Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I have recently got the car back from the body shop after having to have all the paint that was done by another garage last year re-done. Whilst it was in I had some extra work done to the rear ( a couple of dents removed on the boot lock panel and surface rust repairs around the rear number plate lights) which was done as a trade swap rather than a financial transaction. Anyway when I got the car back I noticed the rear bumper was pushed in on the passenger side, the garage claim they didn't do it and tried to say it was like it before hand (the car has not moved since last September) as I have ordered a new bumper bracket and started to resolve it myself which so far has saved him quite a few hours labour I ask if he would paint the rear bumper as a goodwill gesture, something he does not want to do. What about the pictures below, am I being too picky claiming that visible primer in the boot is not acceptable?

Hi

What was the value of the trade swap?

If several thousand then no you are not being unreasonable.....

Is there not a cover over that rear interior primer ?

Some better pictures of the dent would help....

All the best Brett

It depends on what you paid.

While we all want perfection it does come at a cost and bodywork is not as easy as some people think. I've probably tried over 3-4 bodyshops over the years but am only really happy with one in terms of the work and time scales he works to. He does like to charge but OTOH I've not had to do things like:

-Contend with overspray on damper shafts and generally in other parts of the car
-Dust from sanding and filler work inside the car
-Rust coming back after 6 months ; I've treated rust myself and avoided it.

The difference? The "cheap" garage I use offered to paint part of a bumper for £80-100. The other place wanted £200-250 (I think I gave them £250 in the end "out of the gun" ; to be honest you'd struggle to tell it was out of the gun given the orange peel as stock on cars now!). I went to the latter bloke and 2 years later the car's bumper is not cracking at the bumper, flaking off or looking 'repaired'. When I used the other bloke the last time I had a little bit of overspray on the bumper black plastic and in the case of my Stag over quite a bit of the underneath and the wheels insides; they couldn't be bothered to take the bottom section off or mask better and I have mentioned this before to them. That said every place has their use...

I do know of cheaper places again but TBH although some people say their paintwork looks fine I could probably have got a better finish blindfolded...

The work down the side of the car is being done with the help of my insurance company they are reclaiming the money of the previous garage (who was my garage of choice for 10 years but did a woeful job when I had the accident) so no money is changing hands here. The work to the rear was to remove shallow dents in the panel above the lights and to sort surface rust around the number plate lights. In the trade swap I added some equipment to his intruder alarm and I also supplied him some paint.

What peeves me most is when I got the car back the rear bumper was pushed in one side, when quizzed the garage got all defensive very quickly but apart form going for mot (which I viewed) this car has not been anywhere else since last September, I know he had to make new fixings but the rear diffuser on the right hand side was fitted in such a way that it stuck out further than the passenger side and noticeably passed the wheel arch. The damage to the bumper is just the bracket but also the diffuser on the passenger side appear to have suffered pressure on it, one of the mounts broke free and the paint at the end has lifted where the diffuser curves out. I also have tape marks on my spoiler that wont polish out but when I have spoke with him he does not want to really resolve anything, the pictures above are basically more in a long line of little issues and I wondered if I was being too picky complaining about them.

Hi

I dont think you are being picky...

But... the problem is the deal you did...as in extra intruder alarm bits etc....

I think you may have to live with the result as I doubt you had a paper quotation for the work etc ?

Unless of course his alarm suddenly needed work lol....

All the best Brett

I had a few Stags around 25 years ago and they had a reputation for rot back then, the last one I had was a yellow S reg. That one had a fair amount of fibreglass and filler in the wheel arches.