Next Steps? detail shop ruined my car

[Araaadi]

Need some advise on how to proceed.

In Sept 2023, I took my 2018 Raptor to a pretty well known body shop in Vancouver to get detailed, it was a stage 1 detail for $800. I picked up my truck and they showed me that the fenders and grille had the paint pulled off by their masking tape. They stated that the fenders are matte metallic and they don't polish it, they just wash it and tape if off and focus on the painted surfaces. I brought the truck back to them for a day, to see if they can fix it with detailing, but they were unable to. They offered to wrap it in a matching colour or take it to a body shop to get it refinished.

In November, I dropped off the truck a reputable body shop that they chose and they said they will paint it and have it done in a couple days. I picked it up November 8 and it looked a little off but it was pretty gloomy out so I waited for daylight to check it out. Paint did not match, the grille, and fenders were super light and did not match the front and rear bumper. I called the detail shop and explained how it didnt match and how I was not happy with the work and wanted it redone.

I brought the truck out to the detail shop, they examined it and agreed it did not match, they wanted to just paint the front and rear bumper to match the new colour. I disagreed because the truck is black and the new lighter colour did not look as good as the original paint. We agreed to allow the body shop to repaint the flares and try to match it again. We set up another appointment for December 20-29 and I had to get my own rental car and the detail shop would reimburse me. On Dec 28, the body shop called me and said the car is done, so I decided to go take a look before I return the rental car and to make sure it all matched.

They redid the fenders and grille, and now the small panel on rear quarter panel, and the paint was a better colour, but still did not match the front and rear bumper. I told him to paint the front and rear bumper with the new paint code but they said they cannot guarantee it would match. I told them to just body match all the parts since they did guarantee that they can match it to all black. I was told it would be done for Jan 3, 2024. Today I called the body shop to verify its completion so I can return the rental car and uber to the shop. They didnt call back, but the detail shop owner sent me an email to talk.

Essentially he said, he went to the body shop and saw the truck and in his opinion, it matches close enough. He said he was out of money and did not want to pay $2100 to match the bumpers, and was not going to pay $6000 to paint everything all black. He stated that he did not know that the truck was previously refinished and that the paint would pull and hes stuck with a $6000-$7000 bill already to get it to the point it is now. He suggested that I paid out of my pocket to match the bumpers, to which I refused. He believes I am just being picky and its a 5 year old car and 130,000 kms and it matches close enough.

He suggested using my own insurance to cover the claim. He said he would call the shop to see what they can proceed with whether it be hit and run or vandalism, which suspects me to believe he wants me to lie to ICBC about the origin of the damage. I am not going to lie to ICBC, the only person at fault is the detail shop. Am I able to make a claim against the detail shop for messing up the paint through ICBC? Or do I need a lawyer? I just want this fixed without paying out of my pocket and I am not sure how to proceed.


Paint damage



First Repaint and comparing to neighbour’s raptor





How it looks after second repaint

[68style]

You don't need forum advice, you need legal advice by the sounds of it.

[Badhobz]

so its black, it has 5 years of wear and 130,000kms.

Unless you can show pictures, id probably side with the bodyshop on this one. 5 years of UV fading the clearcoat and black paint will make it pretty damn hard to match it 100%
It'll always look a bit off in certain lighting.

Good thing its a truck and people expect some wear and tear on it. Its not an exotic show car. By the time you are done with the legal fees, you won't see much remuneration in small claims court.

[Hondaracer]

I dunno.. the second repaint looks acceptable from the pictures.

I think it’s going to come down to how far do you want to take this and how much stress do you want to go through

[Badhobz]

looks fine to me, but photos are deceptive. Either way, you're gonna spend some real money pushing this through the court system and afterward you're not going to get much out of it.

just give the guy a bad google review and move on.

[Gerbs]

Looks the same to me

[dark0821]

That's tough, $800 is a decent chunk of change for detail. So I know what you mean, in the consumer perspective, I paid a decent amount and didn't "cheap out" so I expect a good result.

But also, to the shop owner "yes, it is just the cost of doing business". I doubt he lost "thousands of dollars". But from the sounds of it, the owner did put some effort into "making it right". He is defn losing money, but just by how much.

