Hit a raccoon, bumper damage, now different color
 

I have a FR-S in firestorm red and hit a raccoon, which ended up being more damage than expected (radiator, AC, something else). I first went to my local Toyota dealership because I wanted to get as close to a factory looking fix as possible and they said all thier work is done by a local shop. I went to the local shop and that's when we noticed the radiator being bent among other things. I called my insurance company and the shop I was at wasn't one of "their" shops, but would be ok if I chose them. Being as Toyota said this shop was where all thier factory work is done, I wanted to use them.
Fast forward about a week, and my FR-S was ready. I get to the shop and right away I notice the color is off, like a different color red was used, off. After getting the owners out there and paint guy with me proving how off the color was they said the only thing they can do is get my insurance company to approve the expense to "fade" it into the rest of the body.
So now I'm not sure if there much I can do besides stand outside in protest. This place was outside of my insurance companies network, and I know they will look at it and say "close enough" and not approve any added expense. I know the shop won't add any expense to making it right, they already said they used what the factory paint mix said to use.

Well, I don't have any pictures and the shop and insurance company will be meeting tomorrow. Just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and maybe have some helpful input.

They shouldn't have to charge your insurance company for an error that they made. These cars are much too new to have any kind of fade on them... They used the wrong damn paint. And even if the paint is faded, isn't it their job to make it match the first time around? Sounds like a lousy shop.

I think, baccoon have cursed your car. You got to pray to raccoon god for forgiveness.

Put the joke on the side, that's suck. that's why I always go to "trusted" body shop I always go to. they know paint fades over time, so they make sure they get it to close to the current color on the car.

Hopefully insurance company will approve it

This was part of my argument, I told them the car has less than 2k miles, less than 2 months old. The paint guy brought out a test piece, which matched exactly with the bumper so I said "why wouldn't you notice something was wrong, it doesn't match the body at all"

It is sometimes very hard to get paint to match exactly the same shade. Many times the painters will "blend" it with surrounding body panels. Fiveaxis did have a problem matching up the exact shade of colors when they first released the rear spoiler and their kits. Some colors are harder to match than others.
Good luck getting it repainted to your satisfaction.

Anytime you choose a shop outside of their chosen shop, the issues of poor work becomes you versus the shop, not your insurance company.

The guy you are dealing with simply doesn't want to take responsibility for their shoddy work and is trying to have your insurance cover their mistake.

Not sure what to tell you other than you must make them(the shop) fix it on their dime. Hold your ground, don't get too pissed off, but as a last resort mention small claims court.

My body shop put in the original estimate to fade into the other panels. It was approved and car looks great.

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that sucks, but so familiar

my old car

http://i41.tinypic.com/149cgev.jpg

If your insurance company works with "preferred" shops and you go to one of their preferred shops, your insurance company will go to bat for you if the repairs aren't right. Because that shop wants to remain on the insurance companies preferred list they will bend over backwards to please the insurance company and you. The shop that did the work for you has to reason to "kiss up" to your insurance company and your insurance company will probably stay out of it.

It's too bad you didn't come on this forum and ask a few questions before you got yourself in this position.

It all depends. I went through the offending party's insurance instead of my own with my accident and chose my own shop. Because it wasn't my insurance, they had no real reason to bend over backwards to help me make it right. So I went with the shop that I felt was going to do the best work, regardless of which insurance they work with (Coincidentally, they're the preferred shop for my insurance company). They did a great job and are doing everything they can to make me happy.

Remember, preferred just usually means that's the shop that's willing to give the insurance company the best deal in exchange for client referrals. As long as they hit a minimum quality threshold, the insurance companies know that most customers won't know enough or care enough to complain about or even notice a lot of things.

My shop blended the repair with the surrounding panels. Especially with a metallic paint like my Ultramarine, this is 100% necessary because it's next to impossible to get the flake to lay exactly like it did from the factory, so it can be exactly the same paint color but look slightly different.

It should be less of an issue with a candy color like the red, but a blend is still good practice.

Nathan

Blending or fading is pretty standard for paint work it shouldn't be something extra sounds to me like they are trying to hustle you. One of my friends had his bumper and hood replaced on an aphalt frs and they did such a good job you would never know the car had been in an accedent and metallic colors are much harder to blend or match. There should be no excuse for failing to match red. Just be firm with them if they are a decent shop they should make it right and in all fairness even good shops make mistakes every now and then. I would imagine if the dealer ship is reffering them business it would be in their best interest to keep you happy.

How about this. Post the name of the body shop on this thread, post a youtube video showing how bad the paint doesn't match, and thus give the shop a lot of bad online publicity. Hopefully the uproar will be so big they will do you right and fix the issue for free.

Grab that raccoons family, and repaint your car with their blood!

Problem solved!

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I've always chosen my own shop, the problem the OP is having is that he chose the wrong shop on his own, not his act of choosing.