whats cheaper
 

hey i need you guys opinion this are the parts im repalceing
hood hinges
hood
front headlights
bumper
should i go through the insurance or should i buy the stuff myself and get it painted

you could go through insurance get the money from them and they go aftermarket. since most after market is cheaper than OEM anyway.

thanks iight guys and girls i need some more opinons let me know iight

listen i work at a body shop/ mechanic shop and trust me unless you got a professional appraiser to say that thats all you need replaced, you need more. chances are that if u got hit high enough that u need a hood and hinges you more than likely have problems with the radiator support which the untrained eye will never see. also the headlights might need the brackets for the bumper and the bumper could need the impact bar and foam absorber. and unless youve dont a bit of body work b4 its gonna be a bitch to put together like normal, and dont expect it to be a 100% back to what it was because even the best body shop cant do that, you may not notice the differences but people whove been around it can.

post a few good angle pics and under hood pics and we can all see exactly wut u need.

and if you did get a professional damage appraisal than forget what i wrote.

but unless your car is at a shop ready to be worked on the insurance will screw u with the first check cus theyre afraid that youll never bring it to be repaired. so if they come to your house and do an estimate, lets say its actually like 900 bucks of damage they will give you like 550-600 because they will low ball you on the labor costs and the parts costs (because your not a professional and there isnt a professional to argue that they need more money on these things). also they can only apprais what they see so when you discover there is more damage under the bumper or behind the headlights your screwed because they wont pay the supplemental money because your not a licensed body shop so you cant tell them what you need and if u did they wont give it because it has to be at a body shop for that. so in the long run you could get 600 bucks for a 900 buck estimate and after u take it apart u might notice more damage so you could get 600 bucks for a job that could cost 1100-2g's
the best thing to do is take it to a local body shop and ask for an estimate then think about if its worth your time to go through insurance.

lol sorry for so many posts but,
if you do take the money and do it yourself dont go to honda dealers for the parts or your screwed. go to an autozone/pep boys type place because they get the same OEM-aftermarket brands that a body shop uses. youll save a shitload of money, for instance a front bumper would be like les than 100 bucks probly. they should have most parts but brackets and bolts and moldings those types of things are dealer only items.

if your car is 04-05 they might not yet have oem-aftermarket parts for you.

:bump: yea imma go to get estimates first and from the honda bodyshop and two others and if they cut the check then im gettin aftermarket stuff cause im tryna be ready for a show i gotta do in september

oh yeah i postin pics too :hithead:

i took the hood off and i took the lights apart and the front bumper is off so im wonderin should i take it like shown in the pics or should i put everything together and possibly get ****ed

imo i say take it to honda and have them give you an estimate and tellk the insurance compay that is where you want to have it done at. then they will have to give you the check to cover what honda would charge. they told me $115 an hour and then gave me an entire parts list i would need to have them fix my car after it got broken into. I ended up getting about $400 more than what insurance origionally quoted me. then i fixed it all my self and made a few car payments :) but unless you have some body experiance and are willing to fix it right talke it to a shop and have them do it.

i got some experience plus a buddy of mine that use to work for a bodyshop said that the only major damage thats looks to be besides the exterior is the a/c condesor

anymore suggestions people

?
do any of you got any more suggestions

kinda crappy pics to judge but from those i dont see anything else wrong than the condensor, you should be able to get away with leaving it, i dont think it looks bad enough to have cracks but you never know, save a few bucks recharging the a/c. the bracket for it bends easy too so maybe just try straightening them by haand a lil.