Gallstaff

iTrader: (1)

I was in a pretty bad wreck a few months ago and I just got it back from the body shop yesterday. They did a bang up job on the major damage, repainted the entire car and it looks good as new... almost.

There are things that they either overlooked or simply didn't do properly. Not a huge deal, but I was wondering if there were any remedies for some of these problems:

1. My passenger side door (which was FUBAR'd in the accident) latches shut, but it doesnt sit flush with the rear quarter. It juts out about a quarter of an inch. Surely theres a way to remedy this without removing the entire door and resetting it, isnt there?

2. The rocker panel on the passenger side, towards the rear quarter, doesnt sit flush with the door either. It sticks out a bit creating a small gap on the top.

3. The passenger seat belt, and this is a weird one since it was FINE even after my accident, does not extend properly. You have to keep pulling and pulling and MAYBE it'll extend far enough to buckle in but usually it just makes a loud clicking noise until it stops extending and you have to start and try again all over

4. None of my interior lights work under any circumstances. This was not a problem even after the accident either. Could it just be a fuse? Does one fuse control both the rear view map lights and hatch area light?

5. My power locks dont work anymore which they DID EVEN AFTER THE ACCIDENT (a pattern perhaps? I think so.) I can hear them try to click over, but they dont actually do it. What I mean is I can hear the motor (actuator, whatever one would call it) activating but nothing actually happens.

6. The plastic guard around the passenger seat belt that meets at the headliner came off and now hangs freely at the bottom of the belt. How do i reaffix this?

and perhaps - most aggrivatingly...

7. The rear bumper was replaced and now the passenger tail light hangs over the bumper. It does not sit flush as the drivers side does, meaning the bumper is pushed in further than the tail light.

8. On the passenger side, I was told there was a "pin" missing which affixes the bumper to the car and because of this, it could not be lined up proplery with the hatch or the rear quarter. This results in a considerable gap (about half an inch or more) boarding the drivers side of the hatch and the entire rear quarter on the drivers side. I can literally slip my fingers in this seperated area.

9. Around where the seat belt's plastic shiled fell off (as described in 6) seems to be sagging a bit. How would I reaffix this? I think that they had to remove the headliner for some reason since I know that there was damage done to the entire roof of the car (t-top sand all) so maybe they simply didnt reattach it properly?

Sorry for the long post everyone, but I have no idea where else to turn for help and this is the best bet I have. Thanks!

BigDaddyBry

iTrader: (15)

The quickest remedy I can think of is take it back to the shop.

TryingT/A

iTrader: (5)

yeah, take it back quick.

Gallstaff

iTrader: (1)

I plan on doing that anyway. They said they'd take care of it for free, but if theres any easy way to do this myself, I'd rather do that then take it back to a place that couldn't even get it right the first time.

Akrisd

When my mom's car was wrecked we had to bring it back 4 times in order to make it just right. Eventually they'll be sick of seeing you and paying for it out of pocket and everythigng will be right.

2000LS1TA

iTrader: (26)

Bring it to another shop that knows what they are doing ASAP and give the first shop the bill

TYR_FRYR

Don't touch any of it yourself if you expect the shop to take care of the other issues. Just take it back to them and have them fix it all to your satisfaction. The insurance companies are paying them PLENTY to make sure it's just right.

BigDaddyBry

iTrader: (15)

I've been in the same boat before and hindsight being 20/20, I always should have returned it instead of going elsewhere or taking the work on myself. You take it back once and give them the opportunity to fix it. If that doesn't resolve the issue, you can do like 2000LS1TA said.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

irnbru83

After my wreck I took my car back in 5 or 6 times before I got fed up with them and fixed the little issues myself.

Unfortunately I can't fix the frame, so the hatch is a few millimeters offset (doesn't seem like much and no one notices except me until i point it out) and the passenger side taillight enclosure is ever so slightly off.

