How to handle “shop damage”?

[nitroman]

While my car was in the shop from April 25th to June 4th it was damaged in 2 or 3 places.  One I noticed immediately when cleaning the bugs off after the 320-mile drive the night I got home.  It is located between the running lights in the front-corner of the car & is less than an inch long.  It is also the first damage to my new paint-job.  It is described below in emails and a picture.  The other I just noticed today cleaning the interior of the car.  It is a series of small scrapes/tears at the very bottom of the steering wheel where one would shimmy their body between the seat & wheel to gain access to the underside of the dash.  He must have been wearing a belt and scraped the wheel as he slid down, as those are the direction of the “skid marks.”  Lastly, the unlock feature of the remote locking no longer works, although the remote locking works fine, making me wonder if he inadvertently pulled off a wire from the control-box while blindly working beneath the steering-column.  As I am scheduled for an MRI & a steroid epidural next week I am not physically in a position to check this for myself.  I just wonder what you guys would do if in my situation and what you think he means by his offer of  “if I can help in any way to repair it”.  Does that mean send him a bill?  I do not want to mess up this working relationship as he generally does a fine job working on the car and claims mine is the only Elan he still works on because of the condition/cleanliness of the car; that they are rather a bear of a job he does not like dealing with.  He finds there is more money to be made working on older (1996 and back) Jags.<br><br><br><br>From: Michael Sachs <br>To: 'Matt Welsh' <br>Subject: RE: just asking<br><br>Matt, I was not aware of any damage to your car.  It is very possible that it did happen here since the shop is so crowded.  I have no reason to doubt you since I know you take perfect care of the car.  Please let me know if I can help in any way to repair it.  My sincerest apologies, Michael<br><br>-----Original Message-----<br>From: Matt Welsh<br>To: Michael Sachs<br>Subject: just asking<br><br>Did you know about this paint scrape on the right front corner in between the running lights?  It was not there before & I noticed it when washing the car today.  If you could see it in the detail I can you can tell the scrape started from the rear and moves forward, like it was done when the car was backing up, except that it is in an indentation in the car body, making a “car in motion“ accident a near-impossibility; more likely some heavy metal object being carried past the car, like a lanky exhaust pipe.  I detail the car with Meguiar's Final Inspection every week, so I know it wasn't there before.  Anyway, just man to man I wondered if you knew about it.<br><br>Otherwise the brakes & everything else work great & I am very happy.<br><br>Matt

[Sy V]

He sounds sincere and remorseful to me Matt.

[nitroman]

I don't doubt that, and if I am in a position to fix someone else's unintentional screwup myself I always do.  However, I am not a painter, and just because someone else, while the car was in their sted, had damage done to the car, should I now rightly foot the bill to set it right?<br><br>In time, after I have recovered and/or had back surgery done, I can probably locate the source of the remote-locking issue myself.<br><br>Even though the damage to the steering-wheel leather is in an inconspicuous location (the 6-'O-clock position) and one is likely not even to notice it unless I point it out, as I did not see it during the 320-mile drive back, and only noticed it while on my knees cleaning; it is another area I cannot fix myself which was before a pristine area of the car.  Sure, he fixed the FED-spec knee-bolster which had come loose, but in the process caused this damage.  <br><br>As I am the type to park my car at the farthest reaches of a parking-lot to avoid damage, should I expect & accept damage in the normal course of car repair?<br><br>What would a wise-man who saw "the big picture" do?

[jimp357]

How far from you is he. You know the guy best.<br><br>If you have regular work done there, and he's always been straight in the past, then I think the best thing is to go and have the above conversation with him.<br><br>Be plain and honest.  Express your concerns and thoughts.  If he isn't bothered then I'd surgest that your taking your pride and joy to the wrong place.  If he is, then the damage will be sorted, even if it's a compromise on costs.<br><br>Bet he'll be alot more carefull if there's a next time.<br><br>You have nothing to lose (the damage has already been done).<br><br>Hope you get it sorted.

[stevieshag]

Insurance, surely the garage has got some public liability insurance, you have to think "what if" the damage was more severe, i would imagine then you would be more cheesed off, think of the route you would want to take then, if it was my local garage they would pay 1 way or another, they would either pay off there own back or by putting in a claim.<br><br>If a mate damaged my car, i am 100% positive they would offer to pay for the damage done.<br><br>Hope you get a positive result, after all you should not be out of pocket for something which is not your fault.<br><br>stevie`s  2p worth..<br>

[Monty]

[smiley=agree.gif] with Stevie<br><br>Matt Sorry to hear about the paint damage etc, I`d be pissed off to, I`m like u that i`d prefer to do my own work on Pinky, I can`t afford Lotus/specialist prices and it`s very difficult to find a local garage who u could trust  ::)<br><br>Stevie is right they should do it of there own back or see if they will let u have the work done local and then send them the bill other wise u`ll have to get there insurance details and put in a claim.<br><br>Hope u get it sorted<br>Jay

[Doug]

Sorry to hear of that, Matt.<br><br>Precisely why I cringe at the thought of anyone else working on my Elan.  I too have battle scars from service  :-/<br><br>Words to remember ( [smiley=1poke.gif] Matt):<br>Always inspect your car after anyone does anything to it!!  Be it parking, washing, detailing, or repairs!  This is your only chance to even try to show that they caused it--getting them to admit it and fix or pay for it is a whole different world of pain!

