JoeFromPA Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Hey all, Picked up the car today. If you need background, there's a recent thread giving info on that. My LGT had $3200 worth of dents and dings from hail damage. I dropped the car off a week ago a PDR place that came recommended as a dealership special (works at local mercedes/bmw dealerships among many others) and insurance special. Heard no bad things about it, and had a nice "started local and grew into several locations" background. Picking up the car today was a pristine example of how a car should not be delivered to a customer. It was far from pristine, and unfortunately many of my fears were justified. First, the paint is flawless as far as I can tell. No dings and dents....but here are the problems, and there are/were some serious ones: 1. Most minor - The interior of the car was filthy. There were grimy hand/finger prints over the interior headliner (tan headliner) and sun visors. The leather has grime on it all over. Also, there's alot of nice new creases in the leather where people put alot of weight against it in new and unusual angles. 2. Less minor - The driver's seat now squeaks, probably from guys using it as a trampoline for manuevering. The trunk also squeaks now, and I have no idea how that happened since they didn't take the trunk off. I will most likely have Subaru fix the driver's seat under warranty, since it occasionally elicited a small squeak before which has now before worse. 3. Annoying - The sunroof shade no longer moves smoothly into place. It's overly stiff and hits the lip of the front of the sunroof seal before sliding into it's final destination. 4. Pissing me off - Lots of trim pieces were not attached correctly or had complete seperation between the trim and the seal that previously was firmly together. 5. Getting worse - The driver's side seatbelt was essentially useless. It took tremendous effort for me to pull it out, it wouldn't adjust up and down, and it no longer retracted. 6. Worst of all - It appears that the VERY top portion of my driver's door sheetmetal is bent. I have no other way to describe it. The crease by the door handle lines up perfectly with the passenger door, but as the edge of the door raises to the window, it comes out 1/4" inch from the join-line. The black trim on the base of the window follows this, and highlights the fact that the doors do not meet smoothly at this juncture. Not only does this look like the door was bent, but it creates some windnoise. My best guess is that in the process of pulling out a dent on this door, they very slightly bent the metal outwards while maintaining the crease line. They fixed the headliner after having me drive to another location to get it cleaned . They fixed the seatbelt as well. They fixed numerous trim pieces, though some are said to be fixed but are quite flimsy in feeling now.... The bent door panel was not spotted at the time, but I'll be reporting it first thing in the morning. I'm not sure if it's worth telling them about the sunroof shade since it still functions fine. And we'll just detail the interior of the car ourselves. Seriously, this wasn't a F'ing $400 job. I'm dropping $3200 at this place and they had more time than they asked for, and I pick it up filthy and with all that stuff wrong. I have not paid yet, so I still have some good leverage. I'm just so royally pissed that this has to be so much of a bigger headache. I pray to God that this place can fix the door panel quickly and easily. A question to ya'll: some people mentioned loss of resale. This was an insurance claim, but I thought (hoped) that dents/dings would not affect resale. If this is fixed up right, will it/should it? If so, am I not entitled to restitution for that loss from my insurance company? Thanks and, by the way, this is Car-ISMA located in West Chester/Frazer PA. The owner, Mike, was not there when the job was done/presented to me. He heard my complaints and had me drive to what he was doing. He dropped his current job to fix the seatbelt and headliner and trim, but he offered no restitution or lowered cost and wasn't much of a "call me if you notice anything else" type of guy. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laz Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Wow that sucks. How many ding/dents did you have that they needed a week to get them out? I see many dent guys at work in my daily goings and I can tell you that some are better than other, even in the big franchised chains. A good dent guy can take out 10 to 15 dings in about two hours with minimal panel removals. Also look for newly drilled holes in your doors seams plugged with rubber plugs. GL X --- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator GT Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 ugh, i feel faint... that sucks! "If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed." - T. Jefferson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbrjason Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 ^+1.. I can't stand other people messing with my car. People have little to no respect for other peoples property. I have no valuable input but wish you the best of luck getting everything righted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katalyst Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 i mean overall the shop seems to know what they're doing but it has me feeling like they had your car sitting there for several days with nothing being done to it until the deadline was approaching, at which point they asked for extra time and rushed it i mean come on, fingerprints and grime on the interior? and they had the car for that long? it wouldn't have taken more than 10 mins to wipe it all down, not necessarily detail it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Car had somewhere around 250 dings/dents in it, so yes they did a great job on the paint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Talked to the owner of the shop this morning. Told him that we noticed the door was no longer flush at the top but was flush at the crease (about 6" apart) representing that the sheetmetal is bending outwards. he said it was probably a grommet or weatherstripping that wasn't lined up properly and is causing the door to not seal right, also creating the windnoise. Me "Ok, you are the expert. To my eye, it looks like the sheetmetal is bending outwards 1/4"" Him "Nothing we would have done could have caused that, so it was probably like that" I didn't get into it on the phone, because he needs to fix it and I'm not paying until it's fixed. But basically I've spent about 30 hours hand-detailing this car over the past year and half. My wife and I are OCD about her car. We would've noticed this blatant lack of the door lining up. Hell, when I bought the car I took 30 minutes to examine the lines and never would've taken delivery like this. I'll give him a chance to fix it via re-grommetry or weatherstripping. If not, I'm going to have to somehow threaten payment Headaches that should never happen. