The Autopia forum archives are filled with stories of "... look what the body shop did to my car...!" I have my own learning experiences.
My horror story takes place in Sacramento, California, where I was working for the state on a child support enforcement project. For the two years I was working on the project, I left my BMW M3 in Sacramento for local transportation. Even though my daily drive to work was short, the Sacramento roads have a lot of debris, so the front of the car had heavy road stone damage. At the end of the project, I decided I would have the M3's paint repaired prior to transporting the car down to Los Angeles.
Not being a Sacramento resident, I did not have a relationship with a painter, so I consulted the local dealer. As it so happens, the same family owns the Porsche dealership in Sacramento, and I had seen their paint work. It was perfect in every way. So, I "assumed" the same quality of work from the BMW facility. What I did not realize is that they send their paint work out to local shops. Bingo! Mistake number one on my part.
Timing being what it was, my M3 was not ready until the day I was packed up and heading out of town. The paint shop had delayed the work by three days. When I got the car back, it was filthy, but on first inspection, the paint work looked pretty good. That is, until I loaded the car on the transport trailer.
On closer inspection, the paint work was horrible. Three problems stood out. First, the repair facility was lazy and did not mask off or remove the plastic brake cooling ducts. So, the ducts, which are supposed to be black, are now silver. Second, the lower cooling intake vent was matte black from the factory, but the painter sprayed it silver instead of masking it off or repainting it black. Worse, however, someone used a sanding disk and left deep grinding marks on the front spoiler. Strike three, the painter's work was obviously not great because they used a buffer on the paint and stained all of the black rubber and plastic parts with silver paint from the buffing wheel.
Needless to say, I was furious, and they knew it. What could I do, I was headed out of town? The repair bill was $1,400, and they wanted a personal check or cash. Sorry, guys, here's my credit card. By the way, never pay for a repair by cash or check.
On my way out of town, I called my credit card company and disputed the bill. My second call was to the paint shop to voice my displeasure and to tell them I stopped payment. They filled my ear with some colorful metaphors.
After multiple calls and several hours bantering back and forth, the owner of the paint shop agreed to reduce the bill by $800, which is what it would cost to replace the parts they ruined and repaint the center intake area black again. I wanted compensation for my time, but he told me to go to a hot vacation spot down-under.
