Have They Helped You

canadiantowman · April 5, 2011

I'm just curious if anyone has had there truck broken into while at the dealer and have they covered the damage or tell you to go fly a kite. I had 2 trucks broken into at a dealer and they would not cover the damage even after it was pointed out to them that they had parked the trucks in the very back corner of the lot. Also they knew about a hole in the fence by the back corner, that they told me about.

ruggedlife · April 5, 2011

vehicles can be broken into anywhere, its not their fault.... we have a big huge sign behind our counter saying that we arent liable for vehicles left in our lot... ask them if they have any camera's pointed that way, but other then that i wouldnt expect much

GasHog369 · April 5, 2011

a good rule of thumb... If your vehicle is going into service anywhere , or out of your hands over night- take everything out !

old-chevy-dude · April 5, 2011

hmmm.. I would be reading the small print of the paperwork you signed..

When I worked for a Chrysler dealer here in L.A. we had that "we aren't liable" sign, but we had a vehicle that got damaged from a careless customer that left the truck in gear in the service isle and it run into and up the hood of another customer car that was sitting in the pickup area. a good $5,000 in damage and it was our insurance that paid for the damage as both customers had signed their vehicles over to us already..

might be dealer and state specific though, remember dealerships are privately owned and operated, has nothing to do with GM as a whole.

IMO, you pay for your insurance, have your insurance handle it, and they in turn will go after the dealers insurance for reimbursement, you pay for your own insurance for a reason. (unless Canada doesn't work that way, you would know better than I).

canadiantowman · April 5, 2011

we did take everything out, they stole the hub caps and a bar-light off one of our tow trucks.

TexasAl · April 6, 2011

I'd ask to talk to the owner. Ask him to take care of the damage in a polite manner. If he chooses not to, I'd still contact GM, and let them know if the situation. They might go to bat for you. Regardless, contact your insurance, and see if they will put pressure on the dealer to do something about it. Good luck, and let us know what happens.

Superperv23 · April 6, 2011

They can have all of the signs that say they are not liable at all they want but they are. The car is in their possession at the time and as much as they are entitled to the benefit of making money from you they have to deal with the burden of problems while it is in their possession. Easy way to deal with this ask the dealer again and if they say no tell them you are going to call your insurance company tell them about it and where it was located and chances are they will go after the dealers insurance and have things straightened out. If they refuse again than call the insurance company and they should sort it out.

bigbeds · April 6, 2011

These dealers got into business to make money, they can't survive if they were nice guys. The only way to make money is to ignore all the problems they can while the vehicle is under warranty, make u pay for expensive maintenance u don't really need, and deny, deny, deny any wrong-doing that happens because of their poor handy work.

I would say they are legally obligated to relace the stolen items, since u entered into a verbal or possibly a written contract that they would perform a service for u, and that the vehicle would be returned as you left it with them, and all sevice performed correctly. If they "stonewall" you, u have 2 options; 1. Never return to that dealer, go elsewhere for service and eat the loss, a big problem if the nearest other dealer is 260 miles away. 2. Or get a good lawyer, and expect to be held up in court for 3 years, That's, Not a good option either.

Well...I usually say leave the dealer forever..and let all your friends now about how u were treated....B4 u give up completely don't forget to call the Dealers' boss...GM!!!!

Times are tough for these Mega-corporations...they need every penny they can getin order to pay their rich CEO's!!!!!

Nytemare · April 6, 2011

I would venture to say, That's why you have insurance on your truck.

They have insurance on the cars on they're lot...but if its in for service its not covered under that policy. Its not in a secure compound, and they made sure to tell you that.

I don't think they would be even remotely liable for it, nor would I expect any shop to be. Hence the reason again you have insurance on your vehicle. If you don't, than thats another issue...I think in that case, if you don't care enough to put insurance on your truck, than why should someone else cover it for you.

Wingnut · April 6, 2011

These dealers got into business to make money, they can't survive if they were nice guys. The only way to make money is to ignore all the problems they can while the vehicle is under warranty, make u pay for expensive maintenance u don't really need, and deny, deny, deny any wrong-doing that happens because of their poor handy work.

I would say they are legally obligated to relace the stolen items, since u entered into a verbal or possibly a written contract that they would perform a service for u, and that the vehicle would be returned as you left it with them, and all sevice performed correctly. If they "stonewall" you, u have 2 options; 1. Never return to that dealer, go elsewhere for service and eat the loss, a big problem if the nearest other dealer is 260 miles away. 2. Or get a good lawyer, and expect to be held up in court for 3 years, That's, Not a good option either.

