sinister2c

I think this will be hard to justify based on the degree of damage, which was mostly cosmetic. The fact that he chose his own shop is also hard to argue about workmanship to insurance. If he would have used an insurance referred shop, he would have a better leg to stand on.

I did get a diminished value payout on my Sienna when it was sandwiched and had much more structural damage ($9k+). I basically did a lookup of a similarly equipped model, 3 years older and compared the "excellent" value and "fair" value. I did this with printouts from 3 different used car sources and wrote a long essay about it. I offered basically did an average cost differential between the three. End of the day, I got $3,500 back on my 6 month old Sienna with less than 5k miles. I was happy. It only took them 30 minutes to approve once I emailed and faxed to the adjuster.

UCrazyKid

Man, totally sucks, sorry. It's probably no consolation but I had the exact same paint experience with my Star Fire Pearl ISF when it needed painting. The hood, bumper and fenders were brand new Lexus panels. They painted them and they turned out like your picture. I raised hell. They told me they called the paint rep and learned the specs for pressures and nozzle for that paint WERE WRONG IN THE BOOK! They were pissed at the paint company and went after them for having to do the work over. So they repainted with the new nozzle and pressure recommendations. However, now my new parts have 2 coats of paint, my drivers door has 3! and then they blended into the rear doors on the second go around. Because they were pissed at the paint company, had to redo the work and did not know if they were going to be paid... They shortcut the wet sanding and I have a very dull finish on the front 3/4s of my car. To make it worse, when my car was trucked across the country for a move 18 months ago the driver's door got dinged. Instead of just a dent that PDR can fix, because of the three layers of paint it took a horrendous chip out of the paint. Now the door will have to be painted for a 4th time to repair it! Soooo, I feel your pain. I truly believe there is no such thing as a good body shop.

Keep taking it back. Hopefully your insurance company will back you on the go-backs until it is right. I'm still considering making a claim on my insurance since I used their shop and it has a lifetime warranty on the work and it is obvious what parts of the car are factory and what has painted. A think a good correction would even things out.

Good luck to you. My advice is to spend more time on the INSIDE driving and not on the outside looking at it.

sinister2c

One of the things with Starfire is that it is a PIA to redo. My brother has a Starfire 2008 IS250 and all his paint has delaminated from the metal on the top of the doors. Our bodyshop friends say that it was poor prep from the factory and really no way to fix unless he strips all his paint down to metal and start over.

VTsuckah

iTrader: (1)

I had a similar experience after my mkii MR2 got rear ended quite a few years back. Like you, I am quite meticulous about my possessions and document literally everything when I'm forced to hand over my keys for any reason. Long story short, I ended up taking my car back 7 or 8 times for paint corrections and other issues non related to the accident damage.

As you stated, insurance claims are quick money for autobody shops and they want to complete the job as quickly as possible to turn a larger profit, which equates to shoddy worksmanship. The owner of the shop stated to me that they did a great job (despite the quarter sized paint chip down to the fiberglass of my rear spoiler) is good enough for 85% of people and that I was too picky....my response after I picked my jaw off the ground was to simply point to the gigantic sign at the front desk that stated "OEM quality or better, 100% satisfaction gaurnteed".

It was only until I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau for them to finish the job correctly to my satisfaction. You may want to go that route if you haven't done so.

Good luck and don't budge.

rjfjdudj

Yup always get some other opinions...I have a body shop where I live and they always say "we can do it this way but can't promise that it will work" sometimes body work won't come out factory perfect...if you are unhappy keep fighting like others state...more and more people are out to get the next dollar...however not every place has the same training and they may get used to people that "accept" less than perfect...also...think of the fact the amount of time it will be in for...we would be ok with that but others may want it back sooner and not want to wait for a perfect outcome...not the shops fault if they have been brainwashed this way...not sticking up for them...but

lawrence1

****ty work.why did they replace the fender? It doesn't even look damaged. Have you gotten them to rework it to your satisfaction?

