Ask an expert

We have just purchased a 2nd hand Mazda from a Licensed Trader.

The sale was conditional on certain paint work/scratches being fixed on the doors.

Upon collection of the vehicle, it was found that this had not been done. After much discussion with the dealership, they offered to professionally repaint the door at their cost. However they repeatedly stressed that they cannot guarantee the work of the painter and that the colour of the door will look significantly different to the rest of the car in a few months time.

Should we go ahead with the repaint and will the door actually be that noticeably different from the rest of the car?

Why should this differ from any other paint repair work?

Ben

From the "Ask Jack" archives - 30 September, 2010

The Dealer is partially correct however they are also trying to avoid carrying out the job correctly or spending too much money on this repair in my view.

Cars are being repaired every day in panel shops for minor panel damage, dents/scratches and many of those repairs only require one panel to be repainted. The expectation from customers is the repainted panel(s) will match the rest of the car and this is achieved in almost every case.

Car Dealers are also trading cars on a regular basis which they need to sent to their panel beaters/painters for a tidy up before they are placed on their used car yards.

Painters use a technique called “blending” to help stop a colour mismatch. What they do is prepare an appropriate area around the repaired panel and end up flowing the new colour into the existing paint which blends the colours together.

This is an accepted practice within the industry.

The best coat of paint a modern car will ever get is at time of assembly and if the blemishes in the paint work were very minor there is a strong argument for leaving them alone. If however they are noticeable and the Dealer has agreed to fix them, then they should do so without argument.

Your expectation (and theirs) on completion of the job is there should be no obvious signs of a mismatched colour and it is a permanent repair.