So we hit a deer on October 12th which set off the side airbags and caused $15K damage. It's been in the shop since then waiting on a headliner. We just got word today there will be no replacement headliner, dealership cannot get one. They heated it up and put the old one back in so you can't tell the difference. Can anybody with GM Intel confirm this? Dealership volunteered to cover my deductible and the police Tahoe shorter valence we are having put in and we've put 3000 miles on a loaner Silverado. Wife is not pleased, not sure what the options really are though otherwise.

What year is the suburban

Sorry, 2017.

Headliners can vary considerably depending on how the truck was equipped originally. Colors, sunroofs, types and locations of lights or overhead consoles and others all make a difference.

Does a bubba'ed headliner matter for future side airbag deployment? I would think after a month, if there was a headliner to be gotten, it would have happened.

Scuba,what did they tell you? No promise date or discontinued? Two different things.

No promise date means just that, they cannot give a date due to many factors. It will be available at some time in the future just nobody knows when.

In that case there is a process that the dealers use to order from the factory. It is called a SPAC case. The part is ordered and after a backorder is transmitted back to the dealership the order is upgraded with your VIN number. At that point the part may or may not get put out on a report asking dealers to check their inventory and if they agree to sell it they are reimbursed a percentage over what they pay for it and ship it on GM's dime from their dealership to the dealership it is needed at.
I did many of those over the years, common daily occurrence. If after two searches over the locator with no results the dealer can request that the order is referred to the SWAT team, a separate area. Once there they have 48 hours to get back to the dealership with information. Now it can be good or bad news, regardless it is news

Now discontinued, a whole new problem. Yes, parts for a 2015 can be discontinued, no law on the books unlike the popular notion that they have to keep parts available for "x" number of years. If projected demand is too low, out it goes. If the supplied raises the price to become prohibitive, bye bye. Or even if the company that makes it closes up and nobody wants to make and sell it, you guessed the rest. If that is the case then you are SOL unless you can find a used one at that point

Sometimes the dealers can run the part number in their local area on the D to D locator and find one. Did they try that also?

I did not get that level of specificity. It was a the us the best we can do. I am meeting Thursday to look it over.

Shovelhead gave you great information. As a shop, we had luck from time to time with the process he described. At the mercy of GM, of course.

On a job that size the shop is going to want to clear it out, get their money back from the insurance company, and move on to the next job. Make sure they have exhausted everything Shovelhead recommended before you accept nothing more can be done.

There's a difference between nothing more can be done, and we are tired of dealing with this and do not want to do more. That's a fairly new vehicle, and you are going to have to live with the outcome.

Back in October when they put me in a dealer loaner after I had been paying out of pocket for minivan from Enterprise because the damn deer didn't have insurance the story was the headliner was on back order and they may have to pull one from the factory floor. Then a month of nothing until I got the notice from the insurance company that they got the final invoice and paid.... complete with a new $2K headliner. So of course the shop (might) have some money to throw into covering deductibles etc, but that is just a guess. I have no knowledge of their conversations with insurance about the matter...

Be sure you know the full extent of what was paid for, what was done, and which parts actually made it onto the vehicle. A $2K part is a big and obvious thing. There will be other, not so obvious things. I'm not saying be difficult, but if you are not sure about something, ask them to explain so you understand.

Is the shop fixing your vehicle a preferred shop with the insurance company? Will the insurance company and the shop guarantee the repair? Know the answer to these questions before you sign off on things.

Yes, it's a preferred dealer with our insurance. Guaranteed for as long as we own the car. It's all GM parts, no third party. Door, fender and bumper are marked remanufactured or used parts on the invoice but shop says they use new instead, insurance only approves remanufactured or used so they price match it. He's possibly lying on what parts were actually used but there is no way for me to prove otherwise.

Have you talked to your insurance company about this issue? What did they say?

It is true some of the major manufacturers have programs where they will match the price of aftermarket or remanufactured parts. They often require the original damaged parts back as cores for headlight assemblies, bumper covers, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
Yes, it's a preferred dealer with our insurance. Guaranteed for as long as we own the car. It's all GM parts, no third party. Door, fender and bumper are marked remanufactured or used parts on the invoice but shop says they use new instead, insurance only approves remanufactured or used so they price match it. He's possibly lying on what parts were actually used but there is no way for me to prove otherwise.

