[godzllla85]

Today I was in Windsor for work and I decided that since I was there I would drop my car off to get the alignment done.

Well when I went back to the alignment shop to pick up my car, a friend of mine that drove me to pick it up asked to take a look at what I did to my headlights as I was texting him earlier this week about what I was doing to it.

When we went to look at the light I noticed a crack in my fender!! It was the corner of the fender right next to the front of the hood. I went inside and told the person that I was dealing with at the counter that they cracked my fender. He came out and looked at the car and went back inside and about 5 minutes later he came back out of the shop and said that he spoke to all of the technician's that worked on my car and they all told him that they had no knowledge of any damage to my fender.

I told him that just a few days ago I worked on my headlights and there was definitely no crack in my fender and all he kept saying to me was that the damage was not done at his shop and they can not be held responsible. Since I installed my headlights, today was the first day I drove my car for the purpose of getting the alignment done. I did not hit anything on the way there nor did my car get hit by any stones, debris etc. from the road on the way there.

I don't know what I can do now. I don't want to make an insurance claim because my deductible ($500) would actually be more than me getting my fender repaired at a paint shop. Does anyone know if I can file a claim through the alignment shop? I highly doubt it since they claim that they are not responsible. I honestly don't know what to do and I don't think I should have to pay for the damage myself because I know for a fact that my fender was not damaged at all when I brought my car there.

Can anybody give me any suggestions on what I can do in regards to dealing with the alignment shop.

Here is a picture of the damage to my fender. If you notice the corner of the fender is hanging on by a thread. If I tug on it slightly I can pull that whole corner off.

[ran_i_am]

I feel like this type of bs has affected everyone in one way or another. Its very likely the big rough hands and steel toed boots of the mechanics, accidentally but easily knocked a corner off on a fender (if not careful). or it got caught on some piece of clothing and got lifted up too far and cracked.

My last car had low ground clearance, when a shipping company took it off my hands to ship it across the country. The aluminum heat shields and splitters on the bottom were ripped to pieces ($900 bucks to fix).
Company owner told me that it had to be my mistake not noticing it, and the damages were already there when they first got my car. (He threatened me that he has witnesses and people to testify that the bottom was already damaged). I know damn well how my car's condition is, and its obvious they are just pushing the responsibilities away from the beginning. Tried talking to cops, insurance agents and even lawyers. They all told me it wasn't gunna be worth the effort and risk to sue for money.
Im down $900, even till this day.

[godzllla85]

Originally Posted by ran_i_am

I feel like this type of bs has affected everyone in one way or another. Its very likely the big rough hands and steel toed boots of the mechanics, accidentally but easily knocked a corner off on a fender (if not careful). or it got caught on some piece of clothing and got lifted up too far and cracked.

My last car had low ground clearance, when a shipping company took it off my hands to ship it across the country. The aluminum heat shields and splitters on the bottom were ripped to pieces ($900 bucks to fix).
Company owner told me that it had to be my mistake not noticing it, and the damages were already there when they first got my car. (He threatened me that he has witnesses and people to testify that the bottom was already damaged). I know damn well how my car's condition is, and its obvious they are just pushing the responsibilities away from the beginning. Tried talking to cops, insurance agents and even lawyers. They all told me it wasn't gunna be worth the effort and risk to sue for money.
Im down $900, even till this day.

Yea I figured that there is nothing really I can do. It just pisses me off because I know for a fact that my fender was not damaged before I dropped it off. I am very meticulous when it comes to my cars and I would have noticed if I hit something or if something hit my car while I was driving. I even checked my headlight yesterday morning to see if there was any condensation in it as it rained the night before and there was no crack.

Bad business practice is what it is. Any real professional shop would admit their mistake and deal with it accordingly.

[shaginwagon13]

Sometimes the threat of a lawsuit is enough for them to either compensate you or settle the difference.

Might be worth a try.

[marcvtec]

Doubt it was the alignment shop.
You did headlight work a few days ago then a three hour drive to Windsor, I would say a pressure crack of some sort.
I could understand if it was a front lip and the hit it on the ramp but not above the headlight lol

[Havok_2011]

Hard to say how it happened. You can really only blame a shop if you see it when you go pick up the car. If you see after you have left, its tough to make a challenge.

BMW put two dents into my friend's 1 series, luckily we saw the dents when picking up the car, otherwise we would be fronting the bill

[godzllla85]

Originally Posted by Havok_2011

Hard to say how it happened. You can really only blame a shop if you see it when you go pick up the car. If you see after you have left, its tough to make a challenge.

BMW put two dents into my friend's 1 series, luckily we saw the dents when picking up the car, otherwise we would be fronting the bill

Yes I we did notice it as the car was still sitting in front of their bay door. That's why I am glad my friends asked to look at the light because we notice it before we drove off. They still told me that they are not responsible.

