Pamela

In March of this year, some 2nd class jerk hit the left rear of my 944 whilst it was parked outside my house early (i.e. 5.50am) one morning. The jerk was uninsured, which made things worse, however, I am now having problems with the body work people. They had the car for 3 weeks, I picked it up, went over it with a fine tooth comb, (some would say I am extremely fussy, but it is my first Porsche and I love it almost as much as my Anatolian Shepherd) and found some discrepancies with the work which had been done, or not done as the case may be. Total damage was estimated at $3600. Firstly, the inside rear quarter panel had only been primed, looked like a little kid had gotten into the back of my car with a paint brush, that is how bad it was!! Secondly, there was paint peeling off the driver's side door strip (you know the one that is along the middle of the door), plus the fact that they had not bothered to fix a paint chip and had painted over the top of it!! Thirdly, around the keyhole at the rear, there were six or seven little chips where PO had obviously missed the hole with the key, and they had not even bothered to repair these chips, just painted straight over the top of these!!!!!! I was furious to say the least. Is this normal practice? I took the car back today so they could fix what they had not done in the first place, and the guy said "we don't go around fixing all the little chips here and there, otherwise we would never finish a car". I asked the question, would you paint a wall without filling in the holes and sanding it back first? He just looked at me and changed the subject. Could somebody please inform me as to whether this is the done thing, that all bodyworks do not repair chips, but paint straight over them? My motto is, if it is worth doing, it is worth doing properly the first time!! The guy gave me some bullsh*t story that it is too hard to blend the paint in with the right rear panel if we were to fix those chips, there would not be enough room for us to do this. Any opinions/previous experience would be greatful.

I have pictures I took of the damage to the car, but do not know how to put them on this site. Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards,
Pamela <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />

Matt O.

DON'T take that crap from ANY body shop. Stick it to them, and DON'T settle for less then what you want. Take it from me. Tell them to get their act together (but do it tactfully and in a kind manor, you will get further with people). If you can get your point across without blowing your top they will be more inclined to help you.

-Matt

Operator

oh boy.. im sorry but rennlist forums are really retarded.. i just typed up a whole reply and when i went to post it said "you have more than 8 images" and wouldnt let me post, i press back, and its all gone. and i didnt have more than 8 images anyway. lame.

anyway

yes you should get whatever you can from the body shop.. you paid a lot of money you deserve perfection!

but if that is the only thing that is wrong with the work then maybe the chips being oversprayed arent so bad... the practice of painting over paint chips might be a common practice, i think i had one on my door that they painted over when they did the quarter panel on my car (paint blending) and they didnt fill it.. no biggy, but it doesnt mean you cant ask them to do it, they should comply.. i didnt ask them about it.. i had other concerns.

upload some pictures..
click <a href="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/upload.html" target="_blank">this link</a> and upload your photos
copy the http:// line and when posting press IMAGE and paste it into the little box that pops up. fun stuff

i figured i would post some pics of my before/after quarter panel repair since everyone cares so much

Operator

after the accident:

Operator

after body work:




paint chip:


nice right? (yes they cleaned my wheels) the paint chip might be similar to what you describe. good luck with the body shop and post some pics

Pamela

Here is one of the many pictures that I took of the damage.

<a href="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/PJ's944S1.JPG[/IMG]" target="_blank">http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/PJ's944S1.JPG[/IMG]</a>

Pamela

Okay, I give up, it looks like I am unable to post the pictures....I got it to the Rennlist website, but no further will it go! Any advice/help would be appreciated....thanks.

Micah

Simon

That looks fantastic! How did your parents end up taking the news?

Micah

2zeroes

Here's Pamela's pic



Pamela: once you upload the image, click on IMAGE in the Post a Reply page, copy and paste location and click OK.

Have you paid the body shop already?

Pamela

Sorry about this, but I am going to try again to post this picture....it is just not my day today!
<a href="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/PJ's944S1.JPG[IMG]" target="_blank">http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/PJ's944S1.JPG[IMG]</a>

Pamela

Well, I had to claim it on my insurance (USAA) and they assured me that my premium would not go up as a result. I had to pay the $500 deductible, which I did manage to squeeze out of the jerk who hit my car. So I did not have to pay anything as such from my own pocket. But yes, it has been paid for already, took it back today to see how much more of a mess the body works can make of it. Informed my insurance company that I am having problems with these people and hopefully they will get back to me soon. If I am not happy with the second lot of repairs, I will be asking for it to be taken somewhere else to be repaired properly. The only good thing in all this, is that for as long as I own the car, the repairs are guaranteed wherever I go. So if something goes wrong, USAA will fix it for free. <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />

Pamela

Lemon Yellow 87 n/a

Holy shiznit!! Your car got SMOKED!! Too bad. You've taken the right steps. Dont take crap from greazy body shop guys looking down on you. Odds are they're probably swamped with work and figured they could get away with doing a quick job on your car. Give them the facts without loosing your cool.

AndyK

Not to try and rain on your parade, but if the body shop normally does crappy work, and overlooks stuff like that, maybe going to another place is the best thing to do. You need an ****, Porsche-loving shop that wants to make the car look new again--not a shop that throws on some paint and cashes the insurance check!

Find a better place, and have the insurance company approve the re-do!

Sucks that cars are made of tin-foil!

mideastmafia

im thinking it will need a new quarter panel.. after pulling, you will STILL need ALOT of bondo which will probably fall off being so thick..

SHAUN