Was due to have my car back yesterday from Subaru. Had every intention of getting it home, polishing it up and putting my gold rims on and doing some nice pics...... Havent seen my car for 4 weeks so i was a tiny bit excited at the thought of driving it.

Imagine my reaction when i went to pick the car up and only to find that my drivers door has been remodelled since i last seen it and that someone has tried to forge the paperwork to make out that the damage was already there......

I somehow managed to remain calm but needless to say once they esatblish who it is thats done it, well, they might get a bit of verbal abuse.
Where do i stand ? do they patch my car up and i have to accept the loss of value ? do they have to compensate me ? Do i demand a full re-spray ?
Anyone care to shed some light ?

 

they fooked it - they have to fix it

 

The garage is responsible to repair your car to its condition you left it with them. They have a duty of responsibility to look after your property, even though they may have "disclaimers" saying vehicles are left at the owners risk, this does not include malicious damage,purely theft. So speak to the managing director and if no luck there, try speaking to either the franchise supplier, if a main dealer, or citizens advice if its a small local garage and not part of a chain.
I dont think you will manage to get a "full respry" out of them, but for them to "put right" the damage would be considered minimum payment, plus i'd see if the service would be discounted or even done as a gesture of goodwill for your inconvenience and distress.
Goodluck!

 

What about loss of value on my car then though ?

At this moment in time it could be one of two companies so we have to establish who is responsible before i can even get any sort of repairs started.

 

How can there be "loss of value" if the repair is carried out correctly? I think you are going a bit over the top on this one and you will definately not get anything like this from the garage who "owns up" to it.
You will only get the vehicle repaired back to its original condition "as was" and any court would see it as such, what you are expecting is "better than" and that you would be obliged to pay the difference.
I appreciate you are upset over this, any one would be on seeing damage to their own car, but you also have to be reasonable and accept the repair and not demand a new car in replacement.

 

Even if the garage farmed out some of the work, ie bodywork repairs etc, surely you could only have left the car in the hands of one of them. Whichever one that was had responsiblity for the car. It's their problem who did it, not yours, and them that has a duty to fix it.

I would also agree that providing the repairs are carried out properly, there shouldn't be any impact on the value of the car, so whilst you have every right to be peed off, I can't see you have any claim against them in that regard.

Just my opinion of course.

Josh

 

thats all very well.... But now i will have one side of my car with a new gleaming spray job and spotless and the other side will have 2yrs wear and tear on it. Its gonna look a bit stupid dont you think ?

 

Well, you cant expect the garage to put right the side you have neglected to look after properly now can you.
I think you need a reality check as afterall, you would not expect the post office to replace your house after scratching the letter box, pushing a letter through now would you?

My suggestion would be, "IF" the ther side of the car is that bad, why dont you make an offer to the garage that "eventually" does the repairs, to pay for them to paint the other side whilst its in there, so it wont cost you as much as having it done after.

But you are on a bit of a sticky wicket anyway, being as you cant remember which one of two garages did the damage to your car, so you still end up with nothing, if they get to hear of all this and put their heads together.

 

who said anything about not knowing which garage done the damage ?
i said it was between one of two parties responsible, either the recovery company or the garage. One of the two has forged the paperwork.
And how do you know i have negelcetd my car ? you are making presumptions and you have no idea. wear and tear is all thats on my car. When you wash or polish the car it leaves an effect on the paint work does it not ?
This car is my pride and joy and i worked hard to purchase it and maintain it, so dont tell me that i need a reality check cos someone else has damaged my car.
If they had phoned me and explained that someone had done it by accident and that they would repair the damage then i might have been a little bit more understanding. The fact that they have forged paperwork and tried to put the damage down to me has pee'd me off a bit.

 

Actually I understand where scoobyp1 is coming from.

A repair will never be the same as the original paint (14-odd layers, baked in an oven, etc.)

You also get overspray, etc. which makes it obvious a repair has been done. That puts some buyers off. So essentially your car has been devalued.

 

Thank you Carl...

 

The people we use for spraying mask everything up so that overspray is not a problem. But more cleverly they have a chart that ages the paint over x amount of years.

Many of our customers have knocks, bumps, & more serious accidents & all have been impressed with the spray work.

I guess it depends on the sprayer & the reputation of the company carrying out the repairs......

 

14 layers of paint? you must be joking, not even a merc or rolls use that much paint, it would never set properly, thats why a lot of cars have whats known as "crazing" all over the paintwork, its due to "too much" paint. As for overspray, well if the garage you use for paintwork leaves this kind of "calling card", try a better one with a reputation.
All modern bodyshops are able to match and "age" paint colour to match, they dont go a but a touch up pen from halfords these days, so give the majority of bodyshops the credit they deserve, use one with good recommendations.

 

Have found out today who was responsible for the damage. Turns out that an employee of the garage done it and tried to hide it by forging the paper work.
Personally if i owned the garage i would kick his *** into touch and straight onto the dole cue.
Who needs idiots like that ruining the good name this garage has built up over the years.

 

hope you sort it mate,that would really have pi55ed me of too
cheers
jason
ps cue is a stick type thingie for playing snooker
queue is the dole one.............sorry could'nt resist!

[Edited by GRIFFS STI - 11/24/2003 6:24:13 PM]