LSUbenzMan

I wrecked my 2002 c240 in August and the body shop at the mercedes benz/ nissan dealership says they are all finished up with my car. I rear ended someone and it messed up the front of my car of course. The only mechanical repair under the hood was the air condition condensor, and they replaced that. They said they would have to replace the hood and the whole front clip(grill, bumber cover etc.) I drove by the mercedes dealership the other night after work to just look at the car. I noticed the paint from the new bumper cover did not match the fender completely I am thinking they did not replace the fender. But, as always I try to give everbody the benefit of the doubt but went the total repair is 4600 its hard to give them the benefit. . [B]My ???? is if the color of the new parts does not match the rest of the car should they repaint the entire car to match[/B] so I dont have two different color blacks on my car? Also, if they should repaint the whole car how do I handle it with insurance I am paying my deductible of $1500.00( its now $500 learned my lesson) and insurance is paying the rest $3100.00 to the $4600.00. Do I need to check with insurance before going to pick it up or what? Please give me advice and tips for when I go to the dealership. I have no clue how to handle this.

mctwin2kman

If the repairs do not meet your requirements then the body shop has to re-do what you want. At there own expense. A good body shop will mix the paint correctly to match before painting. They do this and test it to make sure it matches due to fade and what not. Black is a pain to do but it can be done. Most likely if they mixed the paint properly it will match if they buff and wax the old paint. Sounds to me they did not mix properly. And no that is not Insurance that would cover it again and no they will not respray the entire car either. But you have every right, at least in the USA, to refuse the repairs as not satisfactory. But in the end if you want paint to match then don't wreck the car, I know not always possible but no body shop is quite perfect as far as paint matching goes. You just can't match the abilities of a robot painter! Not to mention the fact that the factory has all the proper mixed paint and all.....

revstriker

I agree with mctwin2kman. Also to add: The paint is applied in the factory and then "baked on" in a way that is impossible outside of the factory.

A good body shop will match the paint as well as possible, but on a 5 year old car which most likely has some color deterioration, I would expect there to be a slight difference. If the difference is more than "slight", then I would complain. Other than that, it only means that you should save up to have the car repainted at your own cost (if it bothers you that much).

And your insurance company will only pay for the repairs, and the responsibility on getting the repairs is yours.

C230SportsCoupe

The DB backup deleted my post.

1. Paint will never 100% match, especially a metallic. It can be close, yet a painter cannot duplicate the spray and flow of factory paint, yet can blend and get close.
2. Painting a new part is much more difficult than repainting an existing part. Painters will use the existing color to blend the new paint in to match. On a new part they are just guessing and sometimes takes a couple tries to get a good match.
3. If the part is painted off the car it makes a difference. Bumpers tend to get painted facing up, not sideways, and that makes the metallic flake settle at different angles, so your bumper could actually match the rest of the car, yet only from certain angles. This is why many shops paint the parts on the car.
4. Some shops will repaint the next immediate panel to help "blend" the color. This means your fenders will actually be a slightly different shade from factory once finished, yet the overall appearance of the car will have such a slight blend of color most people will never notice.

You can refuse repairs if they are not up to your satisfaction.

Buellwinkle

They get close enough and use a blending technique into surrounding panels to make it match. They basically take the code off the door and that's the paint they use (not like Home Depot where they analyze a sample). If you used the insurance company recomended body shop, in CA, the law makes the insurance company liable if the work is not acceptable. If you chose the body shop, then the insurance company just pays the claim, the body shop is solely responsible to you unless the insurance company came in to adjust and denied a proper repair (for example they denied a new panel as authorized only a bondo repair). Also, in CA, the insurance company must pay to have it repaired with like for like parts (so no junk yard parts, no aftermarket).

LSUbenzMan

The main difference in color I noticed was that the new bumber cover the body shop painted looked like alot darker shade of black. Should that be ok? or can the get the shade to match exactly like it should just tell that one is freshly painted? What would you all recomend as far as care goes to washing the new hood and front clip? Also they had the brakes checked out and said they have about 50% percent of the life left approximately how long is that? Does anyone have any tips for me on what do look in detail on the part of the car the replaced I know they had to replace the whole front assembly( grill, headlights, fog lights, bumper cover, and all the other stuff there, air conditioner condesor, and the hood) I want to make sure I am getting my moneys worth. They said they buffed out the entire car what should I look for to make sure they did not damage the rest of the cars paint? Thank you in advance.

