PCTG Consumer Complaint Report Record ID#: 1294255692

For the entire 25 years I have been in business, it has been perceived, taught, practiced and enforced that for safety reasons, no body shop or insurance company should, under any circumstances, reuse LKQ suspension parts on ANY vehicle. State Farm, on two occasions in the past month, has written used suspension parts for two of my customers. In the past, I simply refused to use them when they write them, and they have done the right thing and written for new parts. This is no longer the case. I have requested to State Farm that since I am being forced to use these parts, I require that they get sent out to have stress testing done to make sure the parts are mechanically safe, and State Farm has refused. They said that it is my problem if I don't think they are good enough to use on my customers' vehicles and any testing should be done at my expense. Suspension parts are the primary instruments for safety. Failure of any suspension parts will result in an accident. When a crash occurs, these parts are put under intense stress. Stressed metal does not react the same way the next time it is stressed. There could also be microscopic cracks in the metal from the stress. A car is totaled for good reason and gets sent to a junk yard. State Farm wants us to use the possibly stressed and perhaps microscopically damaged suspension parts from these totaled cars on my customer's late-model car. It is an extreme safety issue, and I refuse to commit criminal negligence because I am being strong armed by an insurance company. State Farm has gone too far with the ‘accepted prevailing procedure' rule they have imposed upon our industry. I do not accept their ruling, and I am not willing to put my entire future on the line for an insurance company. The parts may fail. Someone may be maimed or killed. I will not be held responsible"¦but the law says I AM responsible. I will have KNOWINGLY used potentially defective parts.'My free will has been taken away little by little by the insurance companies over the years and it stops here. In contacting the State, I am formally informing the Powers That Be that State Farm in my opinion is committing gross negligence by forcing these parts on shops. The responsibility of enforcing the proper parts use and consumer safety now lies on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. After several attempts to try to get through to Bob Brass, who is the supervisor for State Farm, I was connected with Duriel Roberts. After pleading my position with him, his response was that State Farm is willing to take the risk. The definition of gross negligence from LAW.COM is: carelessness which is in reckless disregard for the safety or lives of others, and is so great it appears to be a conscious violation of other people's rights to safety. If the response of Mr. Roberts isn't the definition of gross negligence, then I am not sure what else it could be considered. I am leaving it in your capable hands to sort out the intent of the insurance company. I would never put my family in a vehicle that has used suspension parts, this is an extreme safety concern to all Americans, not only the ones that are in the vehicle with these parts, but in all of the cars that they will come in contact with WHEN THE PARTS FAIL.