Body shop work… is it bad or am I just picky?

One other note on body work/shops in general...

Sometimes you are given the choice of used OEM or new aftermarket parts. Always choose the used OEM. Once the paint is stripped they are the same as new OEM, factory fit.

 

Here's the funny thing... Unless you have identical pics of before the accident and after the accident, you really don't know.
Take it from an ex bodyman... You notice a bunch more after the accident than before the accident.
Also, to all you fuckers wanting a perfect repair? It does not exist. Sure, most shops can mix paint but to what color? Example... You park your truck in the same spot at work for five years facing north to south. You actually think the fading is identical from side to side? Um, no.
Let's say you have a high metallic color like silver. What pressure did Toyota shoot it originally? What was the humidity and temperature?
Metallic flakes line up different at different pressures so it could be a shade different depending even tho it's a perfect match.
Humidity and temp make a difference too. In addition, rubber and plastic parts require a different additive which will influence the shade.
And lastly, what was the gap before the wreck? Doubt anyone knows so how can you mark it wrong if you don't know where you started?
Bodywork is not like an accounting job. There is a lot of gray between the black and red.
I would never do bodywork for ignorant people again. They have zero knowledge of what it takes.
Even companies like Icon, who charge several hundred thousand dollars for a vehicle rebuild will have errors. It is what it is.

 

Bet your upper radiator support is tweeked back yet and your fenders are still out on the ends, why the flares don't fit right. Your headlights could be aftermarket? They are notorious for not fitting the fender openings and or cause the fenders are still pushed out. As far as the paint goes the flares grills and scoops used to come painted. Looks the fender gap is tighter on the drivers side too. As far as the squeak goes check the ac lines where they come through core support, bang on the bumper cover itself. If the wrong diameter clips were installed they can squeak. If you stand back and look at the side of truck can you see a color difference from front to back? If not fold your mirror in and place a 2 ft wide piece of cardboard against it center of wheel to door. Then stand back and look at it , if color is off you should be able to notice it, if you can't with out they did a good job blending but may have chose the wrong variant. Did shop discuss the deductible payment? If you didn't have to pay your deductible then you may have gotten aftermarket instead of oem. A good shop should have brought this to attention. Was involved in the trade for 22 yrs still kinda keep up with the new techniques for repair. Let me know if you got ??? And look in through the fan to see if it ever kiss the radiator and pop the top trim cover up to see if the condensor has a bow at all .

 

What he said 100%

 

I also noticed the headlight/fender gaps on both the left and right headlights in the pics: nearly exact duplicates: either it's after-market headlamps, fenders, inattention to detail on re-assembly, something still tweaked that wasn't replaced or: all of the above. No other likely explanation on a front-end event. When I look at it, to me it doesn't look real bad in the after-crash pics: More like a designed-in/engineered plan where the crumple-zone did it's job and the crash didn't exceed that plan.

It should have come out/look better than it did: Period

 

Just another thought. Insurance is supposed to indemnify you if you have an acceptable claim. In other words the object should be repaired or replaced to be in the same condition that it was in before the incident. If it's not, you have a valid complaint.

 

I just went out and looked at the gaps just for you guys .. they are all over the place lol. Mine is a 2021 never been fixed. How can you match something that was different from the beginning?

 

Yep.
2017, the same light gap on the left. Normal.

 

Definite bonus points for the use of indemnify (great word) but it’s vague what that really means. You have a used, operating vehicle prior to the incident. The insurance company has made sure to restore the condition back to…a used, operating vehicle. Some might say they’ve done their part. They do not have to restore the vehicle back to BRAND NEW condition. Policies vary and some will call out OEM vs aftermarket, etc. sometimes they may determine replace instead of repair, etc. worth asking but there is always a chance they say kick rocks, we did what we said we would do.

 

Regarding the grille surround, they come painted from factory like that. I bought an extra one to use with the trail edition heritage grille, so I can swap back and forth with my silver colored heritage grille, and the white paint on the spare one I bought is most definitely a warmer white tone, compared to the factory white paint on my truck. The truck has a cooler blue hue to the white.

I just try not to pay attention to the warmer hue too much, but it’s there and maybe only I notice it.

 

despite what some internet Karen tells you most insurance companies have some type of language that says they are only required to use OEM parts on vehicles that’s are the same model year or less than 1-2 years old.

I’m not saying they didn’t use them but I wouldn’t be surprised if you have like a 2018 and OEM parts were hard to get or overly expensive and they used aftermarket

 

Yep. We had a highly recommended shop try and BS us into believing it was impossible to match the rear bumper when my wife was rear ended. Another shop had no problem taking the business and matching it properly.

 

Factory fresh...

 

The headlight fitment is normal. my truck, which has never been in accident, is the same way. Even with aftermarket headlights the gap is still the same

 

take it back. the gaps should be a fairly easy fix.

 

The headlight fit is probably not going to get much better, the other stuff.....make them fix it.

 

this is a factory fresh (tm) Tacoma. it has never been in a wreck, although it sure as shit looks like it does.

 

I just recently had a front end deer hit repair. Body shop, part of a company that has dealerships for several different brands, their Toyota dealership is next door. (Hertrich in Delaware, Maryland area).
The initial estimate sent to me prior to work listed all OEM part numbers. Estimate seemed a little high based on internet searches of the OEM part by me. But I figured since they were part of a Toyota Dealership they would do good work.
They had my truck listed as a TRD Sport and not as an Off Road. I pointed that out and they acknowledged they would change it on estimate.
Long story short. Got the truck back in about 2 months. Checked it over at the shop before paying the deductible. Truck looked good.
First nighttime trip and the headlights were way out of adjustment. The next day I go to adjust the aim my self and find one light with a 12mm adjust screw, the other with an 8mm adjustment screw. Wtf....
I start looking closer and see that they are after market headlights. Both look fine but are obviously two different brands.
I look at the completion estimate sent to the insurance company. They charged $700 per light for aftermarket.
OEM can be bought over the internet for less than $450 each. This ended up being common for every part they claimed to replace. OEM parts were charged at list price not at the actual retail price

Upon closer look at the parts list I see several parts that did not go on my truck such as the front Spoiler (Air Dam). The battery tray and support, claimed they replaced front bumper cross member and of course the labor cost for replacing all those parts. The hit was at about 25 MPH. I took all the damaged plastic parts off afterwards and drove the truck 30 miles to the shop.
The only metal that was slightly bent was the hood latch support.

The updated parts sheet and the what the eventually they charged the insurance company (Liberty) was almost double the original estimate. $6500 to $12,000.
When I contacted the claim adjuster about the fraudulent charges she said she would investigate it.
Two weeks later I got an Email saying Liberty paid the body shop the full amount.
This obvious fraud and the fact the insurance company blew the fraudulent charges off are why we all pay way too much for insurance.

My truck came back looking great. With the exception of the after market Headlights I can't complain about the work. I considered pushing for the OEM lights but honestly I don't want them touching my truck ever again. I will give the lights a year or so then replace them myself with OEM Led's.

I have the same small gap at the bottom of my flares. I had a picture of my truck from before the deer hit and had about the same amount of gap.
I also have the passenger side slight mis -shape of the hood leading corner that came from the factory.

 

For the Skewp, it looks like the push clip wasn't fully seated. Super easy to fix. Other than that, I'd would live with the rest.

 

People putting up with shit body work is why shops crank out shit body work.