Hail Horror Story

SML71 · June 23, 2016

I am a new owner of a CPO 2015 Suburban LTZ with about 16,000 miles. It was a hard decision, but I traded my 2007 Suburban with 120,000 miles with absolutely nothing wrong...just wanted one of the new and modernized trucks.

Here's where my story turns for the worse. After driving for a couple of weeks, I noticed a creaking/squeaking coming from the left front suspension when going over speed bumps, into driveways, etc. After lubricating front bushings with no affect, I took the truck into local dealer for repair.

After two separate appointments, 4-5 part replacements to include strut, strut mount and some steering linkages, and six total days in the shop, I finally received a voicemail which read something like "we finally have your vehicle fixed and have totally solved you creaking problem. That is the good news. The bad news is that there was some hail at the dealership last night and there are some dents on your truck."

So, after calling and ripping the service advisor, I went to take a look at my "almost new" suburban and was totally floored to see my truck looking like a golf ball. Top of truck was totally hammered and left side was heavily dented. Now, I live in Colorado, so we get frequent hail storms, but I was furious that they (1) took so darn long to fix a small problem and (2) left the truck outside between part replacements. I have an empty garage at home where this truck usually lives and where it should have been during this hail storm. Dealership claims that they have no obligation to "store" customer vehicles indoors.

The truck is now at the body shop with a roughly $7,000 repair estimate (covered by my insurance). This repair includes not only the replacement of hood and paint-less dent repair of entire left side, but the complete removal and replacement of the roof. They are going to cut the roof off and weld a new one in place!

Now the insurance company has already approved the estimate and has money flowing to the body shop, but I have SERIOUS concerns over this repair. I fear that I will have years of leaking water, problems with XM radio and navigation system (due to roof mounted antenna) and visible seams from the weld. Of course, I was so pleased that my suburban did not have ANY of the booming/overpressure problems frequently reported on this forum. Wonder if I am now signed up for the infamous roof problems now as well.

Any advice on how I can or should proceed form here? I have told the body shop to begin the 3-4 weeks of repairs and I almost plan on trading the vehicle as soon as I get it back. Can I really expect that this truck will ever be returned to its original condition???

muddkatt · June 23, 2016

That sucks, but depending on the body shop, it could be better than factory. Gm paint sucks to put it mildly, so there is a damn good chance that the roof paint will outlast the factory paint. Once they have completed the repairs, see how it looks and if any noises appear. If they do, trade it, if not, keep it.

DaveH71 · June 23, 2016

Think i would trade it in and see if the dealer in good faith will give you a heavy discount on a new vehicle, but that's just my opinion

SML71 · June 23, 2016

The body shop is better then average as they did a pretty good job on a repair of my son's car earlier this year. I am not very concerned about the hood replacement or the paint. The shop told me that matching the paint is actually quite easy with a newer vehicle. I am most worried about how difficult it will be to get the roof off and weld a new one on without somehow messing up the headliner, antenna connections, getting all of the windows and doors to seal properly, or giving me a new inherited problem that some are experiencing with the buffeting associated with "debonded" roof attachments.

I guess the good thing is that with some major accidents, the vehicle never drives right again (i.e. steering and handling is never quite the same). With this major repair, we are talking about mostly cosmetic damage, with the exception of the roof.

boazEarl8 · June 23, 2016

If you want to push for a different vehicle, you need to do it now before repairs and payments are made

They will likely tell you to pound sand but you never know

Also, why your insurance

bob3663 · June 23, 2016

If you dont mind me asking, what caused your noise? My 15 silverado has the exact same sound.

Sucks about the hail damage. Id ask for a heavily discounted new one. Welding jobs are seldom good, but there are people that can do it.

Bob

SML71 · June 23, 2016

Why my insurance? That's a good question. They have insured their vehicles on the lot, but claim that they have no responsibility for "acts of God" mishaps at the dealership that affect my truck. Basically, they could not have known that hail was coming in order to safeguard my vehicle. For now, I've got the claim going and will worry about who pays the deductible later.

Oh, by the way, I did not purchase this truck from said dealership...I purchased out-of-town and only use this particular dealer for services because they are close to my home. This dealership has no loyalty to me - especially since I didn't buy it from them.

SML71 · June 23, 2016

If you dont mind me asking, what caused your noise? My 15 silverado has the exact same sound.

Sucks about the hail damage. Id ask for a heavily discounted new one. Welding jobs are seldom good, but there are people that can do it.

Bob

I haven't even seen the invoice for what they finally replaced to fix the creaking noise, but they started by replacing the strut & strut mount, then the bushings, then the ball joint with no fix. I think that it was the control arm that finally solved the creaking - which seems odd. I suppose that someday, I'll get to drive it to see if it is actually fixed.

diyer2 · June 24, 2016

Sucks. Live in Colorado also. Only Texas has more hail than Colorado. We had a Jeep years ago(before PDR) with same type damage. I told them you are not cutting the roof off and replacing it. Fix the other damage and pay for deprecation.

