Camaro Wrecked at Canadian Tire, what to do?

[HiTempguy1]

I'll try and lay this out as clearly as possible. I am not asking Beyond for legal advice, but what the best steps possible to getting issues resolved.

My father recently picked up a 2002 Chevrolet Camaro SS convertible SLP car from California. These cars are very rare in the black on black combo (less then 100 made with the SLP package). He was told that Canadian Tire is the only place that can do Federal inspections for importing vehicles (which I believe is true).

So, the car was taken to the north end Canadian Tire for its inspection yesterday. Had everything checked out while my father waited, and it passed with flying colors. He paid the fee, and took the car.

He proceeded to stop at AMA to get the car fully registered and insured in Canada (he had the temp stuff). When he got out of the car and was walking towards the building, he noticed that the passenger side of the car looked funny. On closer inspection, it was quite easy to see that the car had been lifted on a four "arm" lift, and the front passenger arm had been placed underneath the fender! This basically bent the bottom of the fender in, while pushing the middle outwards and (if you know what a 4th gen f-body looks like) seperating the portion of the fender that runs cleanly alongside the bottom side of the windshield up almost 2 inches :(

Now basically, the fender is most definitly screwed. This wouldn't be a big deal if this wasn't the camaro. They replace the fender, done deal. However, this car was PERFECT. It had 50,000kms on it, always garaged, from California. From what I understand, black paint is very hard to match to the rest of the car (especially considering the paint is 6 years old now) and he will take nothing less than a perfectly fixed car that looks like the way it did when it rolled into their shop.

That leads to today. He is having a meeting with the managers do discuss it. There won't be much discussing going on however. The car WILL be fixed properly, even if it means a new paint job (I have no idea if this will have to happen). He is basically telling them fix it the way he wants, or his next meeting that morning is with his lawyer.

So, is there anything my father should ask for specifically? Can a black fender be color matched and blended properly so it will look right? Are there any shops you'd recommend in Red Deer, Calgary, or Edmonton you would recommend? Obviously if they do not handle this, shit will hit the fan. Letters to the newspaper, BBB will be contacted, whoever does the federal licencing that allows them to inspect cars, and on and on. Is there anything else we should be considering?

Thanks for your help guys, any info is appreciated.

[scat19]

Take it to a body shop, get them to quote you (on a proper fix), screaming paintworks or maranello's, and have Canadian tire foot the entire bill. It was their mistake, and now it's their bill.

Fucking kids @ canadian tire :rolleyes:

[benyl]

Why was the car put on a lift.

The Federal inspection is just to check the daytime running lights.

You have to do an OOP as well. Did you get CT to do the OOP?

[Anomaly]

That sucks.

That's pretty common damage to see on those cars... The bottom of the fender mounts lines up with a seam on the bottom of the car and people always mistakenly try to jack or lift the car off of it, which bows the fender out and destroys the seam on the bottom of the car. Previous owner of my car did the same thing.
:facepalm:

So besides fixing the fender, there also going to have to fix the seam that's probably completely flattened now.

:(

[hampstor]

Shitty deal man - I have a soft spot for f-body's and i love the SLP packages...

Whether the shop repairs or replaces the fender, when they refinish it, they will colour match and blend the fender to the door and hood. It can be done well for base/clear paints...

Get a damage appraisal done on it before accepting anything from CT. No offense to you or your dad, but there may be additional damage that you might not know to look for. For example, the fender could have rubbed against the mirror, hood, bumper, door and damaged that panel too, or put the headlight out of alignment, etc. Also, if they fucked the right fender, have them go over the left fender too.

Edit: I forgot to mention this. My wife used to be a manager at CT, and she said if the store won't deal with it, call corporation. They will then call the dealer and get the dealer involved. Dealers hate calls from corp... so this gets things moving quick.

[tom_9109]

Replace fender, blend hood, blend door. Done deal.

[Kennyredline]

Hopefully this all turns out ok...but the real lesson is to ALWAYS check your car before you leave anywhere you leave it for repair or whatever. Maybe doing a walk-around with a mechanic beforehand too,(before you walk away after dropping it off) just so everyone is on the same page.

