body shop woes

[turboawd]

So my x5 got hit in front by a drunk. Caused about 15k in body damage and 5k in suspension damage.
I took my vehicle to the only 'bmw certified' body shop in my state. After 2 months i get my x5 back and notice the body gaps are way bigger than original. Hood to fender, and headlight to grill gaps are twice the size of normal.
Front grill sticks in almost half inch from front of hood.
Back edge of hood has paint drip mark and on other spot i can see primer.
There is a piece of reinforcing trim behind fender missing.
A ding on rear side. My x5 was mint before wreck. Only have 8k miles.
Front wheel was refinished yet I can still see some light marks.
Is it too much to expect no dust or roughness on panel edges?
And why do i have swirls in my paint now?

Am i expecting too much for my vehicle to look like new, considering it was practically new before the wreck?
I dropped my x5 off the very next day after picking it up from the shop. I guess I'll see what they will do.

[roadkillrob]

That would be completely unacceptable in my book, my x3 was hit in the front and when i got it back it was basically impossible to tell, sounds like they cut some corners and drips in paint and primer showing is totally amateur hour.

BMW certified is also not necessarily the best shop to work on your car, the 3 best shops to work on a BMW in my area are not certified BMW shops, but do the best work around. Ask around the forums next time you need a good shop - picky BMW owners are your best reference.

Sorry about the problems you are having, hopefully they come good on it, otherwise you can get your insurance company involved, you should also be going after a diminished value claim with that much damage, the car will never be worth as much later in life.

[lowlevelhell]

Find a new shop. Your insurance should guarantee the workmanship.

[jcfay]

please take some pics. the work sounds god awful. totally unacceptable. sounds like a complete redo. I could probably do better body work...

[Stinkyxy]

Given it is a BMW certified shop I think you can take it to BMW to have it inspected. If it does not pass the shop has to fix the work or risk losing the certification. Doors being out of tolerance or wheels unable to be aligned would be cause for re-work.

Be careful, a lot of shops say they replace parts (suspension, etc) but just try to pull the body to compensate for the misalignment. Take it to BMW to have the full alignment check to make sure that it is within tolerance. If not, make them put new parts in.

If it is a lease, hand it back in when you can because the car is devalued now.

[Neuera09]

Call the shop and get your old parts. Check your work order and make sure the used OEM versus China made parts. If they lied and cut corners then they'll loose their certification.

In California, we have a state agency called Bureau of Automotive Repair. They regulate the body shops in the State. They offer free inspections on vehicles recently repaired, especially for those who are not satisfied with the shop's work. I am sure you have a similar agency in your state. I highly suggest you look into this as well.

[turboawd]

Originally Posted by Stinkyxy

Given it is a BMW certified shop I think you can take it to BMW to have it inspected. If it does not pass the shop has to fix the work or risk losing the certification. Doors being out of tolerance or wheels unable to be aligned would be cause for re-work.

Be careful, a lot of shops say they replace parts (suspension, etc) but just try to pull the body to compensate for the misalignment. Take it to BMW to have the full alignment check to make sure that it is within tolerance. If not, make them put new parts in.

If it is a lease, hand it back in when you can because the car is devalued now.

the body shop did the body work, then they sent it to the bmw dealer for suspension work. 4 alignments were done. they started by changing control arms and strut mounts. but the specs were still off a bit. so it was decided to change the whole engine subframe assembly. the x5 drives straight. i'm not too worried about that part of the repair. its just the fit and finish of the bodyshop. i expected things to be near oem, since they are 'certified by bmw'....whatever that means.

[Alan l.]

Take pics to document everything you mentioned here. They will come in handy incase you need to take it further. Chances are if the bodyshop was willing to give you the car back this way they aren't going to do much for you unless you turn the heat on.

Alan

[MattBianco]

Terrible. All the above advice is good. Pursue all: shop, BMW, insurance, regulatory bodies.

[wjbender]

Base on my previous career in the body business - the repair should look as good as new and be undetectable to the layman.

[Tyler_Durden]

I feel your pain man. My car has been in and out of a 'BMW certified' shop for the last 5 months. There were issues with interior lighting, a large dashboard puncture by a tech, door seals, and now a bad dash rattle after they put in the new one.

I think these 'BMW certified' shops get so many vehicles that their quality controls are minimal.

