New cars are often repaired - Buyer beware !

Silvera

I'm something of a 'Poacher-turned-Gamekeeper' when it comes to cars !

I worked as a Panel Beater for 6.5 years, and the company I worked for repaired damaged new cars for a major importer.

The cars were usually damaged in-transit (i.e. on the boat or in the docks/compound) and often required, for example, a new wing or bumper to bring the vehicle up to 'as new' standard.

However, usually the cars needed a door or wing respray to repair a scratch or dent - but we had one or two cases of cars requiring new bonnets owing to careless drivers actually walking on the cars after parking them in the docks !!


I'm posting this information to warn people to be wary when buying any car - new or used.

..........it's like the saying goes - Buyer Beware!

Squirrel

I have known of this as it is usually the valeter who spots damage, but all the work is carried out professionally, also, cars aren't really the easiest thing to transfer on boats so inevitably some will be damaged, but it's better than they are being repaired.

Take for example the VW Touareg: It has a problem with it's interior door handles in that parts rubbing in the door stop the handle from swinging back to being closed so the door bounces open if you're shutting it after getting out. A mechanic takes the door panel off and fixes it and it's perfect. That's a repair on a new car, and I'm sure the new owner prefers it that way

bazz26

Squirrel wrote:

Take for example the VW Touareg: It has a problem with it's interior door handles in that parts rubbing in the door stop the handle from swinging back to being closed so the door bounces open if you're shutting it after getting out. A mechanic takes the door panel off and fixes it and it's perfect. That's a repair on a new car, and I'm sure the new owner prefers it that way

So much for German quality control.

Interceptor

Silvera wrote:

I'm posting this information to warn people to be wary when buying any car - new or used.

..........it's like the saying goes - Buyer Beware!

Its a fair point but who would think to bring an expert to check a new car!! Usually people buy new cars so they are sure of getting something perfect. I saw a BMW 645i in a showroom in Galway which had been resprayed on one side from headlamp to tail-lamp and they had done a great job but it was priced the same as the one beside it with no damage. What do you bet that if you didn't spot it they wouldn't tell you...

'c

RicardoSmith

Read a case (in the UK) in Autocar ages ago. Brand new Audi (high spec A6 I think). New owner wasn't happy that the paint seemed to fade in a few months on part of the car. Main dealer refused to deal with it. So owner had the AA do a report so that he could make a case against the dealer.

AA report came back saying pratically one side of the car had been extensively repaired, including damage to the roof. Eventually the dealer admitted a wall had fallen on the car but it had been professionally repaired so was as good as new.

In the end I think they came to an agreement where the garage took it back in as a trade in for another car.

Borzoi

Silvera wrote:

I'm posting this information to warn people to be wary when buying any car - new or used.

..........it's like the saying goes - Buyer Beware!

Absolutely true. It was one of the reasons for the new style of car transporter introduced from the eighties - not only did they carry more cars, but the uprights (steels, ladders, hydraulic pistons) were moved away from the locations where the drivers door was. Apparently the monkeys who loaded and unloaded the cars where forever hitting the doors, resulting in costly damage as Silvera points out.

Squirrel

Borzoi wrote:

Absolutely true. It was one of the reasons for the new style of car transporter introduced from the eighties - not only did they carry more cars, but the uprights (steels, ladders, hydraulic pistons) were moved away from the locations where the drivers door was. Apparently the monkeys who loaded and unloaded the cars where forever hitting the doors, resulting in costly damage as Silvera points out.

I've still seen some monkeys as you call them put some scrapes into the door of an Audi A4 Cabriolet 3.0, ****ing idiot. Tbh I feel that there's nothing wrong with the cars are being repaired once the dealer stands by the repairs they innitiated, because I'd prefer a repaired car than one that didn't have the repairs done, that could be lengthy battle of blaming between the dealer, brand distributor, national vehicle distributors and the dock workers before anything's sorted for you

Armadillo

Silvera - just wondering if you still do any panel beating\repairs as nixers or could you recommend anyone who might. More cheaper and chearful than the mainstealers. Front nearside quarter 98 Clio. Parts to be sourced from breakers. :rolleyes:

DukeDredd

On the subject of these monkeys that drive the new cars - i was heading for the ferry in Ringaskiddy in Cork recently and while waiting in the queue these lads were moving new cars from one yard to another. One of them was smoking while driving a brand new Focus!!

ismynametoolong

Lots of new cars get repaired why do you think car distribution companies such as NVD have massive workshops and carry out repairs for lots of different importers . As far as i know only minor scrapes and dents get repaired and if done properly there is no difference . major damage gets sold off through the trade and not retailed .

Ratchet

well, there is nothing wrong with repaired car when

work is done as should be and car price reflects the fact

ambro25

Well, I'd not heard of that one - only thing I had become wary of after moving from 'deep within' the Continent is that some new cars can often spend quite a while in a high-salinity environment (a.k.a. parked in the docks), and that can have long-term effects such as accelerated corrosion (saw quite a bad case on an Alfa 156, 2 years ago).

Saying that, I have also known from a long time that car manufacturers often have 'tweakers' on the payroll, who spend their working life travelling from main dealership to main dealership 'tweaking' all sorts of settings on new cars (particularly when new models/ranges are introduced), and usually when a 'new' car is brought in after the first 600 miles or so, whereby the tweaks are performed unbeknowst to the owner (and often as not unbeknowst to the mechanics of the dealer as well :eek: ). Citroën and Peugeot are notorious at this (the 605, the XM and the C5 were particularly bad cases in point).