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnstein69 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 wow Joe.. I feel bad for your bad experience with these guys. That is horrible, one, to have to get hail damage repaired on a nearly new car and two, having to deal with a shop like that. I hope it all works out for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rao Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Sorry to hear it Rob IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR CAR YOU SHOULD NEVER DRIVE IT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShrinerMonkey Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 A question to ya'll: some people mentioned loss of resale. This was an insurance claim, but I thought (hoped) that dents/dings would not affect resale. If this is fixed up right, will it/should it? If so, am I not entitled to restitution for that loss from my insurance company? First of all, sorry about your bad experience. It seems it is getting more and more difficult to get good service in any area anymore. I am not sure about title laws but any damage over a certain amount may get added to your title, but I am pretty sure that is only accident related damage. I had a similar amout of hail damage done to my old Ford Explorer and I don't recall anything being noted in the vehicle title so I doubt you have anything to worry about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AV8TORSADF Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 ^+1.. I can't stand other people messing with my car. People have little to no respect for other peoples property. I have no valuable input but wish you the best of luck getting everything righted. X2 and good luck getting it back to the way it was and should be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Thank you all. I genuinely appreciate it. Sadly, this experience has just reinforced why I started to do all my own servicing (as much as possible in a garage-less townhome). I hate when people don't take pride in their work/care of the property of others put in their hands. I'll give him a chance to rectify this today....my wife is driving the car over right now. If it's not rectified, this is going to get ugly (er). ShrinerMonkey - Thanks for for the tip. I don't want this on my title, and I don't want any improperly aligned body panels to give a potential buyer pause one day. I will gladly explain the hail damage in full disclosure, and I'll make sure the car doesn't creak or rattle. But I don't want anyone to think this thing has a bad past that I'm hiding. If I had money coming out of my ears (or if I wasn't starting a master's degree), I'd probably use this as an excuse to upgrade to a 335xi or something insanely stupid like that. Luckily, my stupidity is limited in this instance. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Wife reports that the door is fixed. She couldn't see what he was doing, but he apparently spent 15 minutes hammering at something. She couldn't tell if it was the exterior, interior, or what. But apparently the door looks great... and she said something that made me fall in love with her all over again. She said, "I got in and closed the door and could tell by the sound that it was back to the way it should be. I tried it on the passenger door and it made the same noise" She reported that he also spent 15 minutes walking around the car looking at all the panels lining up, examining the interior trim, weatherstripping, and everything else to make sure it was all good. We'll give it a righteous in-and-out detail this weekend to get rid of all the dirt and smells and start loving our car again. Maybe I'll change the oil, re-grease the sway bars, and re-build the engine (Rao style) just so I can feel good Thanks for help everyone, sounds like this saga is coming to an end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator GT Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 and she said something that made me fall in love with her all over again. She said, "I got in and closed the door and could tell by the sound that it was back to the way it should be. I tried it on the passenger door and it made the same noise" She reported that he also spent 15 minutes walking around the car looking at all the panels lining up, examining the interior trim, weatherstripping, and everything else to make sure it was all good. now THIS is a good woman! "If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed." - T. Jefferson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnstein69 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Good to hear Joe!! I am sure a good cleaning will get rid of the unsightly fingerprints and grime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 now THIS is a good woman! What amazes me is that I somehow made her this way. She freely admits that she now gets into cars and notices the quality of materials, the placement of controls, wind noise, road noise, unusual clunks or rattles...and that she never did before I became OCD about all those things Sadly, I haven't yet taught her how to change a tire on the side of the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Good to hear Joe!! I am sure a good cleaning will get rid of the unsightly fingerprints and grime. Thanks man. This PDR place is down the road from where you work and, unfortunately, I can't recommend them. It'd be nice since my Civic has like 6 dings/dents in it that could use a good popping out. I don't know if dent removal takes off klasse sealant glaze, but I'm going to redo that (i'll skip claying the car for now, unless there's alot of sap) and going to go over the entire interior with slightly soapy towels and zaino leather cleaner, and then reclean and protect it. It's obsessive, sure, but after almost 27k miles and a PA winter the interior is almost spotless. At this rate, it'll look damn good at 100k. