i'm going to try to make this as short as possible.
i'm dealing with my ins co. over the curb run-in that i had. the car was towed to south point nissan (where i want the car fixed.) in texas, the insured has the right to have their car repaired at whatever shop they choose.

what i've proposed to my ins co (who btw, waited 1.5 weeks to send the adjuster to look at the car) is that they pay south point for everything but the wheels. 2 were damaged and need to be replaced. south point's cost on the wheels is nissan cost. pretty pricey. i want my ins co to cut me a check for hte price of hte wheels. basically, everything goes directly to south point except the wheel money.

now, they agreed to do this. but the only thing is they said that they won't pay me what south point wants for the wheels. they'll pay me what they can get the wheels for. they explained that they have another source for the wheels. "some people want to take the stock wheels off their cars and put them fancy wheels on right away. so we buy the stock wheels from them"

what that tells me is that i'm getting someone else's old wheels at a reduced price. that's the cost the ins co would cut me the check for.

my question is this:
because i have the right to choose where my car gets fixed, don't i also have the right to choose where my parts come from?
does the ins co have the freedom to basically tell me how much my parts are worth and ignore the estimate (which they themselves are accepting for all the other parts) from south point nissan?

any help would be appreciated. thanks all.

 

Which Ins company?

Thats funny because I got 2 wheels too...
They can get them cheaper than most resale but we can get them cheaper than they can get them too.

They invoiced my two rims at 750 for two - one front and one back for 17's. So if that is the cheap price they are talking about they dont know cheap.

Ask them the price they are going to give you for the rims and start form there. But yes you can choose where the parts come from... just not the price they will pay you back.

 

post

Ok it wont let me post the INS claim attachment... but they paid 750 for wheels... and I could have bought them for 250 a piece.

 

farmers.

they still haven't come back with a price for me. (he said he would have it ready by lets see, three days ago..)

i'm just tired of hte bs'ing. i want my damn car back and i want farmers to for once, do what they said they're gonna do.

 

I was at the repair shop that South Points Uses... (getting a squeek checked on that started after I got my car back) and asking about painting a lip for me... Saw a fixed PPW... but didnt see your car...

So it's just sitting at SouthP? Thats F..ing pathetic. Did they give you a loaner? Most INS companies try to get the ball rolling because Rentals cost them money.

 

yeah, i'm big ballin in an 04 impala right now. wha wha? heh

i'm guessing it's at south point right now.

 

I believe you have the right to choose where your parts come from, but that doesn't mean your insurance company is obligated to cut a check to you for the amount your chosen supplier charges for the part. The insurance company most likely has a huge database of parts suppliers and prices and will attempt to lowball you if you choose to be paid in cash. My guess is, this helps the insurance company from being overcharged for parts that possibly could be obtained for a significantly less amount of money elsewhere.

 

i guess teh question is do they have the right to put used wheels on my car? that's what they're wanting to do. and the check they would cut me would be for the amount they could purchase the used wheels for.

that just doesn't seem right to me.

 

unfortunately the answer is "yes" they can and "no" you can't ... unless you specify that you want ONLY new parts when you get your policy or renew, the insurance has the right to find and have installed:

"like kind and quality"

that means if your car has 20k miles on it, they can "aquire" wheels that have about 20k or less on them and you can;t do anything but pay the difference. I pay an extra $55 every 6 months to ensure "new, oem parts only".

I personally would take the check and get some wheels from a board member or ebay.

 

yeah, that's what i'm trying to do. but seeing as how the ******* haven't come back with a number yet, i dunno if that's gonna be plausable.