LSUbenzMan

To Help Clarify: I called insurance to report the incident and filed a claim. The insurance company told me that it would be just fine to use the Mercedes Benz dealership here in town. I took the car to them and they tore it down and gave the quote to the insurance company. The insurance company then had to send a private appraiser that they use out to asses the damage. They approved the original quote. I then waited on the body shop to fix the car they got all the parts in fixed it and called a bit after to tell me it is finished. I am waiting on the check from insurance to arrive, then going to pick my car up. The insurance company I use is Esurance. They have been very good with processing everything, although they could have been quicker.

C230SportsCoupe

New paint will always look brighter as it has no "swirls" in it yet. I know they said they buffed th rest of the car, yet how much you can determine. Take a look at the rest of the car in BRIGHT sunlight (or with a flashlight) and see if you can see "swirls" (tiny scratches) in the original paint. If so, these swirls diminish the brightness and depth of the paint, and the new paint will seem a slightly different (brighter, darker, and deeper) shade.

My recommendation: pay a detail shop (cause the detail the body shop did was most likely not very extensive) a lot of money ($500+) to properly polish the car and I bet you will not notice a difference in color after. This will probably NOT be covered by insurance, yet if you were at fault, I'd suck it up as the price of a lesson learned, and a shiny new car in the process.

You should not wax the new paint for at least 1 month, and drive carefully for 3-6 months since the paint will stay soft. It might be good to ask if the shop can put the heat lamps on the paint for a bit to reduce the drying time. Typical paint only dries ~60% by the time you pickup your car, it takes another month to get to ~90%, then months to dry fully.

My body shop has been very good with explaining all the process to me since I have metallic paint and it is difficult to match. After knowing why I can accept it and don't comlain as much.

LSUbenzMan

Why would the body ship at the dealership not do a full detail? Should I really have to pay $500.00 somewhere else to get a better buffing detail job for shine? I think the $4600.00 they are getting should cover a full detail!!!

LSUbenzMan

Just got the check in the mail from insurance going to pick up car in morning!!! If anyone else would like to give me some tips and pointers or ask any ?'s with conerns please feel thank you.

C230SportsCoupe

and this is why I hate MB owners sometimes, yes you're entitled to high expectations, yet $4600 doesn't buy much anymore, get over it.

Bumper ($1K), grill ($150), impact strips ($150), paint ($3-500) and labour (3-5 hr @ $100hr) will cost > $2K and that hasn't even touched any mechanical issues yet.

There are levels of "detail". I bet they did a mild polishing compound with a quick pass and your paint still has swirls. If they did a top-notch detail there'd be no swirls - now go check your paint and you'll beable to determine the quality of the detail they did.

LSUbenzMan

Any last minute advice or tips to bring with me to the body shop anyone may have for me would be greatly appreciated I am going there in about three hours hopefully to pick up my car!!!

skr

If the color doesn't match well enough, don't accept the car. Tell them to redo it. They should be able to get it real close. Once you take the car, it will be very difficult for you to get them to do anything.

2006c230

If the shop is a "pro shop" or "blue ribbon shop" etc for your insurance company...then your insurance company guarantees the work. I am an insurance agent for 9 P and C companies. If you are unsatisfied with the work do not drive the car away from the shop until they have agreed to repaint the car. If you had an agent I would tell you to express you concerns to him/her. But since you do not the best advice that I can give you is contact the insurance company yourself and see if they are willing to fight the body shop on the quality of the work...probably not though.

What I have read so far is pretty accurate...as long as the paint is not peeling of otherwise defective...black or metallic paint is pretty hard to match exactly. If they did buff the whole car it would help...you will never get your insurance company to repaint the entire car (they are not responsible for wear and tear) although you can pay for it yourself. I did that once myself...

Best of luck to you!