. I'm pretty damn sure she doesn't either. But yet she's happy to have the body shop pull out a glorified heat gun and some polyethylene rod and melt that shit together. It's like saying it's aluminum so we'll just aluminum weld it. - You'd better figure out what type of aluminum it before you just grab your 4043 and go to town.

I'd much rather have a used Toyota bumper than a welded one. They're not that expensive. It's just he bull shit Geico scam to get me to pay for part of the repair to get it done right.

So now I'm back to having to either accept shoddy work or sue the car's owner to get Geico to pay for a reasonable quality repair. I'm not asking for magic here. But I expect at least to use OEM parts on a 2015 vehicle.

Mostly just ranting. :crybaby:

Any chance anyone actually knows the plastic type Toyota uses?

 

[kylieojensen]

I hear you. My baby was in a accident 6 months after I got her off the lot because of u haul. Have you thought about just going with a after market bumper? I wish I would of.

 

[Snow-Jet-MK5]

I would file through the other party, get the check, and install an aftermarket Steel bumper.

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[Bikemedic]

Get YOUR insurance company involved. They have a reason to keep you happy, while the other parties company does not.

 

[philsey]

Get YOUR insurance company involved. They have a reason to keep you happy, while the other parties company does not.

this.

 

[61hawk]

I would explain to them that they are required to make it as was before the accident. Toyota didn't use aftermarket parts on the assembly line. If you have trouble, contact your insurance company they'll go to bat for you.

 

[e60ral]

I would file through the other party, get the check, and install an aftermarket Steel bumper.

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+1 for going through your insurance

you may have a period of time where you are out of pocket for the deductible, but you will get reimbursed for it. also, make sure that they pay you for diminished value. even after your vehicle is repaired, it has lost value because the accident is on the vehicle history and they will pay you for that lost value. if you were injured or lost work they will also reimburse you for that too (i'm assuming not since you said parking lot fender bender, but i know i hurt my neck before when i got rear-ended at relatively low speed because they hit me right when i was looking down or something. it was weird, it was sore for few days. I got $1,100 for that.)

 

[1engineer]

Yep. Let the insurance companies fight it out. Been there, done that.

 

[jmf_tracy]

Geico sucks.
Just went thru this with my 2015 Camry.
They are total lowballers and think it is acceptable to cut corner and use bondo instead or replacing with factory parts. assclowns.

 

[mgreen6616]

Might be state specific but here if the vehicle is newer than 24 months old they have to use OEM parts if requested.

 

[Jetboy]

I'm hoping to just get it put back to how it was in a reasonably high quality way.

I already have a hidden winch and I don't love the look of any of the current aftermarket front bumpers. I don't like how they look with the body lines of the 4runner. It's picky, but I'm just not in love with anything out there. So I'd like to just get a regular white bumper put back on.

 

[Jetboy]

Might be state specific but here if the vehicle is newer than 24 months old they have to use OEM parts if requested.

I don't think Utah has any law to that effect. Would be nice though. Not sure why it was in their best interest to fight me on this. We're talking about a $30-50 difference in headlight and maybe $200 difference in repair of the bumper vs just replacing it. Now I'm going to probably ask for a much larger diminished value claim that I may not have even pursued if they had just fixed it properly. Under the standard formula it's a $2500 value change.

 

[raptore]

I replaced the rear, bumper trim piece, that's on the TRD and Trail models, and will say the plastic welded tabs on inside are not strong at all.

I made the mistake of starting on one end and moving to the other. The last two tabs started to bend/break as I inserted the retainer clips.

Not sure her plastic welds, as you stated, are that much better.

 

[ThorInc]

Get them to cost out the Toyota replacement parts and negotiate to meet in the middle somewhere. You maybe able then to take an agreed payout and have the repair done for less with the parts of your choosing. You may need some leverage however.

 

[MikeBuzzsaw]

Get YOUR insurance company involved. They have a reason to keep you happy, while the other parties company does not.

12345x

Contrary to popular belief, when your insurance fights on your behalf and it's deemed the other parties fault, your insurance rate won't increase.

 

[D1gger]

12345x

Contrary to popular belief, when your insurance fights on your behalf and it's deemed the other parties fault, your insurance rate won't increase.

Bingo. It's called subrogation.
If your company that has a policy that uses OEM for a certain time period, go through them, pay your deductible, if any, and let them fight it out. You'll get your deductible back.

But suing the owner will do no good if they have insurance. I'm sure the policy states that Geico will defend them if sued.

 

[flyrv9]

Been there and done that too. Use your company to fight for you. That's why you are paying them. I even had Farmers defend me for an accident I was never in! They had to hire attorneys in 2 states to defend me for an accident and serious injuries caused by a guy that had the same first, last and middle name I have. Took over a year to resolve. I don't know what it cost, but I didn't have to pay a dime. I almost had to go to court, but the real person responsible was located.

 

[d_clark]

Have you read your policy documents ? I would bet there is nothing in there that says they will only use new OEM parts. I would also bet, there is a clause that says they can use used or non-oem parts at their discretion.

 

[Jetboy]

Have you read your policy documents ? I would bet there is nothing in there that says they will only use new OEM parts. I would also bet, there is a clause that says they can use used or non-oem parts at their discretion.

It's not my policy. It's the other guy's. So it's an open question. It's going to have OEM parts either way. I won't put aftermarket parts on.

As far as using my insurance, I've spoken with them, but they are of little help. I'm unfortunate enough to be an attorney so I can probably take care of this on my own. I'm mostly frustrated because I would have just accepted a good quality repair. Now that they want to go the shoddy half assed repair route I have to hire an appraiser to do a value report and then seek diminished value instead of just repairing properly.

Since Utah's an indirect suit state, so I have to be the dick and sue the driver even though it's Geico that's the problem. On the bright side in my experience the day the driver gets a visit from my process server, geico gets an angry phone call, and then I get a response very quickly. The 30 day answer clock starts ticking and the lawyers at Geico tell the claims adjuster to settle it because the initial answer and discovery are going to cost more than what I'm asking for. And all I really wanted was just a good quality repair.

 

[TK-422]

All our money goes into making funny adds, not paying claims.​