Damaged Rear Bumper at (Suspected) Tint-A-Car

Monday: Dropped my Mazda 3 off at Tint A Car after work in pristine condition. Left it with them overnight while they worked on it.
Tuesday: Picked it up after work. Drove it straight to the garage to park it there.
Wednesday: Drove it to the Mazda showroom for its service. Been with them for the last 5 years.
Thursday: Pick it up, drive it home & notice that the rear bumper is scratched & damaged. The number plate beading holder is broken off, the bottom part of the bumper has a small 1-inch crack and a few scratches. Something high & pointy has been backed into it. I paid almost $400 for the tint job.
What do you think I can do at this point? I have fully comp. Suspect TinT A Car, but have no proof.
Any advice will be most appreciated.

Here are some images if anyone wants a look see:
https://i.imgur.com/SihukFb.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/cFOvNfS.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/suwzSV3.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/vQU48F4.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/d6y6Xvh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3z2ouIt.jpg

Edit: Footage showed that the bumper was already damaged when I brought it into the showroom. Will have a chat to insurance to see what they have to say. Thank you all for all your help and support!

Related Stores

tintacar.com.au
tintacar.com.au

closed Comments

  • +9

    Without any proof the phrase 'shit out of luck' springs to mind.

    • +1

      What a coincidence, I was thinking the same thing. A bit dejected is not. Was NOT expecting this to happen, mate.

      • +1

        You sound honest enough mate. These things happen.

        "Been with them for the last 5 years."

        You could always go down there and have a polite chat with them, may be worth a shot.

        • +2

          I will definitely do that, thank you! The showroom will have cameras all around so it will do me good to rule that out.

  • +1

    Check the dashcam?

    • +1

      Dashcam turns off when I turn off the ignition, unfortunately.

      • Do you have a rear cam?
        I would still check either way. Perhaps they drove your car into the other car/obstacle? Do you have audio on the cam? You might hear them say something even if the footage doesn't show much. It could also be a complete waste of time if another vehicle hit your car while it was off. Just putting some ideas out there.

        • Nah mate, I do not. I was wondering if it will be worth it to get one hardwired after what happened. But those things are super expensive I guess. I went through 2 hours of footage as they had the radio on while working on the car. As long as they drove it around, it was fine. No damage from either side. They were very careful. I had audio too, only had one incident, nothing related to this. Someone or something hit it.

  • +2

    Funny enough I had a similar situation few years ago with Tint-A-Car, left my car with them for a few hours, picked it up, drove my car home and noticed that my front passenger window trim was scratched badly, sent them an email with photos, received a call from the Manager a few hours later to basically say that they don't use tools that could cause that damage and therefore the damage wasn't caused by them. I decided to drop it as I didn't have proof.

    • Funny enough they use razor blades to trim the tint and it's often done on the car itself, incuding windows… I have cut the trim lightly by myself while practicing to tint my own car.

  • Could be the tinting place or the service centre.

    • +2

      I'm going with the TintACar but like JamesD & Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead said, I have no evidence.

  • +1

    It could've easily happened at either Tint-A-Car or at the Mazda showroom.
    Being a customer at Mazda for 5 years doesn't necessarily mean that they'll be honest if they caused the damage. (That's assuming they even noticed the damage, since the damage you've described isnt huge and immediately noticeable).

    You could talk to both places, but if they deny it, there's really not much you can do about it without proof.

    • Cheers mate.

      • I once dropped a car off to a mechanic who gave it back without the indicator light cover. They said "oh well it was like this when i gave it to them"

        I was like nah uh mate… It wasnt even broken, it was fully removed screws and all.

        They took $20 off the bill… Lost a good friend over it because it was his work and i refused to pay till it was fixed and his boss took that out on him…

        Sometimes its better to just move on and fix it then fight the machine

        • +4

          Lost a good friend over it because it was his work

          I don't mean to sound harsh, but he doesn't sound like he was a very good friend if he couldnt even admit a minor mistake like that.

        • @bobbified: Maybe it was someone else and he was just handed the already screwed up indicator light cover?

  • …this is why you stay with the car whilst they do their job and eagle eye them even more once the job actually starts…..and not sit in the office waiting for them to finish up or go home doing something else unless you have better use of your time than to oversee their job personally?

    Either that or film yourself and the car before and after the job so you got proof if anything is damaged…..or wrong in any way….especially the area that that job will be done at…..or even better film them do their job! hahahahaha

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