gnarly_mike

I have my jeep in the body shop right now due to a wreck that happened about a month ago, whole front suspension is pretty much trashed. They body needs minor work and the shop has already gotten the $1900 or so for that work.

The insurance adjuster who estimated repair cost literally didn't even look at the suspension and write any of it up, leaving the body shop to estimate the cost and report to the insurance with the supplemental costs.

The shop just called me with a supplemental cost of $9100 towards front suspension only....I'm going to go there Monday and try to talk the owner of the shop into buying RK X-Factor with the Fox 2.0 remote reservoirs instead of spending twice that amount for crappy stock replacement parts...

If I had them buy a used/new condition d44 front assembly, regear both ends to 4.88, buy the RK X-Factor with Fox, that would come out to around $5000, and they could pocket the extra $4k.

Has anyone had this type of situation? How could I go about talking the shop into doing this? This is a golden opportunity to replace my entire suspension with what I would be buying in the future anyway, only out of the insurance's pocket, not mine.

If they have a $9100 quote and it gets approved, wouldn't the shop have to be CRAZY to not want to save the extra $4k?

I can maybe waive the repair warranty and just have them do the axle and gear change, then do the suspension work myself. I've already installed one on my friends Jeep, and could very easily complete the entire X-Factor install in a day. That would keep the time frame shorter for them having my Jeep cluttering their shop, and save them install time/"cost" AND they would keep $4k of left over money.

Does the insurance write the check upon approval of the repair cost? Or do they write the body shop check afterwards?

This seems almost too good to be true, however I've read a fee stories similar to what I'm proposing.

Any ideas/feedback/stories are appreciated!

ikaros

It will really be up to the shop if they are willing to do it or not.

jadmt

There is a risk to the body shop if it gets discovered they will never be used by that insurance company again and it also might be insure fraud.

nthinuf

Talk to the insurance adjuster? As long as the cost is the same (or cheaper), they may not care whether you use stock or aftermarket parts.

Or have them cut the check directly to you, then you can buy whatever the heck you want.

gnarly_mike

Yes, but I know what game he is going to play. He is writing up brand new Mopar replacement parts to get the highest cost, get the check written to his shop, then go and buy junkyard/take-off/good condition used parts to save himself all the extra money. THAT also is insurance fraud. He cannot write up new parts then use anything other than that. So theoretically, if I let him know I am aware of the body shop game, he will be forced to use that full amount towards my repairs/replacements, effectively taking all that extra money he thinks he will get back out of his pocket.

So, if I tell him, "hey, I can get these parts for half the cost, and let you keep the extra money" he technically would have great incentive to do that wouldn't he?

At that point he will know that I will know the difference between new and like new/used parts. He will either make $4k by doing my proposed idea, or he will make hardly anything by doing a totally legal repair.

gnarly_mike

The vehicle is not yet paid off, so the check has to either be written to the body shop, or will be a joint check written to me and my credit union that is financing the vehicle. I would have a hard time convincing the credit union to let me have the money and do the repairs myself, because they want a certified shop to do repair work on their "investment" should I ever have it repossessed or sold.

I figure trying to work with the body shop owner who we have dealt with before with our other vehicles gives me a much higher rate of pulling this off.

I guess it pretty much comes down to the shop owner, right? And my business skills? The guy is kind of big headed but his kid went to the same high school I did and we HAVE used their shop multiple times. Plus he would be getting a hefty amount of extra money if he is willing to work with what I want.

