Hi,
Son's GS was hit lightly in the front, headlight cover is damaged. Car has lots of miles, he is a student and will pay for repairs...New OEM is $$$.
Can he replace only the plastic lens? There is a vendor on Amazon that sell those, but has zero reviews...
If the whole assembly is needed, the aftermarket one on Ebay are OK, or he needs to cough up at least double, about $ 700, for salvage used OEM ?
Last one, it seems that several types were available, how one can know if the car has the night adaptive thing or not?

Appreciate it !

 

Welcome! Difficult to give specifics without the year and maybe a pic or two of the vehicle. But here's some info that may be helpful:

• It will be more work to replace the lens - you'll need to heat up/bake the lens to soften the adhesive and remove/replace. A good body shop can work their magic if you talk to them about what they offer if you bring them the replacement lens.
• The Adaptive Front lighting System (AFS) was only available on GS's with the Luxury package. If you have that Lux package you likely have a wood trimmed steering wheel and there will be a button to turn off the Adaptive lighting System near/under the steering column.
• I wouldn't recommend going aftermarket as you may have issues with quality, leaks, fitment, etc. If your son has a 2013-2015, there are lots of 2013-2015 OEM headlamps on ebay for ~$500-$600 that will be decent (https://www.ebay.com/itm/358286286664).

If you want something brand new that is aftermarket to save some $$ over the dealership, try Rockauto.com.

 

Thanks, exactly the info I needed... he has a 2013 AWD, no lux package, I ordered one on EBAY...

 

Buy the lens. Remove the headlight. Use a heat gun to warm the sealant glue to remove the old lens. Don't ever buy aftermarket headlights unless you only care how it looks and not how it performs. This is going to be alot of labor at the end of the day.