Newly painted w/ scratches and swirls. What to do?

[Tim Greer]

There is no before picture to compare it to. I took the car in to them to do the complete body and paint. I have a mechanic that did all of the other work before for other reasons and can attest to and prove that the things that they didn't put together right with the electrical or engine were indeed working fine. The fact there is paint over rust and runs and scratches deep into the paint is all the proof I should need.

I paid them for a complete body and paint job, rust cure, etc. for "show car condition". So, there's no relevance to someone's word over someone else's, this is how I picked up the car two days ago, in THIS condition. Going back and thinking I could pull the car out when they didn't meet their estimated deadline might be regretful, but it's not a legal grounds for them to get away with it. They were always several thousand dollars ahead of me, where if I pulled it out, it would have cost me $10K+ if I took it to someone else. I'm certain they operated like that intentionally.

I realize that some of the holes are for other trim, but that one hole is larger than it should be, it should be a small pin hole like the driver side is, and not be pushed in/dented. I realize that people are encouraging me to consider the fact that even if you're right in court, it doesn't mean you are going to win, but when you take a car to someone and they charge you to perform the service and don't end up performing said service, and manage to damage and break things all over the car in the process, there's just no way I could lose.

I might not get enough to pay for someone else to do it in full, but I would win. As I said, this was a complete restore, so there is no debate about what it looked like before, this is just the result (and that is the problem). I don't think it's legal for body shops to just commit fraud by not providing the service they charged for. Painting over rust and trying to fill in problems with mismatching paint, that's pretty intentional and I'd label that as fraud. Additionally, their Bureau of Automotive Repair license to operate for the state of California is delinquent and their other shop shows as expired (some other place took over that shop).

As much as I regret not just taking it earlier, you have to consider the work they did and how they didn't do anything they were paid to do (I get that one's determination of good work can differ, but not covering things up and causing damage and for a bunch of things on your car to no longer work). That's what law suits are for, but hopefully it won't come to that. I see people often sort of have a fatalistic view on courts offering a remedy when something like this happens, but I know I definitely have a good case.

PS: Also note, that the runs aren't all on the rockers and aren't in locations where trim could have covered it. Also, that hole shouldn't be so large that I can put my pinkie into it. It was difficult to get all of these things to show up on camera, is the main problem. If you saw this in person, you'd better understand. Truly, the least of my concerns and problems with this are the "runs" in the paint (that is just one of a lot of problems). Again, this was a case where they charged me to provide a service and do specific work. They didn't and tried to cover it up. I believe that is a form of auto body fraud. I mean, you can't just charge someone $10-15K for body work, and basically just spray over all of the rust and problems you were paid to fix.

You'd have to refund the money or do the job. Since they can't do the job (aren't able or willing), they need to give me at least some portion of my money back, and I'll have someone else do it. It's not legal for them to just keep the money and claim they think it's good enough, when it's not what they promised (showroom/car show quality), and there's no denying it's definitely far from that.