Got car back from being repaired - not happy

dale1uk

dale1uk

dale1uk

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Joined
15 Nov 2005
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Newcastle
Ok so got a call off the garage saying the repair work to my CTR is complete and car was ready to pick up. For those who don't know, i put the car into a hedge after hitting a kerb causing suspension damage to the front passenger side and causing minor damage to the front end and drivers side bodywork.

Gave the car a quick check over, would have checked harder/better if it wasnt raining, and it seemed ok bar a missing 'T' from the front grill badge. New badge on order I sign for the car and leave.

Now this is where I started to feel silghtly ****** off. Car is pulling to the right a fair bit considering the camber of the road normally drags you left. Also steering wheel isn't set straight, it's slightly off to the left. Next I get back and now the water is off the car I check the paint work. For a start the colour match is off. The whole drivers side and front end have been sprayed but where the rear quarter lines up to the rear bumper the colour difference stands out. Where the original bumper is red, the new paintwork is more a dull pinky colour. If anything I'd of expected it the other way round due to weathering of the old paint. Also on the inside of the door pillar is what I presume is primer over spray and you can feel the overspray from the red top coat. The roof also feels like it got a light covering of over spray aswell. Next on the paintwork issues was the top front cross member which has been replaced, not sure why def looked ok :confused: Any ways this looks like the paint was mixed with sand! The finish is unbelievably bad, I mean I know this isnt seen when the bonnets down but surely that aint any excuse!

So got back onto the garage and it's going straight back in tomorrow morning when the open at half 9. Sooo ****** off right now, been looking forward to getting it back after being lumbered with a crappy fiesta tdci and now it's got to go back in :mad:

Sorry for the rant, but having a small fit of rage just now! :p

Will be informing my insurance company in the morning how unhappy I am with the repair, but no doubt they'll not care!

Oh and i'll take some pics when it dries off and post them soon.
 
Can I ask who did the work for you, was it simply 'sorted' by the insurance company or was it your choice? The vast majority of bodyshops I wouldn't let wash my car let alone repair it!
 
The insurance company will care. I had a similar issue with a megane which was notoriously hard to match the paint. They agreed the repair was substandard and they rectified the problem with no problems at all.
 
Housey said:
Can I ask who did the work for you, was it simply 'sorted' by the insurance company or was it your choice? The vast majority of bodyshops I wouldn't let wash my car let alone repair it!
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I can't think of one garage I've ever come across in my whole life who I'd actually trust to do a good enough job on bodywork.
 
Our local insurance place is thankfully quite a decent Ford repair place. The staff are tossers but the work is very good. They did a good job on our SAAB anyway.

Also have http://www.gaskellmotorbodies.com/ who are just round the corner in this rubbish little chav town who seem to be very good. Going to get my boot floor and other defects seen to by them sometime in the future.


Your car is Milano Red right? That's not even metallic! Sounds like a right hole. I'd call the insurance and get it fixed elsewhere to be honest. I would not be happy with any work they have done if its not been done right the first time, they probably don't have the right staff to do so at all.
 
Well bit of an update,

Been onto the insurance this morning and filed an official complaint agaist the garage regarding the sub standard and quite frankly dangerous condition that they've signed the car off in. Had to go up to Berwick last night in it to my mates bands album launch and the pull to the right isn't even funny. You constantly have to counter steer to keep it straight and when you put the foot don it just sends you into the central reservation :eek: :mad:

Outcome so far is that the car has to go back to Arnold Clark to see what they say and let them fix it. If I have any problems on what they are going to do then I've to call the insurance company again and they'll get the regional assessor out to look at the work. If the garage agree to repair the car correctly and it still comes back below scratch then the insurance company will allow me to take the car elsewhere to get fixed and Arnold Clark will pick up the bill. I'm just bout to head over to the garage so will report how I get on.

Tried to take some pics of the bad colour match but my phone doesn't really pick it up and i can't find my digi camera. Did manage to get a couple of snaps of the overspray in the door pillar and also the paint job on the front cross member/slam panel:

Grey overspray inside door pillar (also topcoat overspray here and on the roof):

DSC00708.jpg


Paintwork on slam panel/ cross member :mad:

DSC00711.jpg


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Will be interesting to hear the garage's excuses!
 
I had this problem years ago with a Ford garage, I had to threaten legal action in the end and within a day the car was in for a full respray. Insurance company were useless aswell.

I would be pushing for an alignment expert to resolve the suspension issues it may be the chassis is slightly bent as it doesn't take a huge hit off a kerb to do this. My girlfriends sister's R26 was written off after a fairly minor knock bent the chassis it didn't even damage the wheel.
 
Yup, don't let them get away with and don't accept a sub standard job. The problem with insurance claims is that most insurers will not pay the rates that the experts charge. This is why many top body shops won't touch insurance claims unless it's with a premium insurance policy where you can choose your preferred bodyshop rather than one from their list. You'd also be amazed where many dealers take the cars for bodywork even when its 'approved' as they call it, some real back street shops you wouldn't take a push bike to let alone a road car.

