"First Cut Is The Deepest"

This post was posted on 3rd November 2017 and further added with the follow-up progress one month later as at 2nd December 2017 @ .

I guess it was only a matter before this would happened. Well, Patriot being the latest addition to the stable, was of course my go-to ride and I tend to treat it in a very sayang manner. Always washed by myself only (and once at the Kia SC) and kept sheltered at covered car parks, wherever possible. After being in the household for circa 2 months, you still wouldn't find even a single scratch on the car.

Until today, that was. We were out for lunch, and the car parks around Sri Hartamas were packed as per the norm for weekends. So we parked further away and walked to a restaurant nearby.

Upon our return, I was aghast to note damages on the ride. Someone must have accidentally knocked into Patriot, damaging the passenger door, side step, and the front rims. A re-spray would set the passenger door right, while I would probably take the opportunity to uninstall the side steps from both sides and re-install the original body claddings (in reference to the problems as discussed @ https://andysuv.blogspot.my/2017/09/visual-comparison-sorento-vs-harrier.html).

The rims were chrome-plated, so I would need to seek the expertise from tire shops.

Like Rod Stewart's "First cut is the deepest", now I seemed to concentrate on the damaged areas of the ride. Sigh, I had best to quickly get this fixed up and move on from here...

The car dealer whom I purchased the car from, informed me that the re-spray was an easy affair and he could arrange it for me for a just RM250 at his friend's workshop. However, the side-steps came in a pair only and would set back an additional RM950. Total cost of repair would amount to RM1,200.

However, the workshop informed me that I would best send the car back to Kia Red Cube PJ (HQ) as Kia's policy was to do a direct replacement on the damaged door; as the re-spray could actually result in uneven colours after a few months as the Imperial Bronze was a colour that was specific to Kia only and external workshops may not be able to mix it to the exact same colour. Moreover, as the power window mechanism was located at the door, the re-assembly has to be done in a precise manner to avoid any faults thereafter e.g. the window may not open and close smoothly.

After hearing from the external shop, I then took the car to Kia Red Cube PJ and was assisted by Mr Leong and En Ruziman, whom informed me that they could assist me to do a direct door replacement (but need to order from Kia Korea first). Further, they would also replace the side steps, and would assist to fix the faulty AV system (which I found out from them that mine was an imported AV system from Korea, and not the ones that was installed by Naza Malaysia). I was informed that it was most probably a wiring or antenna issue, which would likely take a couple of days. 

So after the replacement door arrived, Mr Leong gave me a call and PATR10T was formerly sent in to Kia Red Cube PJ for the necessary repair works on 3rd November 2017. I was informed that the car would be attended to in proper care as Kia prides itself with first class customer services; so it would be another week or so before I would be seeing it again. I must said that I was pretty assured by the customer services as demonstrated by Mr Leong and his assistant, En Ruziman.

Hope to see you in good condition again, PATR10T!!!