What to do ? Dealer Caused Paint Damage Front End

J

JPK_NJ

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Looking for other member's reasonable opinion of how they would handle this. Dealer accepted fault. Truck is 19' TRD ORP w 3k miles. Barcelona Red, which Ive now learned shows chips bright as day. Thin layer of red paint, then bright white base coat.

Basically a result of a road test gone bad / aka following a dump truck! All relatively minor stuff but on an almost new truck that was pristine prior is very irritating. I'm also a person that likes "everything perfect" slight OCD ha

Two Large chips down to metal on Hood crease area
Deep stone gauge in TRD Pro Grille Garnish and lower bumper
Cuts / scrapes across the entire grille top piece - the body colored piece that sits right below the hood and above the "Toyota".

Dealership manager wasn't avail to speak with yet. Monday
 
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JPK_NJ said:
Looking for other member's reasonable opinion of how they would handle this. Dealer accepted fault. Truck is 19' TRD ORP w 3k miles. Barcelona Red, which Ive now learned shows chips bright as day. Thin layer of red paint, then bright white base coat.

Basically a result of a road test gone bad / aka following a dump truck! All relatively minor stuff but on an almost new truck that was pristine prior is very irritating. I'm also a person that likes "everything perfect" slight OCD ha

Two Large chips down to metal on Hood crease area
Deep stone gauge in TRD Pro Grille Garnish and lower bumper
Cuts / scrapes across the entire grille top piece - the body colored piece that sits right below the hood and above the "Toyota".

Dealership manager wasn't avail to speak with yet. Monday
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I had some minor damage to leading edge (minor scratches and two small slight dents less than 1" each) of the roof that was not visible in the dark alcove they place the sold cars in the middle of the day. It looked like loading/unloading damage or some road hazard was kicked up on it while on the delivery truck. Within 10 minutes of arriving at home and putting it in the garage I spotted it in. I immediately called and told them I'd be back in the AM. Also fortunately, when It arrived at the dealer a couple days before it was available for me to buy it, I had the salesman snap some pictures of it as it sat. He sent me 3 or 4 and looking back at them you can see the slight damage in them in those pictures but they don't stand out as damage. I emailed them all the pictures when I got home for them to see.

I met with everyone and they looked at it as the detail guy showed up to work. They all spoke out of earshot then I was told the roof was never detailed. Okay wtf, they then detailed the whole truck then took stock of what was wrong. The only thing left at this point were the small dents. They called the dent removal guy they do business with and scheduled him for the next day. He worked his magic for 1.5 hours and it was all fixed. Each trip to the dealer ( I live 70 miles away) they topped off the fuel tank.

It was at this time I realized how sad of a place the toyota free-service waiting room is and I swore I'd only be in one if I absolutely had a warrantee issue.

Good luck, your issue sounds even more clear cut than mine was, I'm sure they got a guy on speed dial to fix this as well. I'm thankful I asked for the pictures ahead of time, still pissed at myself for missing it.
 
Super clear cut issue. Forgot to add, the 4runner was in their possession for about a week while they fixed my KDSS. It was only when I went to pick it back up I noticed. They also do a walk around iPad vid of all vehicles when you drop it off and the damage was not visible in the video so dealer accepts it's on them.

The question is should I just accept them having a body shop repair / partially paint the hood and ordering two new grille pieces (garnish & top body color panel) or should I involve a regional or national toyota rep? It's not like just buffing out scratches. The actual paint is gone, down to base metal.

To make matters worse, it was actually the service tech's fault my 4runner needed to go back in for kDss repair. When they replaced my front bushing at <1K miles, the tech didn't properly secure the front strut/shock. So it was shimmying around for 2K miles which then made itself known by actually tearing open the bushing under the kDss valve. Hence the second repair job
 
Not sure what you are asking, you said they accepted fault and I assume they have agreed to repair it?

Are you looking for something beyond that? If so, why do you feel entitled to more?
 
JPK_NJ said:
Looking for other member's reasonable opinion of how they would handle this. Dealer accepted fault. Truck is 19' TRD ORP w 3k miles. Barcelona Red, which Ive now learned shows chips bright as day. Thin layer of red paint, then bright white base coat.

Basically a result of a road test gone bad / aka following a dump truck! All relatively minor stuff but on an almost new truck that was pristine prior is very irritating. I'm also a person that likes "everything perfect" slight OCD ha

Two Large chips down to metal on Hood crease area
Deep stone gauge in TRD Pro Grille Garnish and lower bumper
Cuts / scrapes across the entire grille top piece - the body colored piece that sits right below the hood and above the "Toyota".

Dealership manager wasn't avail to speak with yet. Monday
Click to expand...

Oh man. Sorry. It can all be fixed. Still a big bummer. The grille garnish should be easy as they can just replace it. The hood is, in my opinion, more concerning. It’ll have to be painted to fix those chips correctly. It seems you have to let them fix it. I hope they have access to a good painter. I would ask questions and I would maybe even talk with their painter. I wonder if you have choice in who does the work. I have rejected paint work before. In my case it was the quality of the finish work, sanding, polishing, etc. I’d would try to inspect final work in daylight and dry weather. And let your OCD be a strength. You will live with it for a long time. Most likely it will all turn out fine. Any chance they can add some paint protection film for your trouble? Repainting is typically a bit softer than factory paint. The extra protection would be helpful and you may feel better about it walking away. Really sorry. Good luck. Keep us posted.
 
