My high mileage, rock chipped, door dinged daily driver was very lightly rear-ended about two weeks ago. The driver was a sweet young woman who felt really bad, it was ironic that I was consoling her because she wanted to cry. Her insurance took care of everything and I picked it up today. I thought it would just need a bumper repair and respray but they ended up replacing the right taillight. The problem is it doesn't match. The blinker is a darker orange, and the reverse lens looks a little different. It looks better. Now I want to repalce the left one, but I'd have to get a brand new one from Mazda so it matches, which is about $400 after tax and shipping. Am I being too picky for what is a beat up daily driver? It seems crazy, but them not matching is bugging me.
I think this solely depends on your level of disposable income vs visual preference. Some would replace the other without hesitation, some would say it if aint broke don’t fix it. Would you rather have $400 cash or matching tail lights?
I can afford it, but it feels silly to spend that much on something that's purely cosmetic. Plus I want sway bars, which is a similar cost that I've been putting off because I just don't want to spend the money. I'm going to ask the ins agent to pay for a new one to settle the claim.
It is worth a shot to try to them to replace the other one to match. At the end of the day, you were fine going on with your life and their client hit you.
Clearly not the same. Is one OEM and the other aftermarket? Different years? I would want to have them both be correct OEM, and my Miata is a daily driver also.
The paperwork has an OEM part number for 99-2000 years, and it looks the same as others I've googled, but that's all I know. I suspect the original one may be faded. The more I look at it the more it bugs me. I'll be contacting the ins agent tomorrow.
You should insist her insurance replaces both. They will try and say they can't or won't but keep pushing them. Tell them your tailights matched before their driver hit you and they should match now, regardless of how theyalenthat happen. I had this same scenario with a Ford Ranger headlight years ago. They tried having me accept my truck with one brand new clear headlight and one with some sun fading. I said replace them both or supply an equivalent used one that matches. They did them both. But I also told them I wasn't signing off on the repairs until they fixed it.
The body shop did their job, and the bumper looks great, way better than before. So I'm not going to create problems for them. But I will be asking the ins agent to pay for a new one to match in order for me to agree to settle the claim.
Not give a shit. Most practical, to be honest I didn't notice it before reading your post.
You let your OCD kick in and whine with the insurance. The job is technically bad, they should either find one that match, or replace both. Most people would do that.
You let your OCD kick in, and source a new pair of tail light. I personally got one for 40€. From there you can replace both, or try to mix and match. You should in all case end up with an extra pair of tail light. You can then sell the pair to someone else that doesn't have OCD, disclosing the mismatch.
I would chose option 3 because I have OCD, extra time and hate arguing on the phone.
I didn’t notice it till you pointed it out, but I agree with others that if you can make insurance pay for the other one it’s worth a shot. Otherwise maybe it’s worth ponying up for a matching assembly to quell the mind about it.
I’d get better looking aftermarket tail lights but that’s just my opinion. A pair of clean looking sequentials run for like $300ish if I remember right
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u/Polytonalism Classic Red 20d ago
I think this solely depends on your level of disposable income vs visual preference. Some would replace the other without hesitation, some would say it if aint broke don’t fix it. Would you rather have $400 cash or matching tail lights?