Used Fiesta - Odd Paint upon Collection/Handover

It seems like a miracle if you take your car to a bodyshop and it actually comes out like it should. Are there people in these body shops that just hate their jobs and can't be bothered to even put a little bit of effort in? Or are they are a hive of low skilled/intelligence workers who are completely demotivated to achieve anything?

When my car was at the body shop having a few bits done, they had mounted the front wing too high so there was a massive gap where it met the bottom sill, they had sprayed over the stone chips on the bonnet and front bumper rather than removing them as agreed and they had put the rear bumper on completely wonky. I haven't spent a day of my life working in a bodyshop, yet I walked around the car and noticed all of these issues within 10 minutes flat, yet the guy who did the work AND the workshop foreman had apparently both QA'd it and signed it off. Thankfully the colour match was perfect. The guy who BMW and I had been dealing with was so embarrassed and absolutely livid at the lack of care in the work and got the workshop foreman out and just grilled him. The workshop foreman was a fat guy, with a permanent smirk on his face, who obviously didn't have a lot going on upstairs and just grunted and waddled off afterwards. No wonder the staff under him are so demotivated and produce crap work.

Thankfully when it came back 2 days later after round 2, it was perfect again. This shows a perfect job can be obtained, you've just got to be bothered to try it and car spraying is one of those things which the result is directly related to the time/effort put in.


Someone on M3Cutters got this back from an insurance approved bodyshop yesterday on their wife's car - apart from the obvious mismatch in colour, they have also sprayed the damaged alloy black instead of anthracite so it doesn't match the other 3 alloys.

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As above,it should match yet clearly doesn't - looks like they've matched it with the wrong colour blue!

You've already accepted it by taking it away so I guess your best option is hoping they respray and get it right this time.

Unbelievable that nobody noticed it in the shop prior to handing it to you.

I've seen better colour matching on commercial vehicles where generally the paint shops don't give a **** because it's a tool rather than somebody's pride & joy.
 
It's a bad match, obviously a quick and rushed job and they've not bothered to blend it into the bumpers. On a metallic like this it's going to stand out like a sore thumb.

I can't get my head around why they would do this, unless someone damaged it.

Very strange, tell them to either put it right or shove it.
 
Fortunately, the dealer is being quite co-operative. He said it was damage that we'd picked up on the body but I reminded him that we pointed out damage to the alloy wheels on the nearside, body work was fine. We pointed out the pictures from their advert - great colour match.

So, they are having it back for a full re-spray to put it right. Having this put in writing before handing the car over and then we'll drop it off and pickup a courtesy car.

I have seen some poor matching out of the factory between plastic and metal body parts, and this metallic/pearlesent paint shows up a lot easier than solid paint. I also wondered if they'd sprayed the wrong blue, as to my eye at least it's got a different finish to it.

I've seen work carried out on older cars, and with the right prep and technique great results can be obtained, as others have said it's just being bothered to do the job well! It's their margin it's affecting at the end of the day.

I did notice he was rushing to get us into the car, but I let him carry on showing her the controls and I was fine outside - good job, really! On the plus side she's really enjoying driving it, feeling much more confident on the road and is much more comfortable than her old 58 plate Aygo!

Thanks all for the advise, and I'll hopefully be able to update later this week with resolved! But if it was my car I would've rejected it then, but as said earlier in the thread - they're crazy!
 
I usually have trouble spotting these paint differences that people put photos up of on here , but this one sticks out like a sore thumb. Glad to hear the dealer is sorting it out (hopefully) hassle free :)
 
swinnie said:
So, they are having it back for a full re-spray to put it right.
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Not surprised really. The bodyshop or SMART repair dept will have charged the sales dept for the work already so it wont cost them a bean as it will be the bodyshop that will need to foot the cost.
 
swinnie said:
Fortunately, the dealer is being quite co-operative. He said it was damage that we'd picked up on the body but I reminded him that we pointed out damage to the alloy wheels on the nearside, body work was fine. We pointed out the pictures from their advert - great colour match.

So, they are having it back for a full re-spray to put it right. Having this put in writing before handing the car over and then we'll drop it off and pickup a courtesy car.

I have seen some poor matching out of the factory between plastic and metal body parts, and this metallic/pearlesent paint shows up a lot easier than solid paint. I also wondered if they'd sprayed the wrong blue, as to my eye at least it's got a different finish to it.

I've seen work carried out on older cars, and with the right prep and technique great results can be obtained, as others have said it's just being bothered to do the job well! It's their margin it's affecting at the end of the day.