[Havok_2011]

Originally Posted by P.chan

Yes I we did notice it as the car was still sitting in front of their bay door. That's why I am glad my friends asked to look at the light because we notice it before we drove off. They still told me that they are not responsible.

Ah well then, you have a valid case on your hands, sue the fukers.

[godzllla85]

Originally Posted by marcvtec

Doubt it was the alignment shop.
You did headlight work a few days ago then a three hour drive to Windsor, I would say a pressure crack of some sort.
I could understand if it was a front lip and the hit it on the ramp but not above the headlight lol

What pressure are you talking about? have you ever taken a headlight off of an E92? there are 6 screws holding it in place and when I installed it I made sure that it was tightened properly, not over tightened and that it did not move. Explain to me how pressure could crack a fender?. Non of the screws are are attached to anything touching the fender. I checked it the morning before to make sure that there was no condensation in my headlight and there was no damage to my fender.

Like i said earlier I am very meticulous when it comes to my cars and whenever I work on it I am extra careful in what I am doing.

[DESI4life10]

Originally Posted by P.chan

What pressure are you talking about? have you ever taken a headlight off of an E92? there are 6 screws holding it in place and when I installed it I made sure that it was tightened properly, not over tightened and that it did not move. Explain to me how pressure could crack a fender?. Non of the screws are are attached to anything touching the fender. I checked it the morning before to make sure that there was no condensation in my headlight and there was no damage to my fender.

Like i said earlier I am very meticulous when it comes to my cars and whenever I work on it I am extra careful in what I am doing.

I think what he meant to say that if there was something pushing up on the fender, it creates a localized pressure point (which essentially puts that part of the fender under load). This can happen if the headlight was pushing up on the fender when screwing it in (permanently pushing the fender up).

Sorry to hear about the accident. Hope it gets sorted out painfree.

[godzllla85]

Originally Posted by DESI4life10

I think what he meant to say that if there was something pushing up on the fender, it creates a localized pressure point (which essentially puts that part of the fender under load). This can happen if the headlight was pushing up on the fender when screwing it in (permanently pushing the fender up).

Sorry to hear about the accident. Hope it gets sorted out painfree.

I see what you are saying and there is a gap about 2 to 3 millimeters between the light and the fender on both sides.

[demontwinz]

Originally Posted by DESI4life10

I think what he meant to say that if there was something pushing up on the fender, it creates a localized pressure point (which essentially puts that part of the fender under load). This can happen if the headlight was pushing up on the fender when screwing it in (permanently pushing the fender up).

Sorry to hear about the accident. Hope it gets sorted out painfree.

Desi4life can you contact me please. i need some help


simon DOT ma 1234 AT GMAIL

[Havok_2011]

Originally Posted by demontwinz

Desi4life can you contact me please. i need some help


simon DOT ma 1234 AT GMAIL

I am sending you porn

[shaginwagon13]

Originally Posted by Havok_2011

I am sending you porn

CC me in that email too then plz. Thank YOU!

[demontwinz]

hahaha thx nick

nick .. when are you going to SC your m3?

[Havok_2011]

Originally Posted by demontwinz

hahaha thx nick

nick .. when are you going to SC your m3?

Not sure, probably after I dyno it while its stock. Still want to have some fun with it before I change anything to the engine :P

[zuluZero]

Assuming you are left to deal with the damage yourself, what options / quotes have you found for repairing the plastic fender? How big is the crack? (I don't see a picture attached - oh wait, that may be a problem with my proxy server...)

[godzllla85]

Originally Posted by zuluZero

Assuming you are left to deal with the damage yourself, what options / quotes have you found for repairing the plastic fender? How big is the crack? (I don't see a picture attached - oh wait, that may be a problem with my proxy server...)

Yea I came to the conclusion that I am going to have to get it fixed myself. It is definitely repairable and wouldn't require much work to fix but I still have not got any quotes from any body shops yet.

[Havok_2011]

Originally Posted by P.chan

Yea I came to the conclusion that I am going to have to get it fixed myself. It is definitely repairable and wouldn't require much work to fix but I still have not got any quotes from any body shops yet.

For sure its easy to fix, but will also require the entire fender to be repainted. Have you asked Patrick at StreetXtreme? They should be able to do this for you at a good price.

[DESI4life10]

Originally Posted by P.chan

Yea I came to the conclusion that I am going to have to get it fixed myself. It is definitely repairable and wouldn't require much work to fix but I still have not got any quotes from any body shops yet.

I know streetextreme is able to repair this fender. A friend of mines, has a crack in the fender as well and it was repaired very nicely by Street extreme.

[WannaBMW12]

Which shop did the alignment? How much did they charge you? Other than cracking your fender, how was the quality of the work they did?

[DoctoRx]

Had similar issue with a shop this weekend. Cracked same passenger side fender but further back. Sorry to hear of your troubles. I'll be using it as an excuse for M3 rep fenders.