Hmmm. not sure what to do, but here is the situation:

bought a CPO MDX 3 months ago. part of the purchase agreement was to repair/repaint a touched up scratch that was 4 inches or so in length dead center of the middle of the lower tailgate where it meets the bumper. the dealer had their lot guy fix it.

try number one: scratch gone, but paint finish was off and had no luster. it had a matte look to it. this was the entire lower panel of the tail gate. hated it had them redo it.

try number two: same lot guy, redid the work, that paint matched better and it had a luster, BUT closer inspection revealed severe marring to the clearcoat finish throughout the panel. ugh...i tell them i will not take the car home until this is fixed...correctly!

try number three: i do not believe they had the lot guy come back to fix it. instead they send it to detail to polish out the marring the lot guy induced into my tailgate. its 90% better, with minimal marring and notice the area under the upper panel were not quite to the finish the rest of the panel. i was mostly pleased and was willing to live with it.

fast forward to this past weekend: the paint has started to bubble and blister!

after contacting the dealer, they said all they could do is have the lot guy redo it (AGAIN). they are unwilling to send it off to the body shop for a proper respray because of cost. if i want it done at the body shop, they said i could pay for it myself. WTF? this fix was part of the purchase agreement. body shop said it would be a good chunk of change to respray.

i'm hesitant to even have the lot guy touch the car for fear that it'll end up being worse than better. so...if you were in my position and this was your MDX...what would you do? i really don't feel i should be paying out of pocket for this since the dealer agreed to take care of this...and now the workmanship is FAILING. mind you, i've been a loyal client and have a history with them.

 

Not sure who you specifically mean when you say you contacted "the dealer," but I would go up the food chain. Sales Manager or Business Manager and then owner.

If you are a loyal client with history that should carry some weight with dealer. It sounds like they have been working with you up until this point, so you need to start out diplomatic and see how things go. Escalate and change your demeanor as you see fit.

 

i'm already at the top of the food chain of the dealer...the GM. he was involved with the sale of the vehicle to a certain degree. he said he would have never agreed to fix it if he knew it would have to go to the body shop for a USED car. he keeps emphasizing the fact that his car is USED. yeah...his point? it was also CPO, which to me means..."like-new." and having a big ass scratch filled in with touch up paint does not give me that "like-new" feel. so...i'm a little frustrated. i have not responded to him on how i want to take care of this. i'm trying to put together a response that is productive. his biggest concern was cost. his lot lizard gets paid how much? and he's managed to mess this up at least twice with sloppy half ass work. the body shop would have had this done right the first time (usually).

 

Hmmm -

Sometimes the GM and other members of the food chain put up a certain amount of defense without knowing all the details. Has the GM seen the current state of your tail gate? Had he seen the results of the first two attempts?

He would have never agreed to fix it if he knew it would have to go to the body shop for a USED car? Part of your response / retort to him could / would be that you would never have taken delivery of the MDX had you known the hassle this has been and that it wasn't going to be taken care of by the body shop in the first place. He knows he works at a "premium marque" dealership, right? You don't want to insult him, but gently remind him.
You have two Acuras and presume the are both serviced there - does he know that?

How much $$ is a good chunk of change to respray? Not that you want to deal with it, but do you or family members or friends know of a good bodyshop where you can get another quote?
Do you have access to or can you get to the owner?
Just some thoughts.

 

Oh noes!
on the MDX tooo!?


Sorry, J!
hope you get everything worked out.

 

the GM saw the first result. reminded me that its a used car and the i would never had agreed part BEFORE he saw the 2nd result, after i told him that i'm losing confidence that his lot guy can do the job correctly. this was the time he took a different tone o voice with me on the phone (the i'm done with this issue, and you need to live with it tone). then he stuck his foot in his mouth after he admitted to not even seeing what the 2nd attempt resulted in. didn't hear from him after that. only dealt with my salesman.

i doubt he saw the 3rd result after they fixed it, esp. since he didn't even bother to follow up after the 2nd attempt. i haven't taken it over to the dealer as of yet for the bubble and blisters b/c i wanted to gather info first in order to get this done correctly.

he knows he runs and works at one of the premium acura dealers in the country. he may have forgotten that i bought TWO cars from them, and get BOTH serviced there.

the guessesimate from the body shop i took my TL to for my bumper respray (bad paint job) said it would be about $800 (unofficial estimate, since i only told him about it). i even told the GM that if the car goes to their body shop (same shop), i would only work with the mgr, since he knows what my expectations are. so far so good. the body shop has taken care of me with regard to my TL's bumper, fitment, and how it was handled while it was there. Their attitude about my anal tendencies with the TL never waivered. always helpful and friendly.

so far the body shop has taken care of me and did the right thing with my TL which is a 180 compared to what my dealer is doing with my MDX up to this point. usually they take care of me.

 

thanks justn.

yeah i know...what is it with me and car paint failing this year? the TL is all fixed up. the body shop (parent shop) took care of me without complaints or anything. they were really great.

ugh...what a PITA.

