Waiting for vehicle to return from auto body shop

[Pahrump808]

Since joining this form I have learned a great deal. Thank you to you all. Last week while at work my car was side swiped by a hit and run idiot. My car sustained over $9000.00 in damage. While I am anxious to get my car back I am dreading it as well. I'm not sure how the will treat it. As I have become very picky of my beautiful Pearl Black CRV which had a perfect finish, thanks to this forum and all of you. Can anyone offer any advice as to what to look out for other than the obvious?

[mis3]

Did they paint the whole side; 4 panels?
How old is your car? In time, the color would fade and a good paint shop will adjust the color.

[Pahrump808]

The car is 5 months old. the work has not been started yet. Still waiting for OEM parts. When painted it will / should be the entire drivers side and the hood.

[akdetailing28]

hey idk how knowledgeable you are in this are but il list off a few things to look for when you recieve your car back (im going to go thru the obvious to incase anyother members see this as well. i currently work at a body shop and this is actually part of my job going over the entire vehicle to make sure the work was done properly and the rest of car is as it was before accident. I made a list of things down below i dont know exactly what was done because there are a 100 ways to fix it soo i pretty much included what ithought might have been done and what to look for.

1st things 1st obviously check for buffing marks or swirl marks in the paint in the sun.
2. make sure the base coat (your color coat) is uniform and consistent. Make sure its not blotchy or uneven.
3. check the door jambs and edges of all panels to make sure they are burnt from buffing, rough from poor taping, or dont have drips from too much clear coat and overspray too. idk how extensive the damage was so idk if they just did a door skin or they actually replaced the whole door or even into the actuall jamb but check all these things for what is stated above.
4. rub ur hands or visually inspect the panel for paint defects such as fish eyes, dust/dirt in the paint, solvent pop (poor mixing of clear coat and reducer thus causing pin holes in the clear coat), texture (is there orange peel? if so does it match the oem finish? is it really dry to the touch or rough where not enough clear coat was sprayed?
5. make sure the panels are straight. meaning if they did bondo or body work look at the car crouched down from all angles and make sure the metal isnt wavy. the body work should be straight and not have any waves in it. again dont know exactly what was done to the car lol also if they did a door skin instead of replacing the door make sure u check the inner edges of the door itself to make sure that the metal from the door skin was folded and sealed properly over the door.
6. Check for overspray on windows lights and the remainder of the vehicle. Overspray can find its way to a vehicle even if it hasnt been painted yet just from sitting in the shop.
7. check your interior make sure they didnt set off a dust bomb lol alot of times guys will not cover up what their working on thus destroying your interior with body shop dust.
8. make sure ur windows are not burnt from any welding, grinding etc. where sparks are involved the sparks from welding and such metal working will burn tiny defects into ur window thus causing them to feel rough and even look like their pitting.

ithink i covered most of it but if i think of anything else i post it lol oo make sure all ur windows, locks, lights, doors and what not function as preaccdent condition.

[Pahrump808]

Thank you for your detailed answer. I appreciate it. Well the parts finally came in and the work has begun. I should have it back by the end of next week. I am nervous about receiving it as many tell me that it will not be the same. I find this hard to accept as it was only five months old. I hear talk about orange peal. This seems to be common. If so am I wrong to not accept. If I do is this something that detailing can correct? As always I appreciate everyone opinion and point of view. We all strive for the same.

[mswerb]

I know exactly how you feel. I had a tree fall on my 1.5 year old 2 car garage, with both cars in it. My wife's car had minimal damage while had over $4000 in damage. The hood, front end and roof all took the most damage. I told the body shop mamager that I was very peticular about my cars. I asked for a tour of the shop BEFORE any work was done. This way I could see his employees at work, and see some of the cars in progress. I guess I was one of the lucky ones because I could not have been more pleased with the end result.
Good luck and I hope your vehicle comes back good as new.
This is what I woke up to last April.

[Nezil]

I didn't have $9,000 worth of damage to my car, only a small blemish on the hood that was fixed under warranty.

The thing that I would tell your body shop to be careful of is washing and waxing your car.

When I got my car back from the body shop, I was pretty happy with the colour match, but there were swirls buffer trails and haze left after wet sanding the clear coat to match the orange peel on the rest of the car. When I addressed this problem with the body shop, they had another go and buffing, and even got in a third party detailer, but still left it with swirls and a slight haze.

As it was only the hood I was happy to correct it myself, but what I was surprised about was that when they compared the swirls in this new panel to the ones on the rest of my car... they weren't much different. I didn't remember having swirls in my paint as I'd taken seriously good care of the car since new.

The next time I washed my car with my foam cannon the foam was just sheeting off... Someone in the body shop had waxed the whole car, and they had put the swirls in!

We all know to make sure that the dealer doesn't wash our cars when going in for a service, but I didn't expect this from a body shop. When I spoke to the dealer about all of this, his attitude was quite funny... He said if he thought I could do a better job of getting rid of the swirls, that he had a Porsche around the back that I should fix for him... As if my car was less worthy of a flawless finish?!?

I once heard someone say something very interesting about body shops:

If you talk to a musician about Hi-Fi equipment, they will usually be fairly ignorant about it. They know about making music, not about enjoying it on a high end Hi-Fi. A similar story is true of most body shops; they know how to paint, colour match, and hopefully how to wet sand. What they don't know is about detailing a car to a near perfect finish.

[Pahrump808]

I am sorry to hear about your ordeal as well. The important thing is that no one was hurt. Things can be repaired lives can't. Thank you for your response and consideration

[Pahrump808]

Thanks Neal for the advice. I just might do that. Good advice

[akdetailing28]

no u are completely in the right not to accept your car your the customer!!!! remember that its your money and your car! yes they might give you a oooh and a run around but its all bull lol trust me customers complain or notice sometimes the littlest things that are actually really really stupid to point out but as much as it annoys you as a worker you have to remember what if it was your car (well atleast i do this lol) hopefully everything came out alright and to answer your other question yes detailing can correct orange peel how ever always better to have the shop that painted it to do because if they mess it up its on them and well theyll just repaint lol hope again everything came out ok post sum pics if you get the chance! ooo and to ur other question yes the car should be the same if not better if the shop you went is PROFESSIONAL lol just because they say they are or think they are professional does not always mean so lol trust me i have seen sum things leave our shop and say to myself i hope the person does not accept that lol