Am I too anal?

[Reasoned1]

Had a caliper replaced last week on my 330xi which has nice, new, satin-black APEX Arc-8's. Well, I just noticed that my mechanic or, possibly, one of his helpers must've pried the center cap off the wheel for some unfathomable reason and, in doing so, scraped the inner edge a bit (I nearly fixed it with permanent marker) AND slightly damaged the face of the center cap. Am I wrong to be F'ing pissed and planning never to return? To me, it's just so "hack" to do something like that and, even if he is a good mechanic, I can't have him man-handling my vehicles that I put so much money into. On the other hand, am I expecting too much from any garage (bear in mind that 99% of the vehicles he services are NOT prima donnas like mine)?

[pbonsalb]

You should learn to DIY. Or find an expensive shop that suits you.

[jclausen]

Techs shoul be careful it's not the their carl. I remember we refinish some wheels at the dealership because we mess them up, it happens

[Butters Stoch]

You should learn to DIY. Or find an expensive shop that suits you.

Correct.

There are shops that's will put on lab coats and deal with pretty show cars. Those shops require much more overhead, its time consuming and that overhead is passed on to the customer. I have "special cars" that come in to my shop. They require 2-3x the amount of time to do the same job. That in return is compensated by the customer. But let's face it, you also spend 2-10x the amount of time washing and detailing than the avg Joe. Your best bet is to find a shop that only deals with the special cars. Expect to pay 2-3x in labor. Can't have cake and eat it too.

Perfect example is a recent e46 m3 that came in to me to have a fancy $2200 muffler (that sounded like sh#t in my opinion) installed. Usually changing a muffler is a 1/2-1 hr process, so $30-70 labor. Well not this one. Customer was all worried about line up, finish etc etc and when your lining up the tips to the bumper with a vernier before slowly tightening the clamps to make sure it don't move, this takes much more time than a daily ford Taurus muffler assembly to install. Although its actually less work on the m3 in theory.

Not sure why a center cap was removed in your case tho.

[Reasoned1]

Well, actually, I do a fair amount of DIY (and this is part of the reason why). In fact, this is the first time I had the garage fix anything for me--due to some timing issues (with me, not the car). I've changed springs, shocks, fans, pulleys and belts, window regulators, most fluids, and numerous trim and accessory parts. Your points make sense and are well taken. Thanks for the input.

[BimmerBreaker]

Wheels get scratched all the time, its pretty standard working in a shop. Metal bits to remove bolts + wheels + in a rush = scratched wheels... all the time

What would make ME pissed enough to never work with a shop again would be if they were working on a head gasket and scratched the head so I had to get it machined back down. THAT is a bad scratch. A wheel... eh

[TonyAngel]

When you take your car to a shop you should be able to expect them not to damage your car in any way. You took your car to the shop to return it to its proper condition. Not to get it back in lesser condition.

Of course, stuff happens. I'd bring it to their attention and see if they do anything about it. Even if it's only an apology. At that point, you have to decide if you want to continue doing business.

I manage to do a lot of work on my cars without screwing anything up.

[MIKYZZ4]

OP, don't stress, your not too anal, but I would have stressed to the shop and mechanics that you have pristine wheels,
and you would be very upset if they were nicked or scratched, so you would appreciate them being careful with your vehicle.
Now if it's one of those dirty, grungy shops, maybe you should look for a shop that deals with more high end vehicles.
The same advice I gave above applies to either type of shop, inform them of your wishes-respectfully of course!