IMHO, the bodyshop dropped the ball. If they were paid well by the detail shop, then the detail shop should expect a quality paint job to come out of it.

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I guess knowing who to blame isn't solving the issue.

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As mentioned above, from the photos, the 2nd set of redo seems decent enough, but I assume it is more obvious in real life.

It is your car (so our opinion doesnt matter), in the end what matters is if it is up to your standards which I assume it is not.

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I would communicate to the detail owner to get his money back from the body shop. Then get the detail owner to pay $6,000 to a second bodyshop that can stand behind their work.

I dunno man, 4 fenders + 2 bumpers should not be a $6,000 paint job.

If the owner is not down about that, "vandalism non-collision claim" may be the only way to go. I know it suxx, as it will show on your car fax, but it doesn't hurt your premiums, get him to pay your deductable + 2 grand of accelerated depreiciation and be done with it.

Trust me the detail owner wants to get out of this shit as much as you do. If he is decent, he would get the bodyshop to cover the " deductable + 2 grand of accelerated depreiciation" Because it was on them, they promised the detail owner something that probably can't be done. They over promised and under delivered.

If the bodyshop did get paid $6,000 for the job, coughing up $3,000 should still make it even for the bodyshop, they just don't profit, that's all.

Hoping you didnt burn the bridge with the detail owner already. Communicate with him, let him know that you and him are on the same side, have the bodyshop to either
A) fix their shit. Even if it is "impossible" to match. They agreed to the "impossible" now they have to deal with it by repainting the bumpers
B) pay your deductable + accelerated depreiciation

[JDMDreams]

Was it done by an icbc shop? I guess you won't have that workmanship guarantee since it wasn't done through icbc. But I've had old cars repainted and not as mismatched as this.

[twitchyzero]

'you're just being picky' from a shop that took 800$ for detailing doesn't sound great

if it's truly a $6k job to do grille and fenders then it better be damn perfect

BUT it's already been painted before detail? that can be why matching is difficult

hindsight is 20:20 the paint damage looked so minimal, i would've taken 1-2k and left it alone esp if it's already not original

[68style]

Can someone help point out where the difference is in the after pics? I am not seeing it at least not on my phone screen lol

[MarkyMark]

Originally Posted by Araaadi

He stated that he did not know that the truck was previously refinished and that the paint would pull and hes stuck with a $6000-$7000 bill already to get it to the point it is now..

Can you expand on this? Were these fender flares repainted already in the past? It sounds like if they were done previously already they did a pretty shitty job if painters tape rips the paint off the vehicle.

[Araaadi]

Originally Posted by 68style

Can someone help point out where the difference is in the after pics? I am not seeing it at least not on my phone screen lol

From fender flare to the front bumper. Flare is more grey and the front bumper has a browner look to it.

Originally Posted by MarkyMark

Can you expand on this? Were these fender flares repainted already in the past? It sounds like if they were done previously already they did a pretty shitty job if painters tape rips the paint off the vehicle.

This is what they’re saying caused the damage, I bought the truck second hand with no claims on it but they’re saying the only reason it peeled was due to repaint. It previously all matched though.


Update: I opened a claimed with ICBC but after I told the detail shop, they said I was lucky and the bodyshop will repaint the bumpers for free.

[ilvtofu]

Originally Posted by Araaadi

This is what they’re saying caused the damage, I bought the truck second hand with no claims on it but they’re saying the only reason it peeled was due to repaint. It previously all matched though.

I would agree with the detail shop's sentiment. There's no way masking tape would take off the factory paint, heck even if they put packaging tape on it, it shouldn't come off from a factory piece. To play devil's advocate, they needed to mask to do their job, I can't call them negligent for not knowing the paint sucks and has poor adhesion. There's no real way to test that without actually sticking something on there and seeing if it comes off, at which point it's too late? Despite this they still took responsibility when really it's very hard to blame them

Just unlucky that whoever painted it before did a great job hiding the repair

[westopher]

Yeah as much as I'd be livid when that happened, with what they've done to try and rectify it, the anger should really only lie with the previous owner for lick and stick before they sold it to you, and the new body shop for just being not very good at their jobs.
The person who got fucked the most in this situation might have actually been the detailer to be honest.