Used parts on insurance repairment

Lkosmonaft on 24/08/2021 - 18:36

Hi everyone,

my lovely wife had a small accident and damaged the left side of our car. I went to few smash repairers and everyone gave me a quote of around $5-7k and recommend me to go through my comprehensive insurance as both left doors require replacement (they said new doors)

Finally I choose the service where I want to do my car and the guys told me that most probably the insurance will give us an evaluation of the cost for used doors and I should not worry about it.
Unfortunately I worry about it because it's relatively new car (3 years old with only 26k km) and we never claimed an incident

I'm just wondering is it a normal practice to get a quote from comprehensive insurance based on used parts?

As well the $5-7K quote seems super unreasonable in case that they will use used parts.

I checked around 6 different smash repairers and everyone gave me similar quotes + recommendation.
Each of them were saying "new doors" during quotation and 2 of them told me that we will get used door when I was going to choose them as a repairer.

Automotive

Comments

  • Mechz on 24/08/2021 - 18:47
    +2

    If it looks the same who cares? At least if they get second hand doors they'll try and get the same colour so the paint will be factory and they won't have to spray to match it.

    • kosmonaft on 24/08/2021 - 18:50

      absolutely agree with you but when I asked them for such repair they said that it's still $5-7k and claim the insurance.
      I doubt that used doors cost $5-7k?

      • Mechz on 24/08/2021 - 19:04

        Have you made some calls to wreckers to find prices?

      • pharkurnell on 24/08/2021 - 19:05
        +1

        Insurance is paying for it, it wont cost you anymore.. and as long as its spot on, just roll with it.

        • kosmonaft on 24/08/2021 - 19:09

          I'm paying $850 excess + $300 increase for my next comprehensive insurance. In case that they will install used doors I don't think it make sense to claim the damage

          • ol mate on 24/08/2021 - 20:00
            +2

            @kosmonaft: You say as if they unbolt and bolt on the used doors only.

            Even with second hand parts, they repaint them and blend the paint to suit otherwise it is obvious the car has been repaired.

            Who is your insurer and what model? Some insurers will only use new genuine parts on cars that are still under manufacturer's warranty.

  • Ocker on 24/08/2021 - 19:07
    +3

    Check your policy and you will likely find they are entitled to use second hand panels.
    That aside, when the panel is pray painted you would never know the difference.

    • apsilon on 24/08/2021 - 19:17

      Check your policy and you will likely find they are entitled to use second hand panels.

      Exactly. Everyone shops their insurance based solely on price then complains about things like this. Everyone should read their PDS and understand what you're actually paying for, or more often the case, not paying for.

      • kosmonaft on 24/08/2021 - 19:21

        I had to deal a lot with insurance claims back in Europe. And believe me it's a way easier and it's not a Rip off as here in Australia.
        With the comprehensive insurance back in Europe I was giving the car back to the official service of the car maker and didn't care about anything (+ no excess).
        Genuine parts and repaired in the official service

        • ShannonN on 24/08/2021 - 22:06
          -1

          don't like the service in Oz , Think Europe is better … don't slam the Jumbo jet door on the way out? :)

  • PissLUR on 24/08/2021 - 19:13
    +3

    you need to tell them that you dont have comprehensive insurance.

    dont even give them a hint that you have insurance, then they will give you a proper estimate/cost.

    • ATTS on 26/08/2021 - 13:51

      just curious do they charge more when they know you got comprehensive insurance?

      • PissLUR on 26/08/2021 - 13:54

        they love doing insurance jobs so the quotes you get from them make you think its not worth going through the repairs yourself.

  • Euphemistic on 24/08/2021 - 19:47

    The actual cost of a used door probably isn’t that much different to a new one. It’s all the dis/assembly paint and labour that makes up most of the price

  • iand on 24/08/2021 - 20:45

    remember all cars are now imported and with the import times at the moment new doors may be hard to source.
    I mean they could take them of a new car but then they would be classed as secondhand/used and you might have to wait 6 months for the new car to get here 🙂

  • mickyb80 on 25/08/2021 - 01:08

    Do they 'need' to replace the whole door(s) or just the door skins?

    I'd be pushing for new doors. The panel shop will prefer to unbolt the old, spray the new then refit, rather than doing skins.
    The trade-off with labour v parts will usually be taken into consideration on that.

    The concept of 2nd hand is not normally an option. Call the insurance company and check your policy on your options for 'choice of repairer'.

  • apple2016 on 25/08/2021 - 09:37

    Which insurance are you using?
    I had the bonnet, driver door, and front right wheel (and few other parts) replaced with new under insurance on a 7 year old skoda. I did have comprehensive insurance at agreed value which was more than market value.

  • quog on 26/08/2021 - 16:45
    +1

    Used parts are normal, and its actually written in your PDS.

    They can also use non genuine parts.

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