I would not hesitate to report this to your insurance company, that's what you pay them for. With your collision coverage your insurance should pay all the bills. They will go after the other driver. They have hundreds of lawyers doing exactly that.
I would also get your wife to the Doctor ASAP. Then retain a personal injury attorney ( will take 1/3 of a settlement for personal injury).
Let both insurance company's know you have a attorney overseeing the case.
Insurance company's love to see regular folks come bargain with them, they will steam roller you! ( your company and the other drivers company).
This is beyond your capabilities to handle, GET A PRO!

One of the reasons you pay insurance premiums is so an expert can deal with the other guy's jerk. The jerk will attempt to cheat you any way he can. Involve your insurance and let them deal with the other folks. Since they cheat others so often, they're experts in the game. Unless you are an attorney, you're an amateur in a game of professional cheats. Often just a phone call from them will get the ball rolling.

Another ploy that works (too late now) is to point out that no one but the original dealer will work on your car. You probably can't force that at this point, but its a negotiating chip in your favor. They pay people to cheat you, its just how they play the game. Nothing personal.

If your truck had 15k of damage, your wife will have neck and other issues. Check out acute concussion symptoms, plus possible lumbar issues. Sometimes these do not rear their ugly head until years down the road. As a chiropractor I work on these people every day.

I would hire an attorney, someone with a good track record in PI cases. He will make them pay a reasonable amount to cover your wife's coming health issues and future care.

Third, insurnace companies always try to lowball repairs. Work with the body shop, and just pay the additional for OEM parts.

Then, when it is time to settle for the coming neck and spine issues, have no mercy on them. Also, if possible, DO NOT give the insurnace company "the recorded statement". You have no duty to do that, and they will use it against you. Trust me on this.

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
Your insurance company should be taking up that fight for you, going after the other company.

Agreed. I had an accident recently that was not my fault. Cop did write a report (I think). I notified my insurance company (USAA) and gave them all the details. They took it from there. I did hear from the other insurance company, but didn't respond since my company had already handled it and the car was fixed.

Your insurance company has a bunch of lawyers just to handle issues like this one.

flashguy

Agree with the others to get your insurance involved. While it may be the at fault parties carriers policy to use nonOEM, their responsibility is to restore your vehicle to its pre-accident condition. And that did not include nonOEM parts.

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
Your insurance company should be taking up that fight for you, going after the other company.

This^^^^

When someone backed into my motorcycle Geico refused to cover 100% of the repairs so I filed a claim with my insurance company, State Farm, they paid to have my bike repaired, went after Geico, won, and I ended up getting my $500 deductible back. Since you pay for your car to be insured make them work on your behalf whenever you have an accident. They have the power, knowledge, attorneys and resources to fight on your behalf against the other guys insurance company.

It's no surprise the insurance company is trying to get you to accept substandard non-OEM parts since it will save them a significant amount of money at your expense.

I'm in the camp of people that think you should turn it in to your insurance and let them do the work. You're being pushed around because you are trying to do it yourself. Right now it sounds like you're about $10,000 apart...even if your insurance was covering the difference you wouldn't see a rate hike high enough to justify not using them for it.

It's a curious thing about insurance that I see a fair amount. People pay premiums every month for years and then want to circumvent the insurance when they could make a claim.

Do you know for a fact that your insurance company would replace with OEM or would they use LKQ? Probably a good time to check if you aren't sure.

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:


I would tell them it's my policy to call my lawyer when I'm being jerked around by an insurance adjuster.


She may not have gone to a doctor, but that does not mean she wasn't injured. Be sure not to say 'she wasn't injured' to their adjuster.

It's a sad fact of life but the other insurance company's people are going to be an asshole to you unless you bring in another asshole on your side. That's where a lawyer comes in.

It's going to cost them more but, hey, you weren't the one that drew first blood.

I used to be an insurance adjuster. The people saying to go through your insurance company are the correct ones. They may allow for the use of OEM parts if your policy calls for it (it probably doesn't) or if they want to be nice. It's also always easier to deal with your insurance company than a third party, you're paying them for a reason. People get so bull headed about not filing through their own insurance and all it does is cause more ass-ache for them. But as far as OEM vs non OEM, if insurance companies paid for OEM parts for every wreck your be paying triple what you currently pay for insurance

Having someone threaten to call a lawyer was never intimidating for me. In fact, I usually welcomed it. Mainly because most lawyers won't pick up a damage only claim, there's no money in it. Also because once a lawyer is involved, we legally couldn't speak to the represented party. And lawyers are a lot easier to deal with than the actual person involved. Generally speaking they actually know how things work and they aren't emotional about it and won't get uppity like the involved person would. Also avoid the insurance commissioner. This isn't a shady deal or a case of non responsiveness, its a common industry practice. It's also listed in the standard VA declarations page for both collision and liability property damage to allow the use of "like kind and quality". So they aren't breaking any laws and can't be legally forced to deviate "

$10k seems like a huge discrepancy for just OEM vs non OEM. I'd bet the body shop wrote for more damage than the insurance company did. I'd be curious to see how much your insurance company writes for.

For diminished value, ask the other carrier for it and see what they calculate for a number. Avoid third party DV companies because their quotes are easily discredited and the quotes are expensive. If you can find a friendly dealer maybe ask them to give you a trade in quote for damaged vs non damaged. But keep in mind if there is no frame damage then most DV quotes will be low.

Been there and have the t-shirt. One year seems awfully short. My recommendation is go to your insurance company and have them handle the repair. They will then enter into subrogation with/against the other insurance company for repayment. Insurance companies play a lot of nasty games. Your vehicle is too new and the damage too extensive. Bet you anything there will be hidden damage when they get to taking everything apart.

