Quality of aftermarket hood and fender panels

Hi folks, I'm a new member but have enjoyed the posts and information here for several years. I have a 2012 Golf TDI 4 door, 6 spd. that I purchased new. It now has 78,000 mi. It's by far the best car I've owned and is in cherry condition. It's been garaged when not in use and never driven in winter as I leave the country from December to April every year.

I just hit a deer with the right front and the hood and fender panels, headlight, and considerable trim need replacing. Fortunately, the engine and compartment parts were undamaged. My insurance won't pay for VW originals and I'm concerned about the quality of aftermarket parts, particularly the hood and fender. As we all know, the original metal panels are heavy, solid, and of superb quality. Does anyone have experience with these aftermarket replacements. My initial research indicates they may be inferior but that will likely vary by source. I'm considering paying for a VW hood, at least, out of pocket.

I want my repaired car to be as close as possible to its original standard. Any information and advice will be much appreciated. Thanks.

You need a better insurance company. You were paying to insure a Volkswagen, not some Chinacrash replacement garbage.

But you should be able to pay the difference yourself to get the good stuff.

I would work with the shop and pay the difference to upgrade to OEM parts.

I know the owner and will be speaking with him about that later today. I priced a VW hood online for $436. The insurance only covers VW parts for 2018 - 20 models. I can't afford to pay the cost difference for everything that will be needed. The hood is my first priority. I do need personal experience information on aftermarket quality. I'm wondering about the headlight as well.

I work on these cars every day (and all kinds of other cars). I can tell you with 100% certainly there is simply no substitute for genuine OEM parts. On any car. This certainly varies, but I still stand by that statement.

If you are pinching pennies, you may look to find some good used OEM stuff. That will generally be just as good, even if the finished stuff needs to be redone.

I would recommend good used parts as well. Aftermarket stuff just usually doesn't have the quality control, however I wouldn't really call factory fenders heavy duty. They are flimsy in my opinion, but they do fit better than any aftermarket part.
Try car-parts.com
Search for the parts you need and then filter by distance to your area code. If you see some close by call the salvager and ask for condition. They have different damage grades such as insurance quality, non insurance quality, etc. I have used the locator many times to find good parts sometimes even get lucky and find the right color and don't even have to get paint matched because it's close enough already.
Good luck.