[hampstor]

Originally posted by Kennyredline
Hopefully this all turns out ok...but the real lesson is to ALWAYS check your car before you leave anywhere you leave it for repair or whatever. Maybe doing a walk-around with a mechanic beforehand too,(before you walk away after dropping it off) just so everyone is on the same page.

Agreed - i've got into the practice of taking pictures with my phone all around my truck, at the shop when i drop it off. I know some shops now do the same when customers are dropping off their vehicles too.

[SilverGS]

Originally posted by benyl
Why was the car put on a lift.

The Federal inspection is just to check the daytime running lights.

You have to do an OOP as well. Did you get CT to do the OOP?

Agreed. When I took my car there for the inspection the guy just told me to park it outside the front door. He came out looked at a few things, copied some information from the stickers, started the car for a test and gave me the pass. It never went into the Cdn Tire bay at all.

[googe]

Get someone else to inspect it that really knows those cars, has the same passion for them that someone like your Dad would, and has credentials to back it up. In Calgary, I'd say Davenport, if you're in Red Deer, I'd say Lightspeed. Basically you want someone that knows exactly what to look for to note issues like Anomaly and hampstor just mentioned, and someone that can appreciate it, rather than a dealer mechanic that just wheels cars through all day.

If it has been garaged like you said, blending will be a lot easier. Wherever it goes, you might want to show up in person and make it clear that they should have no reservations about taking however much time and charging however much they need to in order to get it perfect (though I think rates are pretty standard anyway).

I had a good experience at Macleod trail autobody. It's family owned (I think 2 brothers) and they actually gave me a tour of the shop and explained a few things to me about how they do certain things, and then we got off topic and talked about random other car stuff, and they talked a bit about some recent cars they did, and seemed excited about it. Bigger places like Contemporary Coachworks definitely do good work, but you'll be treated a bit differently.

It really is bullshit that Canadian Tire has a monopoly on those inspections, because it forces everyone to take cars to the most notoriously incompetent, underpaid, under-educated auto shop in the country. So, file a complaint anyway. For the sake of everyone else that ever imports a car.

[urban.one]

Im curious to see how this one turns out. Ive heard and read about so many horror stories about Canadian Tire and their shop. Theres many websites that unhappy consumers have setup to protest against CT and I dont think many have found successful resolutions. Your situation is a little different in terms of the damage that happened. CT should have insurance for something like this so I could see you getting some sort of compensation but that will depend on the insurance company and what they are willing to pay out. Otherwise I dont see CT offering you much if anything at all.

Raw deal. Keep us posted.


Originally posted by HiTempguy1
...he will take nothing less than a perfectly fixed car that looks like the way it did when it rolled into their shop.

That leads to today. He is having a meeting with the managers do discuss it. There won't be much discussing going on however. The car WILL be fixed properly, even if it means a new paint job (I have no idea if this will have to happen). He is basically telling them fix it the way he wants, or his next meeting that morning is with his lawyer.

Obviously if they do not handle this, shit will hit the fan. Letters to the newspaper, BBB will be contacted, whoever does the federal licencing that allows them to inspect cars, and on and on. Is there anything else we should be considering?

Thanks for your help guys, any info is appreciated.

[berbatov]

Give us a visual hint as to how bad is the damage ...

[2EFNFAST]

Do you have PROOF it was perfect before you brought it into CT? By that, I mean dated and documented proof said area that in perfect safe, not just your word it was.

I ran into something similar several years ago with Hyatt (car damaged, but not enough that it were totalled (e.g., fall off a lift)) and after much back-and-forth and legal mumbo-jumbo, I was basically screwed because I had no proof the car came in perfectly. No pictures, no work visual inspection sheet verifying everything was perfect when turning it over, nothing.

Hopefully they man up and take responsibility, but I highly doubt that from CT staff.

[schocker]

Originally posted by benyl
Why was the car put on a lift.

The Federal inspection is just to check the daytime running lights.

You have to do an OOP as well. Did you get CT to do the OOP?
Maybe the did the federal and provincial at the same time, that is what happened when I took my car to legalize.

[whiskas]

Most decent shops will do a walk around and note of any existing damage before they bring it into the shop.

[Jason Lange]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1


He was told that Canadian Tire is the only place that can do Federal inspections for importing vehicles (which I believe is true).



Only other place in town allowed to do them is Stampede Toyota on 32 ave. I would suggest taking it to them next time.

