Bodyshop have pulled a dirty trick!! Advice needed.

[L1ham]

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster...

I'm after a bit of advice. I had an incident in my Golf recently which meant one of the alloys needed to be replaced (on top of other repairs). I took it to a local bodyshop who I thought were decent because I've been happy with the work they did on my previous car in the past.

My car is a MK7 Golf GTD. The guy at the bodyshop said a new alloy and tyre would cost in excess of £500 BUT they just happened to have 3 spare alloys which came off a GTI which was crashed and repaired under the insurance (the wheels were replaced due to light scratches)... he said the wheel had the tiniest bit of damage and a tiny nick in the tyre, and that I could have it for £150. I'd rather have a pristine alloy but I felt like I'd be an idiot to pay so much extra so I decided to take the guy up on his offer.

Well, I got my car back today and sure enough, my alloy has been replaced with a good condition but not perfect second hand one.

Now this is the problem... I had a look at my other wheels and noticed that every single one of them has scratches and other minor damage... and the inside of the rim/lip (right next to the tyre wall) on every single wheel has been damaged - as if someone's done a really careless job of taking off the tyres (they would have no reason to touch any of my other wheels or tyres).

I know that every one of my alloys was in perfect condition and I have a sneaky suspicion they've replaced all of my pristine ones with the 'spares' they had lying around from this GTI and kept the good ones.

Has anyone else ever had a similar experience? What can I do? If they have done what I think they've done I've no way to prove it! I didn't notice this damage till I paid for my repairs and got the car home. The garage had closed by the time I noticed and tomorrow is Sunday, but I'm going down there ASAP on Monday. I feel like I've been absolutely taken for a ride. To top it all off, there was also a small scratch on the door, down to the primer, which "must have been there before" (it definitely wasn't). They've put touch up paint on it for me.

This is a lease car and I'd hate to get charged for the damage to the wheels!

EDIT:

The garage did have to do some wheel alignment. I don't know a lot about working on cars... if they haven't actually nicked my alloys, is it possible the machine or equipment they've used to do this job has damaged my wheels?

Pics:

Edited by L1ham on Sunday 10th August 18:50

[JakeT]

Do you know If the car has different tyres? But an alignment machine won't scratch them up. Go back and raise hell over theft...

[Mr GrimNasty]

Find the manufacturing date codes? Won't be conclusive but if they are too new for your car or don't match the spare (if you have one)?

They might have done it because the wheels were a slightly different colour, so gave you a matched set, rather than one off-shade wheel.

[anothernameitist]

Advice:
1) buy your next car then no need to worry over a lease
2) check any codes and tryes etc as already said
3) get down there and have merry hell
4 if 3 isn't your style send a mate down or get them to call saying they need Mk7 golf wheels and see what hey get offered in the just in section

[lightthefuse]

anothernameitist said:

Advice:
1) buy your next car then no need to worry over a lease
2) check any codes and tryes etc as already said
3) get down there and have merry hell
4 if 3 isn't your style send a mate down or get them to call saying they need Mk7 golf wheels and see what hey get offered in the just in section

Be a sneaky bugger like I would - do 4 then 3 with video evidence from the aforementioned mate!

[L1ham]

anothernameitist said:

send a mate down or get them to call saying they need Mk7 golf wheels and see what hey get offered in the just in section

That is a very good idea, the only thing is it may prove they've took my alloys but I still don't really stand a chance of getting them back or even getting them to admit what they've done.


Just gonna have to go down on Monday and see if they'll sort it out. If they do nothing, I will resort to raising hell. Hopefully I'll either get my wheels back or I'll get some kind of a refund.

JakeT said:

Do you know If the car has different tyres? But an alignment machine won't scratch them up. Go back and raise hell over theft...

The tyres are the same brand etc... they're the ones which come on the car as standard so if they have been changed I can't really tell...

Mr GrimNasty said:

Find the manufacturing date codes? Won't be conclusive but if they are too new for your car or don't match the spare (if you have one)?

