[aneesh2M]

Hi, this looks like someone trying to slit off the rivet stem with a chisel hit the hatch ridge instead of rivet stem. Clearly it can be seen that the person working on the car tried to slit the rivet stem under the number plate blindly as rivet stem is not visible from outside. He must have inserted the chisel from behind the number plate by slightly pulling the plate.


Now only solution is to replace the hatch and this would require a new hatch to be painted. Also, the rear glass will have to be taken off from old hatch and will have to be pasted to new one.

Welding/grinding and touch-up is another cheap solution but it will call for its own disadvantages.

Even if you go to Suzuki, they will offer the hatch replacement only.

[astrodex]

This appears to be a mistake from the fitter where he mistook the license plate receiving bumps for rivet connections and cut it. Fitting a license plate is easy but removing it is difficult since the rivet are sealed shut.

I can understand the terrible feeling when you have your new car treated with such callousness, but please don't let this one incident ruin your experience. Luckily, this is not a load bearing part and if the dealership agrees to weld and seal it, it is gonna be behind the license plate anyway.

What the dealer says is true, factory fit is factory fit. And for this, I won't go replacing the rear hatch since it is too much work. And, if this dealer can mess up a license plate removal, do you really want them to build you a new hatch?

My recommendation would be to get it welded, painted (on both sides) and fixed. Just keep an eye out on their work so that they don't mess it up. Take you car back and enjoy it.

A new car experience is like no other. Don't get this one bad incident ruin it for you. Once the new license plate is put, you won't even see this.

[Sensible_Speed]

Originally Posted by Tetatola

Yes I agree that I made a mistake and feel stupid for doing so.
I was willing to get the replacement tailgate but the showroom manager told me multiple times that the one they will paint at the dealership won't be as good as the factory also the rear glass won't fit as good as factory like I said in my earlier post. He said you would realize a few years down the line that the paint is sub-par compared to the rest of the car.

That is simply untrue. An entire replacement tailgate would come brand new from the factory and not some repainted tin sheet from the dealership garage. Paint quality should be factory spec. The dealership may be preying on that exclusivity factor that most Indian customers have with their cars. Don't fall for it. Get the whole tailgate replaced and get your rear glass fitment rechecked by someone knowledgeable. The reason I say this is that dealers may deliberately botch a job up just to say," I told you so!" if you go against their recommendation.

It might be because they want me to take the cheaper option.

This is definitely it. Don't sweat it too much, friend. Mistakes happen. Enjoy your car.

[mack.mehul]

Denting and painting should take care of this damage, it is nothing major. I have seen that in all the service stations, the workers treat the customer cars in a rough manner whether it be maruti, toyota, hyundai etc. As a customer we cannot control it. So take the offer of dealership and get done with it. It hurts when your new car gets dented in the first month but it does happens and in the later months, when the car gets dented, you wont feel much.

[Tetatola]

Originally Posted by UD17

Sure they are saying it to discourage you. Please politely ask the dealership to replace the hatch door with the same color one. I suspect they will end up in using other customer's new car to replace your hatch door.

In long term, you will see rusting issues if you do not assert on replacement now. They did the mistake and they have to correct it. If they throw tantrums, please inform them that you are taking up with MSIL directly.

That is one the the thing that worries me, because my home town is very close to the sea and humidity is very high and rusting is a big problem there.

Originally Posted by Prithvi Mundur

Hi Tetatola, Due to general trust issues and it being just out of showroom new car, you might feel being given a cheaper option, but what showroom manager has told is indeed true.
Just in case, you still proceed with a hatchdoor replacement option, keep an eye for:
1)water leaks as usually the sealants are not properly applied around the glass.
2)There is a chance of paint bubbles formation over time if there is no sufficient gap between application of primer and paint, and there might not be a dust free spot at service center.
3)I'm not sure if there is any rear speaker attached to the hatch door. If yes, double check for any rattles that may arise from it.

Overall, going for hatch door replacement will consume several days with your car away at workshop, and as you yourselves have earlier mentioned that it's a new field for you, it's better to go with easy alternative as earlier suggested by Turbanator.

I have not yet decided what will be best for me. But I will keep this in mind. Thank you for pointing these out.

That is simply untrue. An entire replacement tailgate would come brand new from the factory and not some repainted tin sheet from the dealership garage. Paint quality should be factory spec.

I am a bit confused with all the inputs. I am waiting to see how suzuki responds. Thank you all for your opinions. I'll update soon.

[Mortis]

If you do go for the welding and painting option the do two things to ensure lower likelihood of rusting :

1) Source and buy some Weld through primer. The paint needs to be removed in a border around the area to be welded, both inside and out and the weld through primer needs to be applied to that bare metal around the area.
You will probably have to go and supervise this. Once this is done, there can proceed with their normal SOP for the repair. Make sure the inside of the hatch is also painted post welding.

2) Buy a can of cavity wax and get it applied to the inside of the hatch around a month after painting to give enough time for the paint to fully cured. This should prevent rusting from the inside.

Obviously only do this if you can be sure that they won't do a garbage repair and then blame these two standard precautions for their failure.

[Tetatola]

The dealership replaced the tailgate. I think they did a decent job. I realize, the main reason for this mess is the security person handling the number plate fitting part. While fitting the is very easy, removing them is exactly the opposite and it should have been done in the workshop in the first place.
One thing I couldn't help but notice, though it does not affect me, is when the bodyshop guys removed the tail gate glass by cutting the urethane adhesive with a wire they damaged the tail gate quite a bit with the wire. They could have used the tailgate as is with minor repairing and sell it, which won't be the case anymore. Makes me wonder how they handle glass replacement.

This was a not-so-much fun lesson for me. Just making sure the registration and number plates match, would have saved me a lot of trouble. Anyways I love the car and hoping to enjoy driving it a lot.

Thank you all for the valuable suggestions and opinions.