Dealer hit my car

[Craig 201 MPH]

But what about fade down the road??? My car got hit and the rear fenders and passenger side door were painted and matched great at the time. Now, some years later the car is two shades of red (thankfully not a viper) all becasue the whole car was not painted.

Why should you have to pay for it? you didn't back into the hood of your car. If they wanna be a real pain call your lawyer.

Craig

 

[Joseph Houss]

Good Point!

Don't forget that your insurance carrier will also be glad to help, as this is truly NOT your fault, and they will subrogate your claim (collect from the dealership's insurance company). This means that they will WORK for YOU.

 

[TOOOFST]

If your paint looks old,as you say than a $1000.is a great deal.Post the kill if you get them to flip for it.The best guarantee you can get is to get the painter a massage with a happy ending.

 

[joe117]

The dealership has their own body shop. I don't see why I'm being unreasonable in any way when I ask them to make me whole again without any money out of my pocket. I dont think a black Viper is going to look good with a nice new paint job on the hood and a paint job on the rest of the car that's a few years old. It's unfortunate that they did this and that the damaged area can't be properly matched without painting the whole car. I can just picture it sitting there in the sun just looking like the hood has obviously been repainted, people looking at my Viper and saying "hey, did you get the hood repainted?" If it was my truck I wouldn't care if it didn't match very well.
I don't need to let them do the repair. If a CocaCola truck had hit my car I wouldn't need to let them fix it. The dealer is without question responsible for the damage. If I take it to some other body shop to get the hood repainted at a reasonable cost, the bill will be the dealership's responsibility and it will without question be higher than what it would have cost the dealer to paint my whole car.

 

[joe117]

I just talked to the GM of the dealership. I made a deal with him. They will repaint the whole car with a "reasonable" paint job at no cost to me. He assured me that it would look better than it did when I brought it in to him. I think that's a fair deal. Unless they do a crappy job I'll be happy. The car had been repainted before and it's a high miles car. I wish it hadn't happened but I think it turned out ok, so far. JM

 

[Fast Viper Dan]

What is reasonable?
It's a Viper and should have a Viper paint job. The same as if you or your insurance company paid for it.
I would be a little more clear on the quality of job to be performed.
Do it right or don't do it at all.
Dan

 

[Double Venom]

Oh Boy..
I hope for your sake this doesn't get ugly.

I wasn't asked, but may I suggest you ask them "exactly" what type paint they are going to use. Single or double stage? I can't imagine a dealership of any kind doing the whole car for that price. The material alone costs a lot more than that.
DV

P.s. It should be done in a two stage system, AKA Base Coat/ Clear Coat.

 

[Craig 201 MPH]

Yeah, don't let them slap a $350 macco paint job on it. It's a Viper and should look like one.

Craig

 

[slaughterj]

Sorry to hear about your trouble, but maybe you can get Lassen to paint it?

 

[Vip-RT10]

I'd take their offer, but make sure the colors are perfect onthe spot, don't leave and come back. The dealer cracked my hood and they said it wasn't them. I still am mad at that whole thing, they refused to pay and i am stuck with a crack...and i a 100% sure they did it since the day b4 i Zainoed it.

 

[joe117]

The paint wasn't perfect when I gave it to them. It was some years old and hadn't been kept as well as some folks might, I just bought the car. Their claim that they are only responsible for the hood damage seems weak to me but I don't really know what the legal truth is as far as that goes. Do they really have to match the hood to the rest of the car as far as normal age of the unpainted part goes? I think I made a fair deal with them. Their first offer was to fix and paint the hood for free and if I wanted the whole car painted they would want me to kick in $1k. They said I would be getting a $4500 job for $1k. I told them to give me a $3500 job and I would keep my $1k and that's the deal they took me up on. All I want is for it to look as good or better than it started out when I left it with them. I think I'll be ok if they deal fairly with me. I wouldn't know how to quantify what kind of paint job I want on any kind of contract.

