[jas1598]

I just purchased a used 2016 M235i and absolutely love the car. It's my first BMW and by far the nicest vehicle I've ever owned. A friend recommended I pay extra for OEM insurance coverage to ensure if, god forbid, I ever needed to make a claim, it would be fixed with OEM parts. I called my insurance company today and was quoted a $120 increase annually for this coverage. The agent said though that there might not be many CAPA certified aftermarket parts for the car and this coverage might not be necessary because the only parts available would be OEM. I looked into this on CAPA's website, and it doesn't seem like there are many certified aftermarket parts, so I'm thinking I can do without the OEM coverage and save the $120.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? If I were ever involved in an accident, I would take it to the best collision shop in the area since the quality of the work matters just as much as the quality of the parts.

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by jas1598

I just purchased a used 2016 M235i and absolutely love the car. It's my first BMW and by far the nicest vehicle I've ever owned. A friend recommended I pay extra for OEM insurance coverage to ensure if, god forbid, I ever needed to make a claim, it would be fixed with OEM parts. I called my insurance company today and was quoted a $120 increase annually for this coverage. The agent said though that there might not be many CAPA certified aftermarket parts for the car and this coverage might not be necessary because the only parts available would be OEM. I looked into this on CAPA's website, and it doesn't seem like there are many certified aftermarket parts, so I'm thinking I can do without the OEM coverage and save the $120.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? If I were ever involved in an accident, I would take it to the best collision shop in the area since the quality of the work matters just as much as the quality of the parts.

You bought a premium car at a premium price. Having the level of protection you want is $10/month...two frappucinos a month. Is the peace of mind worth that? When and if you ever need a body shop and find a BMW Certified shop (which is what you should do), you will want OEM parts, no questions asked. This step up is an easy way to get there. By the way, you also want premium fuel in the tank. Welcome to BMW!

[hwntime]

I don't know how the laws are in your state with auto insurance but in Hawaii and Oregon, you have the choice to take your car to any body shop of your choosing. BMW certified body shops will only use BMW OEM parts (I confirmed with a local BMW certified shop) so you wouldn't need that extra coverage.

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by hwntime

I don't know how the laws are in your state with auto insurance but in Hawaii and Oregon, you have the choice to take your car to any body shop of your choosing. BMW certified body shops will only use BMW OEM parts (I confirmed with a local BMW certified shop) so you wouldn't need that extra coverage.

Although the right to take your car to the bodyshop of your choice is fairly universal, that doesn't mean your insurance company is compelled to accept any/all bodyshop prices. If your company's insurance adjuster provides $X dollars, and that coverage includes allowing for/being restricted to aftermarket parts, that is the amount of the check they will send either directly to you, or as a courtesy, to the bodyshop. You have the obligation to pay the full bodyshop amount, even if that requires you adding more payment over the limits of your insurance coverage.

[hwntime]

Originally Posted by Sportstick

Although the right to take your car to the bodyshop of your choice is fairly universal, that doesn't mean your insurance company is compelled to accept any/all bodyshop prices. If your company's insurance adjuster provides $X dollars, and that coverage includes allowing for/being restricted to aftermarket parts, that is the amount of the check they will send either directly to you, or as a courtesy, to the bodyshop. You have the obligation to pay the full bodyshop amount, even if that requires you adding more payment over the limits of your insurance coverage.

Not necessarily if you have a good negotiating body shop. One of my cars was damaged in a hit and run while it was parked overnight. I took my car to a BMW dealership owned body shop which is the only certified one in the greater Portland, OR area. My insurance initially estimated the damage at $6400 and that was with aftermarket and used parts. My body shop refused to do the work and after a week of going back and forth with my adjuster, repairs with all OEM parts was approved at a cost of $11,xxx. The shop needs to take a hard stance against the insurance to get approved for all OEM. Maybe it pays to have a good insurance policy?

[MarcoZandrini]

Originally Posted by Sportstick

Although the right to take your car to the bodyshop of your choice is fairly universal, that doesn't mean your insurance company is compelled to accept any/all bodyshop prices. If your company's insurance adjuster provides $X dollars, and that coverage includes allowing for/being restricted to aftermarket parts, that is the amount of the check they will send either directly to you, or as a courtesy, to the bodyshop. You have the obligation to pay the full bodyshop amount, even if that requires you adding more payment over the limits of your insurance coverage.

I think it’s up to the shop to accept the insurance adjuster’s estimate. The high end shops I’ve dealt with always accepted the adjuster’s estimate. However, they know that if they find additional damage caused by the accident that the insurance company will add to the reimbursement.

[Sportstick]

But, the point is that the insurance company has no obligation to provide coverage in excess of the policy limitation. Some of the above examples may have been an adjuster trying to close the case at the lowest possible spend, but for a policy which actually did cover OEM parts. It does help to have a good service oriented insurance company (e.g., Chubb, Cincinnati Financial, etc.) and to read the details of your coverage. Ultimately, if your policy allows aftermarket parts, the insurance adjuster can stand his ground at that reimbursement level, no matter what the bodyshop charges. The insurance company's responsibility is to provide reimbursement to their customer, the vehicle owner. The vehicle owner pays the bodyshop or authorizes direct payment.

