Rusty repairs....advice?
Discussion
My dear wife had her Doblo t-boned by a pair of Aussies (yes, I realise this sounds a bit dodgy, but carry on!) driving on the wrong side of the road, 3 years ago. Damage to rear door and panel but very repairable.
We had the work done locally at a body shop, paid for from their hire car insurance. Nice job, good as new. So far, so good.
Fast forward 3 years, I notice rust starting at the bottom of the repaired door and the rear panel. There is no rust anywhere else. Doblos are galvanised so this shouldn't happen. It seems to me that the repair must have breached the galvanised protection. Not happy, as the car is only 4 years old and in otherwise good condition.
Do I have any come-back to the body shop after all this time? Is it reasonable to expect that a repaired galvanised panel should stay rust free?
I look forward to your thoughts, oh Pistonheads massive......
We had the work done locally at a body shop, paid for from their hire car insurance. Nice job, good as new. So far, so good.
Fast forward 3 years, I notice rust starting at the bottom of the repaired door and the rear panel. There is no rust anywhere else. Doblos are galvanised so this shouldn't happen. It seems to me that the repair must have breached the galvanised protection. Not happy, as the car is only 4 years old and in otherwise good condition.
Do I have any come-back to the body shop after all this time? Is it reasonable to expect that a repaired galvanised panel should stay rust free?
I look forward to your thoughts, oh Pistonheads massive......
Presumably the contract was between the insurance company and the garage so you may have to go through them. I can see this being a minefield as you may have to prove that Doblos haven't done that anyway and the corrosion may be inside out rather than outside in. What is the difference in value - I assume it has depreciated like a comet? 
If the area damaged was dented and the door was not replaced but repaired this would happen. One would assume that the dent was hammered out and filled in. Where the dent occured and the subsequent repair the galvanised coating would have been damaged and rust will come though eventually. I do not know what comeback (if any) you would have.
(I know my spelling is bad, let us not turn this into a lesson on grammar/spelling, I get enough of this from SWMBO.)
(I know my spelling is bad, let us not turn this into a lesson on grammar/spelling, I get enough of this from SWMBO.)
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