Dealer Scratched My Car!

[smith94]

Asking where I stand with this.

Dropped my car off for £1050 worth of work at my local BMW dealer and they said they would give it a hand wash for £5 and I duly accepted.

The garage offer a complimentary mechanical wash but wanted the hand wash as I know they outsource valeting and thought this would stop the risk of any damage to the paint.

Pick up the car no problem the next day and drive out into the rain. After a pretty dreadful week of weather I wash the car as normal and there are some pretty long but not very deep scratches in the bonnet, doors, rear windscreen and on the rear.

I'm very particular with how I wash cars and know I wouldn't have scratched the car, especially as I carried out the same exact procedure as usual (pressure washed, wash mitts, two buckets, rinsed, microfibre drying etc)

Rang them and I'm going in for it to be assessed. I expect them to put it right but wonder where I stand? The car was immaculate before going in for work with them. For someone who washes car for a profession, whichever valeter worked on my car that day must have been a moron.

For reference, here is the bonnet a couple of weeks ago after a clay bar and a wax.



Would you expect the dealer to right this FOC or play the blame game?

[smith94]

ging84 said:

how long have you had the car?
if it's new to you, then the scratches might have been there to start with and covered up with some cheap polish which has now been washed off

Since November 1st last year.

I've clay barred the car when I got it and a couple of weeks ago when the picture was taken so the paint was taken back to bare and then nice wax applied.

Any scratches would have shown up then if they were present.

[smith94]

Matt UK said:

Sorry to hear this.

Main dealers though are a bit crap at proper valets, most seem to use the same guys that wash cars in the local sainsburys car park.

Keep going at them though, if your car has been damaged they need to put it right.

Very crap by the looks of things. I expected more from them. £5 is nothing but I took it as a courtesy cost and would charge more for it if I were not to have work done - obviously not!

I have a feeling they will say they cannot be blamed for it, which would really suck as I can't really prove it.

Good business practice would see them in my eyes, fix the fault as I will spend money there in the future if they rectify this, perhaps I'll go elsewhere if not.

[smith94]

stain said:

They 'might' take it 100% on the chin but probably not. All depends on your relationship and what's at stake. FWIW I don't let them wash my cars. Ever.

I won't be letting them from now on. Rookie mistake.

[smith94]

Off to the dealer this afternoon.

Interested to see what comes of it.

What service should they offer to right it? Machine polish?

[smith94]

I did worry about agreeing to the wash at the dealer for this very reason but thought it wouldn't be such an amateur outfit. If they right it I'll have no issue with them and will have learnt my lesson to just stick to doing it myself!

[smith94]

Chongwong said:

If they do repair it for you, then good on them. Though i wouldn't be surprised if they just tell you that you shuold have checked it before you left (I realize that this is unpractical if the car is wet), and that anything could have happened since you left them.

Good Luck

When I rang them yesterday they didn't seemed surprised and asked me to come in straight away. I get the impression that this may have happened before. Let's see what happens.

[smith94]

Andehh said:

Reported it to them but due to 4 years old & it being so so dirty before they got it I couldn't push (

So the fact that it was dirty beforehand gives them excuse to why they scratched it?

[smith94]

Been to BMW dealer today and had a fairly long chat to them.

Car is going back on friday to be assessed and the service manager assured me that they would 'resolve' the situation at the bodyshop if deemed necessary.

We shall see then.

he wants to clean it on Friday before assessing it, think I'll get up early and do it myself - don't want to add anymore scratches!

[smith94]

Here's the car this evening. Flash has brought the scratches out. Admittedly this looks a lot worse than it is but shows where the damage was done. 2-3 of similar marks on each door and one on the boot lid.

[smith94]

fulgurex said:

Did you actually check how the dealer is cleaning the ca, like I suggested? Go out the back and check if they are using a couple of cowboys with a dirty rag. That would be good ammunition before you negotiate solution with the dealer. This is probably not a "one off" situation.

I've seen the cleaners in action at my local Porsche and Ferrari dealer and I certainly wouldn't let them loose on my car.

If you need to, put a notice on the dashboard before car goes into dealers stating " Do NOT wash this car"

Couldn't get round the back.

On Friday im going early morning and I know they'll be there then.

