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Which car insurance companies use OEM parts for repairs?
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Will any car insurance providers guarantee to use original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts in case of a repair? One of our readers reached out to ask us, because if their car is damaged they want it to be fixed with OEM parts.
To find out, we dug into the policy booklets for over a dozen popular car insurance providers to find out how each of them treat repair parts. Many people may not be concerned with this issue, but if you are, how do the different insurance companies compare? Here's what we found out.
Car insurance
This may be disappointing to you, but perhaps not surprising—only one of the car insurance providers we looked into guarantees that they'll use OEM parts if they're available. Which company? Chubb.
Chubb is typically targeted at higher-end vehicles and is only accessible through a broker. Prices can be higher than you'd find elsewhere. But those with a luxury car might be willing to pay up to get features like guaranteed OEM parts.
The table below lists how the different insurers compare. Will they use aftermarket parts? Might they use recycled parts? We've also pulled the exact text from their policy booklets so you can see their language around the topic of repair parts. Companies are listed in alphabetical order.
| Car Insurer | Uses aftermarket (not OEM) parts? | Can use recycled parts? | Text from policy booklets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Central | yes | yes | "The insurer may use parts which are not made by the manufacturer of your car, but are of equivalent type and quality to the parts replaced. This may include recycled parts or parts made from recycled materials. (If any parts that need replacing are no longer available in the UK, the most the insurer will pay is the cost shown in the manufacturer’s latest price guide plus an amount for fitting. The insurer will not pay extra costs as a result of parts or replacements not being available in the UK.)" |
| Admiral | yes | yes | "We will repair your vehicle with parts of a similar standard and quality to the parts being replaced. The parts we use may not be produced or supplied by your vehicle’s manufacturer. They may also be recycled parts." |
| Ageas | yes | yes | "The repairer can use parts (including recycled parts) that compare in quality to those available from the manufacturer." |
| Aviva | yes | yes | "We may decide to use parts or accessories not supplied by the original manufacturer, but which are of a similar standard, including recycled parts." |
| AXA | yes | yes | "We may choose to repair your car with recycled parts, where appropriate. Parts used may not have been made by your car’s manufacturer but will be of a similar standard." |
| Chubb | no (where possible) | no mention of this | "Where possible, we use original parts only. Use of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts only." and "Original equipment manufacturer parts used wherever possible.. We source original manufacturer parts that meet our exacting standards. We know your car will be restored to its best with the parts that were designed and built to the quality you are familiar with. That’s why we source original equipment manufacturer parts, wherever possible." |
| Churchill | yes | yes | We may decide to repair your car with parts that haven’t been made by your car’s manufacturer, but that are of a similar standard. This can include recycled parts. If any part or accessory is not available, the most we’ll pay for that part will be the cost shown in the manufacturer’s last UK price list (plus reasonable fitting costs). |
| Diamond | yes | yes | "We will repair your vehicle with parts of a similar standard and quality to the parts being replaced. The parts we use may not be produced or supplied by your vehicle’s manufacturer. They may also be recycled parts. (If any parts are no longer available, we will pay the cost shown in the manufacturer’s latest price guide together with reasonable fitting costs.)" |
| Direct Line | yes | yes | "We may decide to repair your car with parts that haven’t been made by your car’s manufacturer, but that are of a similar standard. This can include recycled parts. If any part or accessory is not available, the most we’ll pay for that part will be the cost shown in the manufacturer’s last UK price list (plus reasonable fitting costs)." |
| Elephant | yes | yes | "We will repair your vehicle with parts of a similar standard and quality to the parts being replaced. The parts we use may not be produced or supplied by your vehicle’s manufacturer. They may also be recycled parts." |
| esure | yes | yes | "We may use parts which aren’t made by the manufacturer of your car if they’re the same type and quality of the ones we are replacing. This may include recycled parts or parts made using recycled materials." |
