Hi, two years ago my wife had a deer accident in this car. The front hood was replace and the left driver side door was replaced. Now the front hood paint looks like it is flaking off, ‘like a cloud.’ I took it to the dealership and they told me it is due to a bad paint job. They did not let the paint set long enough before adding some type of finishing coat. The door have a rust line on it.
Can I take the car back to the body shop that did the work on the car and ask for some type of discount? I mean I don’t know how long a paint job suppose to last, but this one didn’t. I first thought it was due to tree sap or some kids threw something on the car, but that’s not the case. It was the dealership fault.
I would take it back and politely point out the issues that have developed. Before you go, do some research.
The insurance company who paid the bill on the deer incident may help out. Some require the body shop to provide a written warranty on the workmanship. You need to find out if the insurance company has such a policy and whether it helps out your case with the body shop.
A good paint job should last a lot longer than two years.
Do not ask for a discount, they will say sure and charge close to full price. The shops warranty should cover it.
I’m no longer with the insurance company that did the work which was state farm.
How long should a new paint job last?
Well, a paint job should last the life of the car. Baring any circumstances like living in a harsh winter climate, living in a coastal area, putting over 500,000 miles, etc.
Those car that look like crud because the paint looks bad are examples of a bad paint job (in fact if you’ll notice, a lot of cars with bad paint jobs are often the same model; from the manufacturer using a bad paint/technique. Look at Dodge Caravans from the early 90’s, almost all of them have the same clear coat problem)
The shop that did the repair is responsible for what is in effect a poor job. The clearcoat is separating from the paint underneath and this is due to poor workmanship. If the shop is reputable and stands behind their work they will repaint the affected areas.
I went to the ford dealership that painted the hood of the car. They were eager to help me until I told them that they did the work a couple years ago. I gave them my paperwork and they told me that it looks like tiny rock chips caused the problem. I replied by saying the rest of the car is in nice condition, I don’t understand. The guy then replied by saying I’ve seen new cars after a year do this, because of rock chips. I said don’t you guys have a warranty for your work. The guy replied by saying that they have a rep- gsf or gfs that will have to take a look at it. It could be a bad batch of paint, but the gfs guy is out of town right now and service the region and is in Wisconsin right now.
I went to two other for deaherships in the area, any they both told me that the paint flaked due to a bad paint job, 'didn’t let the paint set long enough before putting on a specific coat of paint/clearcoat.
The guy wouldn’t give me any information when this gsf guy would be in the area.
You need to get an “expert” opinion on the cause of your paint problem. Is it rock chips, or a badly done paint job? Get the expert(s) opinions in writing and then go back to the original dealer that did the work. They are dodging you right now so you need to be well prepared on your next visit.
Tell them you expect the hood to be removed, prepped, and repainted properly. If they refuse you need to be prepared to take legal action, attorney letter or small claims court. Repainting it should be less work for the dealer than spending time defending this in court or racking up fee’s from their attorney.
The expert opinions “in writing” is critical if you are to be successful.
If you can get confirmation it was a bad paint job, even better if it from a Ford Dealer, I would email FMC and let them know a dealer is ducking responsibility for their work. Ultimately, that dealer has to answer for using the Ford name to FMC, as the reputation and image of Ford does depend heavily on local dealers.
So I should just go back to the other two ford dealerships and ask them to put it in writing about bad paint job.
the two ford dealerships that I took the car to agreed with you about the clearcoat process wasn’t done correctly.
Oh, the rep that suppose to come and take a look at the car is the paint guy, ‘basf.’ I just called the ford dealership that I went to get some type of answer of when this guy will come and they told me that the guy will be out sometime next week to take a look at the car.
I just don’t understand why they will not do the work now.
It does not matter if you are still with S/Farm or not. The insurance company states they warranty the paint but they in fact do not. The body shop warranties any defects so as long as you own the car the warranty should apply do however long they stated. A properly applied and properly maintained paint job would last the life of the car under normal circumstances.
Appointment day: Took the car for their paint specialist to look at. Their guy put some type of measuring tools on the hood looking from different angles. He then took a razor blade and cut/scraped some of the paint off into an envelope for a lab test. He told me that that they needed to know why this happen and the lab will figure this out, 'like C.S.I.'
I suggest that maybe the clearcoat wasn’t applied properly, due to an human error. The guy didn’t say a word, just said it would take two weeks to get the results from the lab.
So it’s going to take three weeks for this process. I had to wait one week to see this guy and now it’s going to take two more weeks to get the results for the lab.
I went to two other ford dealerships and they looked at the hood and immediatedly knew it was a clearcoat problem. “What’s the hold up” Where is this lab?
call state farm and see if they can help you even if your not still with them.
the insurance comps. require that bodyshops put a lifetime warranty on their work. especially state farm. look at you repair bill and see if they put lifetime warranty on it. it makes them responsible for it reguradless. don’t buy the clear cloat thingy. you put 2 coats of clear on right after you base it. they either put 1 coat of clear on or use very cheap clear. and don’t get me wrong i’ve had a few come back with clear coming off. and i had to get my paint rep. in, but either way we still had to reapir it under warranty.
hanks for the additional information. Is the waiting process always this long? I mean are they following required steps or just making me wait. A week ago when I took the car in to the dealership the manager looked at it and told me he needs his paint specialist to look at the car. The paint specialist takes samples of the paint and is sending it to a lab to figure out what went wrong, which will take an additional two weeks. Are they looking for reason not to do it? or it’s not their fault.
The other two ford dealerships told me that I don’t need to show the bill, that they should have it on file. State farm had me go to this dealership and they should fix it without any problems.
I just don’t know about this waiting process.
ok. if state farm made you go there for the repairs than they were under contract with statefarm. any ways if that’s the than they have to fix it, becuase of their commetment to statefarm. and also it doesn’t matter if they are waiting on the paint guy. the reason why they are is because they want the paint comp. to flip the bill. like we use ppg, which offers a lifetime warranty. in order for me to get the warranty, they do all the b.s. to make sure i did my job right. either way the body shop is responsible. call statefarm, explain to them that your car was there last year for repairs, even though your not a customer, they still warranty the work of the shop at the time of the repairs and you were a customer, and since you still own the car, it should make them still liable for their part. belive me statefarm is pretty hard on bodyshops for the repairs that are made. they make sure for what ever they pay for, it gets done.
I called state farm and explain the situation and they told me that they would get back to me in a day or two. They called me back the next day and they’re sending an adjuster to my house take a look at the car hood. They told me that they talked with the manager of the body shop and the said they would paint the hood when the results from the paint test come back.
I replied politely by saying I really wish they would have said that to me. They never said they would paint the hood, they just wanted to know what was the cause and ask me if I use any kind of wax on the hood and any machine wash carwash tools. The adjuster even ask if I wanted to have the hood painted by the same ford dealership. I didn’t know I had an option
told ya, ever since state farm got sued, they stay on top of things.
Latest results on car hood at this point. After a month and little over a week, finally received a call from the ford place about the car hood paint test. They refuse to repaint the car hood because the car is 10 years old and they told me it was due to washing the car improperly, and to rock chips.
State farm told me that the body shop only have a one year warranty on any type of paint work.
Is this true? Anything that happens after one year is not their responsibility. "like a washer or dryer’. This is what they told me. They told me if this was a bad job that the paint would have start coming off within the first year.
Am I missing something? Several paint specialist can identify the problem by looking at the car, however this place takes over one month to tell me it’s due to washing the car. I thought State Farm is suppose to help me.