New car ... poor paint job after damage in transit (insurance, vehicle, auto)
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Warning - Yes, my post is long. I'm agitated and I want to include everything that has happened so far.
I bought a brand new car 11 days ago. Everything looked fine on the car at pick up until we when we were waxing it the next day, we saw problems with the paint on the front end. I don't think the dealership saw the paint runs because it was on the bottom portion of the front bumper.
While waxing, the first thing we noticed was the rough feel on the front driver side quarter. However, the paint looked fine, just was rough to the touch ie OVERSPRAY. Next we noticed something blue in the paint on the passenger side portion of the front bumper. Later, I noticed a rough spot on the bottom portion of the bumper. I had hubby get down there to figure out if it was just adhesive or what. We then realized there was a run in the paint and that there was also paint on a black portion of the grill where it had not been masked properly. We are assuming the car was damaged in transit and someone painted the car while in the dark and then scratched it when they walked past the wet paint. This is what it looked like! I do not know who painted the car the first time. We contacted the dealer and scheduled to bring the car in 2 days later.
The next day when the sun was finally shining, I had the car out in the driveway and then I saw the real damage to the car. Multiple paint runs. Divots in the paint. A scratch consisting of 3 lines along the bumper. GASPS! We immediately took it back over to the dealership and talked with the sales manager who swore up and down that he would get it fixed perfectly pronto.
This past Monday I had an appointment to drop the car off at 9:30 am. I gave a diagram with what was wrong to the person I dropped the car off with. The sales manager was supposed to be there at the appointment, but he was not there. I wasn't worried at this point since he was the one who saw what was wrong with the car and coordinated the repair work. I was very clear that take however long it takes, but make sure the car is perfect when I get it back.
On Wednesday, we called and talked to the salesman who said the car would most likely be ready sometime on Thursday in the morning or afternoon. At 1 pm on Thursday, we called to find out the status of the paint job. Again, I'm not trying to rush them, I just want to know what's going on. While on the phone trying to find out what's going on, we get a call on the other line from the salesman that the car is ready and will be at the dealership in 5 minutes.
Anyway, so we arrive at the dealership and take a hard look at the car. Everything looks fine in the area that was supposed to be repainted. They even fixed the overspray on the quarter panel and the paint is off the black grille (don't know if it was cleaned or replaced). We think everything is fine until we begin to look at the rest of the bumper. The blue whatever it is is still showing thru the paint job. There are new divots in the paint on the other side of the bumper. There are specks of dirt in the paint. Where the bumper meets the hood in 2 spots there is dirt and adhesive IN the paint. There is also a new scuff on the nose of the car. I am NOT happy with this paint job. This is their best?? The more we looked at the paint job, the more imperfections we saw. The lighting was poor and we knew if the lighting was better, no telling what else we would fine.
We then asked the salesman to get the paint shop on the phone. My husband talked directly with someone at the paint shop who said he would be over in 5 minutes to speak with us in person and look at the car together. We waited over 30 minutes until the salesman came back (he had to go fill up someone else's car) and asked where we stood. We said, "The man never showed up to talk to us!" Come to find out the guy did show up and just talked to someone in the service department. Our salesman then called the paint shop to have them come back again to talk with us. The man at the paint shop REFUSED to come back and speak with us!!! The paint shop's "personal assistant" happened to be at the dealership. We had him take a look at the car. All he could say was "Uh huh. I see it." No apology. No I'll make sure that's 100% perfect. The dealership said to give the paint shop a second chance since they made the mistake in the first place.
After owning a car for 11 days where I've only had it in my possession for 6 days. In those 11 days, I've had 3 unneccesary trips to the dealership and wasted about 7 hours of my time. Is this how a new car purchase should be?
I am anxious to get my new car back in like new condition. I am not convinced by the paint shop that they can do "like new" work. I feel that I've bought a problem and not a new car. Right now, I don't know what to do. I'm not happy. What should I do at this point?
I would give the paint shop one more try and if not satisfied, then go talk to the manager or owner of the dealership. explain to him or her that you want this right or you want a new car. It is up to him to make it right. if not then it will be time to talk to a lawyer and see about the lemon laws.