[Maynard]

It has been a while since I had to wrangle this (and fortunately not w/ the BMW). The way they explained it, the insurance company is responsible for the car being satisfactorily repaired, so you need a body shop willing to go the distance to advocate that you NEED oem parts to achieve 'satisfactory'. They can and do assume aftermarket/used is 'acceptable' or 'equivalent' but, at least with my policy, they could not truly require these if they weren't actually acceptable. So what had to happen was that the body shop had to get and install the crappy misfit bumper cover, take a pic to show it was almost an inch too narrow, and then were authorized to order the OEM cover. At the time, finding a workable body shop was fairly straightforward - most of them flatly told me they weren't going to spend the time to try to override insurance company estimates, or would 'have to use what they were told' - not surprisingly, the shop with strong recommends for high-quality show cars was happy to discuss how they would work with this (also worked out well for the paint matching, which is also an area of skill and perseverance).

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by Maynard

It has been a while since I had to wrangle this (and fortunately not w/ the BMW). The way they explained it, the insurance company is responsible for the car being satisfactorily repaired, so you need a body shop willing to go the distance to advocate that you NEED oem parts to achieve 'satisfactory'. They can and do assume aftermarket/used is 'acceptable' or 'equivalent' but, at least with my policy, they could not truly require these if they weren't actually acceptable.

Slight modification...the insurance company is a financial institution. They are responsible for providing the monetary coverage for an approved satisfactory repair, in your case, with allowance for aftermarket parts. Their job is to write the check. The bodyshop, not the insurance company, is responsible for implementing a satisfactory repair. If the use of aftermarket parts does not allow the bodyshop to produce a satisfactory repair, the bodyshop informs the insurance company as to what is needed. The distinction is that, for your policy, aftermarket parts are allowed, although not required, If OEM parts are needed in the absence of satisfactory aftermarket parts, covering that repair cost becomes the insurance company's burden. For other policies, usually at higher premiums, OEM parts are mandated, so there is no question. I have this latter type of policy.

[hwntime]

Originally Posted by Maynard

It has been a while since I had to wrangle this (and fortunately not w/ the BMW). The way they explained it, the insurance company is responsible for the car being satisfactorily repaired, so you need a body shop willing to go the distance to advocate that you NEED oem parts to achieve 'satisfactory'. They can and do assume aftermarket/used is 'acceptable' or 'equivalent' but, at least with my policy, they could not truly require these if they weren't actually acceptable. So what had to happen was that the body shop had to get and install the crappy misfit bumper cover, take a pic to show it was almost an inch too narrow, and then were authorized to order the OEM cover. At the time, finding a workable body shop was fairly straightforward - most of them flatly told me they weren't going to spend the time to try to override insurance company estimates, or would 'have to use what they were told' - not surprisingly, the shop with strong recommends for high-quality show cars was happy to discuss how they would work with this (also worked out well for the paint matching, which is also an area of skill and perseverance).

This is what happened with my E92 at the only certified BMW service body shop in Portland. It was a full week of going back and forth to get the authorization for OEM parts only. I'm assuming it helped being the BMW dealership's own certified body shop repairing the car back to factory spec.

[jas1598]

Thanks for weighing in, guys. I appreciate your stories about how this tends to play out. I'm planning on keeping my current coverage (without the OEM mandate) and taking it to a BMW certified body shop if the need ever arises. As I mentioned earlier, there are very few CAPA certified parts available for the car currently, so they would have to use OEM parts no matter what. A front or rear bumper may be the only argument, but I think I'd win that one after going back and forth.

Hwntime, what dealership in Portland did you go to? Kuni or Portland BMW?

[hwntime]

Originally Posted by jas1598

Thanks for weighing in, guys. I appreciate your stories about how this tends to play out. I'm planning on keeping my current coverage (without the OEM mandate) and taking it to a BMW certified body shop if the need ever arises. As I mentioned earlier, there are very few CAPA certified parts available for the car currently, so they would have to use OEM parts no matter what. A front or rear bumper may be the only argument, but I think I'd win that one after going back and forth.

Hwntime, what dealership in Portland did you go to? Kuni or Portland BMW?

Kuni. Their body shop is right off of Cedar Blvd next to the Nissan dealership by the Max tracks. Portland (Rasmussen) does not have their own certified body shop. Well, at least they didn't about 2 years ago but things could have changed since?

[krhodes1]

Originally Posted by Sportstick

But, the point is that the insurance company has no obligation to provide coverage in excess of the policy limitation. Some of the above examples may have been an adjuster trying to close the case at the lowest possible spend, but for a policy which actually did cover OEM parts. It does help to have a good service oriented insurance company (e.g., Chubb, Cincinnati Financial, etc.) and to read the details of your coverage. Ultimately, if your policy allows aftermarket parts, the insurance adjuster can stand his ground at that reimbursement level, no matter what the bodyshop charges. The insurance company's responsibility is to provide reimbursement to their customer, the vehicle owner. The vehicle owner pays the bodyshop or authorizes direct payment.

