Well, they finally called to tell me they were ready for me to see my car today in the body shop.
I pull into the dealership and my car (convertible) is sitting outside (all night) with a half inch of snow on it. This car has never even seen rain and I made it clear with zero wiggle room it was not to be left out in the weather and if needed I would pay storage on it. I was not ?happy? about that at all.
I get out and take a good look and everywhere my eyes fall I see issues. There isn?t a single body panel they have touched that now lines up properly. Where the panels meet (seams) one end will be touching and the other end has a ?? or more gap.
There are edges that were not right when they came out of the molds (fiberglass parts) and one body panel has a ? chunk gone on the edge. The bumper / facial has the headlight rubber seal pushed in (it will tear eventualy) and the other side has a ?? gap. There are places in it that the imperfections show through the new primer/paint.
On the side that was damaged, the gap between the fender and hood isn?t even and when you run your hand down the seam the hood dips a good ?? below the fender about mid-way down the seam.
The drivers mirror was hit, they took it off, and then put it back on leaving the chips in it. (Oops, we forgot.)
With the body shop foreman present I got in the car, turned the heater blower on high and gave the dash a solid whack and body dust came pouring out of the defroster vents and covered the entire dash. I didn?t even bother to try and see if there was fiberglass in it, I know there is from my previous inspections.
I and the body shop manager went in and talked and he said it was because some of the parts are after market and they had done the best they could. I replied, what about the panels that were not replaced but taken off. Why don?t they line up properly? He said, they were probably like that from the factory and you never noticed. Wrong, I can?t count the hours I?ve spent washing and waxing it and I know every square inch of the car and insisted we go back out and look again. I pointed out the undamaged side had no such issue ANYWHERE in it and the damaged side didn?t either before the accident. He finally agreed they needed to do a better job of fitting them. (DUH)
I said I did agree that the third party parts were not up to snuff (they are horrible) but as the body shop foreman, the parts should never have been painted or put on the car when you could see the obvious flaws before even starting on them. He didn?t respond.
So here I am, the car will have been in their shop two full months come Monday and as far as I am concerned is no more ready today than it was day one. (I?ve NEVER heard of a car being in a body shop that long, even when there are problems!) I called my insurance man and he is coming to look at it with me Monday morning. I?ve made him aware my belief is this shop / dealership is clueless about working on a fiberglass body and it?s time to cut the loses and take it to a shop that can do it properly. He is not in favor of that due to increased costs.
So, what do you all think, give them more time to make it right or just admit it?s time to cut loses and take it somewhere else and deal with the financial issues later? (Probably in court)
I pull into the dealership and my car (convertible) is sitting outside (all night) with a half inch of snow on it. This car has never even seen rain and I made it clear with zero wiggle room it was not to be left out in the weather and if needed I would pay storage on it. I was not ?happy? about that at all.
I get out and take a good look and everywhere my eyes fall I see issues. There isn?t a single body panel they have touched that now lines up properly. Where the panels meet (seams) one end will be touching and the other end has a ?? or more gap.
There are edges that were not right when they came out of the molds (fiberglass parts) and one body panel has a ? chunk gone on the edge. The bumper / facial has the headlight rubber seal pushed in (it will tear eventualy) and the other side has a ?? gap. There are places in it that the imperfections show through the new primer/paint.
On the side that was damaged, the gap between the fender and hood isn?t even and when you run your hand down the seam the hood dips a good ?? below the fender about mid-way down the seam.
The drivers mirror was hit, they took it off, and then put it back on leaving the chips in it. (Oops, we forgot.)
With the body shop foreman present I got in the car, turned the heater blower on high and gave the dash a solid whack and body dust came pouring out of the defroster vents and covered the entire dash. I didn?t even bother to try and see if there was fiberglass in it, I know there is from my previous inspections.
I and the body shop manager went in and talked and he said it was because some of the parts are after market and they had done the best they could. I replied, what about the panels that were not replaced but taken off. Why don?t they line up properly? He said, they were probably like that from the factory and you never noticed. Wrong, I can?t count the hours I?ve spent washing and waxing it and I know every square inch of the car and insisted we go back out and look again. I pointed out the undamaged side had no such issue ANYWHERE in it and the damaged side didn?t either before the accident. He finally agreed they needed to do a better job of fitting them. (DUH)
I said I did agree that the third party parts were not up to snuff (they are horrible) but as the body shop foreman, the parts should never have been painted or put on the car when you could see the obvious flaws before even starting on them. He didn?t respond.
So here I am, the car will have been in their shop two full months come Monday and as far as I am concerned is no more ready today than it was day one. (I?ve NEVER heard of a car being in a body shop that long, even when there are problems!) I called my insurance man and he is coming to look at it with me Monday morning. I?ve made him aware my belief is this shop / dealership is clueless about working on a fiberglass body and it?s time to cut the loses and take it to a shop that can do it properly. He is not in favor of that due to increased costs.
So, what do you all think, give them more time to make it right or just admit it?s time to cut loses and take it somewhere else and deal with the financial issues later? (Probably in court)
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