I was in a small self induced accident in a parking garage with a concrete post. I was going slow in reverse, but I put a small dent in the passenger door and slightly bent the right front fender. There was paint damage to both. Watch it when you have a pretty woman, or whoever in the car and are chatting away. I got caught looking the other way for clearance and before I knew it...

Anyway, I took the car in for estimates and the first place kindly bent the fender back out as the lower part of the door was hitting it and would have caused further damage to the door. Their estimate was ~$1470. Got another estimate and they were lower by ~ $145. Based on a recommendation from a fellow worker I took it to the first place anyway (and of course for their earlier help).

Well, I got it back yesterday (they've had it since last Friday). It's pretty bad if you ask me:

- The door doesn't quite close all the way. It is clearly mis-aligned.

- The fender is about 1/8" too far forward.

- The rocker panel isn't properly aligned (it wasn't damaged in the first place).

- The front edge of the door and back edge of the fender have what looks like paint drip down them. There's a hardened drip at the bottom of both.

- There's a small blob of paint on the rocker panel.

- There was afterspray on the rear side panel under the rear side window which they removed right away.

- There's a chip in the paint on the front door edge in the repair area that was clear-coated over.

- There's a new chip in the fender that they also clear-coated over.

- They cleaned the car before they returned it and there are now swirl marks in the finish. (I use Zaino. Does anyone know if the marks might be in the Zaino rather than the paint?).

- The newly painted parts also have the swirl marks, and you can see sandpaper marks in the new paint.

- The first passenger I had in the car almost ripped the interior handle off the door. The bottom screw wasn't reinstalled.

So, would you give them another chance to fix this, or would you count it as a lesson learned and get someone competent to do the work?

Thanks

 

OMG - that sucks major a$$. I'd be pissed. Tell them that you paid for your car to come back to you in perfect condition and you're not happy with the outcome, so either they fix it RIGHT or you take them to court for basically ruining your car. Ask to speak to the owner of the place, or the manager, and get things figured out quick. Sorry to hear about your incident, and good luck. By the way, was this dealership recommended through Nissan??

 

Nope, it wasn't Nissan. It was recommended by my boss and another person. We don't have a Nissan dealership on the eastside, though I should have asked the Infiniti dealer for a recommendation instead.

I guess I'm not sure if I want to charge in and be pissed and have them make it even worse if I let them... They're sure to want it for several days again. BTW, they also painted it the wrong color and had to have it an extra day to re-shoot.

To ensure I'm being paranoid, does anyone know if the odometer can be disconnected? There were no more miles on the odometer, but I thought I left them with 3/4 of a tank and there was only 1/2 tank when I got it back. The passenger seatbelt was out of it's clip for some reason, but they were working on that side...

 

in my earlier days, i had lots of experience with body shops, usually more major. However, they always expected the customer to inspect the repairs, and point out anything that didn't meet their expectations. Take it back and discuss it with them. Don't be mean or snappy, just try to work it out.

 

hey Kevin,
Long time no talk..are you coming on sunday? I am dying to see Bob's car...I have always brought my cars to R & R in bellevue, they did work for infiniti and lexus(even on brand new cars damaged in transit or on test drives) My old 300Zx had a 3 stage paint that was very difficult to match and they always did an awesome job. My first meeting with them was when the old bellevue nissan had my car in to fix the timing belt...the mechanic had the "arms on the lift up and when they backed the car off of the rack they ripped off the whole front end and split the front valance/spoiler in two parts that were floating in the breeze. i went balistic, because the car had never been in an accident and only had 30,000 mile on it. They promised me as good as new and perfect paint match...they delivered. so when I had a run-in with a metro bus a year after R & R was my first choice for repair. they did another awesome job. I hope to see you on sunday. Marcy

 

Hi Marcy,

I got out of a prior engagement so I should be able to make it tomorrow.

I should have my groundng kit installed by then as well. Cost me ~$105 from Magnolia HiFi using Monster cable 4ga and their Monster cable gold connectors. The materials were ~$55 and $50 to have them crimp, solder and heat shrink the connectors on.

My thanks to Koryo for posting the diagram. I gave it to the guy in the shop and he said no problem. I'll be picking it up this evening.

See ya tomorrow!

 

Go back to them, and see the owner of the shop not the manager. Point out the issue in a very clear manner, don't sweat the small stuff like the swirl marks or the afterspray as you can take care of that when you detail it. If they agree to fix it you are set, if not ask them why. If they say sorry, you can next go to the BBB or your local TV station. Most likely the guy who did the paiting didn't check his work and the owner won't want his reputation ruined.