Well...I usually say leave the dealer forever..and let all your friends now about how u were treated....B4 u give up completely don't forget to call the Dealers' boss...GM!!!!

Times are tough for these Mega-corporations...they need every penny they can getin order to pay their rich CEO's!!!!!

The parts I bolded? Wrong.

The dealer doesn't pay to fix warrantied items, GM does. The dealership makes money on warranty claims. And dealerships aren't "mega-corporations" either, they're local business with a license to sell GM products. Some of them may be pretty big, but they're hardly "mega" by most standards.

Ianf · April 6, 2011

I just have to weigh in on this one guys, having had it happen to me before. The dealer is liable for your deductible here in Ontario, which is covered by their insurance. The rest is your liability. The dealer may cover it if its not too much damage out of their own pocket. However, that being said, If it is a collision while in their possession, then your insurance is definitely going to cover it, if you have any. If you don't then it comes down to the Insurance bureau's fault determination rules locally. If the dealers service people caused the accident, then your insurance is still being used. In Ontario, all your accident damage is paid by your own insurance, period. Any out of pocket you would have to sue the dealer if it was their fault and he refused to pay your deductible.

I only deal with people that store my vehicle inside if it has to stay over night. I make a point of asking the dealer this as well.

Nytemare · April 6, 2011

I just have to weigh in on this one guys, having had it happen to me before. The dealer is liable for your deductible here in Ontario, which is covered by their insurance. The rest is your liability. The dealer may cover it if its not too much damage out of their own pocket. However, that being said, If it is a collision while in their possession, then your insurance is definitely going to cover it, if you have any. If you don't then it comes down to the Insurance bureau's fault determination rules locally. If the dealers service people caused the accident, then your insurance is still being used. In Ontario, all your accident damage is paid by your own insurance, period. Any out of pocket you would have to sue the dealer if it was their fault and he refused to pay your deductible.

I only deal with people that store my vehicle inside if it has to stay over night. I make a point of asking the dealer this as well.

If you can find one...most places here don't have room to store the vehicle inside. But they do put a vehicle across all openings...so it does make a person take 15 min longer to steel your truck, cause they have to move the other car first.

Again...this is why I pay insurance...can you imagine the time you would have to spend in court if you were trying to get the dealer to cover your stolen truck....it would be cheaper to just buy a new truck after you took all the time off work, and by the time you finally won the case...if you did...they would probably give you blue book and 3 years later it would be about 1/3 the price of the truck.

Just imagine too...if they refused to pay your deductible....spending weeks and months in court to get 300 bucks....you'd likely lose 500 bucks in time off work, plus the time you have to spend there, to get the 300 back.

SpeedyV · April 6, 2011

While it's not quite the same as having a vehicle broken into, I witnessed an accident on a dealer lot caused by an employee.

An older gentleman (probably a service manager) was obviously in a hurry when he jumped into a new dually that a customer had dropped off for service. It looked like he wanted to get the truck out of the way of the service bay entrances. So he started it up, threw it into reverse, and hit the gas...building up a pretty good amount of speed before he ran straight into another customer that was parked in a smaller SUV (maybe an Equinox) and waiting patiently about 30' behind him. Man, was she scared! It looked like the dually needed a new rear bedside, and the SUV needed some front end work.

No question about who's covering that bill! But I secretly wondered if they ever actually told the dually owner about the incident or just fixed it up before he came back for it...

Nytemare · April 6, 2011

While it's not quite the same as having a vehicle broken into, I witnessed an accident on a dealer lot caused by an employee.

An older gentleman (probably a service manager) was obviously in a hurry when he jumped into a new dually that a customer had dropped off for service. It looked like he wanted to get the truck out of the way of the service bay entrances. So he started it up, threw it into reverse, and hit the gas...building up a pretty good amount of speed before he ran straight into another customer that was parked in a smaller SUV (maybe an Equinox) and waiting patiently about 30' behind him. Man, was she scared! It looked like the dually needed a new rear bedside, and the SUV needed some front end work.

No question about who's covering that bill! But I secretly wondered if they ever actually told the dually owner about the incident or just fixed it up before he came back for it...

You'd like to think they did....but yeah, its very likely they could have gotten away without telling the owner. Depends I guess on how long it was supposed to be there for service.

AGT · April 6, 2011

I have actually had CDs stolen before from a car I had serviced at a dealer. No broken anything. I asked them to replaced since they left the car unlocked. Dumbassess didn't lift a finger to help