If a body shop has written you an estimate, there is a good chance it lists a number like CH1000982. That is a Partslink number: the collision trade’s shared name for an aftermarket replacement part. The Automotive Body Parts Association owns and manages the system. Distributors catalog by it, estimating software searches by it, and insurers write it on estimates.
Once you can read one, you can tell what a part is before you ever see a photo.
Three pieces
The first two letters name the vehicle maker the part fits, not the company that made the part. CH covers Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram. GM covers Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac and the rest of General Motors. FO is Ford, Lincoln and Mercury, TO is Toyota and HO is Honda.
The next four digits are the part type. 1000 is a front bumper cover, 1230 a hood, 2502 a left headlamp and 3010 a radiator. Paired parts usually take neighboring numbers, left side first: 2502 is the left headlamp and 2503 the right.
The last three characters are a sequence that separates one part of that type from the next, starting at 100. A few busy categories have run past 999, so newer numbers continue with a letter: A00, A01 and onward. The letters I and O are skipped because they look like 1 and 0.
Worked examples
CH1000982 reads as: fits a Chrysler-family vehicle, front bumper cover, sequence number 982.
GM2800207 and GM2801207 are the left and right tail lamps for the same General Motors pickup. Same sequence, neighboring part types.
Letters on the end
Sellers often add a letter after the nine characters to mark the grade of the part. The one you will see most is C, for a CAPA certified part. An N marked NSF certification, a program that closed in 2019, and some catalogs still carry N numbers. Sellers also use codes of their own, so ask about any letter you do not recognize. A number with no suffix is the standard version. What certification means.
What the number does not tell you
- Who made the part. Parts from different factories share one Partslink number when they replace the same original part.
- Whether your car takes it. The number says what the part is. Your VIN says which one your car was built with.
Every Partslink number tracks to an original-equipment part number, and keeps tracking it when the manufacturer supersedes that number. That link is what we check against your vehicle before we quote.
Try one
Paste a number into the Partslink decoder to see it split and named. If you have one from an estimate, put it in the notes when you request a part and we will start from there.