Paint Problem - Under Warranty? Apparently Not!

[sponge55]

I booked my car into a local toyota garage today to get my front bumper resprayed as it is bubbling and peeling all over the place.

They called me a few hours later to pop back for them to tell me i was not covered under their warranty.

The reason for this - the bumper was not initially sprayed by them so the warranty cannot cover someone else's work.

I purchased the car from an approved toyota garage in January 2011 as a used car and now i am left thinking what benefits you get buying from an approved garage if they are not willing to put right a fault regardless of who carried out the initial job.

I dont know if they were aware of this poor paint job to the bumper before they sold the car to me but now they seem to think its very obvious the spray job was not done by toyota which would suggest they knew so is there anything i can do or say to get this respray done under warranty?

It was a kick in the face when they gave me a piece of paper with a quote if i decided i wanted to pay them to respray the bumper (£263).

[Mooly]

Difficult one to answer as it needs someone well up in consumer law.

If the vehicle was sold as meeting Toyotas stringent quality assurances and subsequently it obviously doesn't...

Do the checks on used cars mention bodywork etc as having been inspected ? This is going to be a real grey area I suspect.

[Lorna2]

I've never had to claim under a warranty for a car or any other product, so I'm not speaking from my own experience BUT I think the garage you went to could be right. A manufacturer's warranty would only cover what originally came with the car,so if someone else sprayed the bumper, the manufacturer's warranty would not cover that. I don't think the cover you get for a used car from a dealership would cover such a problem, as it is not mechanical/electrical etc.

If you didn't notice the bad paint job at the start, it probably looked ok to them too, as they would have had no reason to closely inspect it if it looked normal to look at. I would think they must know the paint job was not done by Toyota as the model and spec of your car, and whatever age it is, must not normally come with a body coloured bumper.

Hope you get it sorted

[Jan&tone]

I've never had to claim under a warranty for a car or any other product, so I'm not speaking from my own experience BUT I think the garage you went to could be right. A manufacturer's warranty would only cover what originally came with the car,so if someone else sprayed the bumper, the manufacturer's warranty would not cover that. I don't think the cover you get for a used car from a dealership would cover such a problem, as it is not mechanical/electrical etc.

If you didn't notice the bad paint job at the start, it probably looked ok to them too, as they would have had no reason to closely inspect it if it looked normal to look at. I would think they must know the paint job was not done by Toyota as the model and spec of your car, and whatever age it is, must not normally come with a body coloured bumper.

Hope you get it sorted

I'd be inclined to go along with this. I believe the manufacturers warranty covers 'as per brochure plus manufacturers or dealer options'

Any 'non standard' items will not be covered by the manufacturers warranty.

[edkeith]

i would be calling toyota uk about your problem

[sponge55]

i'm unlucky to buy a car thats had a botch job spray job. will give it another try but looks like i'm fighting a losing battle!

anyone know of a reasonable body spray nationwide company that is cheaper then toyota??

[dawesy]

chips away?

[shoney]

Toyota won't do the job anyway! I took my old corolla to them early this year to get a quote for a bump I had and they got in a local sprayer to quote it, I got chatting to one of the service lads I know there and he told me they use a few local ones to maximise the work they do.

So I went direct to the bloke who quoted Toyota for the job and he could do it £250, (he originally told Toyota 350)

I went round all the other places and I got the work down to £80, so I'd shop around a few local sprayers mate as well as the nationwide ones cos theyed only get the job if you took it to Toyota

[Mooly]

Toyota won't do the job anyway!..........

It's normal to subcontract work. Any work "Toyota" do would be to the required standard and covered by whatever warranties were applicable. Same with major mechanical work... if a head needed skimming etc then they would subcontract the work to a local machine shop... but any warranty or any comebacks and it's down to Toyota.

[shoney]

Toyota won't do the job anyway!..........

It's normal to subcontract work. Any work "Toyota" do would be to the required standard and covered by whatever warranties were applicable. Same with major mechanical work... if a head needed skimming etc then they would subcontract the work to a local machine shop... but any warranty or any comebacks and it's down to Toyota.

I work for Toyota so I know there methods, the only thing I dont like is how most dealers make out they are doing the work and charge alot to be the middle man

[sponge55]

called up to have a moan, they are going to take another look next week, not sure if the results will be different but the sales guy that sold the car will be present this time so fingers crossed.

[Sico2]

In my 09 Yaris manual it says exactly what the paint warranty covers. Excludes bumpers unfortunately. Only metal body panels (doors, roof, floor). No suspension, exhaust, brakes and so on and so on....

[bruce e]

Toyota won't do the job anyway!..........

It's normal to subcontract work. Any work "Toyota" do would be to the required standard and covered by whatever warranties were applicable. Same with major mechanical work... if a head needed skimming etc then they would subcontract the work to a local machine shop... but any warranty or any comebacks and it's down to Toyota.

Yip, like they say you get what you pay for.