Body shop gone bust after a bad spray job

[bear2020]

Back in Sept gave my car to a body shop to spray the rear end. Got it back in Dec and it was appalling. They agreed to redo it after chasing them up for weeks. I took it to them 7 weeks ago and got a text late last night asking me to pick the car up and they had not done anything to it and had lost their workshop and basically stopped trading. Collecting the car today every single panel has over spray on it from where it has sat in the body shop whilst they sprayed other cars. I even have a ring on the bonnet from a roll of masking tape and a stanley blade outline where they used it as a table whilst spraying and that part doesn't have overspray. The new wheels and tyres have overspray the headlights I removed polish and lacquered are now a pale white and can't see the bulbs. The hood has a big white stain on it.

They guys are telling me to wait and they will sort it out if they start up again. I have said no way but if they have ceased trading I can only assume I don't have a leg to stand on and a car that looks like sh*t. I have spent a lot of money getting the engine right and other bits and to have this happen is soul destroying. Any ideas on what I can do? I have tried to machine polish the hood today but the 3000 and orange pad did not touch the over spray at all. I might try a claybar next but its a bitter sweet as its not my screw up to rectify.

 

[DavidM]

Have you considered taking your car to a reputable car ‘detailing’ company and asking their advice? For a couple of hundred pounds they may well be able to bring your car back. Good luck!!

 

[Brian James]

The source of nightmares this one !..............so sorry to hear of this.

I am not sure at this point I would do anything to the car but simply take good photographs. Perhaps if you have legal cover in your car insurance you could get advice as to the possibility of getting some renummeration for the damage caused. Although the company has ceased trading surely they have residual assets and liabilities so it may be a case of trying to tap into these?

Consumer law might also help you - citizens advice might be able to direct you to some legal help?
Anyways I do hope you can get soem help for this - totally unnaceptable.
Kind Regards
Brian

 

[backseateducation]

I agree with Brian. I wouldn't do anything until you have a good photo record of what has happened. Sorry to hear this after all your hard work!

 

[bear2020]

Have you considered taking your car to a reputable car ‘detailing’ company and asking their advice? For a couple of hundred pounds they may well be able to bring your car back. Good luck!!

I did take it to one and he said wow that's a lot of work and going to cost you a lot to get that sorted. I said I guess that is you'll pass on it and he laughed and said yeah we wouldn't touch it as its too bad and the run marks would have to be sanded back and then clear coated again and a detailer wouldn't do that.

 

[bear2020]

The source of nightmares this one !..............so sorry to hear of this.

I am not sure at this point I would do anything to the car but simply take good photographs. Perhaps if you have legal cover in your car insurance you could get advice as to the possibility of getting some renummeration for the damage caused. Although the company has ceased trading surely they have residual assets and liabilities so it may be a case of trying to tap into these?

Consumer law might also help you - citizens advice might be able to direct you to some legal help?
Anyways I do hope you can get soem help for this - totally unnaceptable.
Kind Regards
Brian

I agree with Brian. I wouldn't do anything until you have a good photo record of what has happened. Sorry to hear this after all your hard work!

I have plenty of pictures and some of the original ones are in the progress thread on the Z3.

 

[DavidM]

I did take it to one and he said wow that's a lot of work and going to cost you a lot to get that sorted. I said I guess that is you'll pass on it and he laughed and said yeah we wouldn't touch it as its too bad and the run marks would have to be sanded back and then clear coated again and a detailer wouldn't do that.

Ok got it - looks like it is going to cost you. Can’t see much chance of redress as the firm is out of business - and I wouldn’t take the car back to them - personally speaking.

 

[abh29]

As it seems you have little chance of redress directly from them , I would look into two items
1--Do you have legal cover included in your house policy,I know my nfu policy does.
2--Can you obtain details of their insurance company ( I do not know how but it can be done)
3--Where they trading as a limited company.
I would be looking at a claim for damages against them,or their insurers ( for third party property damage while in their control), would be hard work but could be worth while

 

[bear2020]

It now seems they are not answering emails or phone calls so I can only assume they have done with anything to do with the car now. Ah well think it will be a case of get some quotes, raise a small claims court case directly with the company and see where it goes as the company still shows its status as active. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Pingu]

This is how I understand things - obviously, I would take legal advice before doing anything - and there's plenty of free legal advice out there...


If they traded as a limited company, their liability is LIMITED.

Once a company has gone into administration, the liability is no longer with the directors, or anybody to do with the company. Your discussions need to be with the administrator.

I suspect that you are at the end of a very long queue.


If the company was not limited, you can try to sue the owner. In this case, it is first to court gets the "money". I say "money", because you are very unlikely to see a penny of it, as they will use every trick in the book to avoid paying.


My advice would be to be prepared to either suck it up, or spend a lot of time and effort for little, or no reward. You may be lucky and this is one of the very few business owners who does a s*** job, but has a conscience.

 

[bear2020]

Pingu I have my own limited company and aware that personally nothing goes back to the directors. Their personal assets can not be touched.

