possibly a stupid question but are there aftermarket replacement parts for an 08 tc? the reason i ask is because i recently messed up my car and took it to a shop. a family member of mine is concerned that the shop will jip me and charge me for toyota original parts and then get me cheaper aftermarket parts instead. anyways the shop assures me that there are no aftermarket parts for the 08 tc yet. the family member tells me that there are parts with the same parts number as toyota and not actually made by them. anyways im confused with the whole issue which is why im asking. the reason i went to this shop is because my friend recommended it and i trust that friend. can someone clear this up for me? thank you.

 

they are saying that they are going to use cheap knock off parts to replace the factory components that were damaged.

if it worries you, you can probably demand receipts for the parts showing they came from a toyota distributor. but it depends on what it is.

but you can demand receipts to show that they are genuine toyota parts.

 

Basically when you go to a body shop they get the wholesale price. What they charge you is the retail price. What you can do to save a little money is buy what you need from trdsparks.com and have it shipped right too you.

The alternative is knowing someone who owns a repair garage/ body shop that will get parts from the largest re manufacturing/oem parts company Keystone Auto.

I actually just bought my fender from them yesterday and it will be here today I paid 120.00 but again you need to know someone that can buy from them.

 

if you really want to make sure things go right, get the list of parts you need to fix your car, take it to your dealership and order them there, take them to the body shop, and thus thusly, you know you have legit parts.

but i don't think this kinda thing really happens that much anymore, proprietary packaging and part numbers and specific make and model parts.

oh, and trdsparks can sell you lots of good parts for cheap prices, but they won't ship large items like a bumper because it would have to ship freight.

 

well the thing is insurance is paying the shop so its not like im going to buy the parts myself. well the shop doesnt have the money yet because my mom has to sign off on it but we dont exactly get the money either. as for the receipts they say that the only receipt they get is per week/month for all the parts they ordered, not just specific to my car and they wont show me that receipt for some reason.