rant about aftermarket body parts

[Number_35]

One of my family members was in a collision with our '09 Mazda 5 about a year and a half ago, which involved a lot of front-end repair work. The repair was very well done, with excellent paint matching.

A few weeks ago I noticed that the passenger-side low-beam was out, and started what I figured would be a routine bulb replacement. Mazda uses a spring clip which pivots from one side and hooks under a clip on the other side to hold the bulb holder in place.

I pivoted the spring back for clearance, and 'ping', part of the anchor for the spring clip broke off. I was really frustrated with myself, but also realized that I really hadn't abused the assembly at all - I've got a pretty good feel for mechanical things and didn't think I'd forced it at all. It was really cheap white metal, and I was not pleased with Mazda.

Because the car was being borrowed by another family member for a trip the next day, I rigged up an O-ring stretched across two screw heads to keep the bulb holder in place.

Yesterday, the replacement bulb having failed (perhaps due to vibration), it was time for a proper fix.

I removed the front fascia, and took the headlight assembly out. It was an aftermarket part, made in Taiwan. Aha! OK Mazda, you're off the hook.

The disassembly went fairly well, except for the bodyshop having used a panhead Phillips screw in place of the original hexhead Phillips screw in a hard-to-access location behind the fender liner. They'd stripped the head installing it, so I had lots of fun removing it. Completely unnecessary, as the fascia was secured to the plastic skidplate with the same fasteners - why not use one of them in the hard-to-access location and use the panhead underneath? GRRRR!

I phoned the dealer - the Mazda part was $600. The parts man is a good guy who gives me 15% off. Add in our 13% sales taxes and the cost would be in the high-$500 range.

I found an '06 or '07 at the wrecker, and removed the headlight assembly for $30. It was a genuine OEM part. Installation went fine, but there's now a small gap between the top of the fascia and the bottom of the headlight assembly. This is due to the assembly from the earlier model year being slightly different in shape from the original, not due to misalignment. I'll keep an eye out for the proper part, but can live with the gap for now.

In any case, here's my rant: I imagine our public insurance company only authorized the aftermarket part, made out of inferior materials. So they saved a few hundred dollars. But ... if they'd sprung for the genuine Mazda part, it would have saved me $30 plus a day's work. If I hadn't found a used one, I'd have been out almost $600 for the genuine part. The repair would have cost a fortune at a shop.

Do it right the first time!

 

[ET16]

Yes!

 

[bdcardinal]

All depends on the insurance company. Some will want body shops to look for aftermarket parts for current year cars. Going through an ordeal now with a 2016 MX-5 at a body shop. The insurance company does not have the parts catalog for 2016 in their system yet so they quoted the job as a 2015. The adjuster wasted a ton of my time trying to argue why every part I looked up by VIN did not match what he found. Does not inspire much confidence in the gecko.

 

[Kool1]

I feel your pain.

I own an 03 Honda CRV which has black plastic lower front and rear panels which are essentially the bumpers. About 5 years ago one of the rear left plastic panels was damaged and needed replacing. The insurance company would only pay for an aftermarket replacement panel so I accepted the replacement as it looked and fit fine at the time.

Fast forward 5 years and I still own the vehicle. The replacement panel is faded and has small spider web cracks on it while all the original panels are a darker shade of black and have no cracks.

 

[69GTX]

The first time I had to go through a body panel replacement from collision damage was the plastic rear bumper assembly on my 1995 Pontiac Trans Am. All seemed to be going well until I found out they were going to replace the part that said "PONTIAC" on it with a generic part without the name. They said it would save money. Well yeah, savings for the insurance company but not for me. I got the right panel put on.

 

[Number_35]

It's really frustrating in that the only thing wrong with the entire aftermarket assembly is just the one metal part buried inside. (No, it's not available from the dealer separately, and the lexan lens is glued onto the plastic housing so I don't think I could open it up to transplant the metal piece from the junkyard [censored]'y into the aftermarket one.)

When low price is put before quality, the overall cost to society is higher.

 

[AZjeff]

Did you ask when the repairs were made if they were going to use OEM parts? A shame the good paint work was wasted on inferior parts.

A friend once thought he'd save a few bucks on a Korean door for his Dakota truck. His body shop could not make it fit.

 

[Number_35]

No, I had no input into what parts were used. We have mandatory public insurance here, so I don't have the option of switching to a different insurer. Lesson learned - next time I'll talk with the adjuster first and offer to pay the difference if they insist on aftermarket parts.

We'd had a previous collision repair back in the late-80s. The shop had used an aftermarket Korean headlight-surround and turn signal lens on an '82 Mazda. After a couple of years, the amber part of the lens showed significant fading. Fortunately I'd saved the old parts, and was able to transplant in the undamaged amber lens from the old unit.

 

[Tegger]

Originally Posted By: Number_35
next time I'll talk with the adjuster first and offer to pay the difference if they insist on aftermarket parts.

Excellent idea. Except that that discussion is one you have with the BODY SHOP.

In general, insurance companies only provide the cash to buy the parts; the actual purchase of the parts is left to the body shop. Once a vehicle is over a certain number of model-years old (two? three? I forget), insurance companies will not provide the cash for new OEM parts, but only for parts of "like kind and quality", which is code for "the cheapest parts that fit", whether used or aftermarket.