Not a criticism, but valuable advice. Never take the personal injury issue off the table. Two reasons. First, you don't know what will show up later from the trauma of a significant impact. Second, having an open personal injury claim makes the insurance company, at least in my experience, more willing to take care of the property damage to your satisfaction.

As others have said and I agree with you should have gotten your insurance company involved out of the gate. You should contact your agent and bring him up to speed on what is going on.

You will probably have to go up the chain in the other driver's insurance company at this point, keep going up the management level. Also a call to the state insurance regulator's office would be a good idea. Wait on the attorney, try to do it without going that route just for the money angle.

Another thing to cite together with diminished value is the corrosion warranty that Toyota gives with their vehicles, see page 15 here: https://www.toyota.com/t3Porta...f/T-MMS-19Tundra.pdf

You might want to have your body shop contact their Toyota parts source and see what the warranty coverage is for the O.E.M. replacement body parts. While I cannot speak for Toyota or the "new" General Motors the "old" GM had a limited lifetime warranty on their replacement sheet metal. Another point to bring up is if the aftermarket parts fail who is responsible for the repair or replacement of them? If it is a company like Keystone, at least they are pretty well established. If they are unknown and are only sold by a middleman the point brought up to the insurance company should be "And what am I supposed to do if there is a problem at a later time?"

If the insurer "guarantees to fix any problems at a later date that is connected to the use of these aftermarket parts" you want that in writing. And ask the question "What happens if your insured changes insurers? Who is responsible to fix my vehicle then?"

I have a lot of "on the job" experience with aftermarket collision parts, I was a OEM dealership parts person for 47 years. There was some good aftermarket parts but the majority of them left a lot to be desired. Everything from stamping, shape of marker lamp openings, body lines, bolt holes aligning, corrosion protection, fit of fenders to doors and hoods.

My '04 Sierra was involved in a altercation with a traffic sign due to black ice in a parking lot. As luck would have it I had a new OEM bumper at home in the box, that and the lower fascia were damaged. As the truck had over 100k on it and the fascia was a non critical part (plastic) and I was paying out of pocket I made the decision to use an aftermarket fascia. Came in, looked good, fit good, the color matched well, a silver gray grained finish. A little over a year later it started to bleach out in spots, not consistent, just here and there but very obvious. So much for that great idea.

There is a certification for aftermarket collision parts called CAPA. If you have to use aftermarket at least use CAPA certified ones.

If it was me I'd fight them to the bitter end especially since their insured struck you and was at fault.

quote:

Originally posted by MagnumU:
Second, having an open personal injury claim makes the insurance company, at least in my experience, more willing to take care of the property damage to your satisfaction.

^^^ This is EXCELLENT advice ^^^

As someone who works in auto insurance in Virginia...

1. The only way you are going to get OEM parts covered is if the vehicle falls within your company's guidelines for OEM which may be the same asntge other carrier. Otherwise you can ask the shop to price match (which if you have a good relationship with them, may be easier than you think) or you can pay the difference out of pocket.

2. Non-OEM parts are an acceptable repair method in VA so the bureau of insurance isn't going to give a lick about your complaint.

3. There's no way the 10k difference between the shop and adjuster is just in parts prices.

4. If you want to maximize your diminished value payment, you will likely need to pay money out of your pocket for an evaluation from a reputable appraiser like Reed, IAG, and theres another in Fredericksburg who's name escapes me. Be careful as there are a lot of companies who will promise you the world in order to convince you to buy their services. The other insurance company will likely just laugh at these types of evaluations. If you engage with one, make sure you ask how often they work FOR an insurance company. If they say they never do or would never do, chances are they are just trying to scam you. Real appraisers don't care who hires them, they are actually impartial.

5. Most insurance adjusters love people getting attorneys. Secret of the industry.

quote:

We've been dealing with the other party's insurance company directly

NO NO NO NO

OK i understand the Term and the Idea Behind it.
But can someone Explain How Diminished Value works?

quote:

Originally posted by IndianaMike:
OK i understand the Term and the Idea Behind it.
But can someone Explain How Diminished Value works?

In the simplest terms: imagine this tundra has been fixed and is sitting on a dealer's lot for sale next to an identical Tundra that hasn't been in an accident. How much of a discount will the dealer have to give to sell the repaired one versus the accident free one.

How you actually arrive at that number is the big debate. Courts tend to prefer the USPAP method as it is a standardized process for determining the value of any property. Plenty of the fly by night or shady people will just promise you $10,000 or 20% of the value of the vehicle (usually whichever is highest) in the hopes you will fork over the $400-$1300 they charge for an eval. There is no method or process, they will just cite their experience.

Your state law will factor into things but call your insurance company. I got hit at a light last spring and my Tundra had 16k of damage. Mine was 5 years old with 115k miles and they didn't total it, they fixed it. Mostly OEM parts but the tailgate was aftermarket.

I had a little whiplash for a couple weeks, had x-rays a couple days after the accident. I couldn't even go after diminished value of the truck in NY because to get anything more than vehicle repairs requires an attorney. Without an injury worth enough to interest a lawyer I couldn't go after the other insurance for anything.

You can't fight the other insurance company (especially if it happens to be Geico). Let your insurance handle your vehicle repairs and they'll go after the other insurance company.

quote:

Originally posted by Scurvy:

quote:

Originally posted by IndianaMike:
OK i understand the Term and the Idea Behind it.
But can someone Explain How Diminished Value works?

In the simplest terms: imagine this tundra has been fixed and is sitting on a dealer's lot for sale next to an identical Tundra that hasn't been in an accident ...

This is a very good explanation and great advice. I made a diminution claim a few years ago and the insurance company paid out based on the KBB value in un-wrecked condition and in wrecked condition. It’s not smoke and mirrors- when I traded in that car the dealer pulled the car fax report and reduced the value substantially.