GT Carstar Collision... Stay FAR AWAY

[tylere]

I thought I would share my recent experience with GT Carstar collision, which unfortunately hasn’t been pleasant. I recently got too close to the card reader on my parkade and ended up bumping against the cement wall, pushing the fender in about ¼ of an inch and scratching the bumper and fender. BTW car is a 2006 Mazda 3. I did my due diligence and got quotes from 4 shops, Maranello, GT Carstar, A1 and National. A1 and National were the cheapest (under 800) GT Carstar and Maranello being over a 1000.00, since I was not going through insurance I decided to pick GT Carstar which was “middle of the road” with pricing and for the fact they were able to get me in the day after the estimate. The job involved removing the 3M film from bumper, straighten fender and paint both the fender and bumper, not rocket science. After picking up my car on Friday and doing a good inspection it appears to be in worse shape than when the car was delivered to them.

- Side body (side skirts) molding were removed with a screw driver putting a bunch of indents in them, they didn’t even use new double sided tape as it’s already falling off
- Door has a inch long scratch
- Fender and bumper still don’t line up
- Bumper is three different colors, and has two very noticeable different textures
- Paint is already peeling on the bumper right under the headlight
- Clearcoat drips on tops of fender
- Fender has a different look than the rest of the car
- Dust all over the inside of the car

As you can see the list of “mess ups” are larger that the list of “to fix”, I don’t understand who even let this car leave the shop. I have to now waste another day to take it back into the shop on Tuesday to get all this fixed which I am guessing will be half-assed as well. Luckily I refused to sign the form accepting the repairs and I paid with VISA, if it's not perfect I will be disputing the charge with VISA.
Moral of the story… Stay FAR FAR away from GT Carstar on 9th AVE…. I will update this post after they try and fix it for the second time.

[lilmira]

any pictures of the before and after shots?

[tylere]

Yup, I do. They don't show the paint quality or lack there of but they give a general idea.

Before
http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/2373/beforepp4.th.jpg (http://img385.imageshack.us/my.php?image=beforepp4.jpg)

Bumper and Fender still 1/8 of an inch off

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/6895/bumperkf7.th.jpg (http://img72.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bumperkf7.jpg)

Color difference and NO that is not the camera, it really is two different colors split at that line, they tried to "blend" it in. I could have done better with a can of spray paint

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/715/colorie5.th.jpg (http://img151.imageshack.us/my.php?image=colorie5.jpg)

Molding removed with screwdriver

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/6222/moldkx0.th.jpg (http://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=moldkx0.jpg)

Moluding pulling away after a day

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1368/mold2oe0.th.jpg (http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mold2oe0.jpg)

Molding removed with screwdriver in another place

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/3899/mold3le4.th.jpg (http://img399.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mold3le4.jpg)

The paint is too hard to take a picture of but is definitely noticeable

[trieuth]

I've never heard anything but good things from gt carstar. i work with enterprise rent a car, and all our cars that get damaged go there. they do amazing work.

i had them put on a new bumper and install a lip for me all at cost with no labour cept for paint.

i have always reccomended people to take their cars there.

[tylere]

I too had heard nothing but good things, I actually got their name from someone who had work done there and was quite impressed. However, either things are slipping or this is an isolated incident but the work speaks for itself. Honestly the car is in worse shape that when I took it in to begin with. I take it back tomorrow, let's hope they get their shit straight so I can change this from GT Cartstar sucks to GT Rulzes. At any point I still cannot understand why they even let the car leave the shop in this state what happened to getting things done right the first time?

[trieuth]

im sure if you go back in and talk to matthew or dan, they will be able to take care of you. they are stand up guys

[Sharpie]

On your quote did they say they were blending the bumper?Because to me it would of bee easier for them just to paint the whole thing because most times you wont get a blend to look perfect...

[tylere]

Quote says

Repair- Cover, Front bumper 2hrs
Paint - Cover, Front Bumper 3.5hrs

You would think 3.5 hrs of painting a 2 hrs of prep would be the entire thing.

Dan did the estimate and I agree he was very pleasant to deal with.

[Sharpie]

Originally posted by tylere
Quote says

Repair- Cover, Front bumper 2hrs
Paint - Cover, Front Bumper 3.5hrs

You would think 3.5 hrs of painting a 2 hrs of prep would be the entire thing.