 

[Viper99]

I don't like the operable word "reasonable". This gives the dealership way too much room to weasle their way out of it if the paint job is not up to your expectations.
If it were me, I would look at it this way:
The paint wasn't perfect when you brought it in.
They offered a perfect paint job, done correctly for $1000 more out of your pocket. I would take that offer.
Where can you get a brand new paint job, from a reputable dealer (I'm making an assumption that you asked questions before having brought the car in for the mechanical stuff)for $1000.
Just tell the GM that you are dealing in good faith here and you expect him to do the same. Explain to him that if you get your insurance company involved you feel you have a pretty strong case to bring the car to a body shop of YOUR choice and have the car painted. With an exotic car like this, I'm more than sure your insurance company would press very hard for a complete paint job. Tell the GM that you will be inspecting the car under close scrutiny when it is done. If he does the right thing he should earn your business for the entire time you own your Viper.
Good Luck...

 

[Tom and Vipers]

Getting a Viper paint job for $1000 sounds like the good deal.

Materials are expensive.

However, 2 points:

1) Black is not a sophisticated color. So the issue of which paint is less important.

2) The BIG DEAL is preperation before paint. In particular, MASKING! Biggest requirement is NO PAINT ON RUBBER/TRIM PERIOD.
ZERO TOLERANCE! There a tricks that take time during masking that allow you to achieve this.

(A neighbor of mine bot a new Chevy van and the white paint had this faint brown streaks in it. ...as if when it was painted, some kind of brown oil or rust was spilled on the van and ran down the sides. ...broken pipe in assembly line? Dealer offered to paint it. I saw the job. It was WORSE THAN MAACO!! I was a crying shame - the van was ruined! He got lucky and just happened to meet the owner after dealing for days with minions. The owner said, "Pick a new one you like off the lot." And he traded him. He even got some more options for no extra charge. A true happy ending to a nightmare.)

 

[joe117]

I just got a call from Ralphs Dodge in Prince Frederick MD. I dropped my black 94 RT there a few days ago to have a bunch of mechanical work done on it, clutch, brakes, steering rack, small oil leaks. They just called an hour ago and said that one of their guys backed into the hood of my car and scratched it up. They said they would paint the hood and make it better than it was. The car was painted a few years ago. They said they felt that they were only responsible for the hood. I told them that they had to paint the whole car or it wouldn't look right since the rear of the car would be old paint. They wanted me to pay $1,000 for them to paint the whole car. I told them to just do the mechanical work and I would get the body work done by some other place and send them the bill. They said they would get back to me again later today.
Anyone know what will happen next?

 

[Joseph Houss]

Any shop can match colors well. So I would think, that you'd be better off having them JUST paint the hood, and leave everything else alone.... with an agreement that the paint will match to your satisfaction.

Tough Break!

 

[Snakester]

I just got my Mustang repainted by Maaco and they did a great job for $323 (total cost). I was expecting it to look cheap with bad masking and orange peal, but it came out great (being easier to sell now).

Still, I am getting my Viper repainted now as well, and didn't seriously consider taking it there to be done.

But I think that you got a pretty good deal overall since your car was already repainted, and they should be pros.

It's hard to come out on top after any accident, but I think that they are being quite reasonable to offer to completely repaint your car for no charge. You will probably get 95% as good of a paint job as the "$4500" version.

-Dean.

 

[joe117]

Mr. Snakester, I think you have the same take on this as I do. I will let everyone know how this all turns out. This is Ralph's Dodge in Prince Frederick Maryland that we are talking about.

