Hit and Run on a Brand New 2019 Mazda 3

I can understand this completely, but it shouldn't excuse the body shop from doing anything less than the best possible work. In my own business of home repairs, I've had to advocate for the homeowners a few times when the insurance company wanted to do a partial replacement of pre-finished siding, shutters, and what-not where it would leave a clearly visible difference in appearance. They generally accede to me doing things in the least noticeable way by replacing the whole area or all parts since it doesn't increase costs much. The whole idea of insurance is to cover you as much as is reasonably possible, and less-than-best work is never a reasonable option IMHO.

But do as you will with me hoping you don't have to go through this again ;)

Phil

Insurance companies are a business, and there are there to make money. They'll deploy every tactic to minimize their liability and spend the least amount of money making a problem "right". Because they figure some people won't kick and scream if given an answer. Either by being unaware of their rights, unable to deal with it (elderly), or simply ignorant to demand more.

So if 1 or 2 people out of 10 take the "half assed" route, the agent saves the company money (cue those who do get promoted). Long story short, is don't just acquiesce at the first offer, and fight for proper repairs / compensation.

FYI: For auto repairs, many insurance companies will cut the person a check directly after doing an estimate. I.E. Raven takes his car to an adjuster, they estimate $3500 in damage, and then cut him a check. He decides where to take the car to be repaired, as insurance company is NOT allowed to steer you to a specific shop. If there ends up being another $1000 in damage upon inspection, the insurance company will issue a supplement in the remaining amount to the body shop for additional work.
 
This is sad news. I read about the body shop blending colors. They did this to my wife’s car. There was one small dink and they had to paint the entire panel. But he told us this before he took the job. They did a great job as it’s been 10 years and the paint fix is still good. Place I took it to was high end but they are the best in my. Area. Try to park that car under a light, and can you see it from your window? I installed security cameras that film both my cars if there is motion up there.
 
I tried to pick up my son's Mazda 3 from the body shop yesterday and there were a couple of things that really pissed me off.
  1. When I arrived the car wasn't clean. I mean come on. My insurance company just spent $2,000 with your company and you couldn't even wash the car prior to my arrival?
  2. I was told that they were going to try to do an in panel color blend, which is why I opted to repair the trunk versus replace it. When I arrived, I discovered that wasn't the case. They actually blended the paint into the rear quarter panels, which means they had to rough up perfectly good factory paint to do the blend. I have to admit that the color match looks pretty good, but they should have notified me. But, perhaps I'm being too picky.
  3. The repaired trunk lid had a few paint splatters. Plus, the trunk and part of the rear quarter panels have swirl marks on them. To me, both of those are rookie mistakes. I mean if you were repairing a brand new car with 1,600 miles on it, wouldn't you put your best guy on it?
I spoke with the owner and he said he could buff out the paint splatters and remove the swirl marks and have it ready for me by the end of the day. But, to be honest, this wasn't the customer experience I was hoping to have. Plus, I've lost confidence in this body shop and I'm a little worried about the stuff I can't see. However, I am trying to be reasonable.

Should I be concerned about any of this? How would you handle this situation?

I just wanted to post a followup.

I arrived the following day at the body shop I mentioned above and the owner was waiting to greet me at the door. That in itself was impressive, especially since he didn't know exactly when I was arriving, which meant he must have told his receptionist to notify him as soon as I pulled in to the parking lot. He then escorted me to a super clean car and showed me where his team had fixed the paint splatters and swirl marks. He also apologized for the experience I had the previous day and said it wasn't indicative of his shop or how he wants his customer to be treated. To be honest, I was really frustrated by the entire situation, not necessarily his role in it.

Needless to say, I was pretty blown away. I have always said you can tell the quality and character of a company or person by how they handle their mistakes and I stand by that belief. If anyone in the Virginia peninsula area needs a good body shop I can highly recommend Ebby's Auto Body. Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this thread. I truly appreciate all of your advice and support. :)
 
I just wanted to post a followup.

I arrived the following day at the body shop I mentioned above and the owner was waiting to greet me at the door. That in itself was impressive, especially since he didn't know exactly when I was arriving, which meant he must have told his receptionist to notify him as soon as I pulled in to the parking lot. He then escorted me to a super clean car and showed me where his team had fixed the paint splatters and swirl marks. He also apologized for the experience I had the previous day and said it wasn't indicative of his shop or how he wants his customer to be treated. To be honest, I was really frustrated by the entire situation, not necessarily his role in it.

Needless to say, I was pretty blown away. I have always said you can tell the quality and character of a company or person by how they handle their mistakes and I stand by that belief. If anyone in the Virginia peninsula area needs a good body shop I can highly recommend Ebby's Auto Body. Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this thread. I truly appreciate all of your advice and support. :)

Glad to hear that it worked out in the end. Good, honest customer service means everything. Last year I took my truck to a shop that was offering a great deal on AC re-charging and refurbishing. The local Toyota dealership told me I had a leaking compressor and it needed replacement for 1000+ bucks. After dropping off my truck at the local shop for the AC service I came back to pick it up and they told me they tested it thoroughly and found nothing wrong.
 
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Z A129 / 129 Duo 2
RavenManiac A129 / 129 Duo 39
J A129 / 129 Duo 8
Back
Top