Serious discussion only, Long story ahead.

Here's the story.

My car's a Proton Saga 1.5i 1990, as you know this car is prone to rust on the roof. When the rust gets really bad and even end up penetrating the roof itself causing internal water leaks in my car when it rains. I decided to send in for a respray.

A little back story, about how I found this Respray shop,

This is more onto business relationship term level :
The shop runs by 2 brothers, previously was handled by his elder brother, which he who turned out to be a very reputable shop located in OUG with lots of expensive cars sent to him, so I decided to give it a try by sending few of my cars to touch up damaged parts, turns out the result exceeds expectations, we end up great friends on business scale, his shop has a valid SSM License and he's very careful in dealing with the customer's cars at upmost care.

Until the day he decided to retire and announced he will pass down business ownership to his younger brother to handle,
I did question him about providing a rest assurance on the quality service outcome since he is no longer in charge, he says there will be no issues since both of them worked in this field for a very long time.


Now here's the real problem starts :-
The shop's now operated by a "new owner", he decided to move the shop to an industry area located in OUG, it's quite hidden and only a number of returning customers will be notified where his shop will be located since it's cheaper rent there.

During my send-in, he quoted me based on the "roof skin replacement" due to rust + full body Nippon 2k spray including inner spray on some parts totaling up to RM 5000. As he also told he needs 4 months to complete the job without being rushed to have it looked like new.
I asked him why it needs to be that long? He said because he will be handling the car personally with absolute care without letting his workers do.

I went ahead and accept the quote, the car gets sent in. Once in awhile, I asked for updates, but I rarely able to be notified of any.

The car was sent in since 17th September 2024, ends up completing on the week before Chinese New Year 2025 (It was like 27th January 2025)
Upon collecting the car before I accept the outcome.

The end result ? A fuckin disappointment :
If I had to list a few :
- Fabric seats are stained with black silicone, marks of the welding sparks punctured hole on my seats (They did not cover the seat before starting the job)
- Paint stain found on my fabric seats and Center console
- Misaligned bumper like unfinished job
- More white paint stains on the bumper like a rushed job
- Missing emblems and missing mudflap.
- Broke my passenger auto side mirror but decided to replace with manual mirror cheap replacement, not on my watch.
- Misaligned door gap.
- Pop the hood, found the A/C heat dissipation pipe gets sprayed on, even the battery copper head gets spray on as well.

The entire outcome result sounds like a last minute rushed job although given 4 months of complete time without rushing him even once.

At first I refused to pay him and ask him to compensate on the damage as the interiors are no longer replaceable unless you buy a donor car,
he refused to think about it and ask me to settle the payment first then we can discuss on the compensation part later after Chinese New Year.
He even says if I don't complete the payment now, I'm not allowed to take away my car and my car will be the only one left as he will not be liable if there's any damage or missing parts by storing the car in his yard.

I questioned him further if it was done by his own hands, how come the car was handled this bad?
He then end up saying it was being worked on by one of his foreign worker, but he end up terminating the worker on the spot due to this issue.

I told him "terminating your worker for poor workmanship is your own issue, now my car's damaged. I want to be compensated". This workmanship does not even worth RM 5000.

I walked around his shop, and found no SSM displayed. Just so you know there’s a KKM ambulance in there being sent in for knocking as well.

I end up paying the full amount and took my car away, driving with nothing but disappointment.


Now for the real question :-
- Can you file a consumer tribunal to get refunded / compensated due to poor quality workmanship if the shop found does not have SSM registered. The money was paid to his direct personal account. I have kept the receipts with me.

I thought of taking this step if he refuses to cooperate and compensate the damages.

Advises are welcomed.

Thanks!

Sounds fair enough, a compensation of a certain percentage is still better than zero, yes I do have the photos before I send and after I send.

I did bring up and ask him "Either you settle with RM 1000, or we settle this in consumer tribunal."

Read again, it's roof skin replacement due to rust + full body Nippon 2k spray including inner spray on some parts totaling up to RM 5000, which he also claims to reinforce rust prevention

There's a lot of reasons why I chose to keep the car, to many, "It's just a Saga"

To me, it's more than Saga, you can call it "It's a car that passed down since the first owner" which is from my own family, this car left a lot of memories in it.

"How much that car is worth in todays market" - Maybe the car has no value to you. Not everyone's you just to dispose and pick a cheap random one off the market.

If I'm willing to pay this much to restore the car. The car itself holds memories of my family.

Since the car's single handedly well taken care of in the family serving for decades since new. I don't see a need to get rid of it. The RV of this car does not apply to me.

And no, there will be no plans to throw rubbish mods into the car. There will always be a competition with "Bone Stock" category, which depends if I would enroll myself into it, otherwise I'll just drive on the streets as usual.

This post has been edited by adamfoo90: Mar 22 2025, 04:42 PM

The original car paint stayed for 3 decades before decided to send in for it's first respray.

Not to brag, but after 3 decades, dropping first RM 5000 for a shop of any kind willing to restore it back, I willing to go for it, but not a shop like this though.