car insurance hell

A couple weeks ago, nadia was involved in a car accident. it wasn't her fault, but the main driver took off and left the other two cars (who were not at fault) at the scene of the accident. luckily, these girls followed that car... got his liscense plate number and returned to the scene of the accident in order to give the info. to the police officer.

After talking to some people, we decided to use our own insurance to cover the rental and damages (because of the urgency of the situation), and then our insurance company would tackle the other company for reimbursment.

Everything was going fine, until the field adjuster gave his estimate to fix the car. I got a call from my mechanic (who is someone I really really trust and also a Bahai who's really close to my father), basically saying that the field adjuster only wanted to use "after market parts" and not genuine TOYOTA parts (it's a camry that was hit). He said, normally he wouldn't make a big deal about it, but it's a 2002 and the parts would really not do the car justice... He basically went on to say that the parts leave big gaps and don't really fit right, the paint doesn't stay on the bumper very well, etc... So i call my field adjuster and ask him to estimate using genuine toyota parts. He says he can't do it. I ask him why, and he says because it's cheaper to use the out of market parts... I wanted him to prove that we HAD to use it... and in my insurance papers there is something that says


"THE LIMIT OF OUR LIABILITY FOR LOSS:

2. WILL NOT EXCEED THE COST TO REPAIR OR REPLACE THE PROPERTY, OR ANY OF ITS PARTS, WITH OTHERS OF LIKE KIND AND QUALITY."


This is the statement that they use in order to use the "after market parts" but the truth is that these parts are not of "like kind and quailty" especailly "quality". My mechanic specifically stated to me that these parts didn't fit quite right (leaving gaps and spaces where they don't belong), that they also didn't hold paint well, etc...

My mother also asked her mechanic in Louisiana (in order for us to get a second opinion), and he said exactly the same kind of things... These mechanics don't know of each other, and have nothing to do with one another... They both give the same advice... I told my insurance adjuster the same information... He said he wouldn't change his mind...

Now some people are telling me not to give up, to get a lawyer to write a letter and they will do it for us... but I am not sure... and it cost like $100 to even talk to a lawyer...

Ahhhhh, I hate these kind of things...

it's so annoying!

What sucks even more is that I am involved with MY insurance company... Kind of wish I just went with the other guys, but out of convenience we did it the way we did....