It May Cost a Lot But That is Only Part of the Problem

/in /by

A friend in Ontario sent this link to a Province article by Mike Smyth. Yes the wonders of the internet, he is in Ontario, I am in the lower mainland but he saw the BC article that I missed completely.

Mike had a point to make about expensive parts being one reason why insurance costs are rising and he made that point accurately.

However, his article invites a bit more comment; the cars need to be repaired correctly. A broken headlight is easy to see, and the cost of replacing the light can be determined. With the Mazda example the new light gets put in, aimed, high and low beam checked and away you go, with the insurance company paying close to $2,000. But did anyone check if the lights have Auto Dimming or Active Cornering Response and do these features need to be recalibrated. The camera behind the Camry windshield may turn on and send information, but if it is not aimed correctly it will send the wrong information and the auto braking feature will not be there for you the next time it is needed.

To continue the example of how carefully repair procedures have to be researched before repairs start, I have no idea if Mazda 5 headlights have any auto features (I made up the Active Cornering Response phrase, but it sounds as real as Lane Watch which is a current Honda feature) and I don’t know if the Camry camera controls Auto Braking. I would need to go to one of a few sources of information to determine if these features are in these cars or not. If I think I know because the last Mazda 5 we worked on did not have these features I am getting it wrong, one trim level difference and many almost invisible features can be included.

And as a fun comment on the Tesla that Mike led off with. I hope ICBC sold that with solid documentation to keep it from being registered after repair. My guess is that it will be repaired, because there is no market for Tesla used parts and whoever bought it will figure out a way to register it somewhere. If Tesla thinks it can’t be repaired they will not supply parts nor technical information so whoever does the work will be improvising and whoever buys the car will not be buying a Tesla but something that could be a called a TesLike. That car will definitely not be ready for its next accident.