paint peeled off customers car when removing 3m tape! customer is asking to pay for damage

[jeff79]

i run a small time headlight restoration business on weekends. several weeks ago i buffed the headlights on this lady's car who had an older Mercedes benz. All went well with the headlight restoration, but when i removed the tape, a very small section of the paint around the light peeled off with the 3m automotive tape i was using! i was shocked because ive done over 500 headlight restorations and had never had an issue with tape damaging paint before. I apologized to the customer and was honest and explained i honestly have no idea why this happened and had to accept responsibility then and there. yesterday i am emailed a quote for nearly $1000(with car rental) from a local body shop..

Looking back i may have jumped the gun a little too quickly. Is it possible that they could had there bumper repainted and it wasnt clear coated properly or for whatever reason the paint was weakened/not healthy?

Has anyone had a similar experience with the paint and how should i go about handling this without getting sued? Any advice at all would be tremendously appreciated

[dcjredline]

Fix it and forget it. The paint not being proper doesnt matter, it didnt peel off on its own. Its a lesson. Im not bashing you or saying you did something wrong Im saying maybe you can learn from it.

[jeff79]

Fix it and forget it. The paint not being proper doesnt matter, it didnt peel off on its own. Its a lesson. Im not bashing you or saying you did something wrong Im saying maybe you can learn from it.

how can i prevent this from happening in the future and do you have any idea of why this may have occurred to begin with? Also do you think its something a mobile paint chip technician could fix? They are assuming my insurence will pay for the damage, which i dont have.

[jrs1418]

Yes, it happened to me with blue painters tape. It was a SSLaquer paintjob from Maaco. The was no primer underneath, just her shiny red previous color. I didnt take any responsibility, but of course apologized and explained thoroughly. She understood.

[jeff79]

Yes, it happened to me with blue painters tape. It was a SSLaquer paintjob from Maaco. The was no primer underneath, just her shiny red previous color. I didnt take any responsibility, but of course apologized and explained thoroughly. She understood.

wow im surprised maaco would do shoddy paint job like that.. Anyhow i got a feeling the lady is going to deny it and say its factory paint. It didnt look like there was primer underneath the paint. it looked like bare metal if i remember correctly. Do you think its possible tape could remove the primer and paint? or is that very unlikely?

[KMG]

Odds are the front of the car had some previous repair and it was done poorly. I had this happen this spring a car, however it didn't come off from pulling tape. I was starting my wash process and one pass over the front bumper cover on the VW CC i was working and the clear coated started flying off. It certainly puts you in a bad spot, but you need to be prepared and know that things like this might happen and you will need to step up to cover the cost. I was prepared to pay to have the car fixed I was working on, however I got lucky that the previous repair had a lifetime warranty from his insurance company from when it was fixed previously.

[MDX Detailing]

I would call the mobile touch up tech. Also Ask if you could get a quote from your body repair shop. They will easily be able to tell if it was a poor repaint. Do you have a shop you trust?

[PurpleTowel]

There is no way that blue 3M tape pulled off factory paint. Not a chance. That's bad repair and prep work by someone else. Painters Tape is docile unless it has been left on for a LONG time (like months).

[VP Mark]

You did nothing wrong here, but it was still your tape that removed the paint, factory or not. I would try to find a more affordable way to fix it if possible, but you are still responsible.

On a second note, why are you operating a business without insurance? Garage keeper's liability insurance is super cheap. Imagine if this was a more costly repair and you were on the hook for it.

[GSKR]

Oh man that's a lot of headlamps to do to recover that.