What's your expectation from a insurance repair?

[Dasfinc]

So as most everyone knows, both our cars got hit by Hail back in May.

The Mustang was just recently fixed by the AutoHailRepairGuys as they seem quite reputable, and had good reviews. The cooper was picked up and is currently being worked on.

Having the Mustang back, I went over it with a fine tooth comb because the car is so damn new, and I noticed a few things that bother me, but I don't know if its being overly nit-picky, or if its what I should expect from PDR.

The car is completely void of hail damage now, which is wonderful, but I noticed 7 or 8 new paint chips on the roof and A-pillars that are clearly a result of them doing PDR on the car (they have some little nylon chisels they use for part of this process that I saw them use where they basically hit either side of the dent with them).

I have touch up paint for the car, so I can just fix them myself, but now I'm leery of what are the long-term ramifications of chips down to the primer in my paint like this? Am I being overly paranoid and it will be fine with touch-up? The shop only does PDR, so its not like I can ask them to fix paint, nor would re-painting ever look the same on any panel that might get worked on.

TL;DR - PDR repair fixed hail, added some paint chips, should I bitch about it?

Click to read more...

 

[1quick]

I would expect it to look like brand new because it is brand new

 

[syP]

exactly.

they clearly didnt know what they were doing.


We had 200+ cars get nailed by hail in our lot. we hired a team that travels and does this for a living, come out and fix them all.. same process, chisels and all. not one scratch/chip on any of our cadillacs.

 

[FrenchLicker]

I took the dart in recently, if it's not perfect, they can fix it again.

 

[Dasfinc]

I took the dart in recently, if it's not perfect, they can fix it again.

not sure how they could fix paint chips is what I'm getting at, shy of painting the entire roof, which would add other long term problems IMO.

If I bitch, I'm basically going to expect further compensation as they aren't a body shop and can't paint the car, neither would I really want that.

Just was curious if I was being to nit-picky, sounds like I'm not.

 

[10sec]

Do you have pictures to prove those chips weren't there before you took the car in? Cause if you can't prove it.... well you know the answer to that.

 

[Dasfinc]

Do you have pictures to prove those chips weren't there before you took the car in? Cause if you can't prove it.... well you know the answer to that.

Geico took detailed pictures of everything, and there is still red dust near these chips from whatever they used to mark the dents.

 

[10sec]

As overcritical as you can be, I think it's very fair to demand some type of reimbursement. Just seeing that they didn't even wash off THEIR markings would boil my blood.

 

[syP]

Do you have pictures to prove those chips weren't there before you took the car in? Cause if you can't prove it.... well you know the answer to that.

he doesnt have to prove that they didnt exist before hand.


the shop has to prove that it WAS there before they did the work. Its called a walk-around inspection form.

 

[Dasfinc]

As overcritical as you can be, I think it's very fair to demand some type of reimbursement. Just seeing that they didn't even wash off THEIR markings would boil my blood.

They did wash it, there was just a spec of the dust along my door seal on the A-pillar next to one of these new chips, which is what led me to wonder why there were 2 paint chips side by side like that, and then when I realized the process it dawned on me that they caused them.

And thanks everyone for your input. I've only had an insurance repair done once ever prior to this but it was nothing visual, so I wasn't sure if it would be considered unreasonable for me to be annoyed by this.

 

[Dasfinc]

he doesnt have to prove that they didnt exist before hand.


the shop has to prove that it WAS there before they did the work. Its called a walk-around inspection form.

There are like 30+ pics from Geico from their first inspection, and from when the adjuster went back out for an updated quote as well, I'm pretty well protected here.

 

[Mike K]

New… It needs to look new. If there were chips in the paint then they shouldn't have chosen paintless dent repair as the repair option or should have added on for paint work. There's a rider form that they include in your packet that you give to the shop (assuming you didn't have Geico's own shop do the work). If the car needs additional work they contact Geico, tell them what's needed and Geico approves the work.

For the BMW they originally quoted $600 to fix it but to fix it right the shop needed to replace my front bumper cover and fender even though only a small portion of each was damaged. They sent the rider in, Geico sent in a claims adjuster and they approved the work which I believe approached the $4,000 mark.

The Audi just got grazed a couple weeks ago. It looks like a car did a three point turn and finished it along the entire length of the A8. 99.9% of the damage was simply clear coat transfer which I could literally rub off with my finger but there were a few scratches on the rims and on the paint of the car and some of the molding was scuffed up beyond repair. I took the car to Geico, they looked it over and even with 147,000 miles the guy put on there to repaint the panel, re-adjust the front bumper cover, re-finish the wheel and even do a 4 wheel alignment just in case.