They might have done it because the wheels were a slightly different colour, so gave you a matched set, rather than one off-shade wheel.

I very much doubt it It's just black paint so I can't imagine there being a noticeable difference in shade which would warrant doing what they've done. The thing that's really confused me is the guy told me they only had 3 wheels off this GTI, but now I have 4 damaged ones...

Do you know where I can find this code? I didn't realise the wheels were marked with the manufacture date... this could very well clamp them if they are indeed too new for my car.

Edited by L1ham on Sunday 10th August 00:09

[Urban Sports]

Aren't GTI and GTD alloys different?

[L1ham]

Urban Sports said:

Aren't GTI and GTD alloys different?

I thought so too but the guy still seems to think these came off a GTI :/ regardless, the wheels I've been given are the same as what I had before.

[Seek]

Might it be that you still have your original GTD alloys but that they put the (more worn) tires off the GTI alloys on your car?

Check if the brand, modelname & production date of the tires match your spare wheel.

[J4CKO]

That is very sneaky, they will of course deny all knowledge.

[L1ham]

Seek said:

Might it be that you still have your original GTD alloys but that they put the (more worn) tires off the GTI alloys on your car?

Check if the brand, modelname & production date of the tires match your spare wheel.

I doubt it because he said this GTI only had 1000 miles on it. It was probably another GTD to be honest and he just called it a GTI. Any idea where they mark the wheel with production date etc?

[Seek]

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.j...

[L1ham]

Seek said:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.j...

Thanks.

Right I've had a look and this is looking a little fishy to me...

The spare wheel is marked 48 13

All four corners of the car are marked 51 13

I'm supposed to have one new alloy and tyre so I'd say the chances are the date should be different on one of them. What are the chances it would have been manufactured in the exact same week of 2013 as the original?

EDIT: would you always expect the spare tyre to match the dates on the originals?

Edited by L1ham on Sunday 10th August 14:32

[berlintaxi]

L1ham said:

EDIT: would you always expect the spare tyre to match the dates on the originals?

Not particularly, 3 weeks difference in dates is nothing.

[L1ham]

berlintaxi said:

Not particularly, 3 weeks difference in dates is nothing.

I thought the same. I'd still like to know what the hell's been going on... when I got the car back the flap for the fuel was open as well... and the dash read "33 MPG since refuel". I haven't refueled recently, and I get a lot more than 33 MPG!

[Rick101]

The garage had 3 x alloys available. You wanted one, they have allegedly swapped the remainder. Shouldn't this leave you with 1 'original' wheel?

Could it be the scratches were already there but you only really inspected the wheels properly following the work?

[L1ham]

Rick101 said:

The garage had 3 x alloys available. You wanted one, they have allegedly swapped the remainder. Shouldn't this leave you with 1 'original' wheel?

Could it be the scratches were already there but you only really inspected the wheels properly following the work?

Yes, if they've swapped them, I should still have one original... I know the scratches were not there before because I've never scraped the wheels off anything, apart from hitting the curb which meant the car had to visit the garage in the first place.

What's really confusing is that many of the scratches appear to have been caused when the tyre was not on the wheel... I will provide pics later when it's stopped raining to explain it better.

[Daniel1]

Our work van went in for a quick body repair and came back with four different wheels and nearly bald tyres. If you're sure then go back and raise merry hell.

[bayemvay]

Some types of laser wheel alignment gear can cause damage similar to what you describe, if they're careless with it.

Edited by bayemvay on Sunday 10th August 16:15

[L1ham]

bayemvay said:

Some types of laser wheel alignment gear can cause damage similar to what you describe, if they're careless with it.

Edited by bayemvay on Sunday 10th August 16:15

Seems possible. Hopefully they can at least offer an explanation when I take the car down there tomorrow.

I know this may seem like a lot to make a fuss over, but they were pristine before they went to the garage. At some points it looks like jagged bits of metal are actually digging into the rubber itself. Here are some pics from two wheels - they all have similar damage: