Expert: Mark Haben - 1/4/2007

Question
hi,
my car recently involved an accident and had damages in rear. and i have my car to repair in body shop. the dodel of vehicle is 2006 Toyota 4 runner and it is less than 2200 miles on it, 2 month old..  the color of my car is off white, the color is more closer to pearl color,  the body shop painted my car bright white and it looks not match with original color.  i asked the dealer to repaint.  but they did not. they put and kept bright white in back door and rear bumper.  and the man in the shop said the color could not match due to special paint, they kept the vehicle more than a month now.
what would you do at this point,  I haven't made any payment yet.

Answer
Your vehicle is painted with a three stage paint- a base coat of color, a tinted top coat, and a clear coat. It can be very, very difficult to match these colors. They require special materials, and extensive blending of color into adjacent panels to ensure color match. All painters and management people in the shops can see a "pearl" from a mile away. They can cause some real headaches for everyone. My advice is to cease negotiating with the shop and get the insurance company involved that is responsible for the pre-loss condition of your vehicle. Tell the insurer that the shop is unable to achieve an acceptable color match and would they please assist you in finding a shop that can. Also- educate yourself about your entitlement to "diminished value". You are to be compensated for the loss of value to the vehicle after the repairs are complete. Get the insurer involved and fast.