aeromods and insurance claims question.
 

i have been studying alot on this forum and elsewhere ,about aeromods ,for my prius, its my work car and i have beat it up enough now that im not afraid to ,scratch,cut,scuff, weld,or otherwise mod it externally. its a 2005 , and i do a 100 mile commute to work 6 days a week, mostly highway, milage. and id love to add more mpg with aeromods. But ,a young girl rearended me at a stoplight friday, got me wondering,, what if i had a tail on the car? could they have argued that i illeaglly modded my car and tried not to repair my car,? or even tried to make me pay for her front end damage? any lawyer types out there? i live in florida.

Aeromods aren't generally illegal. In any event, the other party would have to prove that the mod contributed to the accident.

If in doubt get your mods inspected/ certified and notify your insurance.

Assuming a boat tail doesn't cover your stop lights, it really serves as an extra few feet of warning and a deformable structure.

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to collect the money, get the basic structure aligned then get paid the rest of the money for your aeromod :D:D:D.

regards
mech

In my line of work (Autobody Jobber)I see a lot of bike racks on the back or cars that get destroyed in a rear end accident. The person that rear ended the car has to pay for the rack and the bike if it was on the rack.

Also where I live we have a ton of after market bumpers on full size trucks that weigh a ton and cause a lot more damage then the stock one would. I have never heard of a case where the insurance company goes after the customer for a after market bumper causing more damage then OEM. But I wouldn't put past a insurance to try it.:(

They can't even get the aftermarket chinese made replacement sheet metal to fit right even when there is no alignment issues with the surrounding sheet metal. The bumper covers are a joke. Cheap, sure but fitment is impossible.

regards
mech

1. Register a trade name/DBA, like Fat Charlie's Aerodynamic Designs.

2. Have Fat Charlie's Aerodynamic Designs bill you for any mods. Be sure they charge for designing, installing and testing any mods. Parts need to be itemized- and marked up.

3. Write yourself a check for the total and make sure the invoice is marked as paid.

4. Make sure that Fat Charlie's Aerodynamic Designs bills you for any repairs, then pass the bill along to the insurer.

Of course in Florida, I think you're supposed to get out of your car snd start shooting. Or not. It seems to vary down there.

It may be on a case by case basis. Mine will cover aftermarket parts (with proof of purchase) that replace existing factory parts and even an alarm, but I never asked about a tail!

she was 22 cute and unarmed , so i used restraint and kept the keltec in my pocket, and the glock in the console.

I believe it would fall under the same as a custom car would, and they would have to pay for any of the damage caused even to one-off parts.

I had progressive and the guy at fault had allstate. The adjuster valued my car at "fair" because it was missing parts that I removed, the seat was soiled, the car had trash inside and the outside had been modified. I had painted the silver inserts on the bumper satan black, he stated customer painted red bumpers flat black with spray paint. His write up was very one sided and was to lower the value of my vehicle. The body shop adjuster said they would replace oem parts with oem parts or aftermarket if they can buy them. If I had made something they would pay me. After a tear down they did not like all the aero panels and stuff requiring a bumper clip to be replaced with a zip tie. He furthered ran the vehicle into the ground in regards to maintenance. I explained the bumper clips were expensive and break, where as the zip ties were cheap and durable. I even said they could replace the clips with zip ties. He seemed rather discussded.

The body shop decided not to work on the car and the guys insurance wasnt playing fairly. Ended up getting my insurance involved and another shop. My insurance said they would do oem, I had to buy aftermarket parts, give them reciept and they would reimburse me.