after waiting for my facelift a3 collection day I go into collect my car today to find it has a dent looks like a car park dent like a long dent that has been caught with an edge of a door in the rear door, absolutely gutted is an understatement all shiny in the showroom but damaged, so left car with them to get sorted, salesman tells me they have someone that can pull it out, has anyone experienced this on collection and what is my options as forgot to ask as I was gutted and just left car with them. Has anyone had dents pulled out and would you say they totally get rid off them? I no every case is different just looking for some feedback and opinions thanks in advance
Facelift Facelift Damaged sportback car on collection day!!
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Would need to see a picture, but paintless dent removal by an expert is generally really effective. Had a dent on my GF Mini corrected by a PDR chap and it was flawless.
Assume no paint was damaged?
Obviously a bit gutting for you, but I would give them a chance to fix it.
Assume no paint was damaged?
Obviously a bit gutting for you, but I would give them a chance to fix it.
Any car can be repaired by a competent bodyshop to such a degree you won't know that it's ever been repaired. But that's not the point.
This has totally spoiled the unveiling experience for you, and any dealer that even thinks they can present a damaged car to a customer is not a dealer l would want to be doing business with. You will always know its been damaged.
Gutted for you.
This has totally spoiled the unveiling experience for you, and any dealer that even thinks they can present a damaged car to a customer is not a dealer l would want to be doing business with. You will always know its been damaged.
Gutted for you.
Didn't think to take a photo, there was no paint damage just like a crease about an inch and a half long as tho been caught by another edge of a door, hopefully they will use someone good and live in hope then that they will get it out
Any car can be repaired by a competent bodyshop to such a degree you won't know that it's ever been repaired. But that's not the point.
This has totally spoiled the unveiling experience for you, and any dealer that even thinks they can present a damaged car to a customer is not a dealer l would want to be doing business with. You will always know its been damaged.
Gutted for you.
Hopefully they can get someone to pull it out rather than having to go in body shop and fill and repaint as would not except this, but yes this did spoil the unveiling of car as had waited quite a while for it, dealer did put me in a courtesy car till I can collect mine and did say they would do something for the inconvenience but like you say I will always know it's been damaged
paradigital
Registered User
If it needs paint I'd want another car tbh. Painted anywhere except the production line always ends up terrible.
Any car can be repaired by a competent bodyshop to such a degree you won't know that it's ever been repaired. But that's not the point.
This has totally spoiled the unveiling experience for you, and any dealer that even thinks they can present a damaged car to a customer is not a dealer l would want to be doing business with. You will always know its been damaged.
Gutted for you.
On the whole I agree, and if the car was having to have a whole panel or such resprayed, then I wouldn't be impressed, but here, a small dent can be repaired to good as new, with everything kept original.
I would reserve judgement until seeing the car after the fix. Make sure you see it in good light.
But yes not the exciting day it was supposed to be...unfortunately these things happen
I'd like to know if the salesman came up and apologised beforehand, or did he do the unveiling in the hope you wouldn't notice the damage?
Scottyg
Registered User
Exactly what I was thinking! They couldn't have done a thorough inspection of the car beforehand if they didn't notice it!
No nothing was said by salesman but at the unveiling I didn't notice it myself, it was only after when I sat down to finalise paperwork that I happened to look over and saw dent, to be honest I could only see it when looking down the car not right up close
Good job I see it when I did as reckon once I took it out showroom I would be fighting a losing battle to prove it had happened there end
My last a3 was damaged on collection (ended in rejection and replacement), it's horrible and I feel your pain. As far as I'm aware you have to give them a fair chance at correcting the issue and if this doesn't meet your expectations then it's cause for rejection.
As others have asked, I'd like to know how the dealer approached the damage... if it was purposely not mentioned I'd be extremely annoyed and would be talking directly the the principle sales manager and possibly Audi U.K.
Stay calm, make notes of what was said and by whom and take as many pictures as you can.
Best of luck, hope it gets sorted to your satisfaction.
As others have asked, I'd like to know how the dealer approached the damage... if it was purposely not mentioned I'd be extremely annoyed and would be talking directly the the principle sales manager and possibly Audi U.K.
Stay calm, make notes of what was said and by whom and take as many pictures as you can.
Best of luck, hope it gets sorted to your satisfaction.
