What would you do if your dealer severely marred your paint?

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newb001

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I have a black Audi Q5 which tends to get swirls very easily. A few months ago I had a very good, professional, complete detail done, including full correction and CQuartz application. Since then the car has only been power washed at self-serve car washes and hand washed at home by myself using a foam gun, high-quality wool wash mitt, good car soap, 2bm, drying via blotting rather than wiping, etc... (and I've only done a few washes the past few months). Needless to say I am extremely careful with the paint given it's delicate nature.

Today, I had a NY inspection done at my dealer and forgot to tell them not to do a courtesy wash (though previously I asked that they put it in the their system for all future visits). So of course I get the car back and not only was it the worst wash ever, here's what they caused:

Photo Album - Imgur

Met with the service manager later in the day and he of course says they didn't do it, though he'd be happy to wax the car for me. Yeah, that'll fix the problem...

Any thoughts as to what I should do? I want them to reimburse me for the $$ I spent a few months ago on the detail/CQ as I now need to have it done all over again. Aside from going to small claims court, does anyone have any suggestions? Even in small claims court it's going to be hard to prove that the dealer caused it. I have the before/after pics from the detail a few months ago, and I have a couple of mediocre pics from a few weeks ago that show my car was dirty but had no major swirls, but in the end it's my word against theirs that the car was not swirled when I brought it in, but it was when I left.

Thanks!


edit: also, the paint no longer feels smooth/shiny. it looks shiny but feels dull to the touch and you can really feel the dullness (or something) when wiping your finger across the car. what the heck did they do to my car???
 
Unfortunately this is another hard lesson to learn and no matter how diligent or careful you are this is bound to happen when someone else has your car...

If you're forced to bring it there again make up a large sign and place it inside the car; DO NOT WASH OR WAX.....This means YOU!!

You can try to push him but in the end the easiest solution is to spend the day polishing and correcting the finish then add your protection. If you want it done right, do it yourself...:props:
 
Its going to be hard to get any money out of them. IMO just tell them what you want, don't play hard to get because obviously they are not going to get anywhere near what you are looking for. Maybe you guys can come to an agreement in the middle, something is better than nothing. As bobby said, always tell them not to wash the car.
 
Sorry to read about your mishap...

Here's one of your pictures, I cropped it a bit to show the damage and then uploaded it into your gallery here on AGO

newb001.jpg




Looks like they washed your car with a really tatty wash mitt as these scratches are horrific for a car wash...


It's so hard to understand how the people that work at dealerships, (the car industry), just don't get it. And by this I mean that people don't want swirled out paint, especially on nice cars...

This article touches on this topic,

DISO = The Dealership Installed Swirl Option


Note that in order to undo the damage, some portion of the clear layer of paint will have to be removed in order to level the surface with the lowest depths of the defects you're trying to remove.

That's not fair to you to have to have a portion of the already thin factory paint removed because of their mistake.

I don't have time search for posts with my previous recommendations for problems like this buy if you search the forum with the term DISO you might be able to find threads by other forum members that have posted Horror Stories similar to yours and read through them.

That would be another good search term,

Horror Story


Click here to use the Advanced Search Engine for this forum

Once thing for sure, I wouldn't trust their detailer to undo the damage, the odds are too good they don't have anyone working for them that actually knows what they're doing let alone quality products, pads and tools to do the job right.

Ouch...

:(
 
Thanks for the info Mike. I'll search the forum as you suggested.

Yeah, I am definitely never letting them touch the car ever again.
 
man that is horrible. I can only come up with one idea and it still involves time and money but it just might work....i dont know if youw ant to do it with THIS car...but maybe you have another car...get it detailed and into the same or as close to the same condition as you had this one...then take pictures...but make sure you take the pictures showing and proving the time and date...and then bring it back to this same place...or maybe have someone bring it there for you since they know who you are....and have them 'wash' it....then as soon as they are finished take it out right in their parking lot and do after pictures...wah lah...you have your proof THEY did it.
 
