# Insurance Repair, Disagreement



## ScuffsNScrapes (Apr 23, 2009)

Well after a small bump being repaired I went to pick my car up this evening.

Well I'll let you see what I mean first (iPhone 4 pictures dont do it justice)





































Now at current they have taken payment (so I could have the car, I need it) but I have not signed for anything due to the fact I disagree with the quality of their work.

The paint is pitted (excuse: thats because we just sprayed the bumper)

The colour is way off (excuse: it is painting plastic not metal)

Then he had the cheek to say "it matches the colour of the grill"

I retort "because its halfords paint and i did it, I am not the professional"

Now what rights have I got in this instance?


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Ring your Brokers/Insurers and explain that you are not at all happy with the repair carried out (i presume it was via their approved repairer network?).

In the first instance, they should give the bodyshop the opportunity to rectify the work.

They should then hopefully arrange with the garage for it to be sorted.


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## redmen78 (Mar 9, 2011)

The bumper looks transparent to me 
We usually blend the wings on most Mazda bumpers we paint


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## JonD (Aug 2, 2010)

I would say go back to your insurance company first. 

I had a simlar thing a few years ago, the garage delivered the car to my house, I told them to take it back as I wouldn't accept it. To be fair it was only a driver who dropped it off but he duly too it back, about an hour later I received a call from the insurance company wanting to make arragements to collect the hire car, I told them there not having it until my car is return with the repair completed to a satisfactory standard. Next day the garage owner called me, I talked him though the problems and he fully agreed it wasn't right. A few days later it was re-delivered and to a standard I was happy with.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

redmen78 said:


> The bumper looks transparent to me
> We usually blend the wings on most Mazda bumpers we paint


I know nothing about painting and accept in most cases the bumpers are a shade or two out.

However I'd never want to have the wings blended in to suit the bumper.

Looking at the pics above especially highlighted in the 3rd picture, the bumper is a mile out.

OP, couldn't you get a deal to get the grill done at the same time?


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## Exotica (Feb 27, 2006)

That's terrible. I saw a programme on C4 about insurance companies strangling the bodyshops regarding putting profit 1st and workmanship way down the list.
Some repairs put cost over safety too .


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## Porkypig (Jun 20, 2012)

Thats a mile and a sh!te out dude, as others have said go to your insurance company and tell them that it is wrong and demand it is done again, at another bodyshop if necessary but it needs doing right. 

I would also tell the bodyshop that you have raised it as a complaint to your insurer, they will most likly do alot of work for them and want to keep them sweet as a client.


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## Andyb0127 (Jan 16, 2011)

Reason for pitted paint could be its not been prepped properly, if it was new the factory primer they come is sometimes not that good, and would require flatting and not just running over it with a red scotchbrite, as how the primer is applied will affect the final paint finish.
Paint colour could be the colour is single shade, even if it is they should of done spray out card to check the colour match. But even if there were other variants of the shade which should of been checked. Sometimes plastics do look slightly off colour, but some plastics can hold static which makes the metallic sit different, we use an anti static gun on our bumpers prior to painting and never suffer any problems with colour matching, unless its a colour we know that needs to be blended. 
I wouldn't sign anything until your happy with it, speak to the bodyshop and say you want it put right a d painted the right colour as your not excepting it the way it is. If you have a problem with them doing it again, then contact your insurance company and say you want an independent accessor to look at it as your not happy with an wont except the work they have done and want it putting right.


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## ScuffsNScrapes (Apr 23, 2009)

Kerr said:


> However I'd never want to have the wings blended in to suit the bumper.


Yes as well as the bonnet



Kerr said:


> OP, couldn't you get a deal to get the grill done at the same time?


I did ask, but they didnt



JonD said:


> I would say go back to your insurance company first.


Think I'll be ringing them first thing in the morning



Andyb0127 said:


> Reason for pitted paint could be its not been prepped properly....
> 
> ....If you have a problem with them doing it again, then contact your insurance company and say you want an independent accessor to look at it as your not happy with an wont except the work they have done and want it putting right.


I knew it hadnt and thus why it looked like my DIY grill

I will be going that far if it means it looks right.