Ah....then yea that changes things...!
Is it possible it happened after the car was prepped and waiting for you, and the salesman didn't notice?
I asked for no fuss when I collected mine, so it was just out in the car park waiting for me.
With modern painting techniques l don't agree that paint will never match.
I "scuffed" the rear wheel arch on my Sepang S7, wasn't much, didn't go all the way through to bare metal, but l was gutted. Anyway, put it into a bodyshop l had used previously, came out the next day and you would never have known it had ever been touched. Because it was on the wheel arch they had to paint the panel and blend into the adjoining panel.
As l said, any decent bodyshop can take care of an issue for you.
Unfortunately I didn't take any photos didn't think at the time , salesman looked surprised once I pointed it out but you never no if they was trying there luck, I guess I will give them a chance to fix and go from there, am I in my rights to reject car if not satisfied at there repair at end? What are the options if not satisfied guess it would be another factory build and a nice long wait again
RichardT
Registered User
The thing is - anyone or any company can make a mistake or have an accident.
Don't judge them on that, but on the way they handle it.
Don't judge them on that, but on the way they handle it.
Quite possible I guess as showroom was quite full but nothing real close as to cause for concern as I would def be checking for damage, salesman has been excellent right way up to hand over day and did look shocked once I pointed it out but you never no
Great to hear just guess all depends on the body shop mines Daytona so don't no how easy that would be but hopefully won't go down that route of paint
If it's not fixed so it's essentially it's new car standard (as others have stated, this should be possible) then you're perfectly allowed to reject it. When I rejected mine, i carried on using the old car to the new one arrived.
Stick to your guns, take someone else (the most detail particular person you know) with you to inspect it once it's been fixed. If it's not right tell them...
thanks to everyone for there help and info guess it's just a waiting game again and see what happens after there repair, they put me in courtesy car and did seem genuine hopefully they will come through good not ideal but they did say it will only be a couple of days
Pull it out f-all! At the very least I'd be wanting a brand new door and some other form of compensation.
A brand new door's gonna have to be sprayed - not a good idea.
Apparently those paintless dent removal guys spend a lot of their time going round the car showrooms repairing dents. Nobody knows how many of us have accepted a new car that they've already worked their magic on!
If it's not too badly creased, they will be able to make a perfect repair - it really is amazing to watch.
The paintwork on ours wasn't perfect when we collected it. The salesman was very embarrassed and offered to have it done straight away or wait for a week or 2. I elected to wait as I didn't want them to do a rush job. Got it done a couple of weeks later, got a courtesy car (new A4) and we are getting our first service free.
A few things to bear in mind here;
1/ Paint less dent repair is brilliant. It's by far the best way to fix small dents.
2/ Paint after the production line is almost inevitable, you're going to need it sometime, and many cars will have had re-paint work done even before they left the factory. This is not a bad thing. I had a new Toyota MR2 many years ago that arrived at the dealer with a stain in the lacquer that looked like spilled milk. The whole car needed to be stripped and resprayed. That car had the deepest, glossiest, most luxuriant paint job of any car I've ever owned, and it was far better than anything Toyota were churning out of the factory in Japan.
3/ This isn't your teenage daughters hymen we're talking about here, it's a car door. So you needn't feel that having it repaired so soon is an irreversible disaster that means the car is forever sullied and no longer eligible to marry Mr Darcy due to it's lack of virtue. It'll be just as good as it was before.
Paint, especially new paint, is very soft and malleable. The sheet metal of the door is able to be stretched, bent and deformed almost at will by people who understand the material. This is after all how it became door shaped in the first place. If you get someone who understands both the paint and the material, they are able to put it back to exactly the same way it was before. Take my 2 month old MX5 as an example, which some git had used to get himself over my wall to see what he could steal from my shed.
Finished. Didn't even need a polish...
1/ Paint less dent repair is brilliant. It's by far the best way to fix small dents.
2/ Paint after the production line is almost inevitable, you're going to need it sometime, and many cars will have had re-paint work done even before they left the factory. This is not a bad thing. I had a new Toyota MR2 many years ago that arrived at the dealer with a stain in the lacquer that looked like spilled milk. The whole car needed to be stripped and resprayed. That car had the deepest, glossiest, most luxuriant paint job of any car I've ever owned, and it was far better than anything Toyota were churning out of the factory in Japan.