 

UPDATE:

for some reason i knew this would happen.

the choices proposed (after a fairly lengthy letter to the GM and my perspective on the situation):
1) split the difference of the body shop costs and i work with body shop directly to get the paint done correctly, OR
2) he buys the car back from me, less the value of the mileage incurred on the vehicle since purchase.

looks like i'm SOL here. i'm gonna have to pay something to get this done correctly. and really, there is only one choice here. i've already invested A TON of time and money into reconditioning the car to my liking...so selling it back...not an option since its probably worth more than when he sold it to me after all the things i've done to it!

guess the add'l toys for the MDX will have to wait...

 

Sorry about all of this.

You may want to deprive the dealer of the privilege pf servicing your cars going forward. Probably won't matter to them, but may make you feel better or maybe not if they are the best / closest option.

 

Thanks and thanks for the ideas/thoughts you gave me. i pulled out all the stops to justify my case...he really just doesn't care(that's my impression at least). seriously, he's pissing over the $800 when the dealer probably makes a significant amount more than that, and the $800 would be trivial by comparison.

i have a few trust issues when it comes to people handling my cars. this dealer's service dept has always taken care of them with few issues or hassles, and the SA's all treat me well. its so hard to think that the GM of all people is being the hardass in this matter.

he hasn't even the seen the car in its current state which looks a hell of a lot better than when it left his lot, minus the bubbles. he is still standing behind his guy regardless of what i had to say and no matter how many times he has to redo the work. its a shame. "do it right the first time." HA! so much for sticking to the first line of their mission statement.

 

Here's my bubble:



in addition to my bubbles, it has started to peel. the marring is still there from the previous attempt, and there is blistering (which really can't be seen by a pic) on the driver's side portion of the tailgate under the tail light....

this is so friggin' awesome!

 

well the MDX has been at the shop all week...

the manager knows my expectations so he's taking care of me. the X went in on monday. before i left the shop, the manager assured me that the job would not be done until he approved of the work on the tailgate. didn't hear anything for the past couple of days, so i inquired. as of today...the tailgate was repainted, but the manager looked over the paint on the tailgate, he was not happy with it. he sent it back in for a repaint. looks like i'll be waiting a few more days. that's ok. i told them no rush. i want it done correctly, and i want it done as close to perfect as possible (since true perfection does not exist).

more bonding time with the TL

 

So this is back at the dealer you bought the MDX from or another body shop?

 

nope. not at the dealer. its at the body shop i took my TL to a few weeks ago to get my rear bumper redone/replaced (after the paint blistered badly 3 yrs after the fact). the dealer GM... nothing...useless...absolutely not helpful. dealer has nothing to do with this fix right now or ever at this point.

the body shop (while still part of the same auto group's family, but entirely different business entity), is taking care of my MDX right now. the manager did such a great job taking care of my TL while away from home, i took the MDX to him to fix up after the dealer pretty much wrote me off and he told me that he could fix it (well yeah, you work at a body shop ). he knows exactly what my expectations are, and he's about as anal as i am about cars. he's been understanding of what happened with the dealer and knows i'll be paying out of pocket to get this fixed. so despite it taking longer than i thought it would...i just want it done correctly and he knows that (hence if he's not happy with it...i certainly would not...redo). so...i'll be patient. at least he didn't get it done, and then call me say its ready and i get there and occurs once i get there to look at it.

 

Sounds like you have found the antithesis of the dealer GM. Here's to hoping you won't need him too much, but finding a good body shop with someone who knows what they are doing and actually cares is priceless.

 

ain't that the truth! i was shocked and pleasantly surprised on how my TL was treated when it was in his care (he was the only one who handled my car, drove it, washed it, detailed it, had his painter stay after hours to paint the bumper when there would be the least amount of dust and then after the fact, allowed me to work with his top acura tech to get the fitment of the bumper the way i wanted it. this was done without annoyance or any change in his demeanor towards me, always patient, understanding and happy to make it the way i wanted it). and he manages a pretty friggin' big shop. he's been great! this body shop is coming through for me again, so i'm really pleased. of course time will tell on the work. i have to get my eyeballs on that tailgate...and then see how things went.

 

Sounds like you are off to a good start.

 

all fixed, looking pretty.









the damage to the tailgate could not be really appreciated in pics. the peeling bubble was the big one. the other flaws (grainy texture, dull finish, blisters, and clearcoat marring), were apparent once you got up closer to the car in person. now the ASS of the car looks great, almost like it came from the factory. even though it took a little longer than expected, i'm pleased with the results. props to the the body shop and the manager that took care of me and the car when the dealer failed. the only downside....my wallet is a little lighter right now.

 

Looks good. When you wallet is a little heavier - you may want to consider running boards or a roof rack.

 

yeah the running boards and the roof rails were on that "toy" list for the MDX...then i had to put up money for the paint (boo hiss!). so ...in due time...perhaps next month i'll get the running boards, then the roof rails by spring. once those are on...the MDX will be complete. right now it has that "base" model look without the running boards and rails.

 

I agree 100%, but either one is a big plus and break you out of that look.