Mazda Dealer backed into their carwash - bumper scratched! >:-(
 

Just a forewarning, I'm pissed off, therefore this may fall into rant territory..

So after waiting over an hour and a half today for an oil change, I wander out into the service dept to see what is taking so long. The guy has all my paperwork (he's talking to the service attendant lady) and after finishing his conversation, starts telling me it's all done. He walks me too the car, and says how the oil filter was a tough one to get off, but they got it. Then he mentions we also put a little scratch in the rear bumper, by hitting their car wash bay. First of all, it was a deforming collision, that left visible depressions in the bumper. Second, why would they take my car through a touch car wash without asking me first? I washed it by hand, myself, LAST NIGHT. All of this could have been avoided had they asked me first.

So next I ask him what they intend to do to fix it. Well they are ordering a new bumper. Ok, not so bad. Is it painted? No. Their body shop is going to do it. I insisted that they get me a body colored bumper from the factory, but he was sure they don't exist, but that there body shop is 'real good.' I've seen my fair share of repainted parts, and they rarely look the same as the original paint. Am I getting the shaft here, not to mentioned that they messed up an otherwise flawless car?

The car is an '06 Shinka Copper Red, with 3000 miles on it. Yea, I've owned it about a month, and it already is going to have non-factory parts on it. I already talked to Mazda CS, and they said it is their responsibility to return it to an original condition, which I really don't think they are doing. The only thing they have offered in return thus far is to not charge me for me 15$ oil change. Thanks jackass, that's gonna cover it. The General Manager isn't in on Fridays, so I wasn't able to speak with them yet.

Thanks for any tips here...

Tell them you want to rent a '06 Shinka Copper Red. Then when they're not looking, steal the bumper. That'll teach the jerks.

all mazda bumper come painted.. you have to order unpainted just like painted.

honestly I'd ask one more time for the bumper and if they so much as wavered a bit I'd call my lawyer.

Thanks, I'll see how this goes. Another thing. I told him I want factory paint that's been baked or properly cured (which I don't think it is, being plastic), and he said that they do in fact, bake it in an oven to cure the paint. Can this really be done on a plastic bumper?

mazda paint is a wet process at the factory it's then baked

http://www.mazda.com/environment/2005/pdf/e200521.pdf

Great, the more ammo I have the better. Do you know where I could find reference of a painted bumper that can be purchased from Mazda? Maybe I need to call another dealer and ask if I can buy one outright.

Also, does the accessories division of Mazda have any special bumpers? I'd be willing to pay a little for an upgrade..

www.trussvillemazda.com go to parts dept..

Of better yet, just swap everything from the car they fucked up to the rental Shinka hahaha.... they wont notice!

They have the prepainted bumpers for the standard colors, are you sure they have them for the shinka too? I ask this because I know white was unavailable for a while, and when it did come out, they charged more for it.

I have a feeling you can't order a prepainted bumper, at least not in that color, anyway. Here's what I would do: take the bumper they order to the best body shop in town (highly unlikely it's theirs) and have them cover the bill. A really good body shop (I'm talking a place that does custom work, classic car restoration, or at least where people take their Ferraris and Bentleys) will be able to paint it to match your car perfectly—possibly even a better match than the original! (Look close—many cars' bumpers, factory paint, don't actually match the body color perfectly.)

Just my 2¢.

from my experience shops usually do a great job matching paint with the factory paint code. however its exceedingly hard if the paint is a pearly color, those are really hard to match. im not sure about copper red since ive never seen it before.

They perfectly matched my winning blue when they had to repaint my hood.

yeah, my bumper was perfectly matched too.
You can't order pre painted bumpers. I tried...called two dealers to make it less of a hassle
Winning Blue.

I know my mom's Tribute couldn't get a pre-painted bumper when we had to have it replaced just recently. When I needed my hood fixed I was told very few parts come prepainted and those that do would be small things like mirrors.

Is this is a fact? I'm getting my rear replaced, and the body shop said they would have to paint it, but I'd prefer it being painted from a Mazda factory (VR)

I don't think it is but I don't know for sure. My understanding was that the things you could get prepainted were mirrors and the appearance package parts. I'm not even sure if you can get prepainted spoilers anymore. I was told somewhere you could and somewhere you couldn't. :dunno: Guess it's all a mystery.

You might try calling Valley Mazda - they are in Calf. but they are honest and would have nothing to gain or lose one way or the other - their Service number is 805-544-6862, if bumpers or any other parts come painted, they would know!