Trying to deal with my insurance company. Advice appreciated.

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Trying to deal with my insurance company. Advice appreciated.

GSManiac

494 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 273

#277282 5-Oct-2020 16:30

Got a crack in my car windscreen and it needs to be replaced. Contacted my insurance company (state) in order to get sorted. They have said that they will only pay for an after market replacement, rather than a genuine one from the car manufacturer, in this case Honda.

They have said that if I want an original one, I would have to pay an extra $900. I rung Honda who quoted me $1200 if I wanted to buy one as a private individual. Apparently state will only pay for a genuine part if the car is less than 2 years old. No where in my policy does do they state this clause.

My car is a 2007 Honda CRV sport and the windscreen has sensors and is a lot thicker than aftermarket screens. So I feel that I am getting an inferior replacement that is not like for like. This is the purpose of insurance, for my property to be returned to the same state that it was prior to the incident.

Any advice?

TIA

1 | 2

3505 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1830

Lifetime subscriber

#2579680 5-Oct-2020 16:42

Can't really give any actual advice, except to say we had similar with a Honda Odyssey 2008 and State, maybe a year ago. Think they said it would be aftermarket, though after phoning up it seemed to depend who you speak too. Anyway, when we took it to get done (Smith&Smith), they'd sent an original one anyway and they popped it in.

Sorry its all so hazy.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

kiwi_64

276 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 142

Subscriber

#2579681 5-Oct-2020 16:46

I'm also with State and have several windscreen replacements over the years. They've always gone to great lengths to ensure 'like for like' replacements are installed (albeit the most recent was several years ago, so processes may have changed)

Are you sure that just because they are not providing an OEM one, there will actually be a difference (thickness/sensors)?

wratterus

1687 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 678

#2579683 5-Oct-2020 16:51

Insurance companies seem to be cost cutting pretty hard in this area in the last few years, I guess due to there being so much fancy stuff in newer windscreens, and the average cost for replacement being significantly higher than it would have been even 5 or 6 years ago.

Dratsab

3964 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1728

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2579684 5-Oct-2020 16:53

Ask them to specifically point out the clause whereby they will only replace with a genuine part on a vehicle under 2 years old.

gregmcc

2173 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 836

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2579685 5-Oct-2020 16:54

GSManiac:

Got a crack in my car windscreen and it needs to be replaced. Contacted my insurance company (state) in order to get sorted. They have said that they will only pay for an after market replacement, rather than a genuine one from the car manufacturer, in this case Honda.

They have said that if I want an original one, I would have to pay an extra $900. I rung Honda who quoted me $1200 if I wanted to buy one as a private individual. Apparently state will only pay for a genuine part if the car is less than 2 years old. No where in my policy does do they state this clause.

My car is a 2007 Honda CRV sport and the windscreen has sensors and is a lot thicker than aftermarket screens. So I feel that I am getting an inferior replacement that is not like for like. This is the purpose of insurance, for my property to be returned to the same state that it was prior to the incident.

Any advice?

TIA

I would ask for State to provide some details on the after market windshield, The windshield in modern car are a structural part of the car and in the event of a roll over they help protect the occupants of the car, does the aftermarket windshield meet the manufactures specifications.

Tell State to provide data sheets/written statement from the manufacturer that aftermarket window will preform the same or better than the OEM otherwise reject their replacement on safety grounds.

Danite

43 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 18

#2579686 5-Oct-2020 16:55

I have a 2017 CX-5 with a projected HUD and ran into this issue.. Insurance company put in a aftermarket 3rd party and the projection just looked wrong, if you looked with one eye it was ok but with two it kind of gave you a headache.

I just went back to Smith and Smith and told them that and they replaced it again with genuine Mazda glass and it was back to normal.

Harder to justify in your case but there may be some argument around the sensors you could make.

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

Benjip

977 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 524

ID Verified

#2579702 5-Oct-2020 18:22

See if you can find a safety statement somewhere in your car's manual, about only using genuine parts so as to not minimise the overall structural integrity etc.

If you can find that, send it to State and have them acknowledge in writing that they are happy to worsen the safety of your car.

networkn

Networkn
32862 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15453

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2579711 5-Oct-2020 19:18

Call and ask politely and firmly for a manager. Discuss with them and see what happens. If they insist, ask them to provide evidence inside the policy document that matches what they are saying.

Don't climb into them, whilst it may get you the result you want, in my experience, being firm, assertive and unemotional will usually get what you want and it's less unpleasant for everyone involved.

