I'm a little bit PO'd because of a situation that we have with my fiance's car in the body shop. We shopped around, got some quotes and decided on a body shop where the guy seemed honest and that they would do a good job. He seemed sympathetic that we were paying out of pocket and not through insurance. Anyway, there is an area in the front of the car that was scratch and slightly dented. This was not the primary reason that we brought the car in, but we decided to ask him how much to have that part fixed since we already had it in the shop. It was about $250. That put us at about $1250 total, which was over what we wanted to spend fixing the car. Well, yesterday he calls and says that he didn't see that the bumper was scratched because the car was dirty and that it would be an extra $250 to fix it, eventually coming down to $150. I told him that we didn't want to spend any more and that we were already over our budget. He went on about how it wouldn't look good to fix just the fender and not the scratch on the bumper. I told him I would call him back about it. I had my fiance call him back today because she's meaner than I am. She told him that he quoted us the $250 to fix that front area and that if he wouldn't do it for that, then not to do the front at all. Well, of course he says that they've already fixed the front fender, which I highly doubt is true. He told her that we asked for the fender to be fixed. She told him that she didn't know what the hell a fender was and that she asked for the whole front part to be fixed. Anyway, more than anything, I'm just venting, but I would like to do anything to make my fiance feel better as she's pretty angry about it. In this situation, would we have a claim for the $250 because he didn't actually do the service that he said he would for the $250? I know that it's not very much money in the long run, but I feel a little taken advantage of. Plus, I don't even know how much small claims court fees are. On top of all this, he said when we brought it in that it would be done at the end of the week, and now he says it won't be done until Monday. So, we'll probably have to rent a car because I work out of town on the weekends.
That sucks firecat! And I can sympathize. I just dropped about $2200 on my truck last week! ggrrrrr!!!!!! Don't really have any advice but if he promised you the car by the end of the week and now it's going to be Monday, he should set you up with a loaner.
Some scum hit my car in the front at a mall parking lot and left a note on my windshield that said "oops sorry" All body shops suck even the dealerships but what can ya do
Yeah, I hate the feeling that there's nothing that I can do about it. Especially since they still have the car, we are powerless. This sucks.
If the dent isn't deep or very sharp, you should look into paintless dent removal. I just had the process done on the wife's car about a month ago and saved myself about $250.
Was the estimate that you received for the front damage written? (i.e. did it specify what parts were going to be covered for the $250?) As far as small claims court, I would say you would have a hard time proving anything unless you had a written contract and/or estimate showing that the front bumper would be covered under the $250. If you don't, then what you had was a verbal contract and it would come down to your word against his with regards to what was supposed to be covered for the $250. I also don't think you can get a loaner car for the delay, although some high end body shops will give you one on "good faith". With the weather being so wet lately, paint repairs will take longer than normal.
Yeah, we're not going to try anything except maybe make a complaint to the BBB. Who knows, maybe the guy will stand up and admit that what he did was wrong and make it right. Sure...
