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Dealership damaged my truck update


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1 minute ago, Logan Lanfear said:

Probably how it goes.  Threaten with the loss of your business.  Not much else you can do.  Maybe GM will help.  

 

And maybe the astronauts will land on Pluto tomorrow morning.

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Have you done the "after service survey," yet?  Hit them where it "hurts."  The dealership, that I take mine to, does a customary wash, and I dogged the hell out of them, the first time.  They didn't even wash my tonnaeu cover, looked like all they did was rinse it off, I attached a picture from their "wash," and pictures of my kids helping me wash it, and then pictures of it dry, after wash. 1-Star rating for the wash.

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Word to the wise. I worked in the  car business for 35 years both at dealer level and for the manufacturer.  When you leave your your vehicle for service have the service adviser do a walk around with you before you leave. That won’t help if they say it’s a public lot but it would help cover the backside. Camera phone pics wouldn’t hurt either. Sad that it has come to this but it’s what I do.   Rant is over ??

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Wow, I'm sorry to hear this. Makes me sick to know someone knows what happened but won't fess up to it. They have insurance, not much skin off their back if they admit.

 

Would this be considered a hit and run? Can you do a police report? Probably not if it was in public parking lot depending on jurisdiction. If so, maybe that could lead you to some closure or at least get the dealer to actually do something if they think it's being investigated by the police. Maybe you can ask for the dealer's liability policy information and try to make a claim. May not get you anywhere but it could get some eyes to take a look at this case. I had an issue where a local car wash used a chemical and stained my dash and wouldn't fess up to it so I said I needed their insurance policy information to make a claim. If they wouldnt provide that then that I'd look up their registered agent and send a letter. That got them scared and they fixed the issue without even having to escalate further. I'm no attorney but I'm sure there is some assumption of liability that have when they are in possession of your vehicle. The "not liable" language on the back of valet tickets is bogus if you have evidence they did the damage. But without any evidence it's just your word back theirs. Police report adds some credibility to the case. They are also required to carry liability coverage which you can make a claim on. Your insurance will probably investigate and if they pay out the claim they may try and collect what they can from the dealer's insurance. 

 

I'm sure there's tons of cameras and if they really wanted to be in your interest they could at least know when the vehicle was last seen not damaged...

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Honestly hate to be a jerk here but, how is it fair for you to go back to the dealer who has no idea where you've been with your truck and ask them to pay for the fix... You're an honest person but, there are plenty of jerks out there who'd leave the dealer goto wallyworld, hit a shopping cart and go back to the dealer asking for a free fix...

 

Once you leave the dealers lot it's really unfair for you to be upset with them for not giving you a free fix... I ALWAYS do a full walk around on my vehicles when I leave them with the dealer, body shop or anyone else for service... With that said: the dealer should do a full walk around and take pics of all sides of vehicles before the let the truck go out the door...

 

Same thing happens when your working with LTL freight shipments in the business world: As soon as you unload the freight, set it on your dock and the driver leaves you now own the freight and the damage is on you because how does the trucking company know that your tow motor operation didn't back into the freight...

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Unfortunately it was kind of a perfect storm. I had to drop it off the night before after service hours, twice. From here on out any time I leave anything for service I will do a walk around video on my iPhone before hand.  Either the dealership is lying about the cameras not working, or they really don’t but I doubt anyone would feel safe leaving anything there knowing it wasn’t under any kind of security. For the record, it wouldn’t of been left overnight the second night if they had called me after it was supposedly done. But, I guess I will see how GM pressures them. $1800 is a drop in the bucket compared to the bad publicity I could cast upon them. 

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1 minute ago, Imcrazy said:

Honestly hate to be a jerk here but, how is it fair for you to go back to the dealer who has no idea where you've been with your truck and ask them to pay for the fix... You're an honest person but, there are plenty of jerks out there who'd leave the dealer goto wallyworld, hit a shopping cart and go back to the dealer asking for a free fix...

 

Once you leave the dealers lot it's really unfair for you to be upset with them for not giving you a free fix... I ALWAYS do a full walk around on my vehicles when I leave them with the dealer, body shop or anyone else for service... With that said: the dealer should do a full walk around and take pics of all sides of vehicles before the let the truck go out the door...

 

Same thing happens when your working with LTL freight shipments in the business world: As soon as you unload the freight, set it on your dock and the driver leaves you now own the freight and the damage is on you because how does the trucking company know that your tow motor operation didn't back into the freight...

One man says the damage wasn’t there when he worked on it and the other man who washed it afterward admitted it was there. Pretty hard to deny that it happened between point a and b?

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Just now, DTB said:

One man says the damage wasn’t there when he worked on it and the other man who washed it afterward admitted it was there. Pretty hard to deny that it happened between point a and b?

I agree from a logical stand point and sorry I didn't really follow the whole story 100% but, the responsibility is on the owner to do a walk around before you leave the dealer.... Otherwise good luck there is no concrete way to prove what happened...

 

It's shitty that someone at the dealer damaged your truck and didn't own up to to it but, in some circumstances a tech could damage your truck and not even notice... I hit a planter outside our garage with my wife's car 2x before I realized that I had done it..... Scratched the crap outta the bumper... The responsibility to inspect the vehicle is on the owner... This should not jack up your insurance as it's not collision it's comprehensive just like when you hit a deer etc... Just have your insurance company file a claim IMO and move on.. Life is too short man...Learn your lesson to cover your you know what and chalk the cost up to education... 

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24 minutes ago, DTB said:

One man says the damage wasn’t there when he worked on it and the other man who washed it afterward admitted it was there. Pretty hard to deny that it happened between point a and b?

I work at a dealership and when damage happens to a customer's vehicle 90% of the time it's done by the recon crew.  

 

 

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Ouch hopefully they own up, i always check mine before i take it off the lot. Heres what happened to my old truck (16) deer did 16,000 in damage.
 
eZRrIdg.jpg


16k? Wow. It appears hood survived unscathed?
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The hood was fine, 3 air bags going off didn't help...

 

That explains the high repair cost. I’ll have to see how many air bags are in my 18 SLT besides the obvious (2) steering wheel and front passenger dash mounted air bag.

 

How’s your truck now? Good as new? Dealer repair or independent body shop?

 

I’m always torn between a good independent shop and the dealer when it comes to repaint and parts.

 

Thankfully I haven’t had hardly any accidents aside from minor fender bender / bumper damage, etc.

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