You don't need to accept what they tell you is my point. With the A8 the adjuster went above and beyond to make sure the car looks perfect. With the BMW the adjuster cheaped out and quoted $600 for a job that ended up costing $4000. In either case you just have your shop contact them and they should take care of it. Despite some of the body shop guys sharing Geico horror stories (which I'm inclined to believe), they've been really good so far the two times I've needed them.

 

[Dan00Hawk]

We had hundreds of hail damaged cars on our lot in Naperville, and they looked perfect when done. Most of our damage was light dings, thogh. Now, I've also seen some hail damaged cars where I don't believe PDR would be effective due to how deep the dings were. I've also seen shitty repairs where it needs to get done again or have the whole panel painted.

Tell them that the repairs are not satisfactory, and go from there. Best of luck to you!

 

[Yaj Yak]

Because: Geico.



[MENTION=98]smug[/MENTION] your thoughts.

 

[smug]

Because Geico
Of course a PDR shop is not going to fix paint chips.....
You should have brought the car to a body shop, they sublet the PDR work out and then if there is any problems such as chips or cracked paint it can be taken care of.
Why do you think repaint on the roof is going to lead to problems?

 

[Yaj Yak]

the end.

next case your honor.

 

[Dasfinc]

Because Geico
Of course a PDR shop is not going to fix paint chips.....
You should have brought the car to a body shop, they sublet the PDR work out and then if there is any problems such as chips or cracked paint it can be taken care of.
Why do you think repaint on the roof is going to lead to problems?

The dents were very small from the hail, just a HUGE number of them.

I opted for this shop as they are reputable, local, and offer pickup/drop off/rental/ etc.

I already called my adjuster and he said he'd bring a manager into the mix if the PDR shop plays stupid.

Left them a voicemail yesterday evening and haven't heard back (didn't mention the issue in the voicemail), so I'll see what happens...

And smug, to clarify, they CAUSED the chips, car didn't have them as a result of the hail.

As far as paint goes, I've just seen lots of horror stories about repaints on single panels

 

[jason05gt]

I am skeptical that the PDF place put chips in the paint, unless you went to a total hack shop. I’ve had PDR done numerous times on my car and the process is pretty straightforward. The nylon/plastic punch is used after the PDR guy pushes the dent out from the inside. They do not use much force using a very gentle tap to alleviate deformation of the metal. I am making it sound pretty simple, but what I am trying to get at is that the only way that they could chip the paint is if they used the wrong tool (metal) that could physically chip the paint.

 

[Frank Dukes]

ya know i actually had a similar incident with my gf's suv. took it in for hail PDR and it came out with a few chips that i could have sworn were not there before the PDR. they took it back in and touched it up with simple touch up paint.

 

[boostedguy05]

so you went through your insurance for hail damage. the fixed the hail damage but caused paint chips.

go back to your insurance Co and complain. do not fix this yourself or even attempt to. because this was a result of an existing repair it will be covered under the original claim.

 

[smug]

I find it hard to believe that the shop would intentionally put chips in your car.

 

[Dasfinc]

I find it hard to believe that the shop would intentionally put chips in your car.

I think they did it by accident.

There are 3 spots on the roof/a pillar where there is a chip on either side of where a popped dent was (less than half an inch apart)

 

[Dasfinc]

so you went through your insurance for hail damage. the fixed the hail damage but caused paint chips.

go back to your insurance Co and complain. do not fix this yourself or even attempt to. because this was a result of an existing repair it will be covered under the original claim.

Ins company basically said confront the shop first, then they would escalate if needed.

I heard back from them today, and the manager of the PDR shop wants to take a look at it. He wasn't dismissive or overly defensive about it, but Definitly skeptecal.

Bad pic, but there are 3 or 4 spots like this:

 

[smug]

Hard to tell in the pic but are you 100% sure it is a chip?

I ask because I have seen crappy PDR guys push the dent to high and then try to tap it back down with the nylon tool only to fuck it up more. Then the bust out the wet sanding block and cut the clear flat all while cutting through the clear and burning it leaving a perfect tiny dot.

 

[Dasfinc]

Hard to tell in the pic but are you 100% sure it is a chip?

I ask because I have seen crappy PDR guys push the dent to high and then try to tap it back down with the nylon tool only to fuck it up more. Then the bust out the wet sanding block and cut the clear flat all while cutting through the clear and burning it leaving a perfect tiny dot.

It's Definitly a chip, pic is horrid since it's already dark.

Another on the pillar (just 1 chip, but was not there prior):