Well being in a rush at work today, I forgot to pull the parking brake. In turn, my car rolled down the hill and into the neighbors van. Luckily he is really cool and it didnt do any damage to his car so i just have to worry about mine. It basically destroyed the rear end of my car. Tail light, bumper, rear quarter, and hatch all need fixed/replaced.

My question to you all is: I am taking my car to a body shop on monday morning. I do alot of work with the owner of said shop and know him pretty well. I have heard in the past of people using the insurance claim to get upgraded/ different parts to have their cars repaired with, i.e. jdm tails, mugen rear bumpers, carbon fiber hatches. I was wondering if anyone has done this before and how i could go about doing it for myself. And if so, where would be the best place for me to source said parts?

Im still a little flustered at the moment, considering it happened about an hour ago and im trying to look at this in a different way. mostly to make myself feel better i suppose. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Guys!

 

Insurance fraud on public internet forum. Be careful my friend.

 

why is it insurance fraud? parts have to be purchased regardless. I'm not going to try and scam them out of more money, my question was more along the lines of: Parts have to be ordered either way, but i was wondering if the parts that are ordered have to be oem honda parts or are we allowed to use that money to buy different parts as long as they are the same price, or if i threw in money on top of that. but thank you for youre concern.

 

Are both tail lights broken?

Also: Another reason to buy an automatic Fit!

 

no only one tail is broken.

 

If you're "upgrading" parts, and the parts cost more than the stock replacement (which all of those do), then yes, you are defrauding the insurance company. They are only supposed to return the car to it's condition before the accident.

If you could get those parts for the same price as the stock replacements, i'm sure you could prove that to the insurance company and it wouldn't be a problem.

 

If you could get those parts for the same price as the stock replacements, i'm sure you could prove that to the insurance company and it wouldn't be a problem.[/QUOTE]

thanks wanderer. Thats what i was implying. And even if the parts are more expensive, im assuming I could always pay out of pocket for the difference. I should be more careful in the way I word things.

 

i used to be an adjuster a long long time ago and i used to get that all the time. people would pay the difference and have upgraded spoiler packages installed and so on. it was perfectly fine at the time. if you are going to file a claim just talk to the adjuster and be honest. tell him/her you are trying to turn a bad situation into a positive one.

 

It's not insurance fraud at all. Once you make a claim with your insurance company, the adjuster will create an estimate. Say it's $2000. You then bring it to your body shop and they will complete the work with the $2000. If they find that it costs more (sometimes happens when parts are removed), they will file a "supplement" with the insurance company to fix it. Even if it cost $10K more and it wouldn't matter to you.

Now, three things I would like to point out:

1) You can do whatever you want with that $2K. You can purchase aftermarket parts that are cheaper and get some money back. Or you can purchase more expensive parts and pay the difference yourself. If the body shop needs to file a supplement, you may have a tougher time to get these since you/body shop may have to prove that it's not related to the aftermarket part being installed.

2) Sometimes the check goes directly to the body shop, instead of you. Just make sure you tell the body shop what you want to do, and you'll have to pay any cost difference.

3) Some body shops are directly partnered with the insurance company. The adjuster won't even come and the insurance company will depend on the body shop to provide the estimate and repair the car. The cost will be billed directly to the insurance agency (minus your deductible). If there are any aftermarket pieces here, it should be detailed on the paperwork.

Basically, there's no need to mention any of this to the insurance company. Just talk through it with the body shop. They would have done this hundreds of times and know what to do.

 

when our Fit was damaged in an accident, it had body damage on both sides and a small ding on the rear hatch. The adjuster called and asked if that ding was part of the accident..and it was. However, I really didn't want them to pull that rear hatch apart and of course do a minor body repair/paint on that spot. The adjuster simply gave me credit off my deductible for that item..basically what the body shop would have charged to fix that damage. They also paid me for the quick repair work (water removal) we did prior to it going to the body shop.

 

thanks for the info guys. I dropped the car off yesterday. I am having the front end re-sprayed (out of my pocket). It is however going to be cheaper than just a walk in because the body shop manager said he has to buy and mix paint for the rear anyway. Also, since the hatch got damaged, he has to take it all apart. so i am going to have him take off the rear garnish and delete the rear wiper for me. then color match it to the body.

 

you just leave it in gear