paint shop pries off chrome trim, to do bodywork Options

[scrz914]

I just picked up parts taken off my car before bodywork/paint and was horrified to see that they pried off the trim that holds in the door and targa seal. I told them that I would have new seals but didn't expect them to go ape on the trim. Those are only held in by small screws accessed by taking out the rubber seals. Unbelievable.

So, how hard is it to obtain those chrome pieces? The two that are attached to the "A" pillar for the three sectioned seal and the two that are attached to the door post for the door seal. I need to get a value as I think they should pay. I doubt they are even available new.

[scotty b]

Go to a junk yard sometime and spend an hour taking apart various parts of a newer ( mid 80's and up ) car. You will quickly find out why collision shops do these sort of things. All they know are plastic clips that pry off. Plastic trim that pops off. There are literally, probably half the amount of screws in cars now as there used to be. A 1/4 the amount of REAL materials, i.e. steel, aluminum, wood, as there used to be. Collision guys just do not know how to disassemble an older car, regardless of make or model. Screw won't come out ??? Just turn harder.......SNAP. Trim won't come off ??? Just pry harder.....SNAP Get my drift ? There is a reason restoration shops may charge more, unfortunately you are learning why. Unfortunately there are also plenty of hack resto shops out there too as RealRed pointed out. That is precisely why I photodocument all of my work, and at the end of the job the customer gets a disc with all of the pics burned on it. Any time you take a car to a shop to be restored you should ask them to photodoc the process, and if they refuse to, or get weird about the request, take the car to the next shop, and the next shop, until you find someone that has no problem doing it.

Sorry you are experiencing this, but you have time to stop it before it gets worse (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)