This is very much dependent on the state. In Maine, the insurance company can incentivize you to use their bodyshop of choice and/or allow them to use used parts, but they can't force you to - in Maine they will often waive the deductible if you let them do what they will. The downside being that you run the risk of OEM parts pushing the cost over the line of where they car is considered a total loss. But with a newer premium car, it is going to have to be one heck of an accident to get there, and if my car were that damaged, I WANT the thing totaled anyway, because I don't want it back!

I went through this when my '08 Saab was damaged fore and aft in two separate minor accidents within two weeks of each other (neither my fault) when it was only a year old. And we all had the same insurance company (what are the chances). They REALLY pushed for using "remanufactured parts" aka used. Offered all sorts of extra warranty coverage, etc. I insisted on OEM new Saab parts, which about doubled the cost of repair. Still only about $7K on a $40K car. Two new headlights were $1800 of that (halogen, at that).

The front damage was super annoying. The car was parked in front of my barbershop, I was in getting a haircut. An idiot in an F150 pulled into the parking space in front of me, caught the rear edge of my front bumper cover with the end of his rear bumper, and literally ripped the front end of my Saab off. Broke every single piece of plastic on the front of the car, including the headlight mounting ears. And since the plastic belly pans mount to the front, broke all of those too. And the fender liners. Pretty impressive actually. Not so much as a scratch on the paint. Then I got rear-ended in a snowstorm two weeks later. Hadn't even gotten the first damage fixed yet. $4500 for the front, $2K for the rear, all plastic parts. No metal work needed at all. Just paint the two new bumper covers and put it all back together again.

[hwntime]

Originally Posted by krhodes1

This is very much dependent on the state. In Maine, the insurance company can incentivize you to use their bodyshop of choice and/or allow them to use used parts, but they can't force you to - in Maine they will often waive the deductible if you let them do what they will. The downside being that you run the risk of OEM parts pushing the cost over the line of where they car is considered a total loss. But with a newer premium car, it is going to have to be one heck of an accident to get there, and if my car were that damaged, I WANT the thing totaled anyway, because I don't want it back!

I went through this when my '08 Saab was damaged fore and aft in two separate minor accidents within two weeks of each other (neither my fault) when it was only a year old. And we all had the same insurance company (what are the chances). They REALLY pushed for using "remanufactured parts" aka used. Offered all sorts of extra warranty coverage, etc. I insisted on OEM new Saab parts, which about doubled the cost of repair. Still only about $7K on a $40K car. Two new headlights were $1800 of that (halogen, at that).

The front damage was super annoying. The car was parked in front of my barbershop, I was in getting a haircut. An idiot in an F150 pulled into the parking space in front of me, caught the rear edge of my front bumper cover with the end of his rear bumper, and literally ripped the front end of my Saab off. Broke every single piece of plastic on the front of the car, including the headlight mounting ears. And since the plastic belly pans mount to the front, broke all of those too. And the fender liners. Pretty impressive actually. Not so much as a scratch on the paint. Then I got rear-ended in a snowstorm two weeks later. Hadn't even gotten the first damage fixed yet. $4500 for the front, $2K for the rear, all plastic parts. No metal work needed at all. Just paint the two new bumper covers and put it all back together again.

My G37S adpative headlight was damaged in an accident by a 17 year old girl with a driver's permit who didn't know how to drive. The single headlight alone was $2500 and my car was so new that nowhere in the US did they have it in stock. The body shop had to wait 2 weeks to get it shipped from Japan. The "small" fender bender was $8600 in damages due to the adaptive headlight, parking sensors, and labor/paint. Of course I went to the best body shop in the greater Portland area.

[krhodes1]

Originally Posted by hwntime

My G37S adpative headlight was damaged in an accident by a 17 year old girl with a driver's permit who didn't know how to drive. The single headlight alone was $2500 and my car was so new that nowhere in the US did they have it in stock. The body shop had to wait 2 weeks to get it shipped from Japan. The "small" fender bender was $8600 in damages due to the adaptive headlight, parking sensors, and labor/paint. Of course I went to the best body shop in the greater Portland area.

Aren't modern cars great? Especially relatively rare and oddball ones? My current GTI has the all-singing-all-dancing HID headlights, but since it's a VW they are cheaper than the Saabs basic halogens.

Which Portland, the original or the fake? If the original, howdy (summer) neighbor!

[hwntime]

Originally Posted by krhodes1

Aren't modern cars great? Especially relatively rare and oddball ones? My current GTI has the all-singing-all-dancing HID headlights, but since it's a VW they are cheaper than the Saabs basic halogens.

Which Portland, the original or the fake? If the original, howdy (summer) neighbor!

Haha the original Portland lol