Tough call.

SouthernSilveradoGuy85 · June 24, 2016

Your situation does suck. I just don't understand why you want to be so mad at the dealer for not keeping it in the shop at all times. Seems like you think you're the only customer, or that's just how you're coming off. Maybe they don't want to waste shop space if it's not actually being worked on at that specific time. Most shops around here (not even talking about the Dealer) have so many cars to work on they sometimes have to work on the vehicle out of the shop if it's nothing major and of course can't keep all vehicle in the shop.

SML71 · June 24, 2016

Well, that's exactly what they told me about shop space. They have x number of bays and y number of vehicles that come through every day. I guess that I was mostly frustrated that they took 6 days to fix my truck at a pace of about 1 part per day. They obviously were in no hurry to get it repaired...after each unsuccessful part replacement, they would simply order the next part in the suspension system connection, wait until it arrived, and start again...repeat. Oh, and they never called me to give me an update - it was always me calling and asking when, what next and if they actually had any method to isolate the noise instead of just randomly replacing part after part after part.

Don't mean to come off as a car-snob, but I am extremely particular about my vehicles. Always washed, vacuumed and in the garage. When bad weather is coming, we stop all activities and get home to get all cars in garage - that's how we roll in Colorado with hail always on the horizon.

It's very frustrating that a dealer can't at least give my $60K truck better treatment than the proverbial (Army Aviation term here) "hanger queen". I was obviously a low priority for them. Its one of those deals where if they could have just save one day in the process, I could have had it home before the hail.

boazEarl8 · June 24, 2016

Doesn't help now, but if I know my truck is staying overnight, I give the manager $$$ and ask him to pull it in every night

The bay space issue is right, and no one is going to go out of their way to play musical chairs unless you make it worthwhile for him

JimCost2014 · June 24, 2016

in my opinion, if the dealer is doing the work for you, whether money out of your pocket or warranty reimbursement from general motors they have a "loyalty" to you. if they are treating like this, I would seek legal advice and find a new dealership going forward. the frustrating part is these dealers act like they are the only one in existence. even after closing numerous dealerships, they are still everywhere, not unique in any way shape or form. you could also open a claim with chevy to see if they have any ideas. good luck!!!

carkhz316 · June 25, 2016

_{SML71, sorry to hear about the hail. FWIW, I suffered a similar fate last weekend. We had some hail roll through on Sunday, and not only did my truck get it, but my wifes G8 (that normally is in the garage) got it too. Just a few dents on each, but enough to be on every panel, and enough to cause about $2K of PDR damage on each. Regarding the repair, they won't be cutting your roof off. It will receive a roof skin, which involves cutting the spot welds in the seam on the roof edges. You'll usually see these seams covered up with a piece of painted weatherstripping (not sure what the newest SUV's look like up top). Even if they were to section it (they're not) chopping it off at the pillars or close to them, you would not ever see any welded seam as proper finishing body work would make that repair seamless. The factory is actually sloppy in this area. On vehicles where the sail panel extends "seamlessly" into the roof as one panel, you can sometimes see the wobble/ ripple in the sheetmetal from where they quickly weld and grind it flat; except its not flat. This is because the roof and quarter panels are separate pieces, despite looking like one piece of metal.}

_{Anyway, the hail sucks, but I wouldn't be worried about the repair. If the dealer is worth their weight, your truck will look fine afterwards.}

SML71 · July 25, 2016

Five weeks later and I finally have my truck back. So far everything seems fine with the repairs. The whole ordeal, however, was a total nightmare. For the first 10 days after leaving at the shop, things seemed to be progressing. Paint-less dent repair guys did what they could on the doors and fenders and the new hood / roof arrived at the shop. Just as they were getting ready to start painting and replacing those major parts, I went on vacation for 10 days.

When I returned, the fun began. The phone call I made on the way home from vacation indicated that the repair was a "little" behind and would probably take an additional day or two beyond the promised completion date. I was fine with that.

A trip to the collision center, however, about midweek, resulted in an argument and eyes-on evidence that the roof hadn't even been painted yet. This included priming, sanding, painting, and clear-coat. Bottom line is that the repair took a full two weeks beyond the originally promised date. My insurance adjuster had to make several phone calls on my behalf to keep the collision center on task.

So - I picked up the vehicle on Friday night and spent a few hours re-detailing the interior as they did a poor job protecting the interior from the welding work on the roof.

Haven't driven on the interstate yet, but no signs of roof buffeting at 55-60 miles per hour. That is really my biggest concern.