The hood is my biggest concern as that will truly never be "as it was prior". The colored grill and garnish replacement Im perfectly ok with. If it was only that, I'd be happy with them just covering the new part replacement and call it a day. Accidents do happen but I kind of feel like their negligence or bad luck shouldn't be passed down to my new truck which I own outright and planned on keeping forever. Anyway, maybe Im making too big of a deal but here are the hood areas. I also hope the kdss suspension isn't messed up from their sloppy mechanics error that had me driving around 2k miles with it not fully bolted down. Pics of hood area and bumper (less concerned with this as Im sure Ill get more )
 

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IMO that should be very easy for a professional to fix. The key is getting someone to do it right. What worried me most about my damage was the dealer had an in-house body shop and I didn't want them painting it, luckily it didn't need painting. As stated before, the dealer has accepted responsibility, you have to give them a chance to fix it first. I went into my deal a little jacked up but didn't let it show and it turnes out it was all self-inflicted unnecessary worry. It'll work out.
 
Instead of breaking the finish on the whole hood, if they have a good airbrush guy to touch up the chips it should be good.

When I worked at a used car dealer, we had these guys come in and it was amazing what they could make disappear. I always wondered how well it would hold up...

Then I got a new Dakota - noticed a spot underside of the bumper (plastic painted "dress up" panel that held foglights) was scratched like they lightly drug ot over something taking it off the truck. We agreed to try the touch up artists first before breaking the factory coat on the whole piece. They did a great job, and the repair still looked good as new when I sold it 10 years later. Granted, it was in a more protected area than right up on top of the hood, but it held up better than I thought it would.

I've also applied the factory touch up paint myself with decent results (it held up and protected fine, but was definitely noticeable - unlike the airbrush repairs). The only concern would be if the chips are too deep for airbrush to fill completely.

Of course, you could also have them paint the whole hood. Most quality paint shops I've been to are pretty good at matching and blending.

I wouldn't sweat the repair too much. On the plus side you haven't had to fight them, so that's +1 for them IMO. It sounds like they are trying to do you right - it could be worse.
 
I wouldn't let them repaint it. Have a real body shop do the work. Tell the dealership you want control over where your car goes. Dealerships aren't paint shops, and a paint shop will warranty their work as well.
 
I used to loose sleep over these kind of things when my vehicle was new. Mine still looks very good but my hood does have some small chips after 5 years of driving. No mater how good they fix it you will eventually get chips again. Let the dealer do their repair and hope it looks good enough to you. I just use touch up paint on my chips. Yes it is slightly noticeable but I realize that there are going to be many more chips in the future.
 
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03_4x4Runner said:
I used to loose sleep over these kind of things when my vehicle was new. Mine still looks very good but my hood does have some small chips after 5 years of driving. No mater how good they fix it you will eventually get chips again. Let the dealer do their repair and hope it looks good enough to you. I just use touch up paint on my chips. Yes it is slightly noticeable but I realize that there are going to be many more chips in the future.
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This 100%. Have them fix it but don't lose sleep over it. Any car you daily drive and actually use will show wear and tear. Just touch up chips as they happen and accept it.
 
my dog scratched up my pass door and front fender, I found out it would be $600 for my buddy that owns a paint shop to fix (that's with no labor cost). paint and clear coat door and fender. I went to auto zone and got Toyota midnight black touch up pen, it covered it up nice, but you can tell its there.. no biggy, I can live with it, its a conservation piece when were standing around tailgating too.

see if the dealer will give some type of compensation, go get a touch up pen and move on..
 
I had a couple of nasty chips on our Mercedes touched up by a place that specializes in that. (Sort of like a paintless dent repair place, but for scratches.) It's invisible now, and when we go to trade it, it wont have a repainted door.
If it were me, Id have something like that done to your hood, and then maybe have the paint protection film put on, since, as you said, the red is gonna show the inevitable chips pretty bad.
 
SCMountaineer said:
I had a couple of nasty chips on our Mercedes touched up by a place that specializes in that. (Sort of like a paintless dent repair place, but for scratches.) It's invisible now, and when we go to trade it, it wont have a repainted door.
If it were me, Id have something like that done to your hood, and then maybe have the paint protection film put on, since, as you said, the red is gonna show the inevitable chips pretty bad.
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Agree. Always best to keep original paint. I wish we had a real scratch repair shop around here. Everett-Seattle area anybody?? Maybe a quality detail shop would do that type of work. All the body shops I’ve asked said they just repaint for chips like this. If the OP has this option, I’d agree that it could be a great choice. Good call.
 
I'll be the third to suggest airbrush touchup. It really works wonders and holds up well. I wouldn't hesitate to have it done to a new car.
 
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