Edited by smith94 on Tuesday 3rd March 22:01

[smith94]

djdest said:

As someone who obviously knows something about swirls and detailing, based on the fact you know about the two bucket method etc, why on earth did you agree to them washing it?

Put simply, I trusted them. I thought a big main dealer wouldn't be so awful.

[smith94]

zeDuffMan said:

What do you expect for a fiver? A decent wash mitt costs £6.

Either you care about your cars paint or you don't. If you do, you know a £5 wash is not going to be a decent job.

I thought the £5 charge was a cost covering exercise, they're not looking to make money from it IMO.

Even so, a main dealer shouldn't give your car back with a load of scratches in it.

[smith94]

Glassman said:

If it was handed over to you washed, how did you miss them?

It's a drive in bay with poor overhead lighting, even the service manager commented on the fact.

I was also in a rush because I was late to the Bedford SEN trackday the weekend before last. (Wasn't driving my car, just went as a passenger with some friends)

Edited by smith94 on Tuesday 3rd March 22:02

[smith94]

zeDuffMan said:

smith94 said:

Put simply, I trusted them. I thought a big main dealer wouldn't be so awful.

When you go back, take note of how many cars they have to clean.

Why? Do you mean to say I'll realise why they are allowed to do a shoddy job because they need to get through a load of cars in a day?

If you bear in mind that some paint jobs can run into the thousands of pounds, yet they aren't too bothered about scratching those.

I'm sure they wouldn't want to scratch some nice leather on the interior that was a similar cost as an option...

[smith94]

Glassman said:

smith94 said:

Glassman said:

If it was handed over to you washed, how did you miss them?

It's a drive in bay with poor overhead lighting, even the service manager commented on the fact.

I was also in a rush because I was late to the Bedford SEN trackday the weekend before last. (Wasn't driving my car, just went as a passenger with some friends)

Edited by smith94 on Tuesday 3rd March 22:02

Let's hope the right outcome is realised; technically speaking, it's your responsibility after handover - IOW you accept the car after having checked its condition - added to this you say you washed it; the dealer could easily shrug this claim off IMO.

I'm fairly confident it'll work out. The service manager said he'd be able to 'resolve' it.

On Friday he wants to clean it again, so when they do I'm going to request that I oversee it.

Any sort of sponge, chamois leather, TFR, dirty water or old cloths and I think they won't have that much of a defence.

I'm 21 so have decided to bring my dad down with me on Friday as he is also a loyal customer there and buys a car privately from them every 3 years or so. Hopefully with my recent spend and my previous work I've had done as well as his ongoing custom they'll act on it with 'good will'.

Fingers crossed.

I've documented it very well with a DSLR so we don't miss anything come the end of the week.

[smith94]

Thing is that when I picked the car up it was sat in very poor light, I drove straight out into the rain and drove 60 miles or so to Bedford, by which point it was dirty and I couldn't see the scratches.

Rest of the week was pretty dreadful weather and as soon as I washed it on Sunday I noticed them and called dealer first thing Monday.

I told him (service manage) all that and he appreciated that. I haven't and wouldn't give any BS to try and get my way.

[smith94]

Well, credit to the dealer as they have taken my car in today after speaking to them again and are going to machine polish the scratches out in the bodyshop. Spoke to the guy who will being doing it and he was confident it would be an easy job as he prepares the approved used cars all the time that are in similar situations.

All of this is FOC including a new Mini Cooper to knock around in for the day.

Picking the car up first thing tomorrow so hope they do a good job.

[smith94]

I went and looked at the usual washing squad at the back of the service areas.

They use sponges and chamois leathers which obviously is not ideal and very easy to scratch paint.

Told them the cons of this and the pros of using proper products like wash mitts, microfibres et al.

Person dealing with me came back with "well they're BMW approved sponges so definitely wouldn't scratch the paint I don't think".

Hmmm... http://youtu.be/1lRIQGU2RRk?t=10s

Anyway, like I said, hopefully tomorrow the car will be back to its best!

Edited by smith94 on Friday 6th March 13:54

[smith94]

Car came back today and to be fair to them they did a good job.

Had polished the scratches out well and after I spent some time on it myself it is back to its best again.