How picky should I be?

Long story short, after over 3 weeks in the body shop I have my truck back. They replaced the roof, straightened out the cab and bed, and replaced the back window (all under an insurance claim). I bought my truck used so it wasn't perfect, it had blemishes. I don't know if my mind is messing with me or not, but my interior seems so dirty and off. The headliner looks beat up and has greasy looking marks all around it. I don't have pictures of it before, and I personally haven't seen my truck in over a month. I don't know if I have a case to go back and be picky with the body shop. Also, the paint job isn't the greatest I've ever seen but they promised to buff it all out after it hardens for a month. Have any of you had an experience like this before?

Can you get some pictures of the finish? Is this a single stage paint or did they spray a layer of clear coat. Look at clear coat from different angles in the sun. Look for swirls and marring. Orange peel may be present as well. Being that an insurance claim is paying for the respray, you may not get the quality you are expecting. Find a experienced Detailer in your area and ask if he or she will take a look at your vehicle

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A good body shop should be able to get the paint perfect. Mine was minor, but last week I had the Ford dealer near our house fix a dent a forklift driver at Menards put in the back corner of my bedside. They pulled the dent, blended the paint, and clear coated the bedside. Looks absolutely perfect. Can't tell anything was done to it at all. This was Granite Crystal with the metallic in it.

From personal experience with body shops, you're never going to be 100% satisfied with the results. It is up to you to decide what is acceptable and what is not. Basically, you will find flaws/defects with any body shop's work. However, you have to ask yourself, "Is it worth taking back and doing again, or just deal with it?"

Almost every time I've dropped a vehicle off for work, I get it back and find things that need improving or redoing. The problem is, you have to take it back and leave it with them again. Usually, when you pick your vehicle up from a redo, you will find other things that need improving. You just have to ask yourself if you're willing to live with it, or force them to keep redoing it?

As for allowing the clearcoat 1 month to harden before they buff it? They are full of ****. They can do it the same day. My guess is that they are hoping after a month, you will forget about it, or decide to live with it. I once picked up my wife's Jeep from having the hood replaced and sprayed. When I picked it up, the clearcoat was horrible. Basically the tech sprayed it and called it good. He never gave it a final sand or buff. It had the worst orange peel I have ever seen. The manager of the shop was delivering the vehicle to me. He said, "Looks good as new, right?" I said, "No, it looks terrible. That's the worst orange peel I've ever seen. You're going to have to do something about it before I accept it." He tried to tell me, "Well, we can try sanding a little more, but we run the risk of burning through the clearcoat." I told him I didn't care, but it needed to be fixed. He sulked, but agreed, and said they would have it ready later that evening. When I went to pick it up, it looked perfect. All they needed to do was sand it and buff it out.

Most shops will try to do the quickest work with the least effort. They expect that most customers will just accept the job and not say anything, and most customers do. Bottom line is, it's hard to find a shop that does quality work. Even when you do find a shop that does quality work, their best work will never be as good as the factory job.

After them having my truck for so long, I don't want to give it back to them. What about the interior? Do I have any ground to say the headliner doesn't look as nice as before? I don't have an exact recollection of it but I don't remember frayed edges and stains all over it. I don't need perfect, my truck wasn't perfect before. I definitely don't want to be annoyed and not happy with my truck when I get in it though.

Talk to your insurance company about what to do.

I have a buddy that went through a lot with a boy shop after a hit and run like they tried 3 times to fix it and all times gave sh*tty work. he talked to his insurance brought it to another body shop and had them re-do the first shops work and the first shop had to pay the second shop for the work.

Ins or not, the shop was paid for their work. I wouldn't accept sub standard work.

I called my claims department and they said to give the shop a chance to correct things, otherwise another shop will fix it and the insurance company will seek reimbursement from the first shop. I keep finding little things every time I look. There are little clear dots splattered all across the hood and front quarter panel which I'm assuming are clear coat splatters. I'm going to take it back and show them the things I've been finding and give them a shot to make it right, even though I'd rather not let this place touch my truck.

