So I was involved in a little fender-bener. Impact to driver side door and fender

I took the car to what I think is a reputable autobody shop. Shop and insurance inspected and the result was replacement of driver side fender and door (since the reinforcement bars inside the door were bent-- not visible though)

The shop took 3 weeks to get the parts. This is NYC and they couldn't get the parts. So I got suspicious and called the dealer and he said he could have gotten the parts in 3 days. I had the shop call me when they had the car preped. All seemed fine, but I couldn't tell if the door itself was replaced or if just the skin was (the driver side window was all taped up and I didn't go around the other side to look (that was a dumbass move)).

So my questions are these:

1) How do I ensure that thee door was in fact replaced and not just the skin?

2) Are there aftermarket or used autobody s2K parts available to autobody shops?

3) Can I ensure that aftermarketparts were not used at this point?

OK the lesson learned here is always ask for your used parts at the end of the job. Someone told me to do this after the car was in the shop for the second week, but I thought it was unprofessional...

Thanks.

 

i think the door, if still original, would have the vin# tape on it.

 

So they would just remove the tape. Duh...

 

^^true. but just making him feel better if it's not there.


maybe you could pull off the door panel and inspect from inside..???

 

check the welds on the door skin where it meets the door body. I don't remember if its welded from the factory or not but you would definitely be able to tell if they welded it or if it was factory welds (if welded from the factory)

 

[QUOTE=Squeezer,Sep 9 2005, 06:36 AM]check the welds on the door skin where it meets the door body.

 

[QUOTE=pwrofdreams,Sep 9 2005, 09:33 AM] Thanks Squeezer.

 

Uhm, aren't they required by law to show you the old parts if you ask?

 

WRONG!!!!!

Door skins are not welded to the door panel. what you see is seam sealer. If the shop does a good job, you cant tell. The sure way to do it is to ask to see the old parts, or see the parts list (invoice) they got from their honda parts source. This will also esure that the parts are OEM, not aftermarket (although i highly doubt they make any aftermarket OEM parts for the s2k, simply due to lack of volume).

 

when my 2001 was totalled, they put together an estimate using aftermarket body parts. They did that so they wouldn't have to total it.

I promptly told them OEM or bust...they said it was too expensive. I then said I'm not bound by their policies as it was not my fault. Long story short, they totalled the car!