Good day all,
My 13 Elantra was involved in a minor accident where I was hit on the rear quarter panel. Took it to a reputable dealer (their insurance paid and wanted me to go there) to get it repaired. Seems this insurance company pushes them to get the cars out fast and the repair was done in a day. Repair looked fine, but when I open the door, it looks like a powder bomb went off inside the car. There is powder (from some part of the repair) everywhere. It is mainly concentrated in the rear seats. It smells just awful in there as well...I made sure to show them and i take it in tomorrow for cleanup. My concern is this... How is this dust for electronics and the heated seats? I think that it wouldn't be good. I would appreciate any thoughts on how I should approach this with them...
Modern solid state electronics are pretty much immune to dust, nothing moves except the electrons of course and any motors for moving things like an electric seat are very well sealed from the elements. My biggest concern would be fine dust going deep into the fabric of the interior. Hope they clean it up well for you and this sloppy work isn't carried over to the body work. Cheers.
Bondo aka body filler is used in 99% of body work that involves missshaped body panels made of metal or fiberglass. Its even used on plastic bumbers in some cases.
Bondo aka body filler is used in 99% of body work that involves missshaped body panels made of metal or fiberglass. Its even used on plastic bumbers in some cases.
Negative, you weld in a new quarter panel. Bondo is a cheap repair and will not last. Bondo dries up and cracks within a few years. Plastic bumper that are repaired cheaply should be plastic welded, which I've never accepted as it's better to just replaced bumper cover. That plastic weld also does not last.
Your car is required to be repaired to preaccident condition. One reason I never let the instuance company dictate who or where the repairs are completed. They will go as cheap as they can get away with.
In my state, the owner, without penalty, can take their damaged vehicle for auto insurance paid repair to the body shop of the owner's choice. The last insurance paid body repair for one of my vehicles, I opted to use the insurance vendor because I knew the shop had a good reputation.
In case you are wondering about the accident, my car was legally parked on a residential street in Long Island. Two cars on the street crashed and one was pushed into my car. My insurance took responsibility, then got their money back from the insurance companies of the other 2 vehicles. New York state has laws that allow assignment of a percentage of responsibility to both vehicles in a wreck. My insurance advised me to use my collision coverage and let them negotiate (fight it out) with the other companies to be reimbursed. Thus, my car could be repaired immediately because it can take months for the insurance companies to fight it out over the percent of the damages they will have to pay.
25 years in the Insurance industry and before that in the repair industry. Your car comes from the factory with body filler. Welded panels, like the roof, quarter panels. A, B and C pillars and rockers use filler to make the the panels appear seamless. Body filler is also used to identify high and low spots when sheet metal is being worked and sanded so there is dust, lots of dust. The shop's detailer did a piss poor job of cleaning up. It's not a reflection of the quality of the work per se but I would go over the repair with a fine tooth comb. How is the paint finish? Any trash in the clearcoat, orange peel, panels line up properly? Any parts on the estimate being bid to be replaced versus repaired? Make sure the shop put the parts on instead of skimping and repairing panels they got paid to replace. Check the paint match in bright, natural light, it looks good in the evening and night but will really show a poor paint match during daylight.
Thanks all for the replies. I wish I had a picture of the dust in the back seats and door jambs. It was a thin layer on all surfaces and a little in the front. I will pull the filter, that is a great idea! I will ask how they repaired it as well.
After noticing that they missed a spot after polishing the paint twice (had a matte look when all else was gloss) and a few bubbles in the paint. They are redoing it the job and also doing a total clean up on the car. That was after I went off on them when they said they did a full cleaning in the back and it was still full of dust. (Very easy to see) and the wind deflector suddenly was lose and the gasket was hanging off. (I have no idea why they did that) and some mystery scratches showing up. I still think they scratched my wheel but I have no set proof so letting that ride.
I'll get it back in the morning. I'll let ya know how it turns out.
-Andy
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