[Fubar1764]

Geez Matt,<br>Sorry to hear about it. I agree with Dico that the leather's not much an issue and can be easily repaired. The paint, well, that's a different ball of wax. I agree with Sy he's remorseful. Your lawyer says, "Sue, sue, sue!" But your friend says, "It wasn't done maliciously, and accidents do happen, even if it's due to carelessness." If you choose to get over it, you will. If you choose to hold a grudge, that too will happen. In the end, I think this wasn't done intentionally. He's made an offer to repair, even if the offer is a bit tepid - he probably doesn't want to put on paper he'll do "whatever it takes" only to find a complete respray bill on his desk. If you and he have had a long relationship, I think that relationship is worth a lot more than a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars. My mechanic has screwed up things before, and I just let him know what happened and ask he be more careful next time. In the end, he's first my friend, then he happens to be my mechanic. And I trust him. There's an awful lot of value in that relationship, well beyond money.<br>Were I you, I'd give him a call and express your disappointment (not anger, Matt, not anger!). Tell him that you're upset now, but time will heal this wound. But, next time, you would really prefer that he and his staff consider the kind of person you are when they work on your car and act accordingly. Call me if you want to talk more about this.<br>Be fair and reasonable. If they don't respond to that, eviscerate them!<br>Cheers!<br>Jack

[nitroman]

The answer to most of your questions is that it is extremely hard to find not only someone who will work on the car to begin with (no more Lotus dealer support in the USA), but finding someone who is competent and knowledgable is an almost impossible order to fill.  This mechanic fills that bill, and everything he was charged with fixing he fixed right; hence my willingness to drive the 640 miles round-trip to have the work done there.  Now, he also does not feel pressure to "get the car out" which is why it stayed there so long.  In short, he likes the show-and-tell of saying to his auto-buddies "look at this cool Elan."  That is fine too, really, as a job done right is really the shiznit with me.<br><br>As to the damage I will talk to him about it tomorrow but not in a demanding way, rather asking what he is willing to do to rectify it.  Let's face it, a demand may win you the battle but then you will lose the war when the next mechano-flunky says, "we don't work on 'dem thangs."  (BTW, I wrote this offline B4 reading Fubar's wise words, hard to believe but true!)<br><br>Thanks everyone, for your input.

[Fubar1764]

[quote author=nitroman link=board=service;num=1119160162;start=0#9 date=06/20/05 at 14:45:25](BTW, I wrote this offline B4 reading Fubar's wise words, hard to believe but true!)[/quote]<br>Yup. I'm not known for my lucidity. I'll get back to my drunken rage thread. . .<br> [smiley=drunk.gif] [smiley=blahblah.gif]

[nitroman]

Well, message delivered, will await the result.  I basically didn't even try to get the steering wheel back; offering that it would be too expensive.<br><br>Doug, it may interest you to know that on a Mazda RX-7 I used to own I noticed the car had been backed into something B4 I left the shop, so I maddly ignored the "no entrance" signs and walked around the shop like I owned the place (adrenalin is a GOOD thing!) until I found a red paint mark on a work-bench at EXACTLY the same height.  I demanded to talk to the mechanic who worked on the car and anyone who even moved it.  No one admitted any guilt, and I basically just never went back to that shop... what else could I do?  I know the damage was not there B4 as back then I used to wash my cars immediately B4 taking them in for service under the assumption that a clean car would get better service.<br><br>No, there is no sure-fire way to get them to fess-up and pay for anything.  Like you said, the crap people mess-up is what got me into doing my own car-repair in the first place.

[Fubar1764]

Let me know if you want me to look at Florida law.<br>Cheers!<br>Jack

[nitroman]

Him done come thru & fixifide it so as it looks better den new.

Me thinks any future paint jobs I needs is gonna be done by dis Ricky guy.

[Fubar1764]

Very nice! Good to hear, Matt!

[nitroman]

Just to let everyone know, the shop fixed up the car good as new. Said the key was that I still had old paint left over from the respray so it was an exact match.

Also, the remote locking works fine after a few days of driving the car every day. It has not rained for 2 weeks now!