Landrover back from the menders

[GBMUD]

I had a little bump in the Landrover a few weeks ago and the NFU kindly appointed an approved repairer to do the body repair work for me. I put the work off a couple of times as I wanted to be sure that I would have the Landrover when I needed it - just as well as it turns out, as a projected four day repair had taken almost two weeks.

Anyway, it came back this morning, delivered out to me.

Looking over it there are a few items which I am not that happy with. The colour match of the paint seems to leave something to be desired - my 110 is white. I queried this (by telephone) with the owner of the bodyshop and he said that the difference in colour was due to the existing paint having faded and that they have not 'machine polished' the existing paintwork so the difference is very apparent - at least, it was when I looked at it in the rain this morning. What ought I expect in regard of the paintwork? It is pretty evident where the repairs have been made - I do not imagine that the guy I hit will be accepting his Audi back in less than perfect order. Should I expect the new paint to fade to match the old paint?

Where the NS rear passenger door has been replaced, the check strap seems to have been assembled incorrectly such that there is no 'stop' at about 75° open, merely an index point where the door can pass and go on to 90° open where it is in danger of hitting the B-pillar. There should be some sort of 'soft' stop there - the OS feels like there is a rubber stop in there.

The bodyshop had to replace the NS rear body side and so had to cut the old one off. They have left one bolt hole open where the LHS of the tub bolts to the rear crossmember - in other words only one of the two bolts there, and that one painted.

There is a rear reflector missing.

The wheelarch spats have all been replaced with gloss ones - apparently the matt ones are no longer available.

The bodyshop is happy to put the little things right - though I am disappointed that they let it come back to the customer in such a poor state, especially after apparently waiting two days for a small part - but they did not seem keen to concede anything on the paintwork. What should I be expecting them to do? Anyone 'in the business' with advice? I guess Ripley is not around much these days.

Glad to have it back though.

Chris

[Guest diesel_jim]

where was the bodyshop Chris?

there is an excellent one here in wootton bassett,who do all of T H Whites LR warranty stuff, and they're NFU repair agents (we use them at work as we're insured with nfu)

may be worth giving them a shout.

Dave or Paul ward (father & son).

and they're into lr's...always got a stock of good take off parts

[GBMUD]

It was somewhere else, I will not say for now, closer to home.

Chris

[Guest diesel_jim]

It was somewhere else, I will not say for now, closer to home.

Chris

No probs.

i worded it incorrectly, i was trying to say "it wasn't autocolour was it? as they're greeeeat!"

[Paul Humphreys]

Thepaint should match, no matter what the age is. They will be able to mix it to match. I would send it back and ask them to doit right and correct all the other things aswell.

Paul

[disco_al]

We had a similar problem here last wekk. One of our vans had an altercaion with the back of a Lexus (of all things) and went off to be repaired. It came back with the wing and the bonnet a different shade of white to the rest of it.

First fob off we got was that the rest of the van was dirty and needed to be cleaned (this is an 07 van) then they told us that they only had one shade of white listed for Peugeot, they are now having it back to repaint it.

If you are not happy take it back, and tell your insurance co. too as they are the ones who will be paying the repairers. From what i am aware of, it should return to you in a satisfactory state.

[western]

GBMUD ---Where the NS rear passenger door has been replaced, the check strap seems to have been assembled incorrectly such that there is no 'stop' at about 75° open, merely an index point where the door can pass and go on to 90° open where it is in danger of hitting the B-pillar. There should be some sort of 'soft' stop there - the OS feels like there is a rubber stop in there.

Yes in the end of the channel within the door should be a rubber stop item 13 on this diagram.

the other green highlighted bits should be fitted as shown.

[GBMUD]

Yes in the end of the channel within the door should be a rubber stop item 13 on this diagram.

the other green highlighted bits should be fitted as shown.

Thanks Ralph, I will be including that in my letter to them.

I do not really want to have to send it back for days on end, largely because I need it for quite a lot of things in July. I guess that may be the only solution to the paint issue.

I have agreed to make a snagging list and to email that to the menders. I will CC it to NFU too I guess.

Chris

[Bull Bar Cowboy]

Chris,

My son is in the trade…………. he is a painter……..you know him, he delivers lost keys to me !!!!!!!

Yes, the paintwork at the very least should have been blended into the other panels. The are several different colour matches of white (7 in Sikkens alone) and it would be paint manufacture specific as to which was the best match……. Usually the paints would be ICI, Glasurit, Sikkens, PPG, etc ………..however, the insurance company may have dictated as to which paint to use (don’t ask, its all about money)……. This would have then limited the colour match choice. The painters are currently up in arms about this as it is taking away their skills of almost perfect colour matching........i.e. they will look at a colour and say for instance that a PPG xyz shade 4 will do the job ............. but that skill is now gone (or going).

As for the rest of the work ………. Well that just shoddy and they should be licking your boots !

Ian

[T1G UP]

good luck!

Had our vw transporter repaired and the job was shocking.

The van is silver, very hard to match i know but they know this as well, they put a new side in the van, the gaps are carp, all over the place, vw panel fitment is spot on, took it back, they psinted the front door and it looked worse.....

