Ford Service Damaged My Mustang

I had my 2002 Mustang serviced about one and a half months ago by my local Ford dealer service department and they damaged my car. They badly bent the welded seams that are located underneath the passenger side rocker panel that's located just in front of the right rear tire tread. I think that these welded seams are called the "pinch weld". They are thin metal and very fragile and they bend very easily if you put the car up on the lift improperly. The welded seams are about 1" inch wide and the damage has caused them to be badly bent outwards at a 45' degree angle. The damage done to the welded seams is over one foot long in length. There is also more damage done to the same welded seams , but to the ones which are located on the front left driver's side right behind the front left tire tread. The welded seams in that second location are crushed upwards into the rocker panel. The damage at this second location is about 4" to 6" inches in length. Also, the paint has peeled off at both locations where the welded seams are damaged. There is exposed metal there. Does anybody here know how the welded seams that are located under the rocker panel are repaired? Is there a special tool that can be used to bend them back into their original position without doing any damage to them? Will there have to be any welding done to repair the damage? I know that my Mustang will have to be brought to a body shop for the work to be done, but I don't have any idea HOW they will repair this type of damage. I also think that they will have to do paintwork to this particular damaged area because the metal welded seams which are all bent up had paint on them which has peeled off from the damage. How hard is it to paint the welded seams under the rocker panel area where the damage was done? Will any cables and obstructions that run underneath the vehicle need to be taken off to do the paintwork so there is no overspray to any of the undercarraige parts/ components ?

There is a plastic painted rocker panel moulding which is also attached to the welded seams by black tack clips. The plastic painted rocker panel moulding is located on both sides of the car, but only the passenger side moulding is bent underneath at the location where it connects on to the seams by plastic black tack clips.

I visited my local Ford dealer today where I originally bought my Mustang. This dealer knows that I get my Mustang serviced ONLY at their dealership and nowwhere else so they cannot say to me that the damage to my Mustang happened anywhere else. While I was there, I met with the service guy and with my personal Ford mechanic which I use every time that I bring in my car for service there. He is an excellent mechanic and is very meticulous. He also knows that I am meticulous. So, I haven't had any problems with this mechanic for the last 3 years that I have been using him. My mechanic knows my car very well, but he did not work on the car the last time when I visited the dealership over a month an a half ago. I had to get a nail taken out of my right rear tire and the service department had someone else take the nail out instead of my own mechanic. So, the different mechanic that worked on my car the last time was the one who did the damage to the rocker panel seams. My own personal Ford mechanic even told me point blank today that the other mechanic wasn't careful when he put my Mustang up on the lift. The other mechanic never checked to see if he had the car correctly on the lift before he lifted the car up in the air to fixed my tire. So, I think that this Ford dealership knows that they are the blame for the damage. My personal mechanic told me that they only way to fix the damage that's been done to my car is to send it out to a bodyshop.

SO, my next step now is to bring in my Mustang on Monday to the Ford service department and to have them take a look at the extent of the damage that they did to my car. I think that they will send me to a private body shop which they use that's located here in my local area. I wasn't able to take my Mustang to Ford service and have them look at it today because we had a snowstorm up here and the roads were really bad.

I am hoping that Ford will be able to fix my car correctly. I told the service guy today that I have my own body shop to take my Mustang to for the repairs. He told me that the Ford service department will not allow me take it to my own body shop. I am not sure if the Ford service department can do this. I know for a fact that the dealership does not have their in-house bodyshop. They send all their cars out to a private bodyshop here in my local area for all the bodywork. And that's where they want to send me too. When I will bring my Mustang into Ford service on Monday, I will speak to the service manager there and tell him that I have my own body shop and I will see what he says. The guy who told me that I couldn't bring my car to my own body shop today was not the service manager. I don't mind bringing my Mustang into their own private bodyshop if that bodyshop does a quality job fixing the damage to my car. I don't know how I can ask around to find out if the private bodyshop that they use is reliable and if they do quality work. That's what worries me.

Also, I myself don't have my own body shop either. I lied to the Ford dealer today when I told them that I have my own bodyshop. I said this to them so I could see what they were going to say to me. Anyways, I looked in the phonebook today to try to pick a bodyshop and there are 4 pages worth of bodyshops all around here within a 10 mile radius. I don't know which one to go to. I am hoping that the one that the Ford dealer uses does good work and won't take shortcuts. I will be BS if they don't fix my Mustang properly.
 
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