| Hastings Direct | yes | yes | "Your Insurer’s Nominated Repairer may use parts or Accessories that aren’t made or supplied by your Car’s manufacturer, including recycled parts of a similar type and quality to those being replaced." |
| LV= | yes | yes | "Our repairers may use parts or accessories that haven’t been made by your car’s manufacturer, or refurbished/ undamaged Green parts but will still be a similar type and quality. This will not affect any manufacturer guarantee or warranty." |
| More Than | yes | yes | "If your car is lost or damaged we may decide to use recycled parts or parts or accessories that are not supplied by the original manufacturer." |
| NFU Mutual | yes | no mention of this | "We may use parts and accessories which are not supplied or made by the original manufacturer of the car." |
| QuoteMeHappy | yes | yes | "We may decide to use parts or accessories not supplied by the original manufacturer, but which are of a similar standard, including recycled parts." |
| Swinton | yes | no mention of this | "We can choose to use parts or accessories, which aren’t supplied by your car manufacturer but are of a similar type and quality to the parts and accessories we are replacing. If any part or accessory is not available the most we will pay for that part will be the cost shown in the manufacturers last United Kingdom price list, plus the fitting cost. If the part is not listed in the manufacturers last United Kingdom price list we will pay the cost of an equivalent part plus the fitting cost." |
Does is matter if your car insurance company guarantees OEM parts?
We spoke to our local car repair shop. We wanted to ask if they think it's important that insurance companies cover OEM parts and also to ask if their customers seemed concerned with the use of aftermarket parts. Here's what we found out.
It may not matter that your car insurance company doesn't guarantee the use of OEM parts
A lot of the mechanical parts of a car aren't made by the car manufacturer. They're made by manufacturing companies like Bosch, who supply parts like batteries, hoses, filters, radiators and much more. The car repair shop we spoke to said that 75% of a car can actually be Bosch. Don't hold us to that figure—but it shows that a significant number of car parts are not actually produced by the manufacturer.
The car manufacturer does make some parts—these tend to be parts like body panels and doors that are unique to a particular car make and model.
Why is this important? Well, there is a big aftermarket for common mechanical parts (e.g. the parts made by companies like Bosch) but there isn't a big aftermarket for the unique items like body panels and doors that are made by the manufacturer.
Aftermarket parts (also called 'replacement parts', 'generic parts' or 'non-OEM parts') are made by a manufacturing company (e.g. Bosch) that is NOT your vehicle's original manufacturer (e.g. VW). Aftermarket parts perform the same function as an original part and can be used as replacements for a car's original parts when doing repairs.
So, if a Mercedes needs a new battery or fuel hose, these types of parts were likely not made by Mercedes to begin with and can easily be replaced using aftermarket parts. But if a Mercedes door and body panel are needed to fix damage after a road traffic accident, the repair shop likely only has one option: to order the door and body panel direct from Mercedes. In other words, even if your car insurance doesn't guarantee they'll use OEM parts for a repair, they're likely to HAVE to use OEM parts where it matters (e.g. for the parts like doors that were originally made by your car manufacturer) since they probably won't be able to find these parts elsewhere.
You may be able to arrange for OEM parts (for an additional cost)
If there are OEM parts available for a repair but your insurer's repairer is proposing using a cheaper aftermarket alternative, it may be possible for you to pay the difference to get the OEM part if you really want it. So just because OEM parts aren't guaranteed by your insurer doesn't mean that you can't get them, where available. It just might cost a bit extra.
For example, if the repairer wants to use a £400 water pump but you'd rather use an OEM water pump that costs £500, you might be able to pay the extra £100 for them to use the OEM part. However, this option isn't usually discussed in policy booklets, so may have to be negotiated at the time of repair.
If you have any other insights into this topic, please leave a comment below. We particularly welcome any thoughts from any of our readers with professional car repair experience and expertise!
If you're also curious about how repair guarantees vary by insurance company, check out our article here.