There excuse was that " i fawlt you was sellin it mate"

[DaveSIIA]

I had repairs done to my 110 at an NFU appointed bodyshop after someone reversed into the side of it - sorry mate, didn't see it there! The vehicle was about eight years old at the time and the Epsom Green was an exact match to the original factory finish. Another five years on and, apart from the line of rivets where the new boby side was nailed on, you still can't tell the difference in the paint finish. I'm sure yours should match from the day the bodyshop gave it back.

There were a few other minor niggles to do with fit of trim, blown fuses, etc but nothing missing or mis-assembled. Took the vehicle back and they were sorted without any need to involve the NFU. I wasn't happy with the way the body side was riveted on, so that matter went to the NFU to sort out.

I'd notify your insurers and arrange for it to be taken back for rectification.

[GBMUD]

I have just been out and had another look in the dry and it does not seem as bad now. I think that over the weekend I will give it a good clean and take it out into the open where I can look at it from a decent distance in good light and see if I still think it is a poor match. During my inspection I found a big paint chip off the body capping so that is another thing for them to rectify...

Chris

[freeagent]

you could try T-cutting the surrounding paintwork to see if that helps...

I had a VW Jetta GT a few years back, in a nice metalic green, it got broken into and the front oor needed re-spraying, the garage that did it faded it into the surrounding 8-year old paint, and you couldn't tell... if your not happy, tell the NFU .

[wkw90]

Why not get them to buff the rest of the lr so it matches the repair .

[Bowie69]

Why not get them to buff the rest of the lr so it matches the repair .

Yep, if that's all they say the problem is then it should be cheap for them to resolve, not to mention what they should have done anyways.

[sgnas]

Mine is being fixed next week

Current plan of action is to take detailed pics of the whole car this weekend.

When I collect it I'll park the courteousy car in the supermarket car park and hand over the keys only once I have accepted the repairs.

[roguevogue]

When the bonnet etc. got replaced on my Disco they t-cut and polished the adjoining panels, which looked great, the colour was, is, spot on. It made the rest of the car look awful from the doors back.

It all looks just as bad now though.

[GBMUD]

He made some excuse about not polishing the rest of it as it is a 'commercial' (5 doors and lots of windows?) and an off-roader. I think that they should have polished the rest of the car.

Chris

[honitonhobbit]

Chris

I would have a word with BBC's son. The word 'Painter' should really means, runs a spray shop for one of the biggest autorepair companies in the UK and also happens to be one of the few approved sprayers for some of Europe's most prestigious marques.

I would expect the colour to match and the whole vehicle to have been polished and waxed. Matt spats are still available so that's poo. All in all I would be ringing the NFU and saying sort this out please and damn fast or I would like a courtesy motor of the same type for my off road forays into the wilds, please.

[wayne1978trucks]

some muppet in a rover run in the rear of the 110 i had to reverse it into a bridge to get them to replace the rear cross member that hadnt budged in the crash , m&m of stoke did a cracking job and cos i needed a towing vehicle while mine was in so they sourced a subaru forester 2.5 turbo sti jobbie on hire AND had a brand new towbar fitted for me .... if its in for more than a day ask for a vehicle to run round in, like for like.

[nas90]

Chris, I had a new front wing and 2 new doors sprayed and fitted a couple of months ago on the nas. The colour match was pretty good but the old paintwork had not been power buffed to make it look the same. Diesel Dave, who we both know doesn't miss too many tricks, commented that if he had a paint shop he would have buffed the other panels so that he had a happy customer.......................

Dave

[Mo Murphy]

Chris, go back and tell that a. you're not happy with it and that b. it's not a commercial and that just because they think it's a commercial vehicle insurance job is not a reason for them to pass on substandard work to you. Get cross, intimidate if you want results.

HTH

Mo

[simonr]

I don't think there is any excuse for that kind of thing. The garage will have made a report to NFU and the NFU will have made an offer of what they are prepared to pay for it - rather than the garage fixing it and sending a bill to the insurer. The offer is usually below what the repairer would like - so they tend to try to cut corners where possible to maximize the return.

However, NFU state that the vehicle should be returned to you in a state as good as it was before the incident - and will go after the garage on your behalf if they have not delivered.

I would not bother polishing it - just return it to them as is and tell them to do it properly - and quickly otherwise you will complain to NFU. They may well try to fob you off that they don't care if you complain, but it does not take may complaints before their approved repairer status is withdrawn - and they know it!

I would direct your request to the MD, not the body shop manager.

Si

[GBMUD]

For my reference, anyone know how many different colours of white paint Landrover made/used over the years? Mine is a 2004 model, what colour white should it be? Are there paint codes for the different colours? The more I look at mine the more they seem to have painted 'white with a hint of cream', whereas the rest is 'white with a hint of grey'. IIRC white fades to a yellowish colour doesn't it?

Cheers

Chris

[Guest diesel_jim]

Looking through microcat, it shows (and the part numbers are for touch up pens):

Chawton white STC3828VA

Davas white (ivory) LRC354 RTC4058VA

dunno if there's more...