Just had the 2005 Camry repaired from hitting a deer. I see multiple problems and am wondering what on earth the body shop did to mess some of these things up. He's already told me to bring it back, but I'm curious how these problems can be repaired. Especially if they mess up again, I'd like to fix it myself.

First the hood is extremely hard to close, really have to slam it down, and then it is too low, not level with the points on the fenders. I've searched online and doesn't seem to be a way to adjust the latch, which he says they'll do. Is there a way to adjust the latch?

Next is the lower end of fenders in front of the doors. On the damaged side, that part of the fender was popped out so it wasn't flush to that strip that runs under the doors. Undamaged side was perfectly smooth transition. Now after "repair" the damaged side actually sticks out even more, and the undamaged side is no longer flush. There's also little gouges and chips like they pried between the fender and the strip, on both sides! So you can see why I don't really trust them to get it right 🙄

Pictures of fender area I'm talking about. Really irritating they made it worse, and messed up the perfect side as well. Any ideas what needs to be done here ?

This is after repair.

Closeup shows its dented in and paint chipped like they actually hit it with a hammer 😱

Undamaged side, no longer flush and has pry marks.

 

I am not up to speed anymore on Toyota body design,repair and the multitude of plastics used..

What did the service sheet say about repairs.

Was the cars frame bent?

What parts were repaired and which were replaced?

Did insurance pay or you. If insurance were there any limits to what insurance would pay.

Hoods typically have adjustable stops, one on each side of the radiator frame area. These stops control hood height position. A common way to adjust the rear of the hood is shims or moving the hinge.

The outer rocker arm is plastic and assume this is some adjustment.

The rocker arm cover panel gap and damage is not acceptable! The shop screwed up, was rushed, short handed, no experience help, etc. The car got out the door. Speculate many car owners might not even notice or complain. None of this is your problem.

Suggest you take it back to the shop. Calmly point out your issues. Have them explain their fix to you to the point you understand it. If insurance paid and no satisfaction complain to insurance but only as a last resort. Sometimes these things happen and the shop owner is not even aware of it.

If you DIY, then you own the problem not them.

A good shop can do great body and paint work on just your daily driver common car.

You could ask at Toyotanation.com in the appropriate forum (a much larger website) but you will most likely get the same answer.

Pursue the body shop first. It's there problem.

 

Insurance covered it. There are things on the original estimate that didn't get done according to the final bill. Such as.... they didn't blend the paint on fenders to match the hood, which he told me had to be done, so the hood looks pinkish compared to the fenders. Original estimate said repair right fender. No mention of anything to do with fenders on the final bill. It's obvious they did something to the fenders with those scratches and gouges, but I suspect this is why they just left the fender section off the final bill completely ....so they could say they didn't touch the fenders maybe? There are issues with the headlights as well. Missing filler gaskets, one has the corner sticking out past fender. As far as the hood, adjusting the bump stops up won't level it. That would only make it even harder to close. It literally does not latch completely until slammed hard, and then it's below the level of the fenders. What a mess they made. It is going back, he's already told me to bring it back. But I have no faith in them at this point. Yes they treated it like an old 2005 vehicle. But it only has 125k on it, so I expect them to treat it with more respect.

 

Forgot to answer...there was no frame damage. Don't think these things even have frames lol. Was mainly hood, grill, right fender, and headlights. Had a tiny ding in condenser fins where the horn bounced against it. So they replaced the condenser, which didn't leak, AND the radiator (with a used radiator). Car was fine to drive for the month it took them to get the parts, AC worked perfect. Insurance said take it to this shop, period. No 2nd estimate. I would have liked to taken it somewhere else, but apparently it doesn't work that way anymore. I have several closeups in daylight, but this is the night it happened. Over $4000 to repair...

 

If the unibody was bent and straightened then perhaps the add on parts may not fit up.

I feel your pain!

I had two bad experiences with body shops. One where the body work (beat the part back to shape and filler) and paint was great but the sanding marks were OBVIOUS. I thought how could one do such a great job with the major issues but screw up sanding this bad. I took the car back and they fixed I assume as the family used this shop often.

