Shop Scratched up my Alfa

[Turin]

I popped by my local mechanics shop to check out my GTV-6 this afternoon. ( Ride height / brake and suspension work). At some point when they were backing it out  for a test drive they damaged the rear passenger side wheel well. They went and had it repaired, but the red does not match. I just found this all out today. To the shops credit, they pointed this out to me. They could have been really sneaky and said nothing hoping I wouldn't notice.

I did not collect my car and contacted my insurance co. ( Hagerty ). The shop will keep it garaged for now.

I'm not sure what I want to do. There are not a lot of places that have the knowledge to work on Italian cars. They haven't screwed me and want to make it right. I can't figure out what would be fair. It will be next to impossible to match 35 year old red paint. ( the metal on the car had original paint.

Opinions wanted.


anonymous pictures website

[oldbike54]

 A really good painter who knows how to" fade" paint can make it so you will never see it . He or she won't care where the car was made .

 Dusty

[John Ulrich]

A really good painter who knows how to" fade" paint can make it so you will never see it .

This!  The painter "shot" the first "match" they mixed and called it good.  If the paint guy is any good he can fix it.

[Turin]

No pictures of the damage, I got to see the end result (repair) in person and I took the pics. Here is a pic of what they hit.

[yogidozer]

was the car red before they touched it up?

[RinkRat II]

    I can highly reccomend New Image Paint and Body in Tempe. Very high end body shop to at least get their opinion on your concerns. Second would be the mercedes or bmw body shops. Picky clients you know.

         Paul B

[Guzzistajohn]

Poor thing, I hope you survive.

[bigbikerrick]

Like John said, A good painter would have painted the whole quarter panel, and part of the door, fading it in approx. in the center of the door, and depending on if it a one stage paint, or 2 stage, as in base coat/clear coat, they would re clear the whole door, and quarter panel.
Looking at where it scraped the wall, and the shape of the car wheel well, I bet that wheel well lip took some bondo/filler to re shape it.
I am surprised they didnt snap a few photos of the damage before repairing it..in this age where every phone has a camera,..I bet they did.. would be interesting to see.
Rick.

[giusto]

A really good painter who knows how to" fade" paint can make it so you will never see it . He or she won't care where the car was made .

 Dusty

 :1:
yup good they owned up to it and didn't try to cover it up. I'm pretty sure Hagerty will say it's on them...and it seems as they are Jake.
Just need to find the right guy and he'll/she'll work to get it perfect.

[Turin]

Thanks for the constructive advice. Paul, I'll give New Image Paint and Body a call. Thanks all.

[rodekyll]

:1:
yup good they owned up to it and didn't try to cover it up. I'm pretty sure Hagerty will say it's on them...and it seems as they are Jake.
Just need to find the right guy and he'll/she'll work to get it perfect.

I dunno . . .  this reads like they were hoping to cover it up and not own up to it.  They only 'fessed up when their fix was poor.  I can understand how they'd have wanted to repair it quietly and avoid the drama, but in the end they got caught in sloppy work covering up the damage from sloppy driving.  I'd be pointing that out to them in a non-combative manner and be insisting on a "whatever it takes" approach to making it right.

Waaaaay back in the day I was wrenching in a small independent foreign car shop.  We got the crap cars nobody else in town wanted to fix, and a LOT of multi-carb British stuff.  This was when things like the Austin Healy 2000 and MGA's had descended into the junk realm and not re-emerged as collectibles.  We got an old 6v VW beetle on the rack one day for brake work.  The new mechanic on staff got the wheels off and raised the car on the rack.  He'd left the passenger door open.  The door caught up in the hose reel framework in the ceiling.  I noticed the collision getting ready to happen as soon as the car started upward -- we had signs all over the place warning to NEVER lift a car with the doors or lids open, and to check the landing area before lowering it.  Another directly behind the controls asked "ARE THE DOORS CLOSED?"  I started running over to the piston controls while hollering to the mechanic to reverse the lift.  By the time he'd caught on and pushed the lever the other way, the lift piston was charged and headed upward faster than he could dump air.

The door caught the hose reels and the window broke in a shower of glass as the top collapsed.  The car tipped to the right as the lift continued upward, levering it off the chocks.  I hauled the mechanic clear as it came down hard on its side from 5 feet up, landing on his rollaround before continuing to the deck.  It crushed the door , blew out the rest of the windows, and spilled fluids and tools all over the floor.  The shop owner, who also ran the parts counter, came charging back, understandably aghast.  His first reaction (after finding us unharmed and delivering a few choice words to the mechanic and me) was that "This isn't too bad -- we can unwrinkled it, replace the door and windows, and she'll never know. .  . ." 

