paint peeled off customers car when removing 3m tape! customer is asking to pay for damage

jeff79 said:
would having them sign a "release" form truly release me of all liability in this situation? It seems like if you damage someones car you are still responsible to fix it,if its your fault. Or is this not correct?

also what if she refuses to have the work done by a mobile tech and insists on a bodyshop?
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Isn't getting them to sign a release at least worth a try? If you do work for a truely litigious client, there is nothing that will stop them from suing you. You cannot stop someone from suing you. Whether or not they win is a different question.

If that is the case, then you will only pay what it takes a mobile tech to fix it. If she insists on the body shop, she pays the difference. Stand firm on this if the difference is significant.
 
skwidd said:
But that is not how it works. You have to fix it and that's it. She doesn't get to make money off of you.
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I agree completely and already sent an email saying i would repair the damaged area via mobile tech in good faith. Do you have any idea what a reasonable cost is for a mobile tech to touch up the area? A guy near me wanted $250.. seems like maybe a $100 fix at most, no?
 
jeff79 said:
I agree completely and already sent an email
saying i would repair the damaged area
via mobile tech in good faith.

Do you have any idea what a reasonable cost is
for a mobile tech to touch up the area?

A guy near me wanted $250..
seems like maybe a $100 fix at most, no?
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No...not really.
Professional auto-body repairpersons/painters have a
pretty good handle on the accuracy of their estimates.


It be interesting, at least to me, to find out how
much you charge, and expect to be paid, for your
headlight restorations.


And:
Good luck with that email you sent. :rolleyes:


Bob
 
Bobs right, that color has to be blended into the surrounding panels to make the color match. You really can't mix paint and have the exact color. Then every time you shoot your base you have to clear the entire panel. We usually don't spot clear coat in. So the hood, fender, and grill etc will be blended with the base and everything re-cleared. That's where the body shop is getting the estimate Bc they are trying to do it right. A guy could just feather back the fender shoot a color that matches close and re clear the fender but you will see a color difference with the surrounding panels usually. Hope this makes sense.
 
Punch said:
Bobs right, that color has to be blended into the surrounding panels to make the color match. You really can't mix paint and have the exact color. Then every time you shoot your base you have to clear the entire panel. We usually don't spot clear coat in. So the hood, fender, and grill etc will be blended with the base and everything re-cleared. That's where the body shop is getting the estimate Bc they are trying to do it right. A guy could just feather back the fender shoot a color that matches close and re clear the fender but you will see a color difference with the surrounding panels usually. Hope this makes sense.
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Kind of overkill for a 12 year old car don't ya think ?
 
FUNX650 said:
No...not really.
Professional auto-body repairpersons/painters have a
pretty good handle on the accuracy of their estimates.


It be interesting, at least to me, to find out how
much you charge, and expect to be paid, for your
headlight restorations.


And:
Good luck with that email you sent. :rolleyes:


Bob
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i charge 50-60 bucks for a year warranty on both headlights and expect to be paid 50-60 bucks..

would you mind explaining how the damage is worth anywhere close to 250 just to touch up? id love to know.
 
Punch said:
Bobs right, that color has to be blended into the surrounding panels to make the color match. You really can't mix paint and have the exact color. Then every time you shoot your base you have to clear the entire panel. We usually don't spot clear coat in. So the hood, fender, and grill etc will be blended with the base and everything re-cleared. That's where the body shop is getting the estimate Bc they are trying to do it right. A guy could just feather back the fender shoot a color that matches close and re clear the fender but you will see a color difference with the surrounding panels usually. Hope this makes sense.
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wouldnt that entire panel not match the rest of the car then? It seems like anytime you repaint any part of the car, whether its a little chip or entire panel, its not going to match the rest of the car. If this is correct then repainting an entire panel wouldnt even make sense
 
You clear coat the entire panel but you only blend or fade your base partially into the existing color.. You can just paint the one panel if you like but just keep in mind that matching the paint that is on there may slightly differ from the surrounding panels. It can be done though man. I hope she says just go ahead and paint the one panel and move on. Her eyes may never catch the color change if there is one.
 
jeff79 said:
would you mind explaining how the damage is worth anywhere close to 250 just to touch up? id love to know.

jeff79 said:
wouldnt that entire panel not match the rest of the car then? It seems like anytime you repaint any part of the car, whether its a little chip or entire panel, its not going to match the rest of the car. If this is correct then repainting an entire panel wouldnt even make sense
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Someday you may come to understand the differences
between people being classified as a Professional...and
those that are considered to be fly-by-nighters...in any
given occupation/career-field. Or maybe not. :dunno:


Speaking of flying:
I'm outta here.