I would talk to the general manager of the dealership, and explain that you are very dissatisfied with the lack of repair, and lack of customer service on the part of those at the dealership with whom you have dealt. This issue is their fault, as they repaired the car shoddily, and sold it as a new vehicle. It sounds like you had a bit more damage to the car in transit than the odd scratch or road chip, so the car should be restored to perfect condition.
I would bypass the salesman completely as they're not interested in post-sale customer service, as evidenced by their actions in this regard. I would, however, talk to the service department and the body shop managers to see if they can get the situation resolved. It may be difficult to get in contact with them, however, as they may tend to avoid customers, hence why I would go through the general manager's office because they cannot be ignored or avoided by dealership personnel.
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To be a little clearer, part of the issue has been that the general sales manager of the dealership who coordinated the repair is on vacation this week. We asked to speak with his replacement (internet sales manager) who was the one who said to give the paint shop another chance. The paint shop is not in house. It's an auto body collision repair center down the road. I'm not quite sure where the problem lies, my basic issue at this point is that the paint shop that the dealership has do their repairs does shoddy work.
I am anxious to get my new car back in like new condition. I am not convinced by the paint shop that they can do "like new" work. I feel that I've bought a problem and not a new car. Right now, I don't know what to do. I'm not happy. What should I do at this point?
The best body shop in the world with the best painters can never ever match the life and wear of a factory paint job sorry to say.
That said, you did not buy a new car you bought a repaired ,or refurbished, car which IMO is most unacceptable unless there was a major discount given when the car was purchased.
If I were you my next action would be to contact your local states attorney to inquire about a misrepresentation of "new" (It's a refurb) and your states "lemon laws".
Last edited by Grandpa Pipes; 02-17-2012 at 12:59 PM..
I just got off the phone with a sales manager. General manager not in today. Anyway, this sales manager knew exactly who I was and what was going on with the car. He had already had a discussion with the service manager to communicate with the paint shop that this car better come back with nothing wrong. Otherwise they plan on giving me a new bumper and take care of it at the dealership. Wishes that had been done to begin with! The sales manager said he was going to speak with the general manager about this fiasco and it sounded like this paint shop is about to lose their contract with the dealership.
A guy buy a new '12 Kia Optima, which he later noticed the door's paint did not match the rest of the car. Long story short, Kia replaced his car with a new one.
The best body shop in the world with the best painters can never ever match the life and wear of a factory paint job sorry to say.
That said, you did not buy a new car you bought a repaired ,or refurbished, car which IMO is most unacceptable unless there was a major discount given when the car was purchased.
If I were you my next action would be to contact your local states attorney to inquire about a misrepresentation of "new" (It's a refurb) and your states "lemon laws".
So totally wrong on every item here ...
1) The best body shop and the best painters can and frequently do match or exceed original factory paint job quality for appearance and durability. Sorry, Pipes, but I've seen this level of workmanship performed day-in and day-out for over 45 years. That's not to say that the average body shop working to the price point of an insurance claim will do this level of work, but it is readily achievable in the field. There actually are competent pro's in the biz with appropriate paint booths and equipment using excellent quality materials who can turn out a drip/run free and clean paint job that blows the doors off a factory production paint job.
Case in point: I worked closely with a "to-the-trade-only" paint and body shop for decades whose entire workload was this type of work for dealers. They only did repairs/repaints for dealers on new cars that were still on MSO's. I've seen some of their repair work many years later and it was as good or better condition than the factory work ... and they did a lot of MB's, BMW's, Porsche's, Audi's, domestic cars of all brands, and asian cars, too.
2) Any car that is still on an MSO and hasn't been titled can legally be sold as a "new" car unless ... in some states ... there is a maximum allowable number of miles that can be accumulated on it for demonstration or "salesmans's use". Even if a car sustains damage in a test ride or due to a lot boy's mishandling, if it is repaired in accordance with the manufacturer's standards and the dealer/manufacturer will honor their warranties, it can still be sold as new. Obviously, a car that reaches a "totalled out" condition is not going to qualify, but I've seen cars sold as new that had suspension items replaced along with fenders and trunk or hood lids.
