Posted On: May 7, 2009, 2:10 pm CDT

Posted By: Defender of Justice

Fighting Saints, I respect your opinion regarding the quality or lack thereof for OEM, salvage as well as aftermarket parts. However, what you failed to mention is that the salvage or aftermarket parts have a tremendous amount of returns versus the OEM for various reasons (fit, quality, craftsmanship, etc...).

I have been told by many adjusters time and time again, "get the aftermarket (or salvage) part in and if it isn't any good, then order an OEM and we will supplement it".

What is wrong with that? I will tell you. First off, they usually will not pay to prefit an aftermaket part. Who wants to cut a fender in only to find it doesn't fit properly? Secondly, now that the part is no good, you have to take more time out of your day to order an OEM part. This will then delay the repairs as you will now have to wait for the part. The customer may get upset by this. The shop will now be delayed in getting the vehicle out the door and thus resulting in delaying the start of another vehicle repair. Will the insurance pay for that? Not a chance. Have any of you ever had a vendor (aftermarket or salvage) refuse to sell you parts because you return too many parts? It has happened here.

So tell me again, why is using aftermarket parts or salvage parts the right thing to do? It isn't, plain and simple. No one wins with aftermarket or salvage parts except those parts vendors and the insurance company, certainly not the repair facility or customer.