Bob
 
Set up an appointment for her to take the car in to show responsibility and good intent, then the night before, torch her car!
I thought this thread needed some humor...
 
FUNX650 said:
Someday you may come to understand the differences
between people being classified as a Professional...and
those that are considered to be fly-by-nighters...in any
given occupation/career-field. Or maybe not. :dunno:


Speaking of flying:
I'm outta here.


Bob
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maybe you are referring to the mobile touch up guy. you can call yourself whatever you what but at the end of the day it calling yourself a "professional" doesn't justify you charging 2-3X the average price of a sevice. that is just called a rip off.
 
That's not MB OEM paint on that fender. It wouldn't be flaking like that. That is tissue thin like it's a cheap SS paint. From the looks of the marks that were under the paint, there isn't primer in some spots. And it looks like there were already some chips and rust on that edge, and possible some chips touched up. At best I would pay 50% of the cost just for that fender, not the blending into the hood and bumper, which isn't necessary in the first place since it doesn't look like that paint is perfectly color matched to the bumper, and possibly the hood either. Even if you had insurance you would still have to pay a deductible of about $500 most likely.
I had to pay for a trunk lid to be painted for a client and it was just under $250, and not panels needed to be blended into. Someone is trying to rip you off.
 
Looking at the pictures, the paint was already failing. The tape just helped it move along.

The paint quote is right. Professional shops have a lifetime guarantee (the good ones) on their work. They won't skip steps or practice poor technique. Everything has to be done accordingly to ensure that the repair is as good or better than OEM.

This is kind of a tough situation, as you had no intent to, nor did you do anything negligible on your part, but the end result from your efforts was damaged paint. 99.7% of the time on any other headlight job this would have never happened.

Not having business insurance is a tough break and a lesson learned. Always have insurance. Even if you are just washing car exteriors with soap, bucket and a mitt. Some people are just waiting to profit from your mistakes, mishaps, or in this case, bad luck.
 
tdekany said:
I would simply tell the painter to not blend, I'd polish out the hood and the drivers door.
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Let's assume this is clear coated paint (it is shiny)... The first thing you need to do is test to verify this though. It is either cleared or not.


Next, you pay the painter to paint only the fender and to blend the color into the rest of the fender. A good painter will NOT have a problem color matching pretty close!


Now if it is already clear coated (big if), you need to pay the painter to clear out the entire panel he or she painted.

Lastly, it is appropriate to wet-sand to "match" the orage-peal. Then compound and polish that panel, too. Either way, I would think you would be looking at half that labor.
 
Jbirk said:
Let's assume this is clear coated paint (it is shiny)... The first thing you need to do is test to verify this though. It is either cleared or not.


Next, you pay the painter to paint only the fender and to blend the color into the rest of the fender. A good painter will NOT have a problem color matching pretty close!


Now if it is already clear coated (big if), you need to pay the painter to clear out the entire panel he or she painted.

Lastly, it is appropriate to wet-sand to "match" the orage-peal. Then compound and polish that panel, too. Either way, I would think you would be looking at half that labor.
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doesnt the fact that the paint was shiny mean it was clear coated? isnt it more likely it just wasnt a solid clear coat?
 
Im no expert, but to me that doesn't look like SS laquer. It looks like BC/CC to me. It still could be a shotty paint job though. I've seen CC's delaminating from BC starting from a panel edge where the paint wasn't done right.

I definitely think this was a shotty paint job to start, but also feel that the backing plate of your polisher was making contact and aiding in the damage we see in the pics. You can tell by the jaggedness of the paint remaining. If it were just the tape that did the damage, you'd see the remaining paint looking more smooth like it was peeled versus chipped. Just because you had tape there doesn't mean the paint was protected from the backing plate.
 
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