New rear bumper

[toad]

Originally Posted by WeeYari

Then go 100% Toyota all the way. Who cares about the cost.

the insurance company - that's who!

i was involved in an accident recently(other guy's fault) and his insurance took care of everything. however, insurance companies have agreements with certain collision repair companies. the money they were willing to pay me was based on the estimate given by their own claims representative. i was given a couple 'preferred' collision repair companies and was told i could go anywhere i wanted(including toyota dealership), BUT they were only going to pay the amount the claims representative estimated.

apparently, the 'preferred' collision repair companies have an agreement to perform the work for whatever the insurance claims rep. estimates in exchange for the work being sent their way. i asked the collision repair people about using genuine toyota parts and they said due to the age of my car(07 yaris sedan) they were only required to use 'oem-spec' parts

the car looks fine now and you can't really tell anything different(there's a slightly larger gap between the hood and the right fender than the left fender, but you have to be looking for it to tell). still, the whole ordeal took almost a month between being hit and finally having my car back to me! to top it off the rental was a POS chevy hhr!

i won't name the insurance company involved nor the collision repair people, but BOTH are nationally-recoginized names. the whole thing made me dislike insurance companies even more than i already did!

[WeeYari]

Originally Posted by toad

the insurance company - that's who!

The OP hasen't provided much detail, but I'm willing to bet (reading the very grey area between the lines), that the dude who hit him is wanting to settle outside of insurance.