Hi Jake,

ICBC may bot be perfect, but it's not that much better here in Ontario.

In these parts, the insurance companies often own the auto wreckers
outright; though they keep their original business name. Any newish
car coming into the yard is carefully dismantled and the parts are
racked and inventoried well away from the general public, where we
are not allowed access to them. Those parts are then sold directly to
the ins. co.-approved  (or owned) bodyshops. Only the older and less
valuable rides are thrown into the public access yard.

What bugs me about this is that when the ins. co. writes off a car;
they're selling it to themselves. And when they part it out, they are
selling to themselves again. And yet they justify our high premiums
based on the low value of the write-off and high cost of  replacement
parts.... THAT THEY ALREADY OWN.

Ahem.

At least buses and vanagons are exempt from this treatment.  Eurovans
I am not so sure about.

Happy Trails,

Greg Potts
1973/74/77/79 Westfakia "Bob The Tomato
www.pottsfamily.ca
www.busesofthecorn.com

On 3-Aug-07, at 1:51 PM, Jake de Villiers wrote:

> You got it Shawn.
> ICBC is the problem.
>
> The single-source insurance in BC has led to extremely high prices
> at the
> auto wreckers.  I'm lucky in that I live near the border and can go to
> Washington for any needed parts.
>
> On 8/3/07, Shawn Wright <vwdiesels@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I suspect part of the reason is that many glass replacements done
>> here are
>> covered under
>> insurance. I had that same window replaced on mine a few years
>> back, and I
>> recall the price
>> was similar, but since I wasn't paying, I didn't see much point in
>> haggling. In my case, a kid
>> hit my van with a rock, but since I had to do the legwork, I
>> wasn't too
>> worried about saving
>> money for the parents. I ended up watching the glass shop do the
>> work to
>> make sure it
>> wasn't screwed up.
>> They are pretty good if you go in person, but prices on the phone
>> can be
>> outrageous, up to
>> 75% of new dealer pricing, as you found out...
>>
>> On 2 Aug 2007 at 15:50, Christopher Gronski <gronski@GMAIL.COM>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I called Malahat Auto Parts looking for a drivers side middle
>>> sliding
>>> window for a westfalia and he quoted me $250 plus shipping.
>>> Crazy! Do
>>> these guys not know what things go for in the real world?
>>>
>>> Chris
>>
>>
>> Shawn Wright
>> http://members.shaw.ca/vwdiesels
>> '88 Westy 1.6TD 5 speed
>> '85 Jetta Diesel 1.6NA
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Jake
> 1984 Vanagon GL
> 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
> www.crescentbeachguitar.com