Last year I had an insurance claim that was repaired by a local Infiniti dealership. We had a small 3" dent in the left front door, and someone hit the back of our car at a stop light. They ended up re-painting the left side and replacing the rear bumper and side, along with some frame at the back (not sure what was changed). Fast forward 6 months later and we put our car up for sale. An interested buyer brought an inspector with him. The inspector comments on the paint job as being "McDonald's" and terribly done. Here's what he found:

- He shows us the paint thickness on the repaired parts being at least double/triple that of the original paint. Is this normal? Infiniti says it is because they have to use "filler" under the paint. The inspector says they might have just repainted over the original paint.
- He says there is dust under the clear coat and that this can lead to corrosion in the future, and paint peeling. Additionally, he also mentions something about hashmarks in the paint and how it relates to the buffing method they use (I admit this might not be 100% exactly what he said - I will ask him to clarify)
- He mentions that the new paint looks very different from the original one. Infiniti says there is no so such thing as "original paint". But is it normal that an inspector can spot the difference right away when the part was repainted?
- Where the frame was fixed at the back, in the trunk you can see that the left side part looks very different from its equivalent on the right side.. different color even. Is this a normal thing? Shouldn't they use original parts to repair the car?

Suffice to say I looked like a fool next to the buyer because I falsely assumed the paint job and repairs by Infiniti would be perfectly done. To my eyes it seemed fine all this time but inspectors can often find problems where we don't, and now I am wondering if I have a case against Infiniti or if all of these things might be normal on a repair job. I contacted Infiniti and the body shop guy who did the repairs seemed rather upset that I was questioning his work. And my insurance can't help either.

Thanks for your input.

 

Without seeing the vehicle up close, I can give you my $.02 coming from over 14 yrs. in the collision industry. The "inspector" doesn't sound too sharp....

-Infiniti is correct. The area repaired will have filler, instantly increasing "mil thickness" They repair the dent and sand/scuff the surrounding painted area on the panel. Noone removes existing paint before applying the new paint unless there is already multiple refinishing applications done. Factory mil thickness on a base/clear vehicles (yours) is between 4-6 mils. The same thickness is usually applied at the collision shop. Giving a total of 8-12 mils. All paint manufacturers warranty their product anywhere from 10-14 mils depending on which.
-"Dust" under the clear coat will never lead to corrosion or paint peeling. "Dust" IN the clear coat should be able to be buffed out. Marks from buffing can also be remedied with further sanding/buffing.
-New paint looks different from original = What is he referring to? Texture, color, metallic positioning??
-The "frame" repair has me confused. I would need further detail to render an opinion on this.

The Infiniti facility SHOULD have a life time warranty on workmanship. If you have issues they should fix them. If it's a shop that your insurance company recommended then your ins. company probably requires the facility to warranty. Either way there is no such thing as a "PERFECT" repair no matter who does it. Sorry.

Hope this helps

 

Thanks for the quick reply. To be honest it did seem like the inspector was rather harsh. He said the paint job looks terrible but to me I can't even tell the difference between both sides except that the "terrible side" was in the sunlight and I haven't polished the car in a while. The other side looks much shinier because it was in the shade. So it would have been easy for him to think there's a bunch of dust under the paint when it's really just surface dirt.

In terms of what he was referring to with the paint look, he mentioned "waves" in the paint and also that it LOOKS different from the original. Honestly I can't tell the difference.. maybe he has better eyes for paint than I do?

Frame repair.. I'll have to talk to the inspector again to clarify what he said about it, but here is the picture of the trunk. I don't think it really says much of what might be wrong here. To me it looks like the frame had a small crack in it and they patched it up. The impact wasn't that big.:

Right side:


Left side:

 

Go find another buyer..............