3/ This isn't your teenage daughters hymen we're talking about here, it's a car door. So you needn't feel that having it repaired so soon is an irreversible disaster that means the car is forever sullied and no longer eligible to marry Mr Darcy due to it's lack of virtue. It'll be just as good as it was before.
Paint, especially new paint, is very soft and malleable. The sheet metal of the door is able to be stretched, bent and deformed almost at will by people who understand the material. This is after all how it became door shaped in the first place. If you get someone who understands both the paint and the material, they are able to put it back to exactly the same way it was before. Take my 2 month old MX5 as an example, which some git had used to get himself over my wall to see what he could steal from my shed.
Finished. Didn't even need a polish...
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Gutted for you mate, even if it's done by their top guy you will always be looking for it even if it's perfect.
When I collected mine I went over it top to bottom looking at all angles, the only thing I found was a small scuff on the alloy...which they changed for a new one But for the time I had it, it drove me mad and may as well been the size of a 50p
When I collected mine I went over it top to bottom looking at all angles, the only thing I found was a small scuff on the alloy...which they changed for a new one
But for the time I had it, it drove me mad and may as well been the size of a 50p 
A few Audi dealership bashers on this thread, to the OP, dent removal guys are awesome each dealership has there own regular guy so let them at it....You'll be amazed and will soon forget it was ever there
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One of my mates is a PDR an he works for a hand full of car dealers on the brand new ones before they're collected. It seems to be common that they land with dents.
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My A3 was caught in a freak hail storm in 2015 and had ~300 golf ball sized dents on it.
The paintless dent removal guys worked wonders on it. You cannot tell it's been repaired at all.
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The paintless dent removal guys worked wonders on it. You cannot tell it's been repaired at all.
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There are loads of cars out there which would have been PDR'd before being collected by their first owners, who would never know it's had a repair.
I understand how frustrating it must be, but it sounds like they're doing their best to rectify it. Give them the chance to repair it via PDR.
Give it a good inspection and if you're not happy, reject it.
I understand how frustrating it must be, but it sounds like they're doing their best to rectify it. Give them the chance to repair it via PDR.
Give it a good inspection and if you're not happy, reject it.
RichardT
Registered User
But this damage is so small that the OP said it could only be seen at certain angles. Certainly it needs fixing (and fixing well) but as long as they do a good fix I would not think that they would accept a rejection.
Remember, if all cars that had a minor issue like this were rejected our cars would cost twice as much as they do!!!!
Remember, if all cars that had a minor issue like this were rejected our cars would cost twice as much as they do!!!!
Compensation? What is this, The USA? If anyone is wondering why things like new cars and insurance are getting more and more expensive, it's because everyone is demanding "compensation" for every little perceived slight. It's a dent on a door, not a botched facelift.
The car will be restored to as new condition, which will include all the rattles, infant mortality failures of components, and even the scuffs on the tyres and wear on the brakes where it's been shuttled about from factory to train to port to ship to port to transporter to dealership. A little dent in a door is nothing, and the owner, having entered in a contract with Audi to buy this car, might find it a little tricky to walk away over something so trivial.
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PDR is the logical next step and all this talk of "significant compensation" - what for? If the PDR guy (and most are superb at what they do) sorts it then all good. Drive the car and enjoy it.
RichardT
Registered User
I had a friend who bought a Renault in the days before they used drive-on drive-off ships. They were craning it off a ship and dropped it into the harbour.
Now that was grounds for rejecting the vehicle !!!
Now that was grounds for rejecting the vehicle !!!
one of my mates grandfather ordered a Saab and the boat apparently sank crossing the channel so he had to wait for another....so i've been told anyways
That happened to a lot of people. About 15 years ago the car transporter MV Tricolor hit another ship in the English Channel. Just under 3000 new Saabs, Beemers and Mercs (and a few others) were written off. Many were sliced in half when the salvage crews used a a wire saw to chop the ship into more manageable pieces.
There was another transporter full of new Mazda's that took on a bit of list when delivering to the US. Most of the cars were fine, they were chained down after all, but Mazda ensured every single one was shredded, so not a single nut or bolt would make it out into the marketplace and damage its reputation.