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnstein69 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Thanks man. This PDR place is down the road from where you work and, unfortunately, I can't recommend them. It'd be nice since my Civic has like 6 dings/dents in it that could use a good popping out. I don't know if dent removal takes off klasse sealant glaze, but I'm going to redo that (i'll skip claying the car for now, unless there's alot of sap) and going to go over the entire interior with slightly soapy towels and zaino leather cleaner, and then reclean and protect it. It's obsessive, sure, but after almost 27k miles and a PA winter the interior is almost spotless. At this rate, it'll look damn good at 100k. Joe My interior is just as spotless, and I know how it is being obsessive. I have a taupe interior also making it difficult to keep clean after messy friends are in the car who don't care. I will make sure NOT to go to that PDR place if I ever need dents to be removed. My car is actually at Cavallo right now in Newtown Square (near to where I am staying) it is being repaired from my being rear-ended. I am paying extra to have the entire front repainted (both fenders, bumper and hood) so It should look like an entirely new car!! Anyway, I should be getting it back sometime next week... I hope.. Well, I am happy for you that you got most of those issues resolved, I know it is an annoyance dealing with shops that *try* to do the right thing but just don't seem to try hard enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gire Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Glad to hear you are happy with the PDR at least. 250 dents is a heckuva lot of dents to pull out. Those guys sounded very skilled in that regard. (Gire = glass half full kinda guy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Gire - I'm a half full guy as well and at the end of the day the stuff that matters to me is the paint looking smooth and all body panels lining up, and the interior trim looking decent. I've now got that, so I'm happy it's done with.... A squeaky seat can be fixed, a stiff sunroof shade is not a big deal, and a through detail will finish the rest Rnstein - So funny, I actually thought about getting a quote from Cavallo for all the dents and stuff but decided against it because i was told to avoid full-body shops for hail damage with no paint damage. They are SOOO high-end....constantly see Porsche 911 4s, Bentley's, Ferarris, S-class's, etc. sitting outside there...and the one down 202 almost always has something truly exotic sitting out front with a bumper missing. Btw, I live about 4 miles from that cavallo's and my in-laws live about 1 mile. My wife and I shop at Gentile's once a week because their prices are fantastic. One of these days we've got to meet up Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbrjason Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 A squeaky seat can be fixed How do you plan to go about this? Mine was squeaking horribly. Every clutch pedal depress, any hard cornering or bumps and even just repositioning myself in the seat. I spent an hour or so removing the seat and going over all the joints and moving areas with a spray can of deep creep. That didn't seem to help much, so I gave up my seat positioning and moved it around until it was in a position that didn't squeak at all. I've since gotten use to the new positioning and now I get a clicking/popping going around corners. It seems to come from the lower right hinged area nearest the center console. It's driving me nuts. Not sure the dealer is going to be much help here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnstein69 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Yeah, I pass by Cavallo and Gentiles every day on the way to/from work. Since I was not at fault for this accident, I decided why not go to the best and most reputable body shop that I can find? And from what I have seen, Cavallo beats out most others in NY/NJ. They always line up the MB's, Porsches, BMW's, Ferraris etc out front. I see it as free advertisement.. lol.. Yeah, we should meet up sometime.. the next few weekends I have to head up to NY, but I should be around most of the time in August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 How do you plan to go about this? Mine was squeaking horribly. Every clutch pedal depress, any hard cornering or bumps and even just repositioning myself in the seat. I spent an hour or so removing the seat and going over all the joints and moving areas with a spray can of deep creep. That didn't seem to help much, so I gave up my seat positioning and moved it around until it was in a position that didn't squeak at all. I've since gotten use to the new positioning and now I get a clicking/popping going around corners. It seems to come from the lower right hinged area nearest the center console. It's driving me nuts. Not sure the dealer is going to be much help here. I don't know honestly. I'll tell them it's creaking and getting worse everytime I get in and out (it doesn't creak while driving, thank god) and ask them to fix it. Maybe they'll take it out, grease up everything, and tighten it all back down? It's been a while since I've seen a cut-in-half seat....are they spring-supported? Could it be a slightly busted spring? I guess if that were the case I'd ask for a new seat. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeFromPA Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 Btw, Gire, one upside to all this: I put $3200 of subaru dent repair on my subaru mastercard, thereby earning me $96 in subaru rewards....hehehe Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gire Posted July 19, 2009 Share Posted July 19, 2009 Almost half way to a SPT intake and a tune. See? Cup half full! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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