Bogus body repair done last year, rusting up...

[raroZ28]

Had some repairs done last year. Had my hood stripped and painted, had the rear quarter dents repaired, stripped and painted, and had a new front fender put on and painted.

The paint on the inner part of the front fender is flaking off, all black underneath, the tip of my hood is all flaking off and brown with rust, and the inner well of the rear quarter is chipped up and rusting!

Every single spot that they pained is rusted! My insurance paid for it all. Anybody know if there is anything I can do? I was thinking about going up there and showing it to them, being cool to them and see if they'll fix it, and if they don't I'll try calling AAA. This is really lame and disappointing. It shouldn't be rusting and flaking off after only a year and 4 months. The rust on the hood started at the bottom above the d/s headlight, now it's creeping up toward the winshield. Very ugly. My friend works in a paint shop for a dealer, and he said it looks like they just did a crappy job of prepping it before they painted it.

Shady! This was a AAA approved place in my area, I didn't know anything about 'em.

[Steel2686]

I would do exactly as you thought. Go to them and politely show them the issue. You'll be suprised how accomodating some people can be when the person who has the complaint is handling it with class. If that doesn't work, I would absolutely inform AAA of your problem. They approved the shop. They should be able to do something. Anything.

Good luck. Let us know what happened.

[Joe 1320]

I would do exactly as you thought. Go to them and politely show them the issue. You'll be suprised how accomodating some people can be when the person who has the complaint is handling it with class.

You are right on the money. All this sounds like poor prepwork. The insurance company is the one who paid the bill, I am sure they would want to know!

[raroZ28]

I went in, talked to the guy, he was really cool, he said he'd be more than happy to take care of it, bring it in anytime. Sweet. Too bad I gotta have them do the work though. I wish another shop would do it. I mean, every single spot that they touched chipped, flaked, and rusted. Well I'm happy it's going to be taken care of.

[TraceZ]

I went in, talked to the guy, he was really cool, he said he'd be more than happy to take care of it, bring it in anytime. Sweet. Too bad I gotta have them do the work though. I wish another shop would do it. I mean, every single spot that they touched chipped, flaked, and rusted. Well I'm happy it's going to be taken care of.

Chances are they will take more time to do it right this time. You talked with them respectfully and showed them that you take pride in the condition of your car. I hope they see they screwed up the first time and will try to make the second time the last time. I'm sure thy dont want to be fixing their screwups again next year. Managers get a little angry about mistakes like that.

[raroZ28]

Chances are they will take more time to do it right this time. You talked with them respectfully and showed them that you take pride in the condition of your car. I hope they see they screwed up the first time and will try to make the second time the last time. I'm sure thy dont want to be fixing their screwups again next year. Managers get a little angry about mistakes like that.

Yeah, that's what I figured. It was easier than pie. I didn't even have to ask really, I just went in and politely asked if somebody could please come out and look at my car.

Last time I dropped it off they put 17 miles on it. Lunch runs?

[Joe K. 99 Zeee!!]

17 miles???? That's ridiculous!! It was only body work...

[raroZ28]

17 miles???? That's ridiculous!! It was only body work...

I know, but they also put on new rims and tires and did an alignment, which I'm not sure if they do alignments in house, so they may have had to take it somewhere. But there are like 10 shops around that area that do it within a 1 mile radius. It's in a busy business area. Yeah, I wasn't too happy when I saw that, but I was just happy to have my car back after 2 weeks, when I was told it would be done in 3-4 days.

[Steel2686]

Good to hear they are going to take care of it.

[Joe 1320]

Yeah, that's what I figured. It was easier than pie. I didn't even have to ask really, I just went in and politely asked if somebody could please come out and look at my car.

Last time I dropped it off they put 17 miles on it. Lunch runs?

I've had many experiences with that same crap. I put a stop to it with a carchip. It's a little device that plugs into the daignostic port and records everything you dictate. It works as a scanner, resets ses lights, etc. it will record speed, rpm, almost any parameter. It will also log if it is disconnected. All I do when I need anything done that I don't want to do or must rely on a shop (mounting tires for example), is plug it inot the port and nicely tell the manager or person I'm handing the keys over to that it has an onboard data logger and they better not take the car out or they are going to get busted. i learned of this from a buddy of mine who took his vette in for tires. After he got the car back, he pulled the readout and found the test drive was done at speeds up to 130 mph. He printed that out and took it to the shop and raised hell. He ended up getting his $1200 tires for free so that he wouldn't sue the shop.

[99 Fir3bird Chick]

When I had mine repaired it took them a month to get the parts in then 2 weeks to fix it. The paints chipping off on the front clip, hood, and fenders. The black is showing through. Down toward the bottom of the clip near the blinker its spider webbing off. They did a horrible job on the paint. The guy who hit me insurance paid for it so I dont know what would be said if I took it back in..oh well hopefully ill be able to paint it soon...

[Steel2686]

When I had mine repaired it took them a month to get the parts in then 2 weeks to fix it. The paints chipping off on the front clip, hood, and fenders. The black is showing through. Down toward the bottom of the clip near the blinker its spider webbing off. They did a horrible job on the paint. The guy who hit me insurance paid for it so I dont know what would be said if I took it back in..oh well hopefully ill be able to paint it soon...

How long ago did it happen? You might be able to have them fix it. Sounds like they didn't use enough flex agent for the front clip.

[Joe 1320]

How long ago did it happen? You might be able to have them fix it. Sounds like they didn't use enough flex agent for the front clip.

Bingo. Either that or bad prepwork. Believe it or not, the painting the color is the easy part. The biggest determination of how well it looks and lasts after the color is applied is how well the bodywork and prep was done prior to the paint. All too often, that's where people try to cut corners and it shows. Maybe not immediatly, but not too far down the road it all starts to show. My 94 that I picked up shows all the signs of having the hood repainted and all the work underneath it is starting to show. Very evident of poor prep work.

[FroSSty]

Glad to hear they are gonna help ya out raro...Keep in mind the reason AAA recommends that shop is because they are Saving AAA money by cutting the costs of your repair, thus your problem. Sounds like poor paint prep and poor paint process. Hopefully they get it right this time. Ask for an extended warranty on this new repair as well.

Down toward the bottom of the clip near the blinker its spider webbing off.

This may be because of an impact to the area that is spider webbing. The rest sounds like the same thing as raro's case. Poor prep and paint process. You should try to get it warranteed no matter how long ago it was. Any and every shop should stand behind there work. I suspect you also brought it to a "preffered" shop...sorry to hear that

[99 Fir3bird Chick]

It was a year and 6/7 months ago. Ive been meaning to call the body shop and ask them about it. Hopefully they'll take it back in and fix it. My whole car needs re-painted though..The rear bumper is oxidized not badly but I can tell and the clear coat is chipping off the doors..It was like that when I got it..The person who had it before didnt take every good care of the paint and such. When I got it i had to replace brakes and rotors omg they were in horrible shape..they squeaked and grinded all the time i had like no brakes to drive it home on...luckily i made..He wanted rid of it because he said the car wasnt worth it and they were too expensive..Oh well his loss my gain. Im hoping to paint it Sunset Orange or Black and draw my own graphics to be put on it...one day lol