Results of a horrible body/paint shop

Scottwax · 11-21-03, 04:16

My brother's brand new Dodge Ram was hit by hail in late March and the damage was about $6000, so his insurance company cut him a check for that amount. The damage was on the roof and hood of the cab.

Instead of using the body shop I and my other brother recommended to him, he shopped around for a lower price.

He found a shop that claimed to specialize in show cars and restorations that said they could replace his hood, repair the hail dents in the roof and repaint the entire cab for $3000. He dropped it off in April and it was in the shop for 3 weeks.

After he picked it up, he called me and he sounded very distraught over how his truck looked and asked me to come out and take some pictures.

This is one of the door jams....and remember, when this truck was repainted, it was 4 months old and it is a light blue:

The orange peel was horrible, plus there were runs, sags and fisheyes and the paint was already peeling where they had taped the door trim. As you can see in this picture, the orange peel was sufficient enough to make a noticable difference in reflection between the cab the shop painted and the factory paint on the bed.

Here we have not only more orange peel, but also visible sanding marks under the paint.

It's been 7 month since the repaint and 2 subsequentant ones. Now some areas of the cab have a paint thickness of 41 mils, almost 10 times what it should have. It still has horrible orange peel, his wheels have to be refinished because there is so much overspray on them, he has to replace all his trim and weather stripping for the same reason, and a reputable shop wants $5000 for a proper repaint of the cab...and my brother has no choice because the truck is a lease.

Moral of the story? If it sounds too good to be true (especially pricewise with body shops), it probably is.

tpgsr · 11-21-03, 04:23

Take pictures, have reputable shop attest that the job was ******, and refuse to pay the chop shop. If it has to, go to court and make sure that you dont pay.... Go to reputable shop pay $5000, pocket $1000 walk away allright /imagination

I wish it would work out that easy, but well.... Good luck to him on dealing with this mess.

Scottwax · 11-21-03, 04:29

He had to pay them to get his truck. State Farm won't help because he took a payout instead of having them pay the body shop. He has filed a claim with the body shop's insurance company and also filed a complaint with PPG to hopefully have the shop's license to use PPG paints revoked. He is also looking into taking the shop to court.

As of right now, it looks worse than in those pictures and his nice chrome 20" wheels (factory) looked grey because of all the overspray.

explorer · 11-21-03, 04:43

Instead of using the body shop I and my other brother recommended to him, he shopped around for a lower price.

He found a shop that claimed to specialize in show cars and restorations that said they could replace his hood, repair the hail dents in the roof and repaint the entire cab for $3000. He dropped it off in April and it was in the shop for 3 weeks.

After he picked it up, he called me and he sounded very distraught over how his truck looked and asked me to come out and take some pictures.

Imagined if you were the one that found that shop,you and your brother would be

you would go

and is reaction

The best to your brother from all of us here at Autopia

Scottwax · 11-21-03, 04:57

There is only one body shop I recommend in the Dallas area and several of my customers have gone there (the poor drivers more than once!) and one even got a complete repaint. All have been extremely pleased with the work.

My brother made the mistake of not nowing what to look for when inspecting cars they had at the shop. If I had gone with him (kind of hard because he lives 40 miles from me) to look over their work, he woudn't have used that shop.

kgb · 11-21-03, 07:27

Yeah, NEVER skimp on a shop. If you are not lucky to have one that you know and trust you should always shop around for the best shop, not cheapest.

DaGonz · 11-21-03, 09:03

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price...

Acuracl98 · 11-21-03, 09:37

lol that sounds like it could be an ancient chinese proverb.

GoodnClean · 11-21-03, 11:22

Thats terrible... I mean, there's shoddy work, and then theres shoddy work...

madazskunk · 11-21-03, 11:45

Quote:

Originally posted by Scottwax
There is only one body shop I recommend in the Dallas area and several of my customers have gone there (the poor drivers more than once!) and one even got a complete repaint. All have been extremely pleased with the work.

Care to give the name of that shop. Just in case I need them one day.

Scottwax · 11-22-03, 07:50

Quote:

Originally posted by madazskunk
Care to give the name of that shop. Just in case I need them one day.

Mister Collision. They are on Joe Field Road off Walnut and 35. Absolutely first class work. I've got a link to his website on mine and before and after pics of my car that just don't do justice to the amazing lack of orange peel on the front end of my car that he repaired and repainted. In addition, I could not find any overspray in my door jams, even though he did have to repaint one door to blend in the paint.

blkZ28Conv · 11-23-03, 12:46

I hope your brother banked the $3000 he called himself saving when he agreed to let this shop do his repair work. If that's the case he is only not saved himself $2000 to get the job done right. Can not put a price on aggrevation and lost time repeatedly trying to get the job done right.

Scott, the present repaired finish must be totally shoddy if it will take almost the same amount to repair the repair.

Sorry your brother had to learn the hard way about variable quality of bodyshops out there.