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Help! Nationwide Insurance trying to rip me off???

hi folks,

I know this doesn't necessarily deal with BMWs in general,
but any help would be greatly appreciated.

Last Thursday, a bigrig truck decided to change freeway lanes into 
our 88 528e while my wife was going to work.  In doing so, the 
truck's front wheel hub ground itself across the rear driverside 
door and into the front.  My wife is A-OK, just real shaken up that
day.

Unfortunately, no witnesses bothered to stop and make a 
statement, including the guy driving behind my wife who almost 
got whacked as well.  The trucker guy lied through his teeth on the
police report saying my wife drove into him.  So until the
insurance companies decide that it was his fault, we've got to 
deal with this through our insurance coverage.

I've already gotten 2 quotes from a dealer recommended body shop 
and another reputable shop that specializes in BMW repair. Both are 
approximately $2300 based on using brand new factory doors.  My 
Nationwide Insurance's quote is a tad under $1200 using 'quality 
recycled parts'

Questions:

What the hell is a 'quality recycled part'?  Something
from a junkyard?  Not acceptable.

Is it customary to repaint the entire side of the car just
to redo the doors? 

Anything I should know to get these idiots at Nationwide to
get in line with what everyone else charges and use real parts
before I give them a call back?


According to the dude at one of the shops, BMW does not supply
door skins by themselves.  They only supply brand new door shells.
That means 2 brand new door assemblies.  That's fine with me.

I'm considering another insurance company after this.  Needless
to say, I'm a bit irate about this entire incident.

Another thing...I'm impressed with the thickness of the sheetmetal
and the amount of damage the doors took without being shredded 
by the truck's lugnuts.  Had this been my toyota, the doors 
probably would have been literally ground into shreds.

thanks in advance for any help,

aaron
[email protected]