I bought a fd about a month ago. I dropped it off at mazda for safety recalls and a coolant leak. It was the worst mistake of my life. To make things short, they fixed my coolant leak w/o giving me an estimate first. I didn't mind too much b/c it needed fixing Then they kept the car another two weeks for the three hour safety recall job. Called them numerous times and always got the run around or no one picked up.
My problem started when i picked the car up. The car was in the shop for about two weeks and was pretty dirty. So they offered to wash it. Stupid me let them. when the valet drove the car up to me, I decided to walk around the car and inspect it. To my disappointment, i noted a lot of scratches on the car. I am assuming they came from the brushes of the car wash. the mechanic was telling the valet that the fds sit too low and that it had happened before and they should have hand washed it. Most of the scratches were on the left and right front quarter panels and many more other fine scratches all over the rest of the vehicle. the car was recently painted within a year according to the last owner. the car was immaculate when i bought it . i paid 15k for it with 62,000 miles on it.
the service supervisor upon my discovring the scratches took the car back and tried to buff out the scratches. it didn't help any. so he told me to bring it back to this "expert detailer". that worked for them.
the next week brought the car back. he had wet sanded the worst area of scratches and now it looked worse. the clear coat was gone and now a large area of cloudiness remained. there was wax all over my car. he didn't even tried to clean it up!!!!!!!!! WTF so i called the service manager and he agreed to repaint the front and left quarter panels..... what should i do about the other scratches?????? am i entitled to a new paint job???? i didn't really see the other scratches since i had tunnel vision on the major scratches!!! so i didn't really mention it to him.... i am afraid that once they paint the quarter panels the paint won't be even.... should i hire a lawyer to solve this dispute or just let the paint the front left and right quarter panels.....sorry it's so long... appreciate all your help in advance. kevin

 

They are liable, period. You can pick out a shop and they will have to pay to get it repaired (painted).

 

yeah they can't just paint the 1/4 panels or you'll end up with lines. as for the whole lawer thing i understand how you fill but i think you're getting ahead of yourself. go back in there and talk to the guy and tell him to do it right and then if they don't or just plain refuse you can go with a lawyer.

 

Sounds like the dealership is reasonable. Tell them you are picky, and the car was perfect paint-wise before they touched it. You expect the car to be as good as it was when you took it there. Since it isnt, I would tell them that you would like the car repainted.


One mistake you made was to allow them to wash it. Although automatic car washes are evil (ask mightyslash) if you approved of a "wash" technically they "washed it".

Good luck

 

FDVirgin,

Welcome to the FD experience. Watch out for the dealerships. One of the big reasons the car was considered unreliable and stopped from being imported was because proper maintenance was difficult to get at the dealerships.

Stay cool, be very clear. Bring in printed memos with specific service requests. Buy the shop manual and familiarize yourself with the components so you can understand what they are proposing to do.

Might as well change your name. No longer virgin. You've been boned on the paint. Join the Auto Club and get their advice as to how to handle the present problem. They also have lawyers that can advise you.

I do not understand how your vehicle with 62K miles and fresh paint did not have the safety mods done by the prior owner.

Best of Luck.

 

man that sucks....he ccould have at least taken it to a laser car washer...those are cool...when im lazy ill pay the 8 bucks for it with my fill up.. =D

 

i will call the service manager today and talk to him about having the car painted. i want my car the same color. i don't want the paint to look different on my car. i have that problem on my other car. you can tell the differnce noticebaly when the back two quarterpanels and trunk, bumper was painted. thanks kevin

 

I talked to the service manager. he was rude and said that they would only paint the quarterpanels b/c that's what i originally complained about. i told him i wanted the whole car repainted to match. he said no. so i guess i have to call a good lawyer. does anyone know of a good layer in maryland.

 

how about like small claims court or somthing?

 

U should get the lawyer for sure...You can recite legal principles to the dealer until you're blue in the face, but untill the dealer gets that letter with "law offices of john smith" on the letterhead, they will do nothing.

 

Oh and by the way, the issue here is called a bailor/bailee relationship. they are required to act with "ordinary care" in this situation - nothing more, nothing less.