[turboawd]

well i picked up my x5 yesterday after the shop had my x5 all week, after i had dropped it off immediately after getting it back the first time. i gave the shop an honest chance to fix things. i never got mad or yelled at them, i simply pointed out what i wasnt happy with. but this is how i get my x5 back. i'm not happy.
the shop tried telling me that there was no bracket or piece missing behind the passenger fender that they replaced. two guys told me this. then when i asked them to check another x5, then they changed their tone, and said they ordered the part and it wasnt going to be here until next week. yet they did install one rivet into one of the blank holes, with nothing behind it!
they removed the dent on the rear side.
the front of hood lines up with the grill now.
they realigned the hood, fender, and head lights. its better than before, but still not what i'd expect from a "bmw" shop. the worse being the gap between the hood and driver fender being over a 1/4 inch wide.
they did nothing with the drip mark or thin paint on the back corner of the hood.

the biggest surprise is what they did to my passenger door! there are 2 long vertical marks on the passenger door, that look like hard door dings. and they tried buffing it out, and the amount of swirls in the paint is unbelievable! it looks bad when the sun is out.

what the heck do i do now? take the x5 back again and have them screw something else up?

here is an album of pictures i uploaded. there is a before shot, a shot when i dropped the x5 off last weekend, and the rest are from today.

View post on imgur.com

[apw2607]

Originally Posted by turboawd

well i picked up my x5 yesterday after the shop had my x5 all week, after i had dropped it off immediately after getting it back the first time. i gave the shop an honest chance to fix things. i never got mad or yelled at them, i simply pointed out what i wasnt happy with. but this is how i get my x5 back. i'm not happy.
the shop tried telling me that there was no bracket or piece missing behind the passenger fender that they replaced. two guys told me this. then when i asked them to check another x5, then they changed their tone, and said they ordered the part and it wasnt going to be here until next week. yet they did install one rivet into one of the blank holes, with nothing behind it!
they removed the dent on the rear side.
the front of hood lines up with the grill now.
they realigned the hood, fender, and head lights. its better than before, but still not what i'd expect from a "bmw" shop. the worse being the gap between the hood and driver fender being over a 1/4 inch wide.
they did nothing with the drip mark or thin paint on the back corner of the hood.

the biggest surprise is what they did to my passenger door! there are 2 long vertical marks on the passenger door, that look like hard door dings. and they tried buffing it out, and the amount of swirls in the paint is unbelievable! it looks bad when the sun is out.

what the heck do i do now? take the x5 back again and have them screw something else up?

here is an album of pictures i uploaded. there is a before shot, a shot when i dropped the x5 off last weekend, and the rest are from today.

View post on imgur.com

Contact your insurance company and say you want a different body shop. They are going to have to repaint the door and need to realign the hood.

Thats pretty awful.

[Terp335]

That is terrible. Call your insurance company. Google where other people are getting their expensive imports repainted in your area and go there. I absolutely wouldn't take my X5 back to the first shop. There are good reputable shops out there who will do a first class job but you have to find them and they are few and far between. When someone hit my 335 in a parking lot (with 500 miles on it) I took it to a body shop that only took cash (they were that good, and not a BMW shop) and convinced my insurance company to reimburse me.

You passenger door looks pretty bad (can't tell if it's dented though). I would bet a good detailer who specializes in paint correction could get all the swirls out and make it look like new. Given all the other hands who have touched your car, I'd wait for the paint to cure (when this is over) and have someone do the entire car anyway. Black is a bitch to maintain, and it only takes one bad wash for someone to f it up. I feel for you.

[turboawd]

Originally Posted by Terp335

That is terrible. Call your insurance company. Google where other people are getting their expensive imports repainted in your area and go there. I absolutely wouldn't take my X5 back to the first shop. There are good reputable shops out there who will do a first class job but you have to find them and they are few and far between. When someone hit my 335 in a parking lot (with 500 miles on it) I took it to a body shop that only took cash (they were that good, and not a BMW shop) and convinced my insurance company to reimburse me.

You passenger door looks pretty bad (can't tell if it's dented though). I would bet a good detailer who specializes in paint correction could get all the swirls out and make it look like new. Given all the other hands who have touched your car, I'd wait for the paint to cure (when this is over) and have someone do the entire car anyway. Black is a bitch to maintain, and it only takes one bad wash for someone to f it up. I feel for you.

the dings arent deep, but they definetly show a ripple mark when looking at paint at an angle. and the paint is lightly scratched in the dents.

[Terp335]

Hopefully they are not on a crease and painless dent removal is an option.

[P1]

Nothing worse than dealing with body shops. For 80% of the population, that would probably have been acceptable. But I for one, would not have accepted that. Their typical response to swirls in black paint is that it's "impossible" to not have swirls in black paint. Don't accept that.

[alphaod]

Doesn't sound like acceptable work. When I hit a deer in my E70, my indy fixed it like new. Made sure everything fit perfectly and paint matched. Initially I think they fixed a scratch. Didn't like their own work to satisfaction and ask me to wait an extra couple days so they could repaint the whole panel. Drive it another 100k after that with no issues whatsoever. And they're not "certified" or anything.

[Kief]

What a PITA, so sorry OP.

[MattBianco]

Originally Posted by MattBianco

Terrible. All the above advice is good. Pursue all: shop, BMW, insurance, regulatory bodies.

^ Add, credit card company, if you paid yourself and got refunded by insurance.