If you want OEM parts, and those parts are more expensive than "like kind and quality", most body shops are quite happy to have you pay the difference between the insurance company's money and the cost of OEM. They also usually don't mind you sourcing used OEM parts yourself and bringing those parts to them. I have found that body shops do not like aftermarket body parts any more than you do, since aftermarket is usually of much-inferior quality and fit to OEM, and take longer to fit to the vehicle.

 

[Nick1994]

I don't know how insurance works in Canada.

Here in the U.S. my stepmom wrecked her 2010 Pontiac G6 last year, she T-boned a truck. Her fault. We have State Farm, which pays for OEM parts. They paid for OEM headlights, bumper, underneath steel bumper, condenser, grille, etc. The car had horribly faded GM paint and they painted the whole front of the car and had it blended. Looks brand new now. Insurance rates didn't even go up.

I know they were OEM parts because I'm the one who did most of the work fixing it. My dad works at a body shop and I helped him fix it.

 

[Tegger]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I don't know how insurance works in Canada.

Insurance on both sides of the border is the purview of the individual state or province, subject to any federal legislation/regulation.

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
We have State Farm, which pays for OEM parts.

State Farm's own documentation says otherwise:
https://static1.st8fm.com/en_US/content_pages/1/pdf/us/non-oem-recycled-parts.pdf

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
They paid for OEM headlights, bumper, underneath steel bumper, condenser, grille, etc.

I think there's something more going on with your mom's situation. Maybe State Farm has a longer age-period where they will use OE parts. Maybe your mom bought a policy that specifically provides for OE parts.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I don't know how insurance works in Canada.

Insurance on both sides of the border is the purview of the individual state or province, subject to any federal legislation/regulation.

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
We have State Farm, which pays for OEM parts.

State Farm's own documentation says otherwise:
https://static1.st8fm.com/en_US/content_pages/1/pdf/us/non-oem-recycled-parts.pdf

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
They paid for OEM headlights, bumper, underneath steel bumper, condenser, grille, etc.

I think there's something more going on with your mom's situation. Maybe State Farm has a longer age-period where they will use OE parts. Maybe your mom bought a policy that specifically provides for OE parts.
I think it's when possible, they use OEM parts.

My dad has done collision repair for close to 30 years and says State Farm always pays well and for good parts. The problem companies are Geico and Progressive, who are cheapskates. They almost never pay for paint blending, OEM parts, and cleanup time for parts.

 

[UG_Passat]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994


My dad has done collision repair for close to 30 years and says State Farm always pays well and for good parts. The problem companies are Geico and Progressive, who are cheapskates. They almost never pay for paint blending, OEM parts, and cleanup time for parts.


When I hit deer on my 08 Passat back in 2010, GEICO paid for all factory OE parts, as well as blending, and misc fees. I specifically asked the adjuster about using OE parts or CAPA parts (since I knew CAPA parts were available).

Also helped the Geico Xpress was at a Mercedes-benz certified collision shop (before VW came out with their own version), that was next to a Benz dealership.

 

[01rangerxl]

With most aftermarket assemblies, both mechanical and body, the goal is to make the whole assembly cheaper, and compatibility with OE subassemblies isn't a consideration at all. So even if Mazda sold the piece you needed separately, it might not have worked in the aftermarket lamp.

Some fun examples I have run into recently...

- Numerous aftermarket fuel pump/hanger assemblies with bad level sensors. Generally the level sensors on aftermarket pumps are a different design from OE, and are not available as a standalone part (OE ones often are available separately). You can remove the level sensor from an aftermarket pump, but good luck finding another one. Not surprisingly, it's quite common for level sensors to go bad in aftermarket fuel pump assemblies.

- Aftermarket Camaro cooling fan assemblies with non-replaceable components. GM sells the shroud, motors, blades, harness, etc. as individual parts. On the Dorman assemblies, the motors are hardwired to each other and obviously won't accept the GM plugs. If one motor goes out on a Dorman assembly, it's time for a whole new one. No replacing just the failed motor.

- Replica wheels with not-so replica center caps. We have a 2012 or so Silverado at work with 20" wheels on it that was picked up at an auction. I knew by the VIN that it originally had 17" wheels, but assumed the 20s were just takeoffs. One day a center cap went missing, so I ordered one for that style of GM wheel. I went to put it on, and it simply would not snap on to the wheel because it was too big. It looked exactly like the other center caps as far as the style. I took one of the other center caps off, and on the back it just said "CHINA." Awesome. I tried to find a replacement center cap for the replica wheels, but I couldn't figure out who made them or anything. Right now the truck is just missing a center cap and will be for the foreseeable future.

That said, for simpler/lower risk parts, I like aftermarket being an option. The quality is lower, but usually on common vehicles it's good enough. Just about every delivery truck at work has at least one Keystone part on it, if not several.

 

[zzyzzx]

How do you know that the body shop didn't charge the insurance company for an OE part, then installed a cheap aftermarket part and pocketed the difference?

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
How do you know that the body shop didn't charge the insurance company for an OE part, then installed a cheap aftermarket part and pocketed the difference?


It happens. Some body shops quote a bunch of stuff that they never replace at all. They return the parts for credit, but never tell the insurance company that.

One of my coworkers actually had a body shop request that we send them an invoice (not a quote mind you, an invoice) for parts, but not send the parts. Nope...if you want an invoice, you are getting parts the parts too.

 

[bdcardinal]

And boy do the body shops get miffed when you call their bluff and stick them with a re-stocking fee. I am not losing the 18% it costs me to return a part to Ford or Mazda. Also fun when one of the insurance companies call to ask if a shop returned anything and I fax them the return invoice.