 

I have a Montego Blue (MB) FD. I've had partial paint jobs twice where they managed to match the paint 100% (you couldn't tell the difference and I am picky). I had another experience where two separate shops tried to match the paint and failed both times before the insurance company relented and repainted the whole car.

Be very cautious of any partial paint jobs. Make certain you look at the car in several lighting conditions and angles before "accepting" any partial paint job. I would also reccomend the same for even a full paint job with the MB color (don't know what color you have). One of the partial paint jobs I had looked fine if the car "looked" (you know how the MB looks different colors in different light conditions and angles) green but when the car "looked" blue the newly painted parts looked purple (yuk). They damaged your property and you are entitled to quality repairs...BE PICKY or prepare to kick yourself in the *** for the next xx years every time you look at the crappy work.

It's no surprise the service managers was rude, he's trying to keep a $5 car wash from turning into a $1,500 paint job. Go to his boss (the owner) before taking a legal approach. If you go to court it's the owner you would sue anyway. Explain how the service manager damaged your car through his shops unfamiliarity with the vehicle. Explain the entire progression of damage and incompetance. Discuss the limited initial time you had to inspect the damage and the faith you lost in the dealership because of their inability to fix the most obvious damage and their inability to recognize the more subtle damage...yada, yada, yada Don't forget to mention that their legal liability doesn't end with what you initially complained about. It ends with the damage you can show they've done to your car.

If all else fails, don't call a lawyer (what a pain) take them to small claims court (the limit is usually 5,000 or so) yourself. Last time I went filing in small claims court was only a few dollars (<$50) and you could include this cost in the suit. Get quotes for repainting the whole car (or just have it painted) before filing so you know how much to sue for. The dealership has already admitted that their machine damaged your car. They have already shown incompetance in their ability to diagnose and repair paint problems. It should be a proovable fact that the minor scratches exist. It should be proovable that the small scratches are consistent with the more major scrathces the dealership has already taken responsibility for. Ask the dealership if they have any evidence that their machine only makes BIG scratches. The only question is the source of the little scratches and you should be able to proove their source with sufficient evidence for civil court.

Good Luck...

John Marasco

 

that really sucks man... and exactly why I've ended up doing every repair myself... every time I think something might be beyond my abilities or that I don't have the right tools I ususally end up learning something and having a slightly larger tool collection

I'd say that they are liable for the whole thing


--drew

 

Since the car is new did it have wax on it, the reason I ask is becuase I have a few scratches on my car, but after 2 coats of Eagle One Wet (Thick Wax) I don't

 

Been there , did that..get a lawyer, document everything they told you, who said what and when , and note the poor additude they gave you . Find the local "comsumer protection " division of the county the shop is located and open a case against them . This case will be the starting point to taking them to court. A good paint job is big $$$$. Not to go over my dealer nightmare but they cost me a motor and were just two weeks away for a settlement 28 k PM me if you need more advice . But give them hell , they did you wrong !!!

 

DEMANDING TO HAVE "YOUR" CAR'S PAINT LOOKING LIKE IT WAS PRIOR TO BEING DROPPED OFF ANYWHERE IS EXPECTED AND NOT PICKY!

 

Here is the prob with paining part, there is no way it will match cause the new paint is going to look perfect and the old paint has scretches. Even if they get the color perfect its not going to match.

Here is what I would do, let them paint it, they dont even have a chip cause it prob wasnt repainted with the exact Mazda paint. Its not going to match at all then it'll be easier to make them paint the entire car.

or

get a lawyer now and just go after them.

The prob is this. What if they were to say the scratches were there the entire time but just covered with wax and when they washed the car is removed the way which just uncovered the scratches

STEPHEN

 

my car is black. so the scratches which are down to the metal show up pretty good. so does the cloudiness they put on the paint when they wet sanded it. i didn't notice other little scratches until i saw it at night at a well lit gas station. when i first saw it, it was daylight and i just focused on the big scratches and didn't have time to be picky since they took the car in the back and tried to buff it out.. the f@#$# up thing is that the service manager dismissed all this and he has never seen the car or the damaged they caused. i will try to talk to the owner and see what happens. i have wanted an fd since back in 92 when i was 20. worked hard and saved up for this bull ****.......wtf..... makes me mad just thinking about it. now it's all go and no
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