LexusChris

iTrader: (1)

Today on my way home from work, I stumbled upon this new Toyota Camry Hybrid with it's rear tail lamps damaged and the trunk misaligned my question is will the dealer still try to sell this car as a new car without mentioning it's been damaged ? I mean it's relatively minor do dealers actually sell cars they may have damaged while being transported from I suppose their storage to the dealer or wherever it happened? I would hate to take a delivery of a new car and something seemed off about the car when looking it over.

Sorry the pictures are not best, taken from an Apple iPhone 4S.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

The dealer fixes 'em and sell 'em.

BNR34

iTrader: (1)

The dealers fix them and sell them as brand new as of nothing happened.

LexusChris

iTrader: (1)

Deng pretty simple ha, Thanks guys for the quick response.

I8ABMR

They can legally fix them and sell with no issues. I have heard stories about cars coming off the docks with damages. They all get repaired and sent out to the show room. In fact my G35 had paint drips on the front bumper like it had been repaired and sold to me. I took it back to be repainted 11 times ( yes 11 times) before they got it right. I almost started lemon law proceedings on the car

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

If a truck brings our dealer a car that is damaged their insurance to pays for it and gets sent to the body shop. Any work done (my automall) we disclose the information and give a paper that states what was fixed alongside with your ROS, books and window sticker

mmarshall

There is no one simple answer to that question, and part of it, of course, depends on the basic honesty of the dealership itself and the extent/seriousness of the damage. New cars can be damaged by a number of different ways......a problem at the plant itself (maybe by a disgruntled employee), on the truck/train/ship transporter en route to the dealership, by weather/storms/floods, by careless PDI workers, by careless people looking at or inspecting the car, by careless salespeople or lot-workers jocking the car around the lot, by teenage vandals with keying/tire-slashing/glass-breaking, by animal/bird droppings or acid-rain damaging the clearcoat paint, or, in some unusual cases, even by Eco-Terrorists politically targeting large SUVs.

-J-P-L-

I worked at a new car dealership for a few years and yes, as previous posters have said, they are repaired and sold as new and never mentioned to the buyer. There's a dollar amount limit to the amount of damage that can go undisclosed to a buyer, although I can't remember the figure (it's in the thousands).

People would be surprised at how common new cars are damaged. Chances are, many of us have bought repaired new cars without ever knowing it.

One of the craziest things that ever happened at the dealer I was at was when we got a hail storm which lasted just a minute but turned the surface of every new car (and used car) on the lot similar to the surface of a golf ball. Thousands of dimples on each one. The owner came outside and nearly had a heart attack. All the cars went through hours of intensive labor to fix and sold as if it nothing ever happened. What a nightmare. I'm sure dealers all over the country have to deal with this same issue when it hails.

spwolf

indeed, we did that too... although, it rarely ever happened. We had one car dropped from the truck (not secured enough) and rolled for 100ft before stopping on the curb, and we also had one car nick the under-bridge as the truck driver underestimated the height :-)

<VENOM>

Well then, never buy a car from any of the congested NYC borough dealers, nothing like watching workers back cars into each other to get them out

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Hah nice. Recently when the latest ESs came in a truck with about 9 of them, the hydraulic lift failed, snapped and essentially crushed one of the cars on the first level

Dadikins

Sometime around 2003, I drove by a Nissan dealer in the Marlborough, MA area after a very heavy hail storm, and was shocked by the damage!

I don't mind if a car had minor dings or things like that which the dealer fixes - but if they need to replace a windshield, headlight/taillight fixture, etc., I would be quite upset if the dealer didn't disclose it.

Where I draw the line, though, is frame damage. I was told by an employee at CarMax that some dealers sell frame-damaged cars as new (of course, they were trying to get me to buy one of their used cars, which is guaranteed not tohave frame damage). If true, that is just plain unethical, and the dealer should REFUSE to accept delivery of the vehicle.

<VENOM>

When I was a dealer tech, the owners disclosed damage to the new owner as small as a scratch that you could easily miss, the damaged cars that had been fixