Modern Vespa

Hi. I have been riding a vespa for about 16 years. I ride a 2005 GT200 my wife the 2006 250. I also ride a completely stock 1970 Triumph TR6R 650. I've lurked here in the past and find the site to be very helpful. 3 months ago the 250 just died while riding. No electricity, dead...Luckily we were near home and it was all down hill. Found the battery to be at 0, two fuses blown and a ground wire fried. Replaced the battery and the fuses to where it would turn over but there was no spark.
The closest Certified Vespa mechanic is a 90 minute drive. The Vespa was dropped off in early April. Two days later a was told that along with the fried ground wire that the Flywheel magn. was bad. "Good news", I was told was that the parts are available,"here" and have been ordered. "Here", when I inquired was not the shop but in California or with Vespa and the bike will be done in two weeks. Two weeks turned into 3 months. The "good news parts" were not in California or back East, they were in Italy! I appreciate that there's a pandemic and parts may not be readily available. What I didn't appreciate was not being informed that the parts were in Italy, and that the bike would be ready in two weeks every two weeks. It got to the point that I gave them a date, 6/29, I'm picking up the scooter finished or not. On 6/29 I called them to have my bike ready to transport by noon. I was told that the parts came in and the scooter has been repaired but they had an accident while moving the scooter and scratched the leg shield. I was sent a photo of a 2" gouge/scratch near the right turn signal.
They have ordered a new leg shield to replace the old one. I asked him why replace the shield and not have a body person repair it? He said he wanted to replace it, no charge of course. I requested a copy of the bill for the electrical repairs and the new front and rear brakes. The costs were what was discussed 3 months ago, no issue there, around $650.00. However, there has been no discussion of a discount for damaging my Vespa and the fact that this is prime riding season and I can't use the Vespa due to their negligence. This has never happened to me with a mechanic and I would like some advice as to how others have handled a similar situation. What have you asked for or expected from a shop that damaged your ride? 10% or more off of the bill, no bill? Have the scooter delivered? Rent a scooter for $80/day and bill the shop? I won't ever use this shop again. Not because of the damage they caused, but due to their lack of communication and it's a 90 minute drive. Fortunately, the local Ducati shop is now up and functioning and is a certified Vespa shop.
Thank you!

Walmart sells nail polish in that shade, I'm sure of it.
What would I do? Go to Walmart. Or Walgreens.
Fix it myself, being super happy the scooter now runs because someone who knows scooters fixed it.

That scratch looks a lot closer to 0.2" long than 2" by the way. Must be the angle.

Personally I'd just pay the bill, pick up the scoot, and use a bit of touch-up paint[1]. It'll be very hard to spot once that's done.

Shit happens - and any scooter lying about in a dealership for that long is bound to get a knock or two.

Life's too short to worry about stuff like that.


[1] Exact match for Dragon Red: https://www.pepboys.com/dupli-color-scratch-fix-2-in-1-torch-red-0-5-oz-/product/9383667

Well I drive a 2005 Vespa LX so I don't know about the GT but there's a few questions. First, the picture is not very relevant but if it's somewhat the same size like my LX, all I can see is a 5 to 10 mm scratch (my estimate ofc) on the metal part. Now, probably the fastest way to deal with such a thing would be a body shop guy to bring it back to the original shape if there is really a dent there then repaint the front part, which all in all takes 2 or 3 days even if they use a professional body shop and paint that in the oven. Also while I am in Europe so I don't know the prices on Vespa parts in the US, that metal part of the legshield is around 300-350 USD. No shop would replace that for a small dent, at least where I am, they would fix it. So I would drive over there and check on my Vespa, cause something is fishy around there, especially if it's been there for 3 months already.

I'm on mobile, so I'll. Give you my .02 worth later.

But I'm sure the peanut gallery will chime in before then.

The short of it: that ain't shit. Merely a scratch. Ask for a discount on the work and scoop up your bike.

Discount? Aces.
No discount? Bummer.

Either way, get your stuff.

YOU DO NOT NEED A LEGSHIELD.

a red sharpie or some of your old lady's lipstick and you'd never know the difference.

These guys are bullshit artists.

and why can't you use the scooter because of their negligence of a scratch?

have them order the leg shield and send it to you if you want it replaced, then have your duc dealer install it this winter when your riding season is over.