Like I said, no one else notices, but I sure as hell do. The Insurance company paid out like $4500, but the body shop says there is no way to fix it anymore than it has been fixed

jkichline

iTrader: (1)

ditto,

i had a similar issue with a body shop. I refused to take the car back until it was perfect. Sounds like your shop did a REALLY bad job. My shop at least made an effort to make it "look" good. They never got it perfect but I called it good enough and took it home. A year later, the keyhole pushed into the door and I found out it was because they didn't put the retaining clip in properly (luckily the retaining clip was still there). I look at it this way, you've already noticed nine things... Just think what else you'll notice over the next year. I've seen a lot of body shops cutting WAY too many corners these days and there's no excuse for it. They have also started charging insurance companies for new parts while puting used parts on your vehicle. My buddy here at work was recently dissatified with his service. He had minor damage but the service and workmanship was majorly screwed up!

The fact that your lights don't work and your door locks don't open says that they didn't give a rats *** about your car. To fix your door locks, you'll have to take off the door panels and find what is not connected or blocking the actuator from pushing the lever. Its a PITA. Come to think of it, items 1-9 are a PITAs. You shouldn't have to deal with any of that crap! I am so pissed off for you right now!

irnbru83

Lol it's true, they really do a half-assed job it seems.

They never reattached the rear bumper cover underneath the license plate. it looked ok if i wasn't moving ( i didnt even notice it), but someone driving behind me saw it flapping around.

sp00rkz

iTrader: (4)

Take that **** back and make'em fix it.

01 Red WS6

iTrader: (4)

I would take it back too. When I bought my car I new it had been repainted because there was a tape line on the driverside door jam. After I had it for a bit I noticed other little things that makes mad to this day. My driverside tail light sounds like it's the same as your passanger side. I'm going to have it all fixed but I wish I had noticed all this stuff sooner so I could have found another car.

Grave

iTrader: (4)

I agree... take it back and point out every little detail that your dissatisfied with. Give them the chance to fix it. If you get it back, and you're still not 100% satisfied, call your insurance company, and file a complaint against the body shop. Give your insurance company the complete story, and then request that you take the car elsewhere to get the flaws corrected.

kingcuda70

iTrader: (1)

Good luck. :flameproof suit on:

Many body shops work entirely on insurance claims. They will look at you like you got 2 heads if you want work done without insurqance. The are interested in volume. Mediocrity is only periodiaclly achieved. I worked next to one such shop and every car came with an "explanation" from the "manager" attempting to justify shitty work and offering to "MAKE IT RIGHT NO MATTER what it takes".
Translation: we'll go through the motions as many times as it takes without expending any serious effort until you get tired of bringing it back. The worse the damage the worse the problems as they're usally not mechanics. I've also experienced this as a "customer", including stealer body repaint of wifes car under warranty. give them 2 shots max to fix it and then weigh options of paying a well-reputed shop to do it right, or cutting your losses. Post up their contact ifo everywhere you can, too.

Tainted

iTrader: (9)

do exactly what he said. if they cant do it right the first 1 or 2 times they wont get it right any other times

Gallstaff

iTrader: (1)

Well what sucks is, this was all paid out of my parents' pockets. I'm on the same plan as they are and since my dad is such a lousy driver, he claims that if we were to file such a major accident, our insurance policy would be dropped. He's nearly wrecked his Hundai about four times. This is my FIRST accident and now we start paying for it - yeah great.

Anyway, a couple things have been remedied at least. The map and dome light issue was just a fuse, and the door locks magically work again. However, I noticed two new things which REALLY **** me off. They ripped my back seat in the corner and now a little bit of foam is peeking out near the bucket portion of the rear seat. Also, there are three small punctures in my passenger seat. What this says to me is that they didnt even bother covering my interior up and probably laid their tools and **** right on my seats, totally disregarding the fact that they could rip the vinyl.

I'm taking it back next weekend. If they dont fix any one part of it pro bono, I'm taking it somewhere else. They already got 5800 dollars from us so I'm sure I have some justification complaining.