Another time again the body work on the hood was good and finish to but they didn't spray the complete hood and it was obvious. They offered to fix it but I stated no. Fortunately they used liquor paint which I was easily able to remove revealing the original paint in good condition. Here they were trying to paint a very small damaged area with a LOT of paint. I used touch up paint and the result was great. I didn't want the shop touching the car again. This was a 2 year old car.

If your insurance ran you into this shop then assume they are after cost savings. A decent insurance company allows options on who does the work although they of course are all trying to keep costs down.

Yes, its darned disappointing to see bad body where someone paid good money. I used to do body and paint work on cars, its not rocket science. The shop is just turning out garbage for one reason or another.

 

Well I took the car back today for the headlight and hood latch adjustment. Luckily the person I had been working with was unavailable, so I ended up with the top banana, body shop manager. As soon as he saw the car he said that he wasn't happy with the used replacement headlights since the beginning. Not sure how it got out of the shop if the manager didn't even approve. We have agreed he's going to replace with aftermarket new headlights. He's also not sure why the fenders weren't blended to the hood color, he said he could clearly see the difference in color. So fender blending is going to get done. When I showed him the gouges and paint chips where the fenders meet the rocker panels, how the damaged side was worse than before, and how the previously perfect side was messed with as well, he was completely confused. He said the fenders were never removed and he'd have to dig into what happened with that. I tried to show him my before pics but he said not necessary, he believes me. So that's supposed to get fixed. Then on top of these original complaints, I kept smelling coolant, which I had never smelled before or after the deer collision. Thought maybe they spilled some that was burning off. Today I finally was able to see where the coolant is pooling on that shield underneath, and he saw it too. He said it could just be a hose, but he's replacing the radiator with a new one.

In the end he said there was nothing unreasonable about my complaints and it would all be taken care of. He seemed so dumbfounded himself, makes me wonder if he was on vacation when the car left the shop. Or he's a really good actor, lol. I sure hope it wasn't because they knew the car actually belongs to my mom, who's in her 70s, and they figured she'd just not notice. She didn't really want me to even take it back to complain...told her that's why I'm her "assistant" 😉. Will update hopefully with good news next week.

 

Great job in getting back with the owner.

As stated previous, the work done was bad!! How it got out the door who knows. Who knows, the owners BIL may have done the work but they can't be fired because its family. A lot of places are short of skilled workers, employees use drugs, alcohol or maybe the shop just does poor work. But this isn't your problem of course.

I don't know the owners real intent. Might assume they mean well but as usual keep watch. Have found most businesses want to do a good job although one may have to encourage them to do so. Given them a chance to make it right. You gain nothing by taking an adversarial position at this time. The owner may be just as upset as you, never know.

 

Well he's not the owner, just body shop manager, but still he was much more concerned than the estimator/assistant manager was. Dropped car off today and he said he already has the brand new headlights, plus a brand new radiator in case its not just a leaky hose that didn't get tightened. I did find out today that it's true, what my friend told me, the "real" body shop is still at the dealership. This satellite body shop is more for insurance claims on old vehicles, and has had a lot of complaints. Isn't that interesting?

 

So, there is a real body shop and the clunker body shop.

A question is if insurance is paying real body shop prices for clunker shop work and the dealer pocketing the difference?

Please post back with what happens with the car. When you get the car back give it a good check as now the shop is dealing with reworking bad body shop work which may be more challenging.

I wonder how many car owners just accept the clunker shop work?

 

Took them 2 weeks but finally got the car back today. Brand new headlights. Brand new radiator (he said the used one they put in did have a pretty bad leak). Blended the paint on fenders. They adjusted something so the hood is now level with the fenders, but it is still extremely (really extremely) hard to close. Gotta look into that. He also filled the gas tank to try and make up for the trouble. The low fuel light was on when I took it in, lol, so that was awesome!

Far as the rockers, he showed me where somebody had lifted it wrong in the past and actually folded over the pinch weld. Now maybe I just never noticed the problem before, on the right side. He still can't explain why or who messed up the left side, and they did touch up the paint there.