Dan did the estimate and I agree he was very pleasant to deal with.
Yeah at that time I would definetly say they should do the whole thing.. Sometimes if you wanted to lower the price they might blend it but I was looking at a past estimate and it is bang on with yours so... I would go in and see whats up, I think they were trying to get away with just painting half but they failed horribly. There is also no way that should of left the shop like that, so when you go in dont bitch but complain and try and get the price reduced or a free detail or something because I would be ashammed to work at that bodyshop if shit like that went out...

Also let us know how it goes..

[trieuth]

how did it go?

[tylere]

We can turn this from a negative to a positive. I dropped it off on Monday and Dan took care everything! When I picked the car up on Tuesday it was perfect, I had a little issue with the fender not being flush at the top and he fixed it right away. People make mistakes but it’s how they deal with them and I can say Dan did an awesome job.

I will be back if I need anything in the future, I'm sure they will remember me as the most anal / picky customer of the year.....

[lilmira]

:thumbsup: That's how every business should be.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by tylere
I thought I would share my recent experience with GT Carstar collision, which unfortunately hasn’t been pleasant. I recently got too close to the card reader on my parkade and ended up bumping against the cement wall, pushing the fender in about ¼ of an inch and scratching the bumper and fender. BTW car is a 2006 Mazda 3. I did my due diligence and got quotes from 4 shops, Maranello, GT Carstar, A1 and National. A1 and National were the cheapest (under 800) GT Carstar and Maranello being over a 1000.00, since I was not going through insurance I decided to pick GT Carstar which was “middle of the road” with pricing and for the fact they were able to get me in the day after the estimate. The job involved removing the 3M film from bumper, straighten fender and paint both the fender and bumper, not rocket science. After picking up my car on Friday and doing a good inspection it appears to be in worse shape than when the car was delivered to them.

- Side body (side skirts) molding were removed with a screw driver putting a bunch of indents in them, they didn’t even use new double sided tape as it’s already falling off
- Door has a inch long scratch
- Fender and bumper still don’t line up
- Bumper is three different colors, and has two very noticeable different textures
- Paint is already peeling on the bumper right under the headlight
- Clearcoat drips on tops of fender
- Fender has a different look than the rest of the car
- Dust all over the inside of the car

As you can see the list of “mess ups” are larger that the list of “to fix”, I don’t understand who even let this car leave the shop. I have to now waste another day to take it back into the shop on Tuesday to get all this fixed which I am guessing will be half-assed as well. Luckily I refused to sign the form accepting the repairs and I paid with VISA, if it's not perfect I will be disputing the charge with VISA.
Moral of the story… Stay FAR FAR away from GT Carstar on 9th AVE…. I will update this post after they try and fix it for the second time.

I guess these are the threads where a Paintless Dent Repair person would capitalize and jump at the disadvantages of bodyshop repaint, lol... JUST KIDDING; yes there are disadvantages to PDR too. The bodyshops that knows me knows I'm not like that, I'm all for working together to produce the most cost effective, best result body repair for the customer/vehicle.

Very nice for the OP to provide a chance for the shop to correct the issues.

+100000000 the shop rectifying the legitimate issues the client had. Repairs should be done right, even if not the first time.

One more cheap shot to my industry (NOT any particular PDR company)... with all the hail storms, anybody getting their hail damaged vehicles done by Paintless Dent Repair... realize if the repair isn't done properly, it can NOT be re-fixed... not by the original company, not by another PDR company. It has to be repainted by a bodyshop. Since the insurance will be signed off, you'll be stuck with results like below, lol... choose your PDR company wisely.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r95/Tomcompany/untitled4.jpg http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r95/Tomcompany/untitled2.jpg

Edit: To the OP, just a courtesy suggestion, due to the unfolding positive events, maybe change your thread title to: "bodyshop repair problems, but handled with class and resolved to perfection"... something like that? :dunno:

[Sharpie]

Originally posted by lilmira
:thumbsup: That's how every business should be.
No its not, it should have never left the shop in the first place...

[Akagi Redsuns]

Originally posted by Sharpie

No its not, it should have never left the shop in the first place...

Agreed, I hate it when shops try to pull a fast one on you and hope you don't notice.

Although, it is good to see that they fixed it properly at the end, but it's still wasting time calling and going back to get it done right. I would be hard pressed to go back to a shop did that to me.