I did notice he was rushing to get us into the car, but I let him carry on showing her the controls and I was fine outside - good job, really! On the plus side she's really enjoying driving it, feeling much more confident on the road and is much more comfortable than her old 58 plate Aygo!

Thanks all for the advise, and I'll hopefully be able to update later this week with resolved! But if it was my car I would've rejected it then, but as said earlier in the thread - they're crazy!
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It's never going to be done properly, plus you'll need the entire car resprayed for it to be perfect. You are aware of the issue and will be extra critical after the work is done.

On the other hand, why would the garage go to the lengths of a full proper respray when they could refund you and sell it to someone else who in all likelihood wouldn't notice it?

I don't see that being a viable resolution for either side. I'd suggest getting a refund and buying an equivalent car either through the same dealer or elsewhere.
 
Adam said:
It's never going to be done properly, plus you'll need the entire car resprayed for it to be perfect. You are aware of the issue and will be extra critical after the work is done.

On the other hand, why would the garage go to the lengths of a full proper respray when they could refund you and sell it to someone else who in all likelihood wouldn't notice it?

I don't see that being a viable resolution for either side. I'd suggest getting a refund and buying an equivalent car either through the same dealer or elsewhere.
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My understanding is that the dealer is to be given the opportunity to rectify the issue rather than simply being able to take it back.

I suppose its down to whether the dealer/garage wants to play ball as I suspect the buyer had ample time to highlight this (as such an issue) prior to purchase. If it goes unnoticed, then it would be extremely difficult to argue.
 
Contrary to belief there are some good painters out there and some good bodyshops, the trouble is knowing where to find them. Sometimes the smallest back street places turn out the best work because they aren't a bonus shop, therefore they take the time to get the job right.

These three stage pearls look great off the production line but they are not the easiest to get right in the aftermarket plus there are so many variables, even the painters spraying technique can make or break a job if he/she is having an off day.
 
Kenai said:
No, he's just a realist.

Case study, virtually any thread on here about significant paint work :p
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This.

Found a chip on the bonnet of a brand new car. Dealer tried to spray it once - awful job ( bubbles and runs in lacquer). Tried again - lacquer was better but this time the paint underneath was thin and grainy (it had been cut back to much).

Eventually got them to just take the bonnet of another new car of the same colour and replace it with that.

Think of respraying a car as like in the Mr Bean Movie when he tries to make that painting better but each time he does something that makes it worse until it is utterly ruined.
 
I've seen a SMART repairer match that exact colour of the OP's car (Candy Blue) and it was perfect so it can be done.
 
swinnie said:
How would you guys deal with the situation?

* For those that are wondering: 15 Plate, Zetec, Candy Blue, 1l EcoBoost 3Door, just over 5k on the clock with the city pack, tinted rear windows, auto-folding mirrors, 15" Alloys.
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This could be one of two things

It could be that the car has been repaired badly, or it could be that the paint was like that out of the factory. I've seen numerous vauxhalls with this exact problem straight out of the factory due to the fact the bumpers are plastic and the body panels are metal. Getting the finish to match isn't as simple as just painting them both with the right paint.

That said, I would imagine that level of different would be picked up at the factory. If you're not happy, drive the car back to them and drop it off. Tell them you're rejecting it and want a refund or for them to find a suitable alternative from stock somewhere. You'll be happy to have a refund or pay a bit extra for the difference if the replacement isn't exactly the same in terms of mileage / age.
 
Fr0dders said:
This could be one of two things

It could be that the car has been repaired badly, or it could be that the paint was like that out of the factory. I've seen numerous vauxhalls with this exact problem straight out of the factory due to the fact the bumpers are plastic and the body panels are metal. Getting the finish to match isn't as simple as just painting them both with the right paint.

That said, I would imagine that level of different would be picked up at the factory. If you're not happy, drive the car back to them and drop it off. Tell them you're rejecting it and want a refund or for them to find a suitable alternative from stock somewhere. You'll be happy to have a refund or pay a bit extra for the difference if the replacement isn't exactly the same in terms of mileage / age.
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They're taking it back for a respray, will it be an improvement is anyone's guess.
 
pepsilol said:
Please elaborate on this.
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wesley said:
seriously? i really hope you are not car sprayer
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Of course I am not. However the OP has spotted a defect with the paint and will likely cast a keen eye over the car. Any imperfection will be highlighted and they will be back at square one. Unless the work is flawless then the OP will never be suitably happy with it and rightly so.

For everything to match surely multiple panels will need to be addressed and blended in etc. I can't imagine the profit margin on this car will even cover this kind of work?

They are so common, it's not as if you are hunting for 6 months for a fiesta with the right spec, that I personally think it's best to find another car without these defects.
 
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