As far as I can see the company is still active on companies house. I will leave this for a week or so and see if it changes. If not I will go ahead with a small claims case. For the cost of that I am prepared to lose that if it doesn't happen.

In the mean time I will collate a couple of quotes to rectify the work ascertain which is the best direction and either make a claim for the cost of the work they did or if the amount is larger to rectify it the full cost. To be fair I don't really have much too lose as I have already lost it and its not so much the money but it is how they have returned the car without absolutely no intent on rectifying the original work. To then have it returned in an even worse state the second time round is really making my p**s boil. The interior now needs a full valet, headlights removed and polished again, refurbed wheels and brand new tyres covered in overspray, the hood has white stains on it, the panels that were not sprayed have dings in them. There has been no effort to look after the car whilst in their possession. I think that's what gets me more then the crap spray job

 

[Stevo7682]

Really sorry to read all this nothing worse than putting your trust in something and they let let you down ( in your case way worse than that).
I would be thinking unless it's quite a large company your chances of thousands being tucked away somewhere that you could claim a chunk of being minimal at best.
If you try to claim your insurance ( home or car) ( assuming they did entertain you on that front) your problem then would be if the car is that bad they would declare it a cat n write off as an uneconomical repair same as they would if it had been vandalism.
Unfortunately I don't like saying this but I can see your options starting to dwindle fairly rapidly on this one.

A possible suggestion if all else has went to the wall is restoration of the less damaged items and replacement of the rest.

Your zed is silver so replacement panels etc will be easier to come by sorry to be suggesting that but may end up being your last resort if all else fails.

Stephen.

 

[t-tony]

If all the body panels are compromised, either through damage or paintwork what would be your thoughts about building it as a kit car where you only need the doors to be in good order (damage wise at least) ? As it’s a 3.0 and probably most desirable as a donor for a kit you may even be to sell it as such.

Tony.

 

[bear2020]

Really sorry to read all this nothing worse than putting your trust in something and they let let you down ( in your case way worse than that).
I would be thinking unless it's quite a large company your chances of thousands being tucked away somewhere that you could claim a chunk of being minimal at best.
If you try to claim your insurance ( home or car) ( assuming they did entertain you on that front) your problem then would be if the car is that bad they would declare it a cat n write off as an uneconomical repair same as they would if it had been vandalism.
Unfortunately I don't like saying this but I can see your options starting to dwindle fairly rapidly on this one.

A possible suggestion if all else has went to the wall is restoration of the less damaged items and replacement of the rest.

Your zed is silver so replacement panels etc will be easier to come by sorry to be suggesting that but may end up being your last resort if all else fails.

Stephen.

They were replacement body panels off another car that were in better condition.

 

[bear2020]

I guess this post is useless without pictures maybe I am being too critical but I would never treat my customers like this (I do property renovations) and if I had an employee who did they would be sacked on the spot. I think its terrible not saying it can't be worked with but when you have spent nearly a a grand in spraying, back and forth to the bodyshop having it taxed for 6 months (instead of sorning as didn't know when I would get it back) and having to chase it up constantly to get it back like this? The matt appearance is not dust either it is over spray and feels like sandpaper.

 

[bear2020]

If all the body panels are compromised, either through damage or paintwork what would be your thoughts about building it as a kit car where you only need the doors to be in good order (damage wise at least) ? As it’s a 3.0 and probably most desirable as a donor for a kit you may even be to sell it as such.

Tony.

Not really entertained that thought as we wanted a Z3 because we liked the styling of it.

 

[Stevo7682]

They were replacement body panels off another car that were in better condition.

That's a shame

 

[Stevo7682]

Here is a couple of the different kits you get for z3 .

Few members on here have done ( or are doing ) a kit car version of their zed.

Stephen.

 

[Pingu]

There is another one that has covered doors, but more of that later. The way things are going - much later (https://www.zroadster.org/threads/pingus-kit-car-project.34247/)

Re the legal "advice", I didn't know that you knew that already.

Re the car, I think the replacement panels isn't a bad option, especially as you have already done it and know that it's an easy job. Not 11 seconds, but still quick...

The roof may need specialist help with, as I think that anything that can remove paint will probably remove the colour from the roof. I suspect that you may end up either replacing the roof, or using solvent and then recolouring it.

Like @t-tony says, it is an excellent candidate for a kit car. You could contact Classic Coachworks and ask if they are interested.

Classic Coachworks

www.classiccoachworks.org

 

[Althulas]

Sorry to read what shocking treatment you’ve had from that company. I got ripped off on a promised wheel refurbishment some time ago and never saw a penny from the insolvency but the company was back up and running under a different person but discontinued there wheel refurbishment service. I hope you get a better result in the small claims, couldn’t the damage done be classed as criminal damage as it’s clear the car was neglected in their so called care.
There are panels on eBay but ? If right silver, and probably might need some paint to bring up to standard. Hopefully you can get some acceptable quotes to rectify the damage done to yours. At least one positive that your car is running great as reported in your journal