Wills.WindowsAndWheels said:
man that is horrible. I can only come up with one idea and it still involves time and money but it just might work....i dont know if youw ant to do it with THIS car...but maybe you have another car...get it detailed and into the same or as close to the same condition as you had this one...then take pictures...but make sure you take the pictures showing and proving the time and date...and then bring it back to this same place...or maybe have someone bring it there for you since they know who you are....and have them 'wash' it....then as soon as they are finished take it out right in their parking lot and do after pictures...wah lah...you have your proof THEY did it.
Click to expand...

Not such a bad idea. Only problem is my other car is not an Audi so I have no reason to bring it to the Audi dealer for any sort of service.

However, if anyone with a Black Audi in the NY/NJ area wants to test this out for me :) feel free to PM me for the dealer's name.
 
Ughh...reading this brings back bad memories.

This happened to me as well when I took my car to the dealership. I had just gotten it professionally detailed by a knowledgeable person and paid a good amount for money for the work.

I took the car in to get the roof panel inside replaced because it was still under warranty. When I came back the car looked so bad. I was furious. The dealership offered to remove the swirls but I told them I did not trust them. In the end I just bit my lip real hard and moved on. It was a lesson learned.

I hate going to dealerships for anything. They also left scratches on my plastic interior. Many times they don't even do good mechanical work. If I can do the work myself, I will do it.

Then I found Autogeek and I lived happily ever after. :)
 
newb001 said:
Not such a bad idea. Only problem is my other car is not an Audi so I have no reason to bring it to the Audi dealer for any sort of service.

However, if anyone with a Black Audi in the NY/NJ area wants to test this out for me :) feel free to PM me for the dealer's name.
Click to expand...


Do they offer washes just for the sake of having it washed or do you have to be going there to have a service? I know in Az we have an 'audiaz.org' or 'azaudi.org' group...i can't remember which way it is spelled, but they have a forum like this, except everyone is from AZ (obviously)...maybe you could google and see if NY/NJ has a forum like that and you could do a post or go to a meeting and see if you can find someone to volunteer. I'm sure if you offered to pay for the detail if they volunteered your car then you shouldn't be too hard pressed finding someone to help lol. Then after you have your proof they should reimburse you for YOUR audi AND the other guy/girls.
 
Wills.WindowsAndWheels said:
Do they offer washes just for the sake of having it washed or do you have to be going there to have a service? I know in Az we have an 'audiaz.org' or 'azaudi.org' group...i can't remember which way it is spelled, but they have a forum like this, except everyone is from AZ (obviously)...maybe you could google and see if NY/NJ has a forum like that and you could do a post or go to a meeting and see if you can find someone to volunteer. I'm sure if you offered to pay for the detail if they volunteered your car then you shouldn't be too hard pressed finding someone to help lol. Then after you have your proof they should reimburse you for YOUR audi AND the other guy/girls.
Click to expand...

They don't offer washes aside from courtesy washes after doing service. It's just done by the dealer prep guys somewhere inside or in the back of their building (it's not like you can just drive in for a wash). But thanks for the idea anyway and I will keep trying to find someone local who happens to be going there and doesn't mind letting them wash their car.
 
Sorry to hear this happened. Happened to my wife's Lexus, too. And I had told them when we made the appt. not to touch it. I spoke with both the Gen Mgr and Service Mgr expressing how unhappy I was. They apologized and I left it at that. Best thing you can do is put a sign in your car next time.
 
Get it fixed, send them the bill and keep calling to nag about it. Eventually they will realize you won't go away and you'll get your money.
 
yakky said:
Get it fixed, send them the bill and keep calling to nag about it. Eventually they will realize you won't go away and you'll get your money.
Click to expand...

Yeah, seems like that's going to be my only option.
 
When I bought my new camaro one of the conditions I made clear to them was that under no circumstances are they ever to wash or even touch the paint in so far as cleaning it for me. They were a bit taken back by it but I'm glad I insisted on that. I don't care what they do with other customers but they don't touch mine. When I took delivery the car was filthy but I was happy.
 
