New Vehicle with Undisclosed body damage

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Tons of dealers get their inventory damaged by hail and make a lot of $$$$. The PDR company helps them go over every vehicle on the lot with the insurance company. The insurance pays say, $3000 on average to PDR the car and the company fixes them for $1800. Dealer has a $25,000 deductible but has 300 cars damaged. The PDR company eats the deductible and fixes the cars and the dealer makes $335,000 AND gets to sell the cars without any damage discount.

In the OP's scenario I bet they figured the roof wouldn't be noticed and pocketed the money for the roof repair. That, or they just got sloppy and overlooked it. It happens when fixing a lot of cars at once.
 
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Originally Posted By: stockrex
Originally Posted By: Skeet6
Originally Posted By: Ethan1
How do you imagine CarFax to operate?

My internet "snark" detector is going off...
smile.gif

I guess I was expecting if there were some kind of accident history or insurance claim it'd show up on there? I really don't know. I was trying to be helpful. Were you?
Mike B


Skeet, I am sorry, I think Ethan meant well, just did not come out right,
Carfax is worth the paper I wipe my chunky behind with.

I have used Carfax to look at ownership history of vehicles, which can't be hidden, well it can be if someone buys and resells without registering like a neighbor of my mine does.

Most people do their repairs off the books paying $$$, scary but true.
Plus in a brand new car the dealers will probably use their own body shop to repair.

And Yes, I agree with you, if you oppose you should propose :)


Carfax isn't even reliable on chain of ownership, much less collision or other body damage.
I bought a '97 Accord 5spd coupe in 2003 with around 60K for $5995.00. According to Carfax, the car had only one PO and had never been in an accident. According to the paperwork I found in the glovebox, the car had had two POs, one in Ohio and the other in Kentucky and had been repaired by a body shop courtesy of the owner's insurance. We owned the car for another 145K and thirteen years before I sold it, so all was well, but Carfax proved useless in finding either number of previous owners or damage history.
The car was delivered new from a Columbus area dealer, was then apparently private party sold to some guy in KY who then traded the car to a dealer in Fairfield, which then wholesaled the car to the little used car lot in Fairfield I bought it from.
Moral of the story is to check the glove box when buying a used car. It will often contain a wealth of information on the car's history.
The other moral is to save your time and money and ignore Carfax.
Show me the Carfax?
Yeah, right.
To the OP, yes, you do have a legitimate claim regardless of how the sales paperwork was worded.
You paid for a new vehicle, not one that had been damaged and incompletely repaired.
Contact the dealer principle directly and ask that your claims be addressed with both complete repairs as well as some rebate of what you paid for the vehicle, since its value was reduced by the damage.
If this fails, engage an attorney who specializes in lemon law and related matters.
They'll get it fixed for you and will also be able to extract their fee from the selling dealer.
Don't forget that this dealer knowingly screwed you in selling a damaged vehicle as factory new.
 
Stockrex, if you are in southeast Michigan, I have personal experience that this law firm is very experienced and superb in automotive matters:
http://www.lemonlawlawyers.com/resources.html
http://www.lemonlawlawyers.com/dkl.html

If they can wrangle the manufacturer to foot the bill of this process, you may be able to do this pro bono, with just a very minimal up front payment.

An initial consultation is free and they will direct you what to do, eliminating the guessing game that you are getting here at BITOG.

I wish you all the best in your endeavor.
 
Originally Posted By: Win


Finally, did Tarzan get what he paid for? In other words, is there any difference in value between what Tarzan contracted for and what Tarzan actually received? If so, what is that value?

Given the significant value of Tarzan's purchase, I suggest Tarzan grab a vine and swing over to a lawyer licensed to practice law in Tarzan's jungle, and have a real consultation. Tarzan should not rely on ignorant chimpanzee internet advice.

.


Lol, agree with of it bruudah expect the last one. Us internet chimps can are far from ignorant, together our collective knowledge far exceeds any one extra smart attorney out there.

I agree, I will have to go downtown today and talk to my atty, I just spent many years and I am not looking forward to it.
 
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Stockrex, if you are in southeast Michigan, I have personal experience that this law firm is very experienced and superb in automotive matters:
http://www.lemonlawlawyers.com/resources.html
http://www.lemonlawlawyers.com/dkl.html

If they can wrangle the manufacturer to foot the bill of this process, you may be able to do this pro bono, with just a very minimal up front payment.

An initial consultation is free and they will direct you what to do, eliminating the guessing game that you are getting here at BITOG.

I wish you all the best in your endeavor.


Thanks, I check them out, meeting my atty today, see what she says.
 
Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
So it's a Transit built in Kansas City I assume. It hails in Kansas City a lot ... if it is a medium or high roof they sit extra time because they won't fit on a standard railcar or transport.

Nevertheless- this is not an e-mail situation, it's a face to face with sales manager >general manager>dealer principal situation.


Duck, I agree with you, but works for honest people who want to do the right thing.
This northwest Michigan dealership has not show any sign of
In my business, we do most things on trust and handshakes, we sign contracts for lawsuits and CYA, and seldom need it for my own work, it is the other contractor we hire we need it for.

Anyway, I think my atty will give them a quick call today after I meet with her.
 
They will just offer to repair the damage and not replace the van.

If lawyer gets involved... dealership will say they made a 'good faith' effort to resolve the customer's complaints.

No way I would buy a vehicle and then have it delivered days later.
 
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