We would like to share this quote. This is very important information about your vehicle’s safety.
A QUOTE FROM THE INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY:
There’s a lot of engineering that goes into making a crash-protection system,” says David Zuby, chief research officer for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “You can’t willy-nilly change those parts because the system may not work the way it was designed.
In the event of a collision, today’s vehicles are engineered to respond, in an accident, in a very specific way. The vehicle’s frame/structure is designed to bend, absorb and direct impact energies up, over, around and under the vehicle’s cabin area to protect the occupants from serious injury, to do it all perfectly, in split-second timing!
If non-original substandard (alternative) parts are used in a repair, this “crash management system” may be disrupted and even defeated. When you consider the fact that an airbag has to respond and deploy in milliseconds to prevent a passenger from hitting the steering wheel or dashboard of their vehicle, even the slightest deviation and disruption in a vehicles crash management system can result in serious injury or even death.
Who to trust with you and your family’s safety:
Repairers who receive a steady stream of insurance company referral work, and in exchange, they’re expected to perform repairs within the referring insurance company’s guidelines, including mandated discounts and concessions. Insurers rarely agree to the repairs quoted in the initial estimate, often insisting on less expensive methods and parts that are not approved by the vehicle’s manufacturer. No quality repairer wants to work with these non-original counterfeit parts simply because it’s easier to repair a damaged vehicle with components that were made by the original manufacturer’s equipment (OEM) specifications which restore the safety, appearance, reliability, factory warranty and the vehicle’s re-sale value. However, if a repairer has a DRP (direct repair provider) relationship with an insurance company, they may be forced to use cheap parts and shortcut methods to keep that stream of referrals coming in. In these situations, the repairer is working in the insurer’s best interest and their own rather than that of the vehicle owner and their family. If you’ve taken your vehicle to an insurance company’s “preferred” DRP shop, you’ll probably want to have an independent quality-minded professional take a closer look via a Post Repair Inspection. The paint may look shiny and new, but beneath the surface might be remaining damage or improper repairs. It’s what one can’t see that may harm them!
With all the advanced technologies in today’s vehicles this information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that the insurers agree that an OEM repair with OEM parts is the only proper repair. You may want to get ahold of your insurance company and make sure your policy will cover factory replacement parts and procedures to repair your vehicle should the unexpected arise.
Remember too that the choice of repairer in our state is yours and yours alone. Don’t wait to do your research on which body shop you want to represent you and your family’s best interests when you need it. Plan ahead for the unexpected. The choice of repairer is yours...not the insurance companies. Choose wisely!!