The only people who would know anything about it would be me and him. I obviously would never tell the insurance that he didn't use what he wrote up.

htm7765

I oversee a body shop and that is a touchy subject, 1st who is your insurance company ???some require re-inspections before they issue the supplement payment, is the shop on your insurance companies direct repair program. if so, the shop acts as the adjuster and they just document the damage by having and submitting pictures and retaining the old parts. I have had people upgrading to OEM parts other than the crapping aftermarket or salvaged parts insurance companies want to use.. No issues doing that , your issue is you will be installing aftermarket parts that are modifying the vehicle. On the other hand we have people that come into the shop get the estimate done collect the check and never repair the car. That isn't fraud the damage is there and you are entitled to that money billing the insurance for something and installing a different part is, first I would reach out to the shop manager and see what he thinks and then if needed go to the adjuster. One thing I wouldn't do is start offering to do some of the work yourself that leaves the shop liable for your work and if it was me I would shut you down. If it was my shop I would first see what your looking to do and then have a meeting or phone conference with you and the adjuster if he is ok with it I would be ok with it also. Most shop managers have a good relationships with the adjusters and can usually work things out

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gnarly_mike

So Texas state law says that the insurance nor the body shop can force me to use any specific brand replacement parts, that I get to choose those brands as long as they are "reasonably priced" which usually OEM is NOT "reasonably priced" to the insurance companies, due to the fact that with most body work they can buy Keystone replacement parts for cheaper or something similar.

HOWEVER, due to the nature of the repair being suspension, there are no off brand replacement parts they can use that are cheaper than OEM, other than aftermarket like I'm talking about.

So technically, if the adjuster shows up on Monday to approve the supplemental cost of $9100, that would be them essentially saying that that is "reasonably priced" repair cost. So anything that falls under that cost would be acceptable, presumably, according to the state law.

So, according to Texas state law, I technically can then have the body shop use whatever brand parts I want for replacement. Am I correct in this assumption?

The body shop I am using is a locally owned shop, Bebrick Collision Center, not a chain shop. The insurance company is Geico, for better or worse. They use Service King around here. Our local Service King does not do great body work, so I went with the shop that we have used before for other vehicles, and that is owned by someone who had a kid in the same school as me.

Taking these things into consideration, nobody would be committing any sort of insurance fraud, and presumably, the only reason the shop would think twice about this proposal would be because of them not wanting to have the Jeep in the shop longer than necessary. That is why I would maybe propose to install the suspension myself, if they can get the axle in and get it rolling so I can take it home. I could waive the shop warranty for the suspension work, leaving them unobligated for any possible future issues with suspension that I could claim to them if I was a lowlife fraudster.

I am particularly interested in your response since you oversee a body shop.

I want to avoid including the insurance in this because the rear suspension doesn't need work, and if I talk to them about replacing parts with aftermarket, they will then want to detract from the cost and I won't be able to also buy rear suspension (complete X-Factor)

htm7765

[QUOTE="gnarly_mike;4148319"] Yes, but I know what game he is going to play. He is writing up brand new Mopar replacement parts to get the highest cost, get the check written to his shop, then go and buy junkyard/take-off/good condition used parts to save himself all the extra money. THAT also is insurance fraud. He cannot write up new parts then use anything other than that. So theoretically, if I let him know I am aware of the body shop game, he will be forced to use that full amount towards my

Not true from jump street insurance companies only approve aftermarket or salvage parts unless the vehicle is in the same model year , low mileage or it is a branded part. A shop can write what ever they want but the insurance company over rules them, and ultimately the shop works off of the insurance companies estimate not their own. If they are on the insurance companies repair program they will get in trouble for what they call "overwriting " the estimate. I wouldn't recommend going in with that attitude, come at me like that and tow your vehicle out. Not that what he stated can't happen just saying not as common as you think the fit and finish of aftermarket is so poor they spend more labor hrs getting it to fit correctly not worth it,, no savings I would be more afraid of the shop doing poor work then swapping parts. our supplements are for hidden or found damage and using OE parts saying aftermarket had problems with fitment

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gnarly_mike

[i agree with not going in trying to tell him I'm privy to something like that if it was even happening. I just assume that he is writing up new parts because there is no way in hell in my mind that he could come to $9100 for front suspension only. He mentioned on the phone a complete axle replacement and that doesn't take long, so there's no way he got to 9100 just by factoring man hours and labor fees. At least I can't see how that would be possible, but I do not have the same frame of reference you do. This is why I am asking