Why I hate dealership body shops

[Scottwax]

:furious:



I detailed a customer`s 2005 Cadillac Escalade (PwC and Natty`s Blue) and it looked like this when I finished:



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/1052005_Cadillac_Escalade_PwC_NB_side.jpg



No more than one hour later, she is picking her kids up at school and a daycare van hits the side of her Escalade. I didn`t find out until a week later when I was at their house to clean their cars and the Escalade was MIA...then she gave me the news that made my blood run cold and my hair stand on end "I took it to Moritz to have it fixed". :nervous2: :shocked :wall :hairpull



They got it back this week and I took these pics on Friday. Rotary swirls, excessive orange peel, overspray on the rear wheel and painted part of the step and even burnt paint (circled).



Look at how foggy the paint on the fender flare is:



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/105Moritz_sucks3.jpg



Rotary burn is circled, the sunlight is distorting it somewhat:



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/105Moritz_sucks2.jpg



Nice rotary technique....NOT! (by the tail light)



http://www.photohost.org/gallery/data/500/105Moritz_sucks1.jpg



They are going to take it back on Monday, told them the fender flare either needs to be repainted or wetsanded and buffed properly. I also told them to not accept any statement that swirls are normal after a repaint. They bought the truck in early March, it should be at least back to factory appearance. I also mentioned that if Moritz cannot properly remove the swirls, I can and will be more than happy to give them a bill for Moritz to reimburse them.



:angry

[Thomas Dekany]

Good for you!



I can`t believe how $h..ty so many of the body shops are.

[Scottwax]

Good for you!



I can`t believe how $h..ty so many of the body shops are.



I can`t believe a dealership that sells BMWs and Cadillac would allow such substandard work from their body shop.

[imported_mrecktid]

I doubt you`ll find any dealersihp with STANDARD work from their body shop.

[imported_Picus]

Wow that fender flare is one of the worst re-paints I`ve ever seen. They are lucky they have you around.

[brwill2005]

Bad body shop work is pretty standard these days. Bad work is even coming out of the shops that once produced really good work. I think most shops only care about volume and money. Most people would probably not notice these types of defects. Luckily, people like us, can spot these defects and point them out.

[Accumulator]

I doubt you`ll find any dealersihp with STANDARD work from their body shop.





Stoddard Imported Cars, Willoughby Ohio does decent work. Not perfect, but decent. They sure don`t mess `em up like the SUV. Don`t mean to sound like a shill for Stoddard, but there are a *few* dealerships where the paint/body guys know what they`re doing. Consider that people in Germany send their 356s over for Stoddard to restore, that tells you something ;

[SILVERHEMI05]

I just got my 03 Maxima back after the wife rearended someone.Gave the car to my neighbor who works at a bodyshop that does mostly high end cars,Benzes,Jags,and boy am I glad.The car looks better than it ever looked.I hate dealer shops,besides they usualy send them out to private shops that do rush jobs.

[imported_Blake]

I spent 30 years in Insurance and used to tell claimants who wanted to take their car back to the dealer for repairs. The dealer`s first focus is to make money in his Service Department. Secondly he wants sales and way down the list is the body shop. In other words the body shop gets the smallest amount of attention.

A good Independant Body Shop can beat a dealership shop ten times out of ten.

Warranty paint is generally a horror show. I`ve seen warranty work that had no prep and no masking. Great as long as you wanted orange peel.

[zainoshine]

Just had our Acura repaired this week. Left rear bumper and left rear quarter panel. The bodyshop didn`t even align the panels right, so it`s still a little "folded" in, and instead of using a grey with dense metallic silver he used a grey paint with a more rainbow/golden colored, lightly dispersed flake :scream It looks really bad from my standpoint. Then, when I caught it in the sun some more the day after we took delivery, rotary holograms and swirls all over the whole rear left part of the vehicle. He told us that he "blended" it into the rest of that panel by clearcoating it up. Lots more OP and hazing....it`s just not a good situation and we don`t know what to do. We made an appointment for him to fix it but if he doesn`t know how to then why bother? He was very pricey and was recommended to us by my dentist who had similar work on his TL and was happy with it, and the shop also had a Cobra replica in the garage. I guess that doesn`t mean anything!

[Scottwax]

Carl-my brother took his Dodge truck back to the shop that removed hail dents and repainted the cab several times and each time it was worse. He ended up suing the bodyshop and got $10,000 out of it.



Rotary swirls, orange peel, overspray, mismatched paint, runs, sags, fisheyes, visible sanding marks under the paint, overspray all over the weatherstriping, door jams, wheels and even interior door panels. The paint thickness was anywhere from 17 to 41 mils, normal is 5-7 mils, maybe 8-10 max with a repaint.

[imported_Bence]

Will they repaint the burned section too?

[SVR]

Geez scottwax that`s a crap job

The company I work for has a shocking paint shop. They got overspray on all wheels, front bumper, roof and bottom of doors



The whole floor is covered with dust, there is one spray booth and oven and they are using very inferior compounds and polishes

[zainoshine]

Scott - I guess I wouldn`t mind doing a wetsand and deep polish on the section myself (the paint was pampered since new), but my dad`s just not really into that idea. I have a rotary and the right pads and polish and I could get sand papers...but I just have a feeling some of the damage done is beyond what I can fix with my limited expertise in this specific repair (clear coat overspray). I imagine the clear coat in the area around the fixed section is quite thick.



Hopefully this guy will be willing to cooperate somehow to fix this (whether money back or a fix himself, which I`m not too crazy about).