PPF shop chipped the paint on my brand new car, what should I do?

Hi Guys - Been hanging out here for some time now while I waited for delivery. Last week, I took her home and promptly went to the highest rated detailer in the area for PPF and Ceremic. I was beyond excited to finally get it back home and start putting on those break-in miles... but of course, my heart came crashing down when I got out in my driveway and noticed some scratches along the rear quarter panel... they were light, but I was pretty shocked to see them on a car that just got half PPF (front, rear, roof) and ceramic. So I text the shop and they tell me to send photos and that they would take care of them when it came back for its 2 week post PPF visit. All is well until I find the real damage. Right on the crease above the side intake, it's down to bare metal... it's about a couple millimeters. I'm just absolutely heartbroken. I'm in communication with the owner of the detailng shop and they said they would make things right... but what even is "right"?

I am not going to get it repainted for this... I feel like that would open up a whole different can of worms. Should I just have them do touch up paint and clear coat, and then PPF over that area as well? You think it is reasonable to ask for my money back for the job? ($4k).

I went from the highest high to the lowest low and have felt sick to my stomach for the entire weekend. I just cannot believe it happened. and it's one of those things where if you did it yourself. You would be to blame... but I gave them this car with less than 100 miles on the clock so this type of thing would not happen.

Thanks in advance and apologies if this is in the wrong topic channel.

That is awful, sorry to have that happened to you. It looks real bad and I would not compromise, this needs a repaint to fix and no touch ups is going to make it look right. It also seems like it's in a prominent area... how did the installer miss and not tell you about that.

Not fixing the scratches prior to PPF/ceramic is already suspect, but a chip (scrape) down to the bare metal... guessing it was not there so you can't claim issue from factory with Lotus?

That’s terrible sorry. I would consider touch up and clear coat and then PPF over. It’s not great but the PPF will make it nearly impossible to see.

If you repaint you have to consider how much to repaint to get all the panels properly blended. Sometimes shops will recommend painting multiple panels to get everything right. I don’t know how hard Seneca is to match.

grezex said:

That is awful, sorry to have that happened to you. It looks real bad and I would not compromise, this needs a repaint to fix and no touch ups is going to make it look right. It also seems like it's in a prominent area... how did the installer miss and not tell you about that.

Not fixing the scratches prior to PPF/ceramic is already suspect, but a chip (scrape) down to the bare metal... guessing it was not there so you can't claim issue from factory with Lotus?

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It happened after the work was complete but prior to me picking up. They said they checked all the security cameras and everything, but couldn't find what happened. It looks like a rolling cart or something was pushed into it based on the scratches and the chip. The paint peel goes from back of car to front, which goes with that scenario. Either that or someone backed the side into something. I understand that the employees wouldn't admit it, but it's just even more frustrating not knowing how it happened.

seriously said:

That’s terrible sorry. I would consider touch up and clear coat and then PPF over. It’s not great but the PPF will make it nearly impossible to see.

If you repaint you have to consider how much to repaint to get all the panels properly blended. Sometimes shops will recommend painting multiple panels to get everything right. I don’t know how hard Seneca is to match.

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Thanks. I think you may be right. I don't know if you can even get official touchup paint at this point, but we'll see what the shop says when I bring it back. The owner is extremely sympathetic, but it doesn't change the fact that I had this perfect car - for all of 2 days - and it's now damaged. At least banging through the gears (all the way up to 4k, haha) has taken away some of the pain.

The only proper repair is a repaint and a good shop can make it happen where it will not be noticeable.

Any other repair you will see every time you get in the car, because you will know its there

So it was in their possession when it occurred which I'd feel they're responsible for the condition of your car, but it sounds like they may help you out.

It's precisely how the paint is scraped and pushed back where I feel just doing a touch up will not work well. There is now a bump and would need to be sanded and leveled, buffed, etc. Was that part not PPF-ed?

Being brand new I'm thinking fresh paint match should be okay since rest of the car didn't have time to fade from sun, etc. and a quality shop should be able to do it as MIGZ mentioned.

There is no way they didn’t realise they did that and for that alone I’d be raging. There’s a lot that can be done by local chip repair companies that do air brushing.
Personally I’d go back to your dealer and say you want them to repair it even if they have to do the whole panel and fade into the surrounding ones. I saw a car done by Hendy Lotus recently with both doors replaced and it looked perfect.
One thing I would say is don’t settle for any less than you want or you will regret not pushing it further.

I feel for you and hope it’s sorted soon.

Yeah like others have said, when brought to a PPF shop they meticulously look over a car to prep it for PPF so there is no way they didn’t realize it was there. I think the more likely scenario is that it wasn’t there to start, they PPFd it and then something hit it. Is the PPF cut through as well? Or ppfd over the bare metal? Either way the only true fix is to repaint it. I wouldn’t go down the route of touch up paint. Even with the smallest of paint chips the touch up paint never looks 100% right. The bare metal is a problem that needs to be corrected and you just dropped several grand and trusted a shop so they need to make this right

So sorry to see this.

The big challenge is where it is. It's a surface spot that catches the light and has a sharp bend to it, so you'll always see it if it's not perfectly fixed.

95% of the time my gut is touch up, blend, move on knowing that now it's yours. At least that's what I try to tell myself. But this one is in a place where I would absolutely have the sop make it right with a repaint.

Just ask them to cover the cost of the repair at the body shop of your choice, and don't stress about it.

Hopefully you have an email or text where they admitted liability.

My suggestion is that any correspondence between you and the shop be conducted via a means that can be recorded. State laws vary on recording phone conversations. Texas, for example, is one party consent.

My 2 cents- I’d try touch-up and re-PPF at their cost first. The result may be acceptable. I would settle for 90% quality with touch up, rather than trying to blend and match, etc., to get to 100%. My experience with at although touch up never matches perfectly, a re-spray never looks 100% right either.

Good luck!