TechSol

300 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 30

Technical Solutions Aust

#2579721 5-Oct-2020 19:33

Danite:
I have a 2017 CX-5 with a projected HUD and ran into this issue.. Insurance company put in a aftermarket 3rd party and the projection just looked wrong, if you looked with one eye it was ok but with two it kind of gave you a headache.

I just went back to Smith and Smith and told them that and they replaced it again with genuine Mazda glass and it was back to normal.

Harder to justify in your case but there may be some argument around the sensors you could make.

Had the same problem with a CX-9. It was all blurry and messed with your eyes.

The guy at Smith and Smith told me I was imagining it. After a few terse phone calls back and forth they finally agreed to replace it with OEM glass and it was all sorted.

scuwp

3927 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2510

#2579739 5-Oct-2020 20:12

This is standard practice now. Insurance companies are hanging their hat on the after market screens meeting the same "standards" therefore is a "like for like" replacement. Smith and Smith screens seem particularly crappy from an optical perspective, have had 2 replaced after the first one was full of defects. I wouldn't touch S&S again. Have had much better experience with Novus and Instant Windscreens.

Windscreens are becoming very expensive with all the sensors on modern cars.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

Bung

6733 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2926

Subscriber

#2579744 5-Oct-2020 20:33

scuwp:
Windscreens are becoming very expensive with all the sensors on modern cars.

Things like autonomous braking that use some of these sensors must be saving some costs for the insurance companies.

HP

Shop now for HP laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

dejadeadnz

2394 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2287
Inactive user

#2579780 5-Oct-2020 21:54

networkn:

Call and ask politely and firmly for a manager. Discuss with them and see what happens. If they insist, ask them to provide evidence inside the policy document that matches what they are saying.

Don't climb into them, whilst it may get you the result you want, in my experience, being firm, assertive and unemotional will usually get what you want and it's less unpleasant for everyone involved.

The OP doesn't exist to be pleasant to insurance company staff. The law IMO is clear -- unless the Ts&Cs clearly allow the insurer to user aftermarket parts, there's a clear burden of proof upon the insurer to show that any aftermarket replacement is a genuine equivalent/like-for-like of an OEM one and that the car's value, safety, and utility will not be reduced by its use. Any staff member trying to waste the OP's time with the usual insurer tactics of delay, defend and/or deny should be firmly told to shove it.

Edit: Even words in the policy like the insurer being responsible only for repairing damage to a state "substantial equivalent to [pre-damage state]" etc still require them to establish that their proposed material is substantially equivalent, especially when we are talking about something as safety/structurally important as the windscreen.

lxsw20

3689 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2174

Subscriber

#2579803 5-Oct-2020 23:45

dejadeadnz:

The OP doesn't exist to be pleasant to insurance company staff.

There is no need to be a dick to call centre staff, or any other customer service for that matter. They are extremely unlikely to be the decision maker with things like this, they are just following internal policy.

Make it known what you want and ask to go up the chain if they can not help you with that, but there is nothing to be gained by being rude about it. As the saying goes, you catch a lot more flies with honey than vinegar.

dejadeadnz

2394 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2287
Inactive user

#2579810 6-Oct-2020 01:13

Who advocated being a dick? My point is that there's no need for the OP to go out of his or her way to be pleasant nor is is the OP's obligation to care about whether the experience is pleasant for the staff concerned, subject to basic compliance with laws of the land and basic tenets of civility. The OP is the customer -- not the staff member.

mattwnz

20515 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4795

#2579812 6-Oct-2020 02:20

TechSol:
Danite:

I have a 2017 CX-5 with a projected HUD and ran into this issue.. Insurance company put in a aftermarket 3rd party and the projection just looked wrong, if you looked with one eye it was ok but with two it kind of gave you a headache.

I just went back to Smith and Smith and told them that and they replaced it again with genuine Mazda glass and it was back to normal.

Harder to justify in your case but there may be some argument around the sensors you could make.

Had the same problem with a CX-9. It was all blurry and messed with your eyes.

The guy at Smith and Smith told me I was imagining it. After a few terse phone calls back and forth they finally agreed to replace it with OEM glass and it was all sorted.

Surely Mazda would require that the glass is replaced with OEM glass, to make sure this feature works properly?. Mazda would surely know if it would make a difference or not?. I wonder if the warranty on cars could possibly also be voided by using third party glass, like it can be voided on other things where third party parts are used?

1 | 2