What caused this damage?
Discussion
It was the first sunny weekend of the year so my girlfriend took her car to get washed. Upon jet washing of the winter grime it became apparent the sills weren't quite the shape they used to be. I have my own suspicions about what the cause of this has been but I wanted to get the PH consensus. The below is a picture of the passenger side front jacking area. The drivers side has been damaged too but to a lesser extent.
The car has been back to the dealers a few weeks ago to have a strut bearing replaced. There is no other damage to the wheels, bumpers etc.
If anyone could muster a cost to repair that would also be handy!
The car has been back to the dealers a few weeks ago to have a strut bearing replaced. There is no other damage to the wheels, bumpers etc.
If anyone could muster a cost to repair that would also be handy!
It's not a fiat 500 by any chance is it? The sills are seemingly made of bits of paper and bits of chalk, they are renowned for getting crushed when they're shown a jack.
Does look like it's been caused by a lift or jack, doesn't look fresh from that photo though. To repair and paint would be between £200 and £500 depending on who you know and where you are.
Does look like it's been caused by a lift or jack, doesn't look fresh from that photo though. To repair and paint would be between £200 and £500 depending on who you know and where you are.
Edited by shake n bake on Monday 27th March 13:33
Might not have been jacked/lifted from the wrong place, if you're not careful it's easy on some 2 post lifts to catch the sills with the large section of the lifting arms, particularly on lower cars with the jacking points close together like on a short wheelbase car.
Looking at the shape and angle that could easily could explain the damage. It needs addressing quickly as it will rust
Looking at the shape and angle that could easily could explain the damage. It needs addressing quickly as it will rust
Impressive spot shake n bake, yes it's a Fiat 500. This is the latest chapter in a long Saga with this dealer group. The car is one year old and has had the following issues..
- Car arrived without the digital dash it was ordered with.
- Clutch release bearing failed resulting in new clutch #1 (cira 3k miles)
- After repair transmission makes a groaning noise under certain situations. Dealer diagnosed as warped flywheel so replaced flywheel and clutch again. Didn't fix the problem.
- When car was returned from that it came back with a dent low on rear quarter. Had to get that fixed by a PDR man after some quibbling.
- Next the steering wheel started making a clicking/rubbing noise so indicator stalk was replaced. This resulted in the horn being broken on the right hand side (still outstanding)
- Strut tower bearing replaced after 10k miles.
After the first dent we took it to a different dealer in the group thinking they might be better but now we have this damage. Mixed in with the above were numerous occasions where they didn't book the car in properly and were shocked when it turned up or failed to organize a courtesy car... ohh and the time when dealer 1 lost the locking wheel nut socket and dealer 2 had a right moan to us about it.
So overall pretty disgusted with them. We are waiting to hear back what their stance on this damage is going to be. They want to see the car in person but their initial response is to say "our guys lift fiat 500s everyday so it's not likely to have been us".
- Car arrived without the digital dash it was ordered with.
- Clutch release bearing failed resulting in new clutch #1 (cira 3k miles)
- After repair transmission makes a groaning noise under certain situations. Dealer diagnosed as warped flywheel so replaced flywheel and clutch again. Didn't fix the problem.
- When car was returned from that it came back with a dent low on rear quarter. Had to get that fixed by a PDR man after some quibbling.
- Next the steering wheel started making a clicking/rubbing noise so indicator stalk was replaced. This resulted in the horn being broken on the right hand side (still outstanding)
- Strut tower bearing replaced after 10k miles.
After the first dent we took it to a different dealer in the group thinking they might be better but now we have this damage. Mixed in with the above were numerous occasions where they didn't book the car in properly and were shocked when it turned up or failed to organize a courtesy car... ohh and the time when dealer 1 lost the locking wheel nut socket and dealer 2 had a right moan to us about it.
So overall pretty disgusted with them. We are waiting to hear back what their stance on this damage is going to be. They want to see the car in person but their initial response is to say "our guys lift fiat 500s everyday so it's not likely to have been us".
jke11y said:
I had exactly the same damage on my wifes fiat 500. The bit which looks exactly like a jacking point (complete with arrow) seemingly isn't. Ours was so bad that you could see the dent in the sill from above!
If an amateur jacked it there it would be forgivable, but aren't main dealer mechanics trained on the various models of their marque?NISaxoVTR said:
Impressive spot shake n bake, yes it's a Fiat 500. This is the latest chapter in a long Saga with this dealer group. The car is one year old and has had the following issues..
- Car arrived without the digital dash it was ordered with.
- Clutch release bearing failed resulting in new clutch #1 (cira 3k miles)
- After repair transmission makes a groaning noise under certain situations. Dealer diagnosed as warped flywheel so replaced flywheel and clutch again. Didn't fix the problem.
- When car was returned from that it came back with a dent low on rear quarter. Had to get that fixed by a PDR man after some quibbling.
- Next the steering wheel started making a clicking/rubbing noise so indicator stalk was replaced. This resulted in the horn being broken on the right hand side (still outstanding)
- Strut tower bearing replaced after 10k miles.
After the first dent we took it to a different dealer in the group thinking they might be better but now we have this damage. Mixed in with the above were numerous occasions where they didn't book the car in properly and were shocked when it turned up or failed to organize a courtesy car... ohh and the time when dealer 1 lost the locking wheel nut socket and dealer 2 had a right moan to us about it.
So overall pretty disgusted with them. We are waiting to hear back what their stance on this damage is going to be. They want to see the car in person but their initial response is to say "our guys lift fiat 500s everyday so it's not likely to have been us".
Brave posting this on gg. Won't be long before you'll be apportioned blame by the 'Pfft, what are you after - compensation? ferchristssake!' brigade. :-)- Car arrived without the digital dash it was ordered with.
- Clutch release bearing failed resulting in new clutch #1 (cira 3k miles)
- After repair transmission makes a groaning noise under certain situations. Dealer diagnosed as warped flywheel so replaced flywheel and clutch again. Didn't fix the problem.
- When car was returned from that it came back with a dent low on rear quarter. Had to get that fixed by a PDR man after some quibbling.
- Next the steering wheel started making a clicking/rubbing noise so indicator stalk was replaced. This resulted in the horn being broken on the right hand side (still outstanding)
- Strut tower bearing replaced after 10k miles.
After the first dent we took it to a different dealer in the group thinking they might be better but now we have this damage. Mixed in with the above were numerous occasions where they didn't book the car in properly and were shocked when it turned up or failed to organize a courtesy car... ohh and the time when dealer 1 lost the locking wheel nut socket and dealer 2 had a right moan to us about it.
So overall pretty disgusted with them. We are waiting to hear back what their stance on this damage is going to be. They want to see the car in person but their initial response is to say "our guys lift fiat 500s everyday so it's not likely to have been us".
You'll then be lobbied hard to 'suck it up', accept a free service and / or some mud flaps and console yourself with a new directorship or two.
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