I disagreed.  It was crushed like an egg dropped from that height.  We were going to be buying her a replacement.  He insisted that we could fix it completely and had us strip parts off of another junk car (different color fade) in back to fix this one.  While we were beating the body back into shape enough to make the windows fit, the owner came in to pick it up.  When he told her it wasn't ready, she helped herself to the shop area to find out why.  Then she sued the owner for a replacement, and got a much nicer, newer beetle in the settlement.  The judge said he was allowing the upgrade based on the bad faith showed by trying to cover up the damage.  He also said the owner couldn't fire the mechanic for the mistake or dock him for the damages.  It was a nightmare at every level.  I wasn't afraid to own my mistakes before, but that incident taught me why I needed to always be straight-up with a customer, no matter how embarrassing or expensive. 

[LowRyter]

like everyone else said.  Find a reputable body shop.  There must be several shops but perhaps not the majority of shops.

I'd look for shops that are repairing high end or custom vehicles. 

[John A]

I dunno . . .  this reads like they were hoping to cover it up and not own up to it.  They only 'fessed up when their fix was poor.  I can understand how they'd have wanted to repair it quietly and avoid the drama, but in the end they got caught in sloppy work covering up the damage from sloppy driving.  I'd be pointing that out to them in a non-combative manner and be insisting on a "whatever it takes" approach to making it right.

I agree. on the plus side, at least they did own up to it. I had a brand new truck having a hitch put on and they put a big scratch in the tailgate. they denied doing it and kept denying it. a real disappointment, especially when as an aviation mechanic the rule was absolute honesty. It only cost me a couple hundred to get it professionally repaired but the hard feeling of distrust probably will not go away. I was at a trade show where they had a booth set up a month ago. I would have been very interested in their products and services and could have spent a group of money but I wouldn't walk the ten feet over to look at their stuff. I would be insisting on a proper repair, after a year or more the mismatch will only be more evident.

[LeRoy]

You said that you're insured by Hagerty. Based on my experience, that's the best news in the whole episode. Not that you want to have your insurance pay for the repairs, but it gives you a solid backup plan if things get litigious. I'd suggest letting them know what has happened. They may very well know of a shop that specializes in the color-matching you need (or use one of the sources identified by others in this thread). Then I'd work constructively with the shop that caused the damage with the objective of having it fixed at a first-class body/paint shop, at their expense.

As to the degree of damage covered up (in more ways than one) by the first repair attempt, you really need an assessment of what's going on under the paint. You need to know what it's hiding. I don't know if the Alfa has steel panels in the area of the repair. If so, you can use a magnetic paint thickness tester to determine if the repair is simply paint or if there is a layer of filler underneath. If it's a more significant repair than simply a touch-up, I'd insist that the shop that carries out the final work be authorized to take it all down to metal and do it right. This would, of course, be at the expense of the offending party: the repair shop that, as RK points out, showed bad faith by not contacting you immediately and taking full responsibility the first time around.

[Devildog]

Let us know the end result. Hagerty could choose to have the work done and fight with the shop's insurance company for payment.
My bikes are all insured with Hagerty, I hope they fight for you.

[Tom]

Start a paper trail.  Notify them in writing.  Ask them for a repair plan with compensation for comparable transportation, wages from work.  Everything to make you "whole".  Give them a deadline.  Ask for an answer in writing.  If they don't pursue a small claims for damages.  Ask for all of that then pull the trigger on it.  Let the shop know that you want to have it fixed right.  Consider your time for trips for estimates and the time involved from when you were suppose to get your car back.  A lawsuit will get their attention.  "Compensatory damage claim to make you whole."  Max total you can go for is $3500.  I'm sure if they paint can't be matched, it'll cover a repaint of the whole car.  Looks like $52 to file.  You can also ask for the cost of the lawsuit.  Mention it your letter that it will cost less to settle before going to court to answer a small claims complaint.

http://justicecourts.maricopa.gov/CaseTypes/smallclaims.aspx 

[Mayakovski]

Cannot see any difference.  Seriously, just get over it.  It's just paint, and it's just a car.

[Devildog]

No, it's more than a car, it's an Alfa.

[Turin]

It's an Alfa, but it wasn't a very expensive one. Actually found it on this forum 11 years ago and bought it for $1,500.00 ( cheapskate = Guzzi content ).

[twowings]

Alfas are people, too!

[Devildog]

It's an Alfa, but it wasn't a very expensive one. Actually found it on this forum 11 years ago and bought it for $1,500.00 ( cheapskate = Guzzi content ).

Good investment, it is a lot more valuable now. I have had 3 Alfas, each one had lots of $ spent on repairs and sold for less than I bought them for. Good luck.