survey1

YUP

DaveW68

Let them fix it. If they don't do a quality repair, then point out the flaws and make them re-do it. A quality repair won't diminish the value of your car at all. Since it was not involved in an accident, nothing will be reported to CarFax.

Mike5215

Yeah, my thoughts as well. Let them fix it. If it's not an acceptable repair then you can explore options for recourse. Odds are you'd never know it has been shot. What color is the car?

jylee

Let them fix it. Are you going to tell the new buyer that the car was damaged??? Just be happy, don't lose sleep over a simple minor issue.

survey1

Most buyers now are smart enough to detect paint on the private market and if I try to trade every appraiser/dealer is going to detect paint and deduct money from their offer to buy or on a private sale they may just avoid the car altogether suspecting unreported accident repair. Neither of these problems should become mine as I did not cause the damage.

Mike5215

I'm a trained, licensed adjuster with over a decade of field experience. While I can certainly spot a bad paint job, I've had my own cars shot at my local MB certified shop and the work was imperceptible, that is, visually I could not tell the areas had been painted.

I had also had the shop refinish an entire AMG body kit that I bought salvage as piecemeal and install it on my 2004 S Class. It looked perfect. In fact I traded the car at an MB dealership and nobody blinked, despite the fact the VIN would have come back for a non AMG package car if they checked.

As I said earlier, let them fix it. If there's an issue with the quality of the work, then you may have something to complain about.

But as far as lay people or even professionals instantly recognizing that your car had some minor non-collision paint work and the car being irreparably devalued as a result is a fantasy.

DaveW68

I think you're giving way too much credit to "most buyers" and "every appraiser/dealer". If the work is done to a high standard, which most reputable body shops do, then NOBODY is ever going to spot that it was repaired. You drive a nearly 5 year old car. It's likely not a car that you will have Wayne Carini take to a concours to try and win a prize where they are looking for even the slightest flaws in the paint (which there are plenty right out of the factory). Let them do the repairs. You won't have any other recourse unless they happen to do a crappy job.

If you purchased your car used, there is a pretty decent chance that at least some minor paint work was done to your car by a previous owner than you never even knew about.

survey1

I have a paint meter and know exactly what to look for in terms of paint. I don't buy used cars with anything more than wheels or maybe one bumper cover painted. My car had only the wheels done before this fiasco started.

After a lot of calling, I managed to get a hold of the dealership's parent ownership group and they agreed to let a 3rd party diminished value appraiser look at the car and then they (the owner) will cut me a check for that loss amount which I think it fair for both sides. This was after I let 3 dealers look at it and they all came back with 5-10% deductions and notes indicating paint and possible accident damage.....just as I suspected. This just re-affirmed my concern.

sloanbj

Well done keeping after these shady dealers. You are better off with the money. If you one day decide you can't live with the scratches you can choose where to get them fixed. You car is five years old so maybe just move on...

Mike5215

I think that's fair as long as when you trade or sell the car in the future you disclose the paintwork and reflect the diminished value in your asking price.

So why does paint on a bumper not diminish the value but paint on a door does?

DaveW68

If you actually get anything out of this for "diminished value", I'll be completely shocked that the dealer would actually do that. There is no actual diminished value for doing some minor repairs to paint due to a non-collision situation like this. If you're car was hit in the side and suffered significant damage, I'd understand it. But in your case, it sounds like you're trying to make a quick buck at the expense of the dealership who will likely have it repaired to a point where you'd never notice that anything ever happened. You'd certainly get full value for the car at the time of sale or trade-in if the paint repairs are completed at a Benz worthy level. It's not like you'd be trying to trade in Benzs55's wreck expecting full value.

After the paint repairs are completed, take it to a different dealer for any future repairs if you're not satisfied with this one.

DaveW68

Good question. I guess I'm completely screwed because last summer an SUV opened their door hard against mine and put a small dent at the crease in the passenger rear door. I had it repaired and can't even tell that anything ever happened. But I guess I'm screwed because I didn't collect for "diminished value".

survey1

Good questions,

I always disclose paint when I private sale a car so their are no surprises and no attempts at trying to return the car to me. I've never had one come back because I'm honest up front the buyer. They cannot say "you didn't tell me".

A bumper is within what is considered normal wear repaint on cars that are 5+ years old and have 40-50k miles. Painting an entire side of the car is not normal.

DaveW68

You can't make this stuff up! Oh wait.....maybe you can.

If you're so honest with buyers of your damaged cars, then you might want to get some pictures of the damage before any repairs are made....so they can see that the car was not in a collision. If the entire side of the car needs to be painted, it sounds like they made multiple dents all over each panel of the entire side of the car. Otherwise, only the spots that were damaged will be fixed and the paint will be blended.

Mike5215

Bumpers would bother me more, since they likely indicate a collision. Depending on the color and the condition of the original paint it's possible to spot paint the doors. They'd still have to clear the whole door but it would avoid all of the blending into the fenders, rockers, quarters and C pillars.

$100 GUY

That BS flag means Buy Safe right?

GPrime2

I'm sharing this thread with any of my friends who think I'm **** about my S. This is next level.

Nuru

you could also trade it in at the same dealer and make sure you get in writing about the no diminished value statement.

DaveW68

Since there is no actual diminished value except in the mind of the OP, he could take it to any dealer for trade-in or sell it outright after proper repairs and get full value.

survey1

I'm sorry to say that I now have 3 diminished value appraisals from professionals that would fully disagree with your statement.

DaveW68

Wow....that's incredible! 3 diminished value reports before any repairs have ever been made to your car. Their psychic abilities to foresee that there will be some crappy repairs to your car that will lower its value is AMAZING!! To have those kind of abilities, you'd have to be more than a "professional". Perhaps they were related to Whoopi Goldberg's character in Ghost. Are you sure that they didn't get confused by reading through Benzs55's thread?

Nuru

If you go to a Mercedes certified body shop repair facility, then it is going to be tough for anyone to detect that it has been worked on.

Mike5215

Well yeah...they're "diminished value appraisers". It's not surprising that they came back with a number. Used car buyers and used car appraisers at dealerships aren't diminished value appraisers. If the car's had paint work and you can't tell by looking at it, there's no basis to reduce the value.

I say if you can squeeze a few grand from these morons more power to ya, but those are some gullible sums a *****es up there.

survey1

So I acted like I wanted to trade it at a few dealers and didn't tell them about the paint work, they all found it. Every single dealer had notes "painted whole side" or similar.

Any yes, its been fixed a MB cert repair shop to a high standard.

So again to disprove everyone here who said there is no value loss.....you clearly have no idea what you are talking about but then again this isn't a legal board as I said in my opening post so I'm not surprised at the comments.

Mike5215

Do you have any before/after pics of the damaged area and repair? If you can tell by looking at it that the side was reshot, either the rest of the car's paint was in such poor shape the new paint stands out, or the new paint job was poorly done.