[imy]

Moan for the day:

I took 2 cars that I had on lease to have body work done. It was my own fault that I did not do a full on deep investigation of the work carried out on completion.
I have had the inspectors reports on both cars.
I didn't tell them about any work done on the cars before hand. They asked if any work had been done and I said yes. They told me the work done was to an appalling standard.

1. There were 2 paint runs on one panel
2. There was orange peel on a panel that had been repaired
3. Colour mismatch on one car repaired.
4. Dirt particles on both cars trapped in paint where the job was not done in an air tight environment
5. Dents still visible and not correctly filled.

Total additional cost to me is £900 approx on both cars on top of work already carried out.

Its the first time I personally have ever had to deal with a body shop, so was one very expensive learning experience for myself!

The response from the shop was mixed. Initially they were very apologetic, their messages state how sorry they are at the poor job on both cars and that they would repair a future car for free. However I asked if they would provide a partial refund on one of the cars (the other one has already been collected, and one is being collected tomorrow) and invited them to view the car and the shoddy job they done (tbh I would have been happy with £100 out of the £800 paid in total). I was then told no cash would be exchanged and was blocked from the chat.

Ironically the shop initially told me the job would be first class. One of their last messages to me before being blocked was if I wanted a proper job I should have gone to the dealer or lease company...

Its been a learning curve for sure and a very expensive one. But I guess what I can take away from this is to scrutinise all body work ever done in the future and only go to recommended shops.

[Rustymage]

I've been stung before. I've learnt to research as aswell.

[Thermobaric]

Yeah. Always advisable to go over any work done with fine tooth comb right away.

[Rustymage]

Originally Posted by Thermobaric

Yeah. Always advisable to go over any work done with fine tooth comb right away.

Learnt the hard way, got 90% costs back though

Take a look here:

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-righ...y-of-a-service

[Thermobaric]

Well that's something. Not too bad then.

[imy]

Yeah he did offer to fix the issues but unfortunately the cars were collected the next day after inspection. I should have gone over the cars tbh but even then certain defects I was shown like orange peel were quite hard to spot on a grey car!

[Rustymage]

Originally Posted by imy

Yeah he did offer to fix the issues but unfortunately the cars were collected the next day after inspection. I should have gone over the cars tbh but even then certain defects I was shown like orange peel were quite hard to spot on a grey car!

You're still able to get your money back on the service if the above criteria is applicable. My guy redid his work twice and it was still terrible. Got 90% costs back.

[IanS100]

If that many faults were evident in 2 completely different jobs, would you really want them to have another go, I wouldn't. Did you pay by credit card?

[imy]

Cash
They have said they will not give me any cash back due to the labour involved but they will fix another car of mine free of charge... My 335i has a small dent in the rear bumper, but as per above, free or not, if the job initially was so shit do I really want to go back regardless of FOC?!?

[Rustymage]

Originally Posted by imy

Cash
They have said they will not give me any cash back due to the labour involved but they will fix another car of mine free of charge... My 335i has a small dent in the rear bumper, but as per above, free or not, if the job initially was so shit do I really want to go back regardless of FOC?!?

Do you have a receipt? If you do then you can still take it to small claims court.

[Dann]

The only two of those faults that is mildly excusable is the Orange peel and colour match (some colours it is very difficult to match)
No painter should ever get runs and if they get dirt nibs they should have been removed before they polish it.

[imy]

Unfortunately no receipt. However let's see if I've learnt from my mistake. Some knob went into the back of my 35i I will be dropping it off to another body shop that fingers x works out better!

[Mboon]

I used a BMW approved body shop.

The car went back 9 times

In the end I had to pay for a company to inspect the car to report back issues with the repair (micro blisters)

I refused to use them on another car and Ford accident repair did the work... It was miles better than BMW!!

Bottom line, they are all conning bastards and don't trust any of them.

[ChawenHalo]

Originally Posted by Mboon

I used a BMW approved body shop.

The car went back 9 times

In the end I had to pay for a company to inspect the car to report back issues with the repair (micro blisters)

I refused to use them on another car and Ford accident repair did the work... It was miles better than BMW!!

Bottom line, they are all conning bastards and don't trust any of them.

+1 even the one that supposedly do all the work for Ferrari and Maserati and all blabla. At the end of the day most will tel you what you want to hear. An old school rule was to go to the guys that could do the body work on classic cars (body shape and colours are completely unforgiving to mistakes). Some posh classic car dealer and restoration friend of my wife used to look after her old Mini. Once while detailing her car I showed her that the repainted boot was an obsolute joke and painted with a brush. Same with the repairs all gob and no gift. Car now goes for minor stuff to a old school multibrand and Citroen mechanic and the guys love her car (it was their first) and now repair a whole raft of old Minis. Body shop Wise we go to an school chap. Yes its €400 a panel but its absolutely perfect and he barely not use filler either.

TBH paint on modern car is really poor quality. E90's all have orange peel. I had an 2009 Audi A8 and whilst the finish was perfect and quite resistant, the paint was very thin (where I scratched its backside).

You do get what youn pay for in this respect. On a front bumper that will get damaged from parking and motorway use, its worth getting some better paint job which will resist far better. On my old Z4MC I had the side skirts done by ACS UK and they were perfect for the life of the car. Got the front nose done on the cheap and frankly 2 years latter could have got it done again...

[The0pportunist]

I always thought orange peel was deliberate to make the paint more resilient to damage. And that a smooth paint job is a tell tale sign of a respray.

Confused!

[ChawenHalo]

Originally Posted by The0pportunist

I always thought orange peel was deliberate to make the paint more resilient to damage. And that a smooth paint job is a tell tale sign of a respray.

Confused!

You are both right and wrong:

Car manufacturers painting process has gotten a lot cheaper and along with environmental constraints there is a lot more clear coat and far less actual paint than there used to be.

Some orange peel is pretty much standard unless you're going high end and in that case a smooth panel could indeed be a sign of a re-spray on that panel.

Higher end cars have better quality paint are smoother. For once I'll say the VAG group has the edge on BMW on this one (or at least used to on mid range cars.

[imy]

Either way, I got fucked for it when my lease finished.