I told them it would've been cheaper to get a self painted bumper from Mazda at £600 complete


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## redmen78 (Mar 9, 2011)

Most Mazda bumpers come from factory in a white primer(and usually full of dirt so a red scotch wouldn't do the job) therefore that colour blue would require a colour build primer 
That's possibly why it's off colour due to not enough base coat on. Can't tell from the pictures whether its a three stage pearl as a lot of the new mazdas are which also goes along to colour matching because one painter will put the colour on different to another painter 
But like you say it is miles off colour and I wouldn't accept my bumpers even being a shade or two off colour.them saying its because its plastic is rubbish is the back bumper off colour ??


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## Rob_Quads (Jul 17, 2006)

Yup thats not good enough. As Redmen says the bumpers do come preprimed from Mazda as we had the same problems with my wifes 3 when it was fixed. Their excuse was "we just painted it, it was already primed" so which I told them very clearly that I did not care whether it came primed or not it needs to be prepped properly. It went back and was then prepped and re-srpayed.

If you have any other photos of the car use them to prove that its possible that the colour is not a mile off. It probably will be a slight shade off (we went into the local dealer to check and virtually every factory 3 was like this) but its only 'just' out not that many shades difference.


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

The variant of the colour is wrong and it needs respraying in the correct variant ... End of!!!
Why when this is the problem do people suggest 'it needs to blending into the wings'?
So then you blend into the wings - which will admittedly make the transition less noticeable - but now the colour from the front to back of the vehicle will different, which if another repair ever needs to to carried out (heaven forbid!) just compounds the problem!
Surely it's better (and simpler) to get a bumper to match the car using the correct variant - rather than match the car to a bumper using a wrong variant .....?


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## xJay1337 (Jul 20, 2012)

_ To add a spanner to the works RE the other bumper discussion that was going on, my £100 "cheap and crap" paintjob on my bumper matches very well and it's reflex silver which is arguably the hardest colour to match_

On topic: I think you are right bud, it's miles out!!! Sounds like the bodyshop were trying to fob you off with excuses 
I'm sure it'll get sorted out although probably a little more stress for you.. I didn't catch what bodyshop it was done at but if they are of questionable quality/trust/attitude then you are within your rights to get it done at a garage of your choice providing you make clear with the insurance company that you are in no-way happy with the job performed.

I'd also push for a hire car while it's getting done..


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## Mirror Finish Details (Aug 21, 2008)

I must be blind as a bat as I cant see the difference..


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## CraigQQ (Jan 20, 2011)

Mirror Finish Details said:


> I must be blind as a bat as I cant see the difference..


bumper is a good deal darker blue than the wings and bonnet..

it's a pretty good match for the halfords painted grille though... maybe they buy their paint from halfords!


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## redmen78 (Mar 9, 2011)

Obviously don't blend that colour into the wings !!! 
If its a big bodyshop then they might have a colour brick which we use all the time but even then the colour is not guaranteed to be 100% and even the paint reps that come out will recommend blending Adjacent panels. 
But as I said in an early post the bumper look transparent so first thing would be to check the original chip to the bumper if it doesn't match then its either a bum mix or the bumper is transparent.
It's obviously not right so dig your heels in and demand is put right


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## rf860 (Jul 24, 2011)

xJay1337 said:


> _ To add a spanner to the works RE the other bumper discussion that was going on, my £100 "cheap and crap" paintjob on my bumper matches very well and it's reflex silver which is arguably the hardest colour to match_
> 
> On topic: I think you are right bud, it's miles out!!! Sounds like the bodyshop were trying to fob you off with excuses
> I'm sure it'll get sorted out although probably a little more stress for you.. I didn't catch what bodyshop it was done at but if they are of questionable quality/trust/attitude then you are within your rights to get it done at a garage of your choice providing you make clear with the insurance company that you are in no-way happy with the job performed.
> ...


Jay, nobody called your bumper job "cheap and crap" - from what I've seen everyone just thought it was a bit too cheap for quality you claim to have been produced on it.

Also, i remember when you first posted a thread about your new bumper going on, the pics showed the silver to be quite a different shade of silver and i'm sure somebody commented on the fact that it was different.

Now obviously, me nor any of the people that commented on your bumper has seen it in real life, so it may well be a great colour match and good finish. Don't take what we say to heart!

EDIT: OP, if this is an insurance job, i'd go back to the bodyshop themselves first with the view that you will be complaining to the insurer if they don't sort it. The bodyshop will be on a contract with the insurer and will do anything to keep it, so the last thing they want is a complaint going in about them. This worked in my experience.


