Even back in the late 80's things got charged back, warranty parts had to be tagged and turned in, if the rep wanted to see it and it could not be found it was charged back to the dealer. Even if it was found - if the rep didn't agree the part was warrantable it was charged back.
Sometimes engineering would ask for something to be sent to them or place certain parts of an assembly on non orderable status and specify replacement of an assembly for testing.
On top of that parts departments don't like to hang onto things, especially things they are unlikely to move to someone else.
In short - I would expect a dealer to want to verify a warrantable part before ordering or committing to replacement. Though if it is a long trip you might try convincing them to let you send them a picture or something on an exception basis...
Sometimes engineering would ask for something to be sent to them or place certain parts of an assembly on non orderable status and specify replacement of an assembly for testing.
On top of that parts departments don't like to hang onto things, especially things they are unlikely to move to someone else.
In short - I would expect a dealer to want to verify a warrantable part before ordering or committing to replacement. Though if it is a long trip you might try convincing them to let you send them a picture or something on an exception basis...