Isn't that part of the frame that needs to be welded back on? Like a humongous job? Like verging on write-off (on a good day)?

OMG Yes please please please.

I'd be totally pissed. Go home have a little hissy fit in the garage, then my wife would have to keep a straight face while I ranted for a solid twenty minutes, then I wouldn't be able to look at the bike for seven to ten days without getting bent outta shape again.

Then I'd touch up the paint and get on with it... life is too short.

This sounds like nonsense to me. He is not going to replace the leg shield! That is a large metal piece welded to the main metal frame of the scooter. The amount of labor involved there would probably exceed the value of a 2006 GTS. If he wants to have the scratch filled and repainted - fine. But he really needs to come clean with you about what is going on. Based on what I see there in your photo, I think you take the bike back as is and request a discount on your bill for the damage. Then you can fill and paint the scratch yourself.

BTW, there is another thread here with lots of photos showing what it looks like to actually replace a leg shield on a GTS - take a look. ( Has anyone changed legshield on GTS300? )

Story doesn't really add up. First, it's mostly just a dealer grievance, and is one short step away from violating our posting guidelines. Second, OP isn't actually seeking advice or answers, just kvetching. Third, you can't replace the leg shield on a Vespa. It does not work like that. Nobody in their right mind would "replace" a leg shield for that scratch, it just Is Not Done.

So methinks this whole thing is a setup.

In before the lock!

this level of nonsense knows no bounds...

SO... let's break it down! dude, 3mo in prime riding time if a dealer is stacked would be pretty much regular. add in some pandemic nonsense, so there you have it.

if you were that up about it, you should've been busting balls on the shop on the regular. a short phone call twice a week ain't no thing. yes, hello, it's me the squeaky wheel. plz to give me the grease.

this isn't a warranty job. at ANY time you could've gone and gotten your bike and taken it elsewhere to have the work done.

you got brakes and some electrical work on a 14yr old bike for 650, okay. not bad.

they scratched your bike. that sucks.

so you either touch it up yourself, or demand that they repair it (laughs whole heartedly in that you won't see your bike till, I dunno, Christmas) or ask for a bit off the bill. which would be reasonable. tell 'em to knock 200 off for that and fiddle fucking around. they can eat that and still be healthy. but seriously, that's but a flesh wound.

hammer them for some dough off and free delivery.

renting a scooter and charging them back is laughable. get out of here with that BS.

lesson learned. don't use them again.

Come on ... it's an easy retouch to do ...
Then excuse me but if they did what you saw to you but they didn't tell you, imagine what else they did like damage where you can't control ... have you looked in every corner of the Vespa?

A scratch is all you got after you picked up your Vespa from a dealership? Ok..... I've picked up much worse. Leave your Vespa in a grocery store parking lot for awhile. Shopping carts do the same, if not worse, damage. Touch it up and be done with it. I had my brand new Helix in for its first service many moons ago. I go to pick it up and the shop foreman shows me a deep nick in the nose of the front panel, and offered to replace it. I was like whatever, it'll get nicked soon anyways. Don't bother. Sure enough, something hit the front of the Helix at my job and cracked the panel. I just put a decal over it. It wasn't a show bike by any stretch. Yeah, it does stink getting that first scratch but its a fact of life.

Here ... if before he was a happy and thoughtless person, now he will have a lot ...
Calculate that when you drive your scooter the cars in front will shoot a lot of stones back at you, so it is fatal that the most damage will be on the front but ...
Obviously there is nothing you can do about it, this to highlight the fact that as much as we take care of our vehicles will still suffer minimal damage.
I put it into the account when I leave the dealership with the new vehicle. I live happier and with fewer worries.

I think the dealer should have applied the touchup paint and said nothing of it. its a nick on a 13 year old scooter.

welcome to the forum.

My dealers in the UK would have applied the touch-up paint, told me about it, and then challenged me to find the scratch. One of them did just that.

Piling on: get a discount, touch it up yourself, move on so you can enjoy the rest of the riding season. I know you can do this and I kinda figured you have a lot of patience as you mentioned you hade a '70 Triumph . Cool bikes - when they're running. And yes, I've owned a few. Good luck.

Where is the OP? Nothing to say with all these replies????

I would change the title to "show me your scratches" and maybe have a competition for the best looking one..

excellent point.

time to lock it IMO