[4DoorGTZ]

I dont know if they do have such a system in place or if it would get a good view of that car and even the lift. But it might be worth asking for footage from the service bay's camera's.... that is if they try and pussy out of it, maybe have your dad take a look inside before he goes and meets the managers to see if there are camera's and what they might be pointing at.

[urban.one]

Updates?

[canuckcarguy]

Originally posted by Jason Lange


Only other place in town allowed to do them is Stampede Toyota on 32 ave. I would suggest taking it to them next time.

I don't think so. They may do the OOP inspection, but I'm pretty sure Canadian Tire has the exclusive on the RIV inspection.

Never bring a nice car to Canadian Tire for mechanical work. It shouldn't have gone anywhere near their hoists.

I hope they're honest about it, because after driving away, what proof does your dad have that Canadian Tire did the damage? For all anybody knows, it happened elsewhere, and he's trying to get Canadian Tire to pay for it.

I'm not saying this is what happened, but you don't really have any proof either way.

But it shouldn't be hard for a good shop to perform a repair to this that should be all but invisible, especially if they polish the car afterwards. It's got 50,000 km on it, it's not like it's never left the showroom.

[Weapon_R]

Not anymore. There are a number of independent shops that can do the federal inspection now, including Stampede Toyota.

There is definitely something weird about the OPs claims. The federal inspection does not require a lift. On more than one occasion, they have done it right in the parking lot outside the service bay for me.

[canuckcarguy]

Originally posted by Weapon_R
Not anymore. There are a number of independent shops that can do the federal inspection now, including Stampede Toyota.

There is definitely something weird about the OPs claims. The federal inspection does not require a lift. On more than one occasion, they have done it right in the parking lot outside the service bay for me.

Hey, that's good news about the independent shops. I guess it's been a couple of years since I imported anything, back then no option but to go to crappy tire.

I've imported 3 vehicles over the years, and each time all they did for the federal inspection was to check the daytime running lights, so no idea why they were lifting the Camaro, unless he had the OOP done there.

[Jason Lange]

List of independents: http://www.riv.ca/english/Independent-Inspection-Centres.pdf

Stampede Toyota is the only place in Calgary other than Canadian Tire that can do the inspections.

They've been doing them for years.

[Drsuce]

it is the service advisors job to note any damage on the vehicle prior to the inspection. failure to do so would indicate that there is no visible damage to said vehicle :)

if AB OPI's are like BC's, damage to a fender like that could be grounds for a failure (as you *could* injure yourself if walking by..) if this is the case it would also indicate CT as being at fault!

the second a laywer is mentioned they will buckle, as any decent laywer would have a field day with a sloppy shop like CT :)

[canuckcarguy]

So what ended up happening here, anyway? Any refund or help from Canadian Tire?

[KyleTA]

is the bottom tab on the fender actually broken or just bent down?
My TransAm had the same issue when i bought it, I just took a piece of 2x4 and put it up against that plastic tab at the bottom of the fender... a few taps with a hammer and it was good as new. If you can do it this way - it is much less grief then replacing the whole fender especially if there are issues with matching the paint...

Of course Canadian Tire should reimurse you for the cost of replacing / painting 1 new fender as they technically did fuck it up.

Your dad has good taste btw!

[Team_Mclaren]

Originally posted by Weapon_R


There is definitely something weird about the OPs claims. The federal inspection does not require a lift. On more than one occasion, they have done it right in the parking lot outside the service bay for me.

:werd: , they usually dont even make you wait while they do the inspection, either they come out to the parking lot with you or get you to drive the car inside by the bay. Federal inspection takes no more than 3-4 mins MAX. who did the OOP btw?

[thetransporter]

stampede toyota also does these inspections

[911fever]

something is fishy here...

[Kloubek]

http://members.shaw.ca/kloubek/public/fishy.jpg

...just to chime in with everyone else.

In all reality, who knows why they would have wanted to put it up on a lift. Maybe they wanted to check something. Maybe they HAD to check something. Maybe they wanted to see what kind of exhaust it had on it - who knows.

It does not seem outside the realm of possibility they would have put it on the lift. However, I would venture to guess it is *possible* the damage may not have been noted prior to the C. Tire inspection, and it would be somewhat difficult to prove 100% that it was their fault...