 

[joe117]

I went over to Ralphs Dodge in Prince Frederick Maryland today to look at my car and to see how they were coming along on the repairs. The service manager told me that they are still trying to decide what to do about fixing my car that was damaged, while in their care, by one of their company trucks. The service manager is saying that since my car was at one time hit in the front and damaged that somehow they are less responsible for bringing my car back to resonable condition. I'm asking that they fix the hood damage and paint the whole car so the car will look ok and not like they repainted the hood. I'm not asking for a great job but I don't want it to look like the hood has been painted and the remainder of the car looks like it's not the same. They are saying that the hood has bodo in it and they can't be responsible for the paint job unless I pay them $1000.
I'm starting to get pi**ed off at them. I don't want a great paint job since the car didn't have a great paint job when I gave it to them. They screwed it up and I just want it to be fixed so it looks ok. It looked ok when I gave it to them. They hit it with a truck and I don't want to pay any money to get back where I was to start with. Is there anyone out there who is a lawyer who can tell me where I stand? Can they really say that they are not responsible for fixing my car so it looks resonable after they hit it with their truck?
I took it to them because they said they work on Vipers. I needed quite a bit of work, $4500 or so, to fix the things that needed to be fixed. Now they seem to be giving me a hard time because the car is a ****** with 103k miles. I can't help that, I got a deal on the car because of that. It's still worth more than half of the new cars on their lot even at it's auction value price. Help me out, JM

 

[MES]

It may just be me, but I think it's very unreasonable to expect the dealer to paint the hole car just because the hood is damaged. If you had a 94 Ford F150 nobody would think it's reasonable to repaint the hole truck because the hood is scratched. Yea, its a Viper but the same principals apply. Is it the dealers fault that the rest of your paint don't look new, has some swirl marks, etc? This happens everyday with car accidents, the parts that are damaged are repaired and repainted but not the hole car. This is all they really need to do. Offering to paint your hole car for an extra $1K was a nice gesture on their part assuming its a top notch paint job. Paying $1K for a $4,500 paint job is a heck of a deal and sure to bring more $$ should you decide to sell the car. Also you are under no obligation to get it fixed at the dealer that damaged your car. As others have stated deal with the insurance company and get it fixed elsewhere if you wish. I guarantee that the Insurance company will give you a much harder time about getting the hole car painted than the dealer is however.

 

[genXgts]

Joe, did I read that right, your Snake has over 100K, man , that's a record as far as I know, tell us how it runs at that mileage, I knew Vipers are strong mechanically but this is a new level!!!!

My recommendation on the smack is get the car out of there, there are hard feelings between you and them, which, trust me, has been communicated to all that will touch the car in prep and painting ("Hey Jake, don't blow your shift prepping the Viper, we're losing already on that one"- that's all it takes. Bring it to a new shop of your choice, and go from there, painting is still an art of a perfect job, and if one fels rushed or pushed, or the deal is upside down (your deal), the lack of effort will show up, with Acrylic Enamel paint, or a low quality clear coat, either way it'll come back to haunt you, my .02, best of luck
Ryan

 

[HogWhisperer]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JusSumFastGi:
joe117, listen to me. I know what I am talking about.

Forget the dealer. Call your insurance company.

Tell them that you are going to have THEM pay for the repaint. Tell them what happened. Give them the dealers phone number.

It will take care of itself.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What he said! You need an advocate with deep pockets who isn't afraid! Let them deal with it on your behalf.

 

[joe117]

I don't know if 103k is a record but my black 94 has 103k miles. The engine was last changed at 95k. I think that was the second replacement engine. I just bought the car from the first and only owner. The car has seen some hard use and I got a deal on it because of that. It is in the Dodge dealers shop for a clutch, pedal assembly, shifter, handbrake, oil leaks, steering rack, pads and rotors and Maryland state inspection. Even paying to have the dealer do all that work, I still will end up with a very low total price for what I hope will be a nice Viper.
I have new seats ready to go in and all new dash and the other plastic parts that go with it. It should look good when all of that is replaced. I'd like to find a stock radio for it. The aftermarket radio is ok but I'd like a stock one.

 

[King GTS]

I'd definitely be contacting my attorney or my insurance company!

You seem to be handling a lot better than I would though. Sorry that happened man.

 

[cycloneGTS]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by King GTS:
I'd definitely be contacting my attorney or my insurance company!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

My thoughts exactly...at least get insurance involved, and find out what their take is on it! Can't wait to hear how this gets resolved.

 

[George Farris]

I had a red 1995 factory painted door put on my red 1993 RT. The paint match was and still is perfect.