Georgios

Hi All,

I know it's not technically a Skoda, but my Girlfriend had the front end of her Golf IV repaired by an 'approved repairer' after an accident in November. Bonnet, bumper and wings replaced.

Been on Holiday and got back to find that bird lime deposited on the bonnet whilst we were away has caused the paint underneath to shrink and completely peel away from the panel, exposing the plastic replacement bonnet they fitted (original is metal)!

Phoned the garage to tell them what had happened and I got a "Well, it's acidic, so it will do that" reply from them.

Basically they won't fix the problem under the 5 year warranty given by Direct Line, presumably because it will come out of their own pocket.

I would have thought new paint should be able to resist peeling off after just 2 weeks of bird lime being left on it?? Surely everyone at some time or another hasn't given their car a wash for a couple of weeks and the paint is still left on there when they get back?

Anyway, Direct line are sending their own engineer out to take a look but I would be fairly confident they should have to do the work again?

Anyone else had experience of this? Anyone think there is some way for the garage to wriggle out of this one?

Cheers
G.

KenONeill

Sounds like a well-dodgy job of "repair" to me.

I think DL's inspector will "go ballistic", since they will have paid for a new steel panel. Also, they will probably expect the panel to have been properly prepared, painted, and polished, and if it had been it would take a couple of years for bird lime to eat through the paint (result of practical test).

Babs

Plastic? Are you sure it's not just the black coating of a pattern part, that's been badly prepared?

Either way, sounds bad

Georgios

Parked next to a friends Golf IV and gave the bonnet a knock. Definite metallic sound. Knocked the 'repaired' one and it sounds distinctly plasticy, like the plastic wings Renault used to put on the Espace for weight saving (or cost saving, depends on how you look at it).

Either way, the paint has come off in only the places the bird lime was sat and it's right down to the panel surface which is a kind of grey colour, but it's definitely not primer!

Strange how the bird lime on the rest of the car hasn't peeled the paint off!

If the garage are saying "Yes, that's normal" I shudder to think of the state of their cars. That or they must have to wash them every day!

Will update on the results of the inspection by Direct Line. Am I allowed to Name and Shame the garage in question if they are found to be at fault?

Babs

That is very strange!

Yeah, name and shame!

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cheezemonkhai

Go to another trusted body shop and ask them to confirm that the part is not OEM or at least isn't metal and ask them if they will put it in writing. They may charge you a small fee (£30).

At that point complain to DL that your car was not repaired to the standard it was before the accident and that you are unhappy with the repair. I don't think you even need to mention the damage if the panel isn't OEM or as good.

As for the bird lime, think it should take more than a week or so for it to eat right back to the bare metal/plastic.

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