A general bitch about the integrity of my panel beater.

[Andre3000 55]

A few weeks ago i had an accident, long story short i was rammed off the motorway by a 16 wheeler truck at 100kmph. Insurance got this repaired with no excess as the truck driver was at fault.

The panel work completed by the panel beater was satisfactory and he shaved my door locks and rolled the guards for free (as they were damaged in the accident).

I was chuffed with this until i noticed today that my glove-box torch is now missing, and my left rear door has been keyed up nicely.

This seriously f**ks me off, so much so, i almost created the headline "BMW driver beats panel beater".

Anyone else had a similar experience?

[my_e36 43]

Will the damage buff out?

My friend recently had his RX8 repaired, full respray on left side of body + new door skin. After finishing, there are burned dots on the headlight and hood likely to be caused by sparks from welding nearby cars within the workshop.

[Mike.Gayner 0]

That sucks - I often worry about my vehicle when it's with any service agent. Luckily for me, every experience I've had with mechanics and panelbeaters has been satisfactory. If I were you I'd go and talk to them - they might be perfectly reasonable about it all. Also keep in mind that scratches on your door may have happened before or after the panelbeaters, not necessarily while the car was with them.

[Mark 178]

Mate, I could go on and on about shocking service I received from people who have worked on my cars over the years. Here's a couple:

The installer I used to put an ipod headunit in my E36 and run the cable to the glove box managed to: - Saw a shitty jagged hole twice the size necessary in the side of the glovebox, lose 1/2 the screws needed for holding the glovebox and trim panel in place, and completely break the airvent assembly when putting it back in.

The paint and panel shop I used let their apprentice loose on my paintwork, he opened the spray booth while the paint was curing and silicon residue from another job landed on the bonnet causing fisheyes everywhere. The paint was also buffed until it was burnt and when I complained they simply flatted the bonnet again and rebuffed it meaning the paint was thinner than Kate Moss on the Lemon Detox diet and every stone chipped it to the bare metal. They also broke my foglight and refused to pay, saying it was like that when they got it... despite the fact the foglight bracket was also broken and there was a thumbprint in Boston Green Metallic dried nicely on the lens!!!!

This may seem like I'm moaning, but the day I get good service from somewhere I will post it here and encourage others to go there. As for now, it seems that no matter where I go for car-related services everyone does a half-arse job.

[bravo 35]

My last experience with a panel beater involved a poor quality job and 2 kerbed mags on a perfectly unmarked set. By the time they'd repaired the rims (good enough, but not perfect) I'd gotten so sick of arguing, and come to the conclusion that getting them to do a better job would probably result in more damage so I gave up.

Talk to them about it, other wise you could complain to your insurer - after all - they are paying and you now have another claim - theft and repaint of other door.

[Guest Ari Gold]

When tom got his damage repaired the panel beaters returned the car with all the polished lips on his rims so badly pitted and "sandpapered" they all need to be refinished and repolished. We complained to no avail, but couldn't really complain as they were family friends and were "hooking us up"

Great deal

[tire 10]

Why are so many bodyshop people scum? I work next to a bodyshop and they are fking dirtbags, they thrash the sh*t out of all the cars they get, like doing squeelies and burning the clutch everywhere on cold cars. It disgusts me.

[danj 0]

Mate, I could go on and on about shocking service I received from people who have worked on my cars over the years. Here's a couple:

The installer I used to put an ipod headunit in my E36 and run the cable to the glove box managed to: - Saw a shitty jagged hole twice the size necessary in the side of the glovebox, lose 1/2 the screws needed for holding the glovebox and trim panel in place, and completely break the airvent assembly when putting it back in.

The paint and panel shop I used let their apprentice loose on my paintwork, he opened the spray booth while the paint was curing and silicon residue from another job landed on the bonnet causing fisheyes everywhere. The paint was also buffed until it was burnt and when I complained they simply flatted the bonnet again and rebuffed it meaning the paint was thinner than Kate Moss on the Lemon Detox diet and every stone chipped it to the bare metal. They also broke my foglight and refused to pay, saying it was like that when they got it... despite the fact the foglight bracket was also broken and there was a thumbprint in Boston Green Metallic dried nicely on the lens!!!!

This may seem like I'm moaning, but the day I get good service from somewhere I will post it here and encourage others to go there. As for now, it seems that no matter where I go for car-related services everyone does a half-arse job.

Where did you take your car? I'm about to get the bumper on my 540i resprayed... would be very interested to know where to avoid at least.

Cheers

[bmw.maniac 1]

The last panelbeater I went to somehow managed to fry my alarm, then lied about it, and then blantanly wouldn't answer/return any of my calls.

[e30plz 1]

Well i've only got good things to say about the last panel beater I went to,

Removed a whole load of rust, welded in new plates, and painted over it.

Then only charged me half of what he quoted me

Will be going back there again.

[pjay 8]

Last one i used, I got what I paid for. Nuff said

[Mike.Gayner 0]

With all the bad rep being thrown around, I want to give a plug for a very professional panel beating workshop in Tauranga - Smith and Boyle. I had my car in there under insurance for frontal impact repairs, and was extremely happy with the job they did. They also gave me a courtesy car, and detailed my car before it left the shop.

I had a second lot of repairs done under insurance about a year later - the insurance company told me to take it to another workshop, but I requested Smith and Boyle. Again, they produced outstanding results. The second time I noticed a small amount of primer overspray on my front guard - took it back to them and they removed the overspray and buffed the panel while I waited. A very professional group.

[Apex 693]

Last one i used, I got what I paid for. Nuff said

Yep, you generally do, but if insurance is paying you expect a top job.

All I can recommend is taking it to a top panel beater when claiming, you are entitled to use whichever you want.

Mum had her car reversed into and before claiming she took it to BMW who recommended Evans for the repair, they quoted over $8,000 for a job a average shop would charge $2,000. The insurance company had to approve it as that was her requested repairer.

I can recommend someone out south if anyone ever wants anything repaired to a invisible standard. He knows how to charge and has a two moth waiting list but does a truly fantastic job.

[*Glenn* 856]

I would also recommend Euro Collision in Auckland

[greenday-rulz21 6]

As most of you probably know, Precision AutoWerk are the best out there. Nothing but good things to say about them.

[Andre3000 55]

So i rang the panel beaters yesterday evening and told the boss to have a look for my "lost" torch.

Today i ring up and surprise surprise "the apprentice took it out so the paint shop guys would'nt steal it, its sitting on the bench here".

I go down to pick it up and when i go to leave the shop with my torch in hand the apprentice says to the boss "so where was it?"

At least i got my torch back though.

[Mark 178]

"so where was it?"

About to be listed on Trademe.

[bravo 35]

Well i've only got good things to say about the last panel beater I went to,

Removed a whole load of rust, welded in new plates, and painted over it.

Then only charged me half of what he quoted me

Will be going back there again.

Who was that?