F Monster

Well it's been a couple weeks and I have been fighting with them. I ended up just threatening to sue them and it's funny how quickly they reply to you when you threaten to sue. Anyhow, the shop (Airpark Collision) decided to blame PPG (paint brand) that their paint was the reason why my car has this texture and a PPG district manager contacted me immediately apologizing for how the shop repaired my car. On top of that, he apologized for his employee who did not follow protocol and "inspected" my car without me being present. They told me to bring it to their "certified Lexus" collision shop a couple blocks away from me and they'll pay for the damages. I feel bad for PPG as it was not their fault but Airpark Collision's fault because they had bad painters. Anyways I dropped off my car at the new shop Penske Auto Collision in Scottsdale and had the car inspected by a paint expert, the district manager, the general manager, and the head painter at the collision shop. Immediately when they saw my car they noticed the bumps right away, they did not deny anything unlike Airpark Collision. They even found out the reason my hood is misaligned was not because Airpark touched or removed my hood, but they did not properly install my fenders causing the hood to protrude forward smacking against my driver side headlight every time I went over a bump. They unveiled more short cuts after we popped the hood. They assured me they'll take care of everything and that I am in good hands, they said they will be dissecting the car and writing up a quote so PPG will eat the cost. I suspect it is going to be north of $4k as my original repairs were $3.9k. They said since Airpark messed up and blended into my driver side panel, they have to now blend into my driver rear door as well. It's going to be a process removing all the clear bra and sanding everything down to bare bones. But this shop is definitely more keen and scrutinizes every detail unlike Airpark. I'm just glad to hopefully be done with this mess.

Here are some videos to show you the severity of the poor paint job that I had to send to Airpark Collision because they might think my photos were "edited/altered".

lawrence1

Curious how the fenders arent installed correctly. What exactly isnt correctly installed about the hood and the fenders? Do you have pictures of this?

F Monster

Driver side (damaged)


Passenger side (undamaged)

Since the hood/fender is misaligned, the hood shakes when driving and especially noticeably when you go over a speed bump or railroad tracks. It's also not latching correctly.

isfdave86

iTrader: (1)

My girlfriend works in insurance as a damage adjuster, the ones that come to your house to see what will be covered and what won't be. She was astounded that PPG is eating the costs

F Monster

Me too. PPG is not to blame, it's Airpark's fault for their terrible painters. They were not supposed to put a clear bra on my car after 1 day. I even e-mailed them about it when they just finished painting my car saying that the average cure time for paint is around 30 days. Meaning no wax or any other application on the clear coat. But apparently Airpark's owner knows the PPG district manager pretty well so PPG is now taking the hit for them. The new shop (Penske) will make sure to hold my car for 30 days before applying a clear bra on it which I am okay with. I don't want them to rush anything like Airpark did.

lawrence1

Those pictures dont indicate an in incorrect install of the hood and fenders. The panels need to be adjusted, yes, but it's not like they're bolted on incorrectly. You may also have bent hood hinges or something else may need adjustment. I assume the new shop will do this but i would also check to make sure the bolts securing the hood to its hinges are tight.

That said, this job was complete **** in all respects and way overkill for the damage you had. That fender should have never been replaced in the first place either.

Keep in mind that the gaps in the front are not perfect from the factory on these cars, especially around the headlight area.

F Monster

I agree with everything you said, I still have both my OEM bumper and fenders undamaged sitting in my garage. I requested to keep them, and I see no paint damage on either. It was just the shop trying to make money off of the other guy's insurance company. My total damage was literally a bent bumper tab, it's not even broken. Replace the clips and call it a day. Anyways, Penske had someone inspect the hood and it was indeed the fenders not bolted on correctly, because the hood was never taken off from the car. We inspected the bolts and there was no paint marred on the bolts. The paperwork also did not indicate them taking my hood off either so yes it had to be them not installing my fenders back on correctly and I see it too as there were bigger gaps between the fender and driver side door than the passenger side.

3nergiz3d

Damn! I'm glad the right people are in charge of fixing your accident. My buddy went through a similar situation and it seems that no one local can paint match the SFP color. He had to wrap it up instead.

lawrence1

I wouldnorder new hood hinges, have them painted and replaced. That will likely fix the gap issue.

SFP is a pain to match and it always requires blending into adjancent panels.

Let us know how it turns out ... Very unfortunate situation to deal with for sure.