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

rf860 said:


> Jay, nobody called your bumper job "cheap and crap" - from what I've seen everyone just thought it was a bit too cheap for quality you claim to have been produced on it.
> 
> Also, i remember when you first posted a thread about your new bumper going on, the pics showed the silver to be quite a different shade of silver and i'm sure somebody commented on the fact that it was different.
> 
> Now obviously, me nor any of the people that commented on your bumper has seen it in real life, so it may well be a great colour match and good finish. Don't take what we say to heart!


Yep :thumb:


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

rf860 said:


> Jay, nobody called your bumper job "cheap and crap" - from what I've seen everyone just thought it was a bit too cheap for quality you claim to have been produced on it.
> 
> Also, i remember when you first posted a thread about your new bumper going on, the pics showed the silver to be quite a different shade of silver and i'm sure somebody commented on the fact that it was different.
> 
> ...


It depends what you call a good colour match. Different lights show off the colour issue.

Knowing little about paint it always seems red and silver paint show the defects in unnatural light.

I do remember the thread you were talking about. xJay's car

Darker here










and lighter here










Silver is hard to match and I think most people accept it will be slightly out. That is out quite a bit too in both pictures although completely different silvers. Certainly not the colour match as claimed above.


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## xJay1337 (Jul 20, 2012)

Yes, in certain lights it can appear different. But as can any car colour. (Especially under night time with flashes from quality photography )

Likewise there are pictures of it being a pretty perfect colour match.. for example here

Even the standard, original bumper looked out (much worse in fact) - See below.










I think the point is (and I would like to drag this back to being sort of on topic) that this mateys Mazda is a completely different colour as opposed to the NORMAL deviations you can get with plastic vs metal body panels and I would not accept that personally.


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## horico (Jul 17, 2010)

I had some work done recently following someone scraping my car and I noticed the poor work immediately and they agreed to re-book it in to sort. Problem is, they just made things worse and after the 4th attempt it was worse than ever.

They didn't agree with me so an engineer was called out to assess the work done. He agreed with me about every single issue and his (completely independant) report reflected that. 

I've now had a quote from BMW themselves to sort out the mess (which came to a staggering £2500!!) and the original bodyshop will pay.

All work should be guaranteed so if it's not right, an opportunity to make good should be allowed on clear understanding of what happens if this is still not right.

Matt


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

xJay1337 said:


> Yes, in certain lights it can appear different. But as can any car colour. (Especially under night time with flashes from quality photography )
> 
> Likewise there are pictures of it being a pretty perfect colour match.. for example here
> 
> ...


There isn't any argument that bumpers are often out.

Audi seem to be the worst offenders.

We all agree that the Mazda is far too dark.


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## ScuffsNScrapes (Apr 23, 2009)

Well I phoned Churchill, she said she has recorded it on the system, but I need to give the bodyshop time to rectify it first.

cheers for all suggestions and proof that I am not seeing things


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## ScuffsNScrapes (Apr 23, 2009)

UPDATE: It is going in tomorrow, get this. He is going to sort the problem in........

............1 DAY!

Me thinks I wont be happy yet again and will be ringing churchill to take it to Mazda direct


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## robdcfc (Sep 17, 2012)

ScuffsNScrapes said:


> UPDATE: It is going in tomorrow, get this. He is going to sort the problem in........
> 
> ............1 DAY!
> 
> Me thinks I wont be happy yet again and will be ringing churchill to take it to Mazda direct


1 day should be more than enough to sort it, only takes 20 mins to take the bumper off, 20 mins to prep the bumper(they'll only scotch the lacquer up) 20-30 mins to recolour and lacquer, 30 mins bake, 20 mins to polish it and 30 mins to refit.

That's 2 1/2 hours solid work but it will take the day with other bits and bobs.

What makes you think Mazda will be perfect? Most independents will do a better job as they WANT your repeat custom.

Rob


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

As above.
Remove bumper, then there's minimal prep to do, re-colour, lacquer, bake and refit :thumb:


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## xJay1337 (Jul 20, 2012)

I got my grill smoothed and sprayed by a local company; I went to collect it today and my guy said he wasn't happy with me taking it, there is one small, tiny bubble where they had filled in the number plate holes and painted; he's going to sort that for me and again, he said it will be sorted tomorrow after work; so again 1 day.

Pretty normal mate [y]

To be fair, these days you can do a lot more than you think in terms of paint haha.


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

Any updates?


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