How much does a bad repaint hurt value on a s2000? A shop painted my Sons car as a "favor"

Datsun1500 wrote: Who are the 2 people that voted up your post? They need to study their cars a little more.

I'll admit that I did. I probably do need to study cars more, but I didn't assume you were dumb. Sorry I is an idiot.

In reply to EastCoastMojo:

We all make mistakes, big people (hearted that is) admit them!

I know that it is too late for any more input but get some witnesses and/or a Lawyer to be present for this whole process at Maaco.

Nah, being direct is not being an shiny happy person. It's all good. Good luck getting it resolved.

The legal issue is not the devaluation of the car by re-painting it.

It is the criminal behavior (vandalism, fraud, etc).

If you lawyer up, it ain't gonna be a $16K settlement.

If the owner/ manager has half a brain, he will write you a check immediately.

He can pay you $16K for the car and sell it in a week or two for $12K (total cost $4K), or he can pay his attorney $25K in fees to fight a loosing battle, then loose an additional $50K- $100K in lost business.

rcutclif wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote:

mr2peak wrote: Better Business Bureau

Does the BBB actually provide ANY service whatsoever?

Only to businesses. My understanding is you pay a 'membership' as a business that lets you list yourself as being affiliated. There are obviously different levels. I believe they do ratings and feedback and such on their 'members'... but only companies who have paid them. I believe now that there are online reviews almost everywhere, the BBB is really just an extra advertising tool for companies.

You got it. Had a customer complain to BBB. Their rep told me if I paid $250 to get on their website, the complaint would go away. BBB was always my first sign the customer didn't have a legitimate complaint, and had no intention of doing anything about it, except complain to someone who was supposed to handle it for them.

JohnRW1621 wrote: Maybe the employee who took the car for a joy-ride?

DIS

Wow. I'm gonna go with 'they wrecked it somehow' for $800, Alex. I would not sand ANYTHING on that car but would certainly take an inspection light and a few small tools, be prepared to look inside fenders etc. for signs of Bondo and most definitely get it on video.

You can buy a meter that "reads" paint depth. It will read extremely high or even blank on bondo or heavy repaint. It's great at an auction. It's not a cheap piece of equipment, but maybe you could borrow one somewhere.

What a total clusterberkeley. Really. Its sucks to hear you're in this situation. There are many good suggestions here, but the best IMHO is to involve a lawyer. I stand by the joy-ride assumption. That was my immediate thought when they are painting your son's car as a "favor".

N Sperlo wrote: What a total clusterberkeley. Really. Its sucks to hear you're in this situation. There are many good suggestions here, but the best IMHO is to involve a lawyer. I stand by the joy-ride assumption. That was my immediate thought when they are painting your son's car as a "favor".

it went from a "favor" to hey you owe us 2k for fresh paint.

SVreX wrote: If the owner/ manager has half a brain, he will write you a check immediately. He can pay you $16K for the car and sell it in a week or two for $12K (total cost $4K), or he can pay his attorney $25K in fees to fight a loosing battle, then loose an additional $50K- $100K in lost business.

I agree with that this is the logical thing to do. However, that is assuming he has 16k cash to do this with. I had a shady business (tow truck) that I had judgement against. They couldn't come up with the cash, so the sherrif impounded and sold his tow truck.

A lawyer is a good idea. Realistically, though, the most likely outcome is a cash payment to you for the difference between what the car was worth when you gave it to them and what the car is worth now because that's your "damages." While it might seem "fair" that they buy your car, that isn't the way the law or insurance companies work.

I'd contact your insurance company and tell them what happened, as well. I expect this will come down to a settlement with the shop's insurance company.

Sorry to hear about this Datsun1500. You didn't go looking for trouble but it found you.

I think Basil Exposition is on to something. I'd contact my insurance company and let them know what went down. They have a squadron of lawyers who can descend on this shop and their insurance company to recoup what you've lost.

Would you let us know how it works out? Might be a learning moment for us all. Good luck.

Basil Exposition wrote: A lawyer is a good idea. Realistically, though, the most likely outcome is a cash payment to you for the difference between what the car was worth when you gave it to them and what the car is worth now because that's your "damages." While it might seem "fair" that they buy your car, that isn't the way the law or insurance companies work. I'd contact your insurance company and tell them what happened, as well. I expect this will come down to a settlement with the shop's insurance company.

Good advice, and I AM a lawyer.

Don't futz with the body, take lots of pictures, get statements from the guys that checked the body before, call your insurance company to see if they even cover that, and definitely contact a lawyer to help you out. Believe me, a lawyer-gram is a lot more effective than a disgruntled and threatening customer. I've solved several local fellow car buffs' problems like this for $-200 with a call or letter.

Your damages are the difference between what your car was worth before they touched it and what it was worth when you got it back. You'll need an expert appraiser to give that sort of evidence - guessing doesn't count.

Good point. Insurance companies deal with damage to property, and in this case, someone has done damage to your property.

How much does de-badging an S2000 hurt value?

Take pics of all of the body shops cars that are at Macco and threaten to contact the owners...

So it's looking like the guys at Maaco did the damage? Glad to hear that the shop owner wants to make it right.

So...did somebody there bang it up and they painted it to hide the damage?

+1 if the apparent upstanding shop owner doesn't forget what was said.

Keep us updated please. This one is interesting.

This is why no one works on my cars but me. So sorry this happened to you. Glad it's sounding like they'll take care of it in an amicable fashion.

Excellent. You rarely ever hear stories that end well on the Internets.

-1 for punctuation and spelling + 1 for desired outcome. Free food at Karls? Food fight.

There are days I wish this forum had a fast forward button so I could just skip to the end and find out what's happened. The suspense is killer.

-Rob