Do Not Sell My Personal Information Jump to content


Recommended Posts

Well, i have been well and truly stumped by this one.

I had a meeting with the dealer principle today about service issues/rattle issue.

One of the points I raised was concerning my rear bumper being a different Colour.

Last may I scratched the passenger side corner (wasn't paying attention when reversing :duh: ) and had it repaired by Lexus who done an excellent job. This is the only body work that has been done, and even this was only minor.

I have now noticed that the drivers side bumper, the bit you see from a side on view is a different colour, its darker. The dealer principle and service manager looked at it today, and told me that it had been badly resprayed.

Now this is the strange bit. I have never had it resprayed. As I said the ony work that was done was on the other side, which was not a respray, just a touch up, and that was done by Lexus.

You can actually see (once pointed out) where a screwdriver has been used to remove the bumper (its left a mark on the bumper and rear bodywork panel)and can see/feel where a really poor respray has been done.

I just can't understand how this has happened... I mean, has someone damaged my car and then managed to get it quickly resprayed before i noticed. :o

I have never left my car in Valet parking, or in long term car parks.

How strange is that, i am at a loss to explain this, and I felt like the dealer did not believe me and I was just trying to get a free respray.

Anyone any suggestions????

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can discribe a similar experience dating back to 1989. mother got a new VW polo. all well and good till a spot of rust appeared around front and got it checked out independently of garage. transpired that car had been damaged in garage after the car had been delivered, they hed it repaired before it was sold and registered to my parents. maybe somethig similar hapened. check when your car was delivered to the garage and see how long it was before you got it. bear in mind that respray could have been done in a couple of days

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did u have it from new? Have u only just noticed it, how long u had it, have u taken any photos when new ..... etc. etc. just thinking it may have been sprayed b4 u got it. Ask for jobsheet at lexus ;)

Had the car from New, and although I haven't got any photos, i know it was not there when i got the car, as I always check cars all over before i accept them, as i had a bad one once and had to fight to get it fixed under warranty (wasn't Lexus BTW)

Not sure where to go from here, can i claim it through insurance? NCB should be okay as it is protected

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it's just a case of respraying I wouldn't bother with insurance as it's likely your excess will be larger than what it will cost to get the whole bumper resprayed!

Certainly weird though if you've always had the car, you sure it wasn't done when they sprayed the other side as it's doubtful someones done this when it's on the road/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did u have it from new? Have u only just noticed it, how long u had it, have u taken any photos when new ..... etc. etc. just thinking it may have been sprayed b4 u got it. Ask for jobsheet at lexus ;)

Had the car from New, and although I haven't got any photos, i know it was not there when i got the car, as I always check cars all over before i accept them, as i had a bad one once and had to fight to get it fixed under warranty (wasn't Lexus BTW)

Not sure where to go from here, can i claim it through insurance? NCB should be okay as it is protected

Ah.... has anyone else been allowed to drive your car? wife ? girlfriend? relation, friend?

my thinking is.... someone either backed into your car or backed it into something and got it repaired quickly and on the Qt before you noticed.... and they got away with it till now....

sounds paranoid but believe me it does happen.... :winky:

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I'd sit the Dealer Principal down, get someone from LGB (!) and let them have a good listening.

I don't think you're alone here. If you look at how cars are placed into the wagons, transported between cargo ships by people enroute etc, it's no surprise. They're all nose to tail...

Mine still has 2 fang marks on the drivers door which I noticed after I got the car home on delivery a year ago...looks a door ding that's been "paintless repaired" literally!!

I've also got one "touch up" on the off side front wing, and I don't have any touch up paint, neither does the wife (!) and no one has borrowed the car. You can only see them if you look carefully, and I've never blamed the dealer 'cos it's impossible to prove where it happened.

Yours is more serious...and will affect resale unless you get it seen to...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The simple fact that they worked on the bumper, and it doesn't all match up, should be enough for them to just take the car back and respray it (regardless of whether they worked on that side or not)

From my experience, I'd say with a fair amount of confidence, that when they repaired it, someone damaged it, and they've quickly repaired it without telling you (this same thing has even happened to a friend's porsche believe it or not)

To be fair to the dealer principal though, it's possible that he may not have known about it at all so he might not be lying.

It's clearly a bodyshop issue, but don't accept any less than them taking it back and getting it sprayed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ive helped out in a body shop and I was shocked to see a couple of cars in there with no number plates, found out they were brand new and the valeter had reversed them into each other when preping them for colection by the customer that day. bumpers replaced and painted. I said I was gob smaked and wouldn't be happy if that was me, he replied that it so common and at least 10% of all new cars have had body work done before they are registered!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A "cowboy" dealer over here repaired a brand new citreon (nice bit of cosmetic damage) and sold it to a customer without telling....

few months later the car was in a different dealers and they spotted the repair work....

Citroen ireland looked after the customer and took the dealership of the dodgy dealer....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Guys for all the advice.

I think I will speak to the DP again and insist that they fix it, as last night me and the other half racked our brains to try and figure it out, and the only explanation was "it happened in the dealer" as the car has not been left anywhere else long enough for it to have happened anywhere else. I mean RAC autoglass have fitted 4 new windscreens to it, but only had the car for a couple of hours each time. Granted they could have damaged it, but no way would they have time to repair it!!

So looks like i'll need to battle with Lexus Brighton to get it fixed.

The car is booked in for 3 days at the beginning of April to hopefully get all the rattles fixed, might tell them to keep it for the whole week and sort the paintwork out and if its not done when I pick it up, they can keep the car (and i'll keep the RX400h loand car) until they do fix it.

Again, thanks for the advice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Hi mate,

who u dealing with @ lexus brighton and what u think of them? As i bought my car from them few weeks ago i found them very friendly, anyway let us know what happened.

All dealers are friendly when your buying a new/second hand car!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

... I'm going back a long way now, but some years ago I bought a brand new XR3i. On the day I was supposed to pick the vehicle up, the dealer rang me and explained there had been a problem during the PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) and that they needed a couple of days to get a new part.

I found out from a friend that actually worked in the Ford main dealer's body-shop, that some idiot had dropped a barrier on the roof of the car on the transporter. That couple of days was to do a roof repair, which I confirmed from the masking tape left in the roof drip channel, and the clean edge of what was obviously a resprayed area (very good job though; much less orange-peel than the rest of the car...).

I can also assure you that a bumper repair and respray can be effected in a couple of hours with the right equipment at hand, such as a dealer that's used to 'dinging' motors in their care, so you could have a job on here to 'prove' anything.

My suggestion to you would be to play the goodwill card with Lexus; I've found them nothing but supportive. Good luck!

- Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share



×
×
  • Create New...