1d ago

Is there an active mechanic advice community on lemmy? Looking for advice.

Replaced tailgate around Christmas after a collision, and now noticing condensation inside a taillight. Body shop says they're not responsible and are quoting $250 to replace. Please advice.

Edit: Thanks for all your advice. I'm going to ask my insurance if they'll cover this as part of the original collision claim. btw, I posted the same thing to /r/mechanicadvice at the same time, and haven't received a single reply there till now. Happy to see lemmy doing great as a reddit replacement.

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Those things are supposed to be sealed. Even if they did nothing wrong installing it, they've installed a faulty taillight with a busted seal.
Id argue with them along those lines "It's no one's fault, but I didn't pay for a broken tail light".
Unless you replaced it with a used tail_gate_ they pulled from a junkyard, in that case you're on your own.
You can get a new tail light for not a ton of cash.
- That is a factory light. It's a 2022 CRV. They're saying they only pulled it out as a unit and put it back in, and this seal failing has nothing to do with them.
  
  This is plausible, btw
  
  What components did they replace with the original work? Did they just replace the bumper cover?
  If you were charged for a new tail lamp/light assembly in the previous work, then this is on them. If they only pulled the original tail lamp as part of other work, and reinstalled the original tail lamp, then the tail lamp was probably cracked in the collision. That damage would be easy to miss and can take a long time to become apparant. It sounds to me like this component was not replaced in the original work and you are only now discovering damage that was sustained in the collision.
  
  Too long to find an actual reasonable reply in this thread.
  Likely cracked in collision, they probably didn't see the damage to it, likely didn't replace it. Buy the piece and replace it if it's that big of a deal. These pieces are all bolted on from the inside, after taking a few bolts out. This piece can be had as an "Inner Tail Light", for $70, and replaced in 10 minutes with a small set of hand tools.
  It's already easily accessible in this car because you've gotta be able to replace the bulb, so it's likely as simple as opening a hatch or door panel type thing behind it.
  
  This piece can be had as an “Inner Tail Light”, for $70, and replaced in 10 minutes with a small set of hand tools.
  If I'd already decided on spending $70 to replace the light, I think I'd just drill a small 1/8" (or 1mm) hole in the outside lens in the corner. It would be on the lowest point so liquid water could drain out, but at an upward angle from the bottom so rain and other water wouldn't fall into this new hole. This would be on the bottom left hand size of the light lens where you see the water pooling. Right at the green arrow:
  The whole fix would take less than 5 minutes. If this fix doesn't work, or make it worse, then I could still fall back to the "spend the $70 on a new light and replace it".
  
  Have done this. 👌
  I recommend a slight modification:
  pull the taillight off and drill the hole in the black plastic right by the lens so the hole isn't visible.
  
  Just replying to chime in that I agree with Fermion and Kitnaht. It's definitely possible there could've been an invisible hairline crack in the housing that went unnoticed by the mechanic.
  
  They could potentially fix it for even cheaper by repairing the piece:
  take the piece off
  let it dry out
  find the break in the seal
  use an adhesive to reseal the break
  install the piece back on the car
  It's a little more effort and time without the working light, but it might be helpful depending on @nieceandtows@lemmy.world's financial situation.
  
  It’s already easily accessible in this car because you’ve gotta be able to replace the bulb
  I know it's a different manufacturer, but having had to replace multiple headlights on my 2008 Prius over the last decade or so... I can say this is definitely not a hard and fast rule.
  
  Headlights are a totally different beast. This is a tail light, on the rear hatch. I haven't really had a car yet where the tail lights were difficult to get to.
  
  It's not on them. They don't pay to fix your wreck, it's the other way around. It's part of the wreck that wasn't noticed when it was being fixed. It happens, and it can't be helped unless they park it outside and let it rain and then check it and nobody does that.
  If insurance paid for the wreck, get with the insurance company to pay for a new one. If you paid for the wreck, you could have paid for it when it was fixed but it wasn't noticed so you pay for it now.
  
  Yeah the other party insurance paid the bill but through my insurance. I'm going to ask them to include this as well.
  
  I'm with the other people here saying the same thing, that's a salvaged tail light that was damaged in a wreck. That it was your tail light before it became salvage doesn't make it ok.
  And just because I know how those shops work, if at any point they said something like "we're gonna reuse your old tail light" and you signed off on that, you might be out of luck.
  Maybe your insurance company might be able to cover it under the same claim? It's worth a phone call or email at least.
  If you don't want to DIY, definitely shop around for a better quote, but you might not find a cheaper total price. I wouldn't burn a bridge with that shop.
  
  The tailgate was replaced due to a collision but they didn't install new taillight housings?
  I haven't had to make an insurance claim for an accident but years and years ago my parents neighbor backed into their car and left a big dent in the C-pillar (right behind the back passenger side door) and the insurance adjuster went as far as stating the trunk lid and bumper would need to be replaced even though they has no damage.
  I'm surprised your insurance would reuse parts physically housed in the very tailgate that was damaged since they were likely damaged as well.
  Apart from arguing with insurance about having it fixed again, my only suggestion would be replacing it yourself as it's typically very easy. RockAuto has these listed for $60 (from TYC).
  
  They're bullshitting you. Dealerships break things on purpose to get you to spend more money. Get a quote from another shop and demand they pay for parts and labour.
  
  Whike there are shops that do break things to get more work, they are not that common. Cars have issues all the time that will keep the vast majority of shops busy without needing to manufacturer their own business.
  Not fixing things that insurance paid for is more common.

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