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You are putting them to work!! Are you friends with them, because thats quite the hookup!
Anyway, I found out mine should be done tomorrow but they put in an aftermarket headlight, like I thought they would. They are giving me the old one, I think it only has one broken tab, so I will either sell both and get a used OEM one or I'll see how bad the damaged one is. Rather have a broken tab than an aftermarket light.
You are putting them to work!! Are you friends with them, because thats quite the hookup!
Anyway, I found out mine should be done tomorrow but they put in an aftermarket headlight, like I thought they would. They are giving me the old one, I think it only has one broken tab, so I will either sell both and get a used OEM one or I'll see how bad the damaged one is. Rather have a broken tab than an aftermarket light.
yes it's a buddy of mine he's the Forman at the body shop so they are going to the extra mile for me.
Picked up my car tonight, they wound up using an aftermarket headlight (Depo) and everyone is right, the beam pattern is off and also the color. The depo side is more yellow. Funny thing is the only thing wrong with the OEM one was the very edge of the turn signal part is a little tab, that is cracked a little. I'm going to contact my insurance and complain about the new headlight being off see how they respond. Here is the pic of the damage on the OEM light.
Complained nicely to my insurance about how bad the Depo light is and they said to take it back to the shop and have them supplement my claim and put an OEM one on. They wanted pics and the auto-body shop guy went to take pics and came back and said, "yea that light sure is off, I could tell right away by looking at it." So hopefully everything gets taken care of. Sell the old OEM light to recoup some of my deductible and move on.
Complained nicely to my insurance about how bad the Depo light is and they said to take it back to the shop and have them supplement my claim and put an OEM one on. They wanted pics and the auto-body shop guy went to take pics and came back and said, "yea that light sure is off, I could tell right away by looking at it." So hopefully everything gets taken care of. Sell the old OEM light to recoup some of my deductible and move on.
Thought I would post a pic I took tonight of the difference between the Depo (drivers side) and the OEM (passenger side), this was with the car about 6 feet from the wall I think. It gets worse the farther away. Some would say the Depo is brighter and while it looks that way, its more concentrated rather than spread out, also puts more like on the foreground instead of distance. Plus you'll notice the Z part is not clear and the cutoff is not sharp and light bleeds over it which makes the light look yellow from close up and from a distance (that is what the body show guy noticed the most) There are other issues this picture doesnt show but it was the best I could get.
Thought I would post a pic I took tonight of the difference between the Depo (drivers side) and the OEM (passenger side), this was with the car about 6 feet from the wall I think. It gets worse the farther away. Some would say the Depo is brighter and while it looks that way, its more concentrated rather than spread out, also puts more like on the foreground instead of distance. Plus you'll notice the Z part is not clear and the cutoff is not sharp and light bleeds over it which makes the light look yellow from close up and from a distance (that is what the body show guy noticed the most) There are other issues this picture doesnt show but it was the best I could get.
Hard to see in the picture, but I can tell. Pretty much going along exactly how I figured. Takes time, but hey they are going to get you the correct light. That is respectable right there and you respectes their choice to TRY IT with the aftermarket. Even tho we all knew it wouldnt be right lol. Youre almost back up and running and really you are making out with this work being done.
Got mine all buttoned up today. I am frustrated because I got the OEM headlight put on and the cutoff doesnt match the passenger side. Its a ton better than the DEPO but its still off. Cutoff color is different and the cutoff isnt near as sharp. "I'm like seriously, I cannot win" Is it a defective new OEM headlight? By the way this pic is with the new Night Breaker bulbs.
I'm curious as to how this works out when you're not at fault and it's the other person's insurance that is covering damages. You don't have anything signed that allows them to use their own parts guidelines; just your own policy.
you're right, its more tricky when its a repair on a claimant's car since there is no contract. Generally, same rules will apply but if you are able to find the slightest difference, the supervisor will not be able to deny you an OEM replacement.
As an added note for policyholders and claimants,
Generally, they will still try aftermarket first, but it would always be a good idea to bring up the concerns beforehand. When the parts come in and get installed on the car, ask to see the light output. If you can find anything different about it(most likely will), it "should" be enough to authorize OEM replacement. But of course, lights are one of those things that even some car people don't know much about, so you may have to explain that light output difference is considered a safety criteria(IIHS uses lights as part of its criteria now). Me personally, I would authorize OEM for that and I would be able to back that up to my superiors, but I'm sure there are adjusters who don't know the difference.
Last edited by paperboy42190; Dec 25, 2016 at 04:50 AM.
By the way this pic is with the new Night Breaker bulbs.
