[xj-s] Bad day at the car wash

Most times I wash my own car, but needing to work 6 days a week means
little chance to get it done.
Last weekend the local Jag club organised a Jaguar display at a Sunday
horse race meeting 60km north of Melbourne.
Wanting to make the car shine, although it was only a little dusty, I
dropped it off at the car detailing shop opposite our factory Friday morning.

An hour later they drove it into our car park, so I went to park the car
properly 10 minutes later. The car was repainted silver COB 5 years
ago and has only a couple of very small stone chips, otherwise it
looks showroom.

Now the passenger door had the paint gouged out in two
places on the crease line, the biggest about 30mm X 10mm almost down
to bare metal. So I go over the road and ask them to explain since it
was pristine when I dropped it off.

They could not possibly have done this, just no way they can damage a
car door. After an exchange of views they say for the sake of harmony
they will get an expert to fix it at their cost. That took the gloss
off what was otherwise a good weekend.

Richard Dowling, Melbourne, Australia, 1979 XJ-S & 1985 XJ6.

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So, they are not disputing that the damage is fresh ?

Where do they park customers’ cars before/after they’ve worked on them ? It
might be that they didn’t cause the damage at all. However, the car is in
their “care, custody, and control” so I reckon they are liable.

Doug Dwyer
Longview Washington USA
1995 XJR
1988 XJS V12 Coupe

Now the passenger door had the paint gouged out in two
places on the crease line, the biggest about 30mm X 10mm almost down
to bare metal. So I go over the road and ask them to explain since it
was pristine when I dropped it off.

They could not possibly have done this, just no way they can damage a
car door. After an exchange of views they say for the sake of harmony
they will get an expert to fix it at their cost. That took the gloss
off what was otherwise a good weekend.

// please trim quoted text to context onlyFrom: “Richard Dowling” rmdowling@optusnet.com.au

At 10:54 PM 16/10/2006, you wrote:>So, they are not disputing that the damage is fresh ?

Where do they park customers’ cars before/after they’ve worked on
them ? It might be that they didn’t cause the damage at all.
However, the car is in their “care, custody, and control” so I
reckon they are liable.

Doug Dwyer


They initially denied it was even possible they caused damage.
They wash cars outside but take them in to the workshop for interior
clean and vacuum.
I suspect the door was opened against an upright part of their
racking/storage system.

They sent around a person who specialises in fixing minor dents and
paint damage for dealers etc.
However he thinks too difficult to fix except by repaint of the door,
and he only does minor dents.

That is likely to be US$300 minimum and we may strike resistance.

Richard Dowling, Melbourne, Australia, 1979 XJ-S & 1985 XJ6.

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How very unfortunate. In the past I’ve worked in a
friends body shop for a little more than ten years. I
not only did body work but, was also a certified PPG
painter. The larger issue as I see it is fixing the
car. There are two ways to do it.

  1. You sand and re-spray the door with color and then
    blend the front fender & rear quarter panel with the
    clear.
  2. Sand the entire side of the car and then re-spray
    with color after which you’d spray the clear.

Problem is, it’s IMHO next to impossible to get a
perfect match in color. Although, you can come close.
The whole incident just, sucks.

They sent around a person who specialises in fixing
minor dents and
paint damage for dealers etc.
However he thinks too difficult to fix except by
repaint of the door,
and he only does minor dents.

That is likely to be US$300 minimum and we may
strike resistance.

Richard Dowling, Melbourne, Australia, 1979 XJ-S &
1985 XJ6.

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A.J. Simpson
1986 5.3 XJ-S HE
1985 380 SL
718-930-8974

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