Good deal. Stick to your guns. I work in insurance and that has nothing to do with it. The work should be done correctly or don't accept it. If this shop is a DRP for the insurance company, they should stand behind the work.

The downside to all this is that you are going to take it back to the shop that screwed it up in the first place. I think I would have a talk with the owner or shop foreman and show them the substandard work and ask them if they would accept it if it was done to their vehicle. Maybe it's not the norm for that shop or maybe the painter had a bad day, but there really is no excuse to letting work leave a shop like that. Hopefully they will make it right, but I think I would watch them every step of the way, if at all possible. If the shop does a lot of work for that particular insurance company, your complaint may, if not taken care of properly, reduce the number of referrals they get from the insurance company, so they may have a vested interest in taking care of your problem.
Jay

So here's the real kick in the balls, I ran my truck through the wash to get all the dust off so I could take it by the body shop. I looked back to see water pouring into the corners of the cab dripping down on the seats. Dropping the truck off tomorrow morning to give them a shot at fixing their screw-ups.

^^^, Man I am really sorry to read this, and hope that all turns out well.


F.O.F

SilverRam11 said:

So here's the real kick in the balls, I ran my truck through the wash to get all the dust off so I could take it by the body shop. I looked back to see water pouring into the corners of the cab dripping down on the seats. Dropping the truck off tomorrow morning to give them a shot at fixing their screw-ups.

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Jesus, what else did they do wrong that you haven't discovered yet??!

Sir John said:

Jesus, what else did they do wrong that you haven't discovered yet??!

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My thoughts exactly. Did I mention the paint doesn't match? I've noticed it more after a few days. I will give them a shot before I tell the insurance company that I want it fixed by someone else.

With the level of shotty work, I would document everything in photos if you have not already, take that to your insurance and say it needs to go to another shop for inspection and redo work as required, and let the insurance deal with the financials of the matter and go after the shop for their crappy work

R/T_Fire said:

With the level of shotty work, I would document everything in photos if you have not already, take that to your insurance and say it needs to go to another shop for inspection and redo work as required, and let the insurance deal with the financials of the matter and go after the shop for their crappy work

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I have been taking pictures of everything. I have already talked to my claims department and was instructed to give the repair shop a chance to fix it. I have expressed my displeasure to the repair shop and now they have the opportunity to rise to the occasion and make me a happy customer. If they screw up again it will go to another shop.

Dropped my truck off last Thursday morning and I've been driving a lame mini van rental ever since. I want my truck back. Here's a sick joke the universe played on me:

The reason my truck had to be fixed was because my dad had his first senior moment and accidentally drove his four wheeler into the back of the cab of my truck. My dad is feeling guilty and offered to throw in some money to ditch my truck and get something newer. I found a certified used 1500 Big Horn for about $23k and went to check it out. Guess what I found......someone had clearly driven a four wheeler into the cab (I now know exactly what that looks like). The bed was dented forward and the cab dented in. Well played universe, well played.

Hahahah, there must be an evil 4 wheeler out there, that has your name. It's watching your every move and wrecking anything you come near.

SilverRam11 said:

My thoughts exactly. Did I mention the paint doesn't match? I've noticed it more after a few days. I will give them a shot before I tell the insurance company that I want it fixed by someone else.

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I'm hoping that you got the shop referral from your insurer. If not, good luck getting them to pay a second time to fix it.
I hope it works out for you.

GRB60 said:

I'm hoping that you got the shop referral from your insurer. If not, good luck getting them to pay a second time to fix it.
I hope it works out for you.

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This was an approved shop from the insurance company. The repairs are 100% warrantied. Not only am I not paying for anything, the shop is paying for my rental and will be on the hook for reimbursement if they don't fix it right and I take it somewhere else. This is an approved shop doing insurance work, they better get it right.