Sorry no pics yet as I did not upload them from camera phone. But here is my situation. I know you guys have a lot more experience than myself with dealing with shop owners/managers so here goes... I wil try to make this as Cliffs Notes as possible...

Went to State Farm- Cut me a check for over $2000 to use to pay for damage.

Brought car to shop. Entire car is getting repainted OB, new painted headlights installed, grilled painted black, debadged etc. They are getting a brand new OE hood shipped from Infiniti to put on it since the damage from storm could not be fixed. I REALLY want a Seibon CF hood. Should I tell the guy to cancel the order from Infiniti and buy the $800 hood. Or is there a way where I can use the money the shop cleared from State Farm to purchase the OE hood and pay the difference between the OE hood and the CF hood?

I am sorry for the long post with no pics, but I need all this to take place this week and need to know if I should order the CF hood tonight. Thanks guys in advance. Alex.

-If anyone really knows what would be best for me to do feel free to PM me and I will give you my cell #. Thanks again.

 

Entire car is being repainted and they cut you a check for less than $3k? I would inquire about that paint job, make sure it's going to be OEM quality or better.

Just tell the shop you want a different hood and tell them where to buy it from, they don't care as long as they get paid.

 

All the painting is being covered on my deductible. It wasnt 2k for the paint job of the whole car. The car is in the shop for two seperate claims. I guess I should have cleared that up. The 2k was for storm damage that actually is only about $600 of damage. The rest I get to pocket essentially. It wasnt a 2k job for everything ha. Sorry about that.