I would call back, ask to speak to the general manager, get him on the phone and explain the situation, with an insistence on making an appointment to have him see the car and your invoice from the detail. If you have invoices from previous paint correction details, bring those as well to bolster your case that this is not a one time thing for you. Of course drive home the point you asked them not to wash the car because you did not want to risk this happening.
 
This is my philosophy on any place where you get a service, if your not happy DON'T PAY!!!!! Or pay for a discounted price! Obviously they did it because you know your car and that was not the condition in which you left it. You can't go back after the fact and try and get your money because it's too late, however you can stop going there, post bad reviews on forums like this one or other online sites where people go specifically for reviews. You just have to learn that next time before u leave any place where u get a service inspect your car for damage or if that option is there watch them do the work! I always watch when I go in to get new tires, tire rotations or other things like that because those teenage kids don't care that you have nice wheels or car, they will toss them around like dirty rags. Leasson learned.
 
You can't "not pay", because they'll hold the car hostage, but is you paid with a credit card, you can dispute the charge with the CC company.
 
This was just for a NY State inspection so it's only $50 or $75 (in this case it was actually only $10, I don't recall the reason). So there's nothing to withhold anyway.
 
Print this thread out, staple it in the corner and take it with you when you visit the General Manager or better yet the Owner of the dealership.

If you have any good before pictures, post them to this thread and then get some really good whole shots of the car showing how swirled out it is.

As I posted before, factory paint is thin, when they swirled it out they inflicted scratches that the only way to remove them will be to now remove more precious clear paint by abrading the paint with some type of polish.

You didn't pay them to end up with thinner paint than what the car had before you took it to them.

Undoing the damage will be time-consuming, anywhere from a low of 8 hours to more like 12 hours if the person doing the work knows what they're doing and gets right on it.

It can be done faster possibly with the Megs DA Microfiber Correction System as long as this is factory paint but it's still going to mean,

  1. Washing and drying
  2. Taping off any rubber or plastic trim
  3. Machine polishing to remove the swirls and scratches --> 4-6 hours with a DA Polisher
  4. Second machine polishing to polish to a high gloss
  5. Sealing the paint with a wax, paint sealant or coating
  6. de-tape, final wipe, clean-up etc.


Dealerships just don't care about paint quality... that's the norm for this industry.

Most sales staff, managers and even owners fit this article... that is they don't know the difference between a swirl and squirrel



The difference between a swirl and squirrel

I was posting in another thread and just posted this,

Mike Phillips said:
I don't ever try to tell people how to run their business, but instead just try to offer some balance to the conversation because as a detailer, one of their goals is to make a profit and multiple step buff jobs take more time and if your customer doesn't know the difference between a swirl and a squirrel then just make their paint clean and shiny and move forward.
Click to expand...


And seriously, I don't want to tell anyone how to run their business but I often times see a trend that goes like this,

  • Person gets interested in detailing, starts reading forums and gets the bug.
  • Takes the leap and starts purchasing pads, products and tools to start detailing for money.
  • Loses focus, probably because of one segment of the type of work shared on forums, (show car detailing), and decides to start out doing show car style detailing where they're using a multiple step system to create show car finish.
Nothing wrong with the above scenario except if you're buffing out daily drivers for people that are not really into their car as a hobby, then you're e not matching your services to their needs.

Most people just want a clean interior, shiny black tires, clear glass and shiny paint, they don't know the difference between a swirl and squirrel.


For clarification...

This is a Squirrel
ScottsVetteScratch011.jpg



These are Swirls
CobwebSwirls001.jpg





If you spend too much time on the paint for someone that probably won't appreciate your efforts as much as you, and probably doesn't want to pay for your efforts, then you're doing them a disservice and you're doing yourself a disservice in your pocket book.

If you have a customer that wants to pay for a multiple-step process then by all means go for it. But if your customer fits the daily driver description, then keep your focus and do a great job but do a fast job and by fast I mean wash, clay and use a one-step cleaner/wax.

Make sense?

:)
 
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