If you get a copy of the estimate from the insurance company it should have the parts listed at the end of the estimate.

I have the estimate, it's described as above. Used door fender and bumper, new headliner.

I had a Buick Rainier that the headliner dropped about 2" in. All GM would authorize was reapplying adhesive and resticking it. Everytime it got hot inside the car it came down again.

I would not go for the reapplying it method.

Scuba,

There are a couple of GM programs that come into play here. Conquest and My Price Link. Both those are to allow dealers to be more competitive in selling new genuine parts. I'm somewhat familiar with the program but not up to date because I switched from dealing with collision parts on a daily basis to mechanical parts from 2011 until I retired last year.

If the collision shop used new GM parts you need documentation from them on the final bill which you need to retain a copy to protect your rights with the corrosion coverage that goes with the purchase of Genuine GM Sheet Metal, it is a Limited Lifetime coverage. the estimate is just that, an unofficial guess on what it will take to repair your vehicle. The final bill is the true proof of what was done and how. But without documentation from the collision shop with GM part numbers on it they will not be covered. Don't take his word, you need proof. The insurance company does not care whether or not they ultimately installed used parts or aftermarket parts, only the price. There are a few exceptions, one insurance company due to a settled lawsuit specified that certain replacement parts could only be genuine OEM with no exceptions.


https://www.mycertifiedservice...y-Chart-GM-Parts.pdf

https://www.genuinegmparts.com...al-warranty-form.pdf

This is unless something has changed in the year and a half since I got out of the business which I doubt though.

quote:

Originally posted by deepocean:
Shovelhead gave you great information. As a shop, we had luck from time to time with the process he described. At the mercy of GM, of course.

On a job that size the shop is going to want to clear it out, get their money back from the insurance company, and move on to the next job. Make sure they have exhausted everything Shovelhead recommended before you accept nothing more can be done.

There's a difference between nothing more can be done, and we are tired of dealing with this and do not want to do more. That's a fairly new vehicle, and you are going to have to live with the outcome.

deepocean is right especially with the last paragraph. A lot of the new generation of parts people and managers want a "wham bam thank you ma'am" in their daily dealings. I'd SPAC and SWAT GM's ass (that doesn't sound good, does it?) on a daily basis. In fact on my wife's car the replacement hood rusted out at the hood lip. I started a SPAC and a SWAT case on it and was on them from August into January of the following year when I finally convinced her it was time to sell it as the hood was on back order for all that time. We never did get it despite multiple inquires and two that were SPRINT(ed) (another GM program where that I discussed earlier, they purchase the part from a dealer that has it in stock and ship it prepaid to the requesting dealer) that were received with non repairable damage.

I've given you some valid points to get answers on. What I don't like is the part that they charged the insurance company for a new headliner yet repaired yours. If they say they are going to replace it if and when they get it you need that in writing. And stay on them and your insurance company on it. You also can contact GM Customer Service about the headliner but you will need the SPAC case number for them to investigate it. Not bragging but my customers never needed to contact Customer Service as that was my job to keep on the case. But I was old school, I wanted an answer and I was going to get it.

ryan81986,

One thing about the eCommerce dealerships is that they list every part that the manufacturer has in their catalogs despite not stocking it. That would cause me a lot of grief because the customer would insist "they show it on their website".

One other thing, when shopping on those sites you notice the part that states the percentage of discount. As customers it looks all good until you get to the shipping and handling part. That is were the discount starts to go away. There was one dealer that was notorious for "selling" a part for 3-5% over dealer cost (gets complicated book cost vs. special discounts,etc) but they would make their profit on S&H like some eBayers would do. So the net discount would work out to be about 10-15% and a few days waiting time vs. going to your local dealer and asking if there was any wiggle room on a polite basis. Not like the ones that would print out the first page with the insanely low sale price and without the final price with S&H and demand that I match the price. I knew who many of those eCommerce dealers were and how they played the game.

That was one of my pet peeves,that and customers that came in wanting me to look up parts for free so they could shop on the 'net for them. Yep, that went over like a turd in the punchbowl.