Having said this it should be safe and be a solid job with no overspray and a good first glance match which it seems you've not got. Don't let em fob you off, keep pushing!
 
Well just back from the garage, cars going back in on monday to get the work done on it.

List of complaints I had:

  • Paintwork colour match is off - new paint is more pinky than the original paint - even worse under street lights
  • Orange peel in all the new paintwork
  • Overspray on the roof
  • Overspray inside door pillar and on inside face of the door - both top coat and primer overspray here
  • Bad paint finish on front slam panel
  • Bonnet release broke in my hand trying to open the bonnet which wouldn't release
  • Front Type R badge missing the 'T'
  • Steering wheel off centre to the left
  • Car pulling badly/dangerously to the right

The insurance assesor is checking it over on mon morning and hopefully the work will be started and completed soon, tho I can see them dragging their heels as they wont be getting paid to fix their **** ups.

Looks like I'll be back in a **** fiesta for another couple of weeks.

Oh and guys reason for the pull to the right ......... torque steer :p I mean come on, wtf!

Fingers crossed it comes back in a state I will accept this time, if not it'll be going elsewhere and they'll be picking up the bill!
 
Milano Red is a real beast to match properly, especially if it's faded at all. The body shop next to where I work had serious difficulty matching on a Civic in for a respray one time. IIRC they used a tinted lacquer in the end.

I hope they sort it properly, but they sound like cowboys. :(

Torque steer? LOL. Did they give that as the reason even at low speeds?
 
Quite odd that they've done a suspension repair and not checked/ got Stevie Wonder to do the tracking. :confused:

That orange peel is shocking though!
 
This is exactly the reason why I would never use the insurance "approved" garage again.

I had a similar problem to you, when my car was repaired it just never felt the same, also they had skipped on replacing some of the plastic undertray parts of the engine bay that had been damaged (dukes of hazzarded over a deer).

It took them 11 weeks to repair my car and the job they done was substandard, bumper was never 100% straight :/ This is with taking it back three times because of rubbish workmanship.
 
danza said:
Milano Red is a real beast to match properly, especially if it's faded at all. The body shop next to where I work had serious difficulty matching on a Civic in for a respray one time. IIRC they used a tinted lacquer in the end.

I hope they sort it properly, but they sound like cowboys. :(

Torque steer? LOL. Did they give that as the reason even at low speeds?
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Well I'd kind of understand if the old paintwork looked dull and pink compared to the freah paint, but its the other way around, oh and covered in orange peel so it better get sorted or I'll reject it again.

Torque steer was his first reasoning, however when I laughed in his face and showed him exactly how bad it is he agreed that somethings not right.

L0rdMike said:
LOLZ at the Honda with torque steer. :D
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Tell me about it :p

Leeum said:
Quite odd that they've done a suspension repair and not checked/ got Stevie Wonder to do the tracking. :confused:

That orange peel is shocking though!
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That is my biggest concern, its worse now than it was before it went in and borderline dangerous. Even if I do get it back and it handles fine I'll be booking it into Revolution in town to get checked and Arnold Clark will be billed for any correction work it may need.

Yeah the finish under the bonnet on the slam panel is absolutly shocking, couldn't believe it tbh.

Lord-Jaffa said:
This is exactly the reason why I would never use the insurance "approved" garage again.

I had a similar problem to you, when my car was repaired it just never felt the same, also they had skipped on replacing some of the plastic undertray parts of the engine bay that had been damaged (dukes of hazzarded over a deer).

It took them 11 weeks to repair my car and the job they done was substandard, bumper was never 100% straight :/ This is with taking it back three times because of rubbish workmanship.
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Well when asked on a timescale he said he had no idea but I'd have a hire car so it "wouldn't be a problem" :mad:

I'm not going to let this slip and will be on their backs to get it sorted right this time or it'll be going elsewhere and them billed. I told this to my insurance company this morning and they are happy with that so I guess it just a waiting game now.

The thought of getting the back into the 1.4 tdci fiesta with its massive power output of 67bhp and a blistering 0 - 60 time of 14.7s is almost making me suicidal!! :( Could it be any further away from my normal drive!
 
dale1uk said:
Well I'd kind of understand if the old paintwork looked dull and pink compared to the freah paint, but its the other way around, oh and covered in orange peel so it better get sorted or I'll reject it again.
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:D They're so good they can't even balls it up in the usual manner.

Seriously though, I hope they sort it properly this time.
 
When i crashed my swift a while ago there was still a massive hole in the front bumper.... i mean come on! Were they really expecting me not to see that lol?! Paint match was excellent though which was a plus, but that's not really all that difficult seeing as it's just metallica black (funky cosmic flake jobby :D)
 
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