3) I wouldn't be calling the state attorney's office at this point. The beef is entirely with the dealership in delivering a less than anticpated condition "new" car. It's up to them to satisfy the customer; ie, the manufacturer shipped a QC'd vehicle and somewhere between the shipping point and the point of delivery the car sustained some damage. This could have been at the final dealership, or while in transit.
IF it were me in this situation at this point, I'd take the car back to the dealership and suggest that two courses of action were on the table:
a) replace the car with a new undamaged identical car, or
b) adjust the sales price to meet the condition of the vehicle.
Post that, if satisfaction isn't to be had, I'd be calling the state dealer licensing board. In many states, if the dealer is willing to stand behind the car for the normal warranty period and it's otherwise a legally sold as new vehicle, the customer is stuck with what they bought. This is not uncommon in the industry and is all quite legal ... if not completely in the best interests of the customer.
The big problem here post delivery of the vehicle is that the customer accepted delivery of it.
This is why I've always advised my clients to have a pre-delivery inspection of a car prior to their final acceptance of the car and signing for the delivery. I've inspected many new cars that were going to be delivered with similar accident damage problems and advised my clients as to the condition of the merchandise. For some, they didn't complete the deal, for others, they were able to take delivery on a similar car without the problems.
1) The best body shop and the best painters can and frequently do match or exceed original factory paint job quality for appearance and durability. Sorry, Pipes, but I've seen this level of workmanship performed day-in and day-out for over 45 years. That's not to say that the average body shop working to the price point of an insurance claim will do this level of work, but it is readily achievable in the field. There actually are competent pro's in the biz with appropriate paint booths and equipment using excellent quality materials who can turn out a drip/run free and clean paint job that blows the doors off a factory production paint job.
Case in point: I worked closely with a "to-the-trade-only" paint and body shop for decades whose entire workload was this type of work for dealers. They only did repairs/repaints for dealers on new cars that were still on MSO's. I've seen some of their repair work many years later and it was as good or better condition than the factory work ... and they did a lot of MB's, BMW's, Porsche's, Audi's, domestic cars of all brands, and asian cars, too.
2) Any car that is still on an MSO and hasn't been titled can legally be sold as a "new" car unless ... in some states ... there is a maximum allowable number of miles that can be accumulated on it for demonstration or "salesmans's use". Even if a car sustains damage in a test ride or due to a lot boy's mishandling, if it is repaired in accordance with the manufacturer's standards and the dealer/manufacturer will honor their warranties, it can still be sold as new. Obviously, a car that reaches a "totalled out" condition is not going to qualify, but I've seen cars sold as new that had suspension items replaced along with fenders and trunk or hood lids.
3) I wouldn't be calling the state attorney's office at this point.(I disagree. The OP needs to know their legal recourse) The beef is entirely with the dealership in delivering a less than anticpated condition "new" car. It's up to them to satisfy the customer; ie, the manufacturer shipped a QC'd vehicle and somewhere between the shipping point and the point of delivery the car sustained some damage. This could have been at the final dealership, or while in transit.
IF it were me in this situation at this point, I'd take the car back to the dealership and suggest that two courses of action were on the table:
a) replace the car with a new undamaged identical car, or
b) adjust the sales price to meet the condition of the vehicle.
Post that, if satisfaction isn't to be had, I'd be calling the state dealer licensing board. In many states, if the dealer is willing to stand behind the car for the normal warranty period and it's otherwise a legally sold as new vehicle, the customer is stuck with what they bought. This is not uncommon in the industry and is all quite legal ... if not completely in the best interests of the customer.
The big problem here post delivery of the vehicle is that the customer accepted delivery of it. Dealers depend on people not knowing their rights
This is why I've always advised my clients to have a pre-delivery inspection of a car prior to their final acceptance of the car and signing for the delivery. I've inspected many new cars that were going to be delivered with similar accident damage problems and advised my clients as to the condition of the merchandise. For some, they didn't complete the deal, for others, they were able to take delivery on a similar car without the problems.
I agree in part. The rest not so much...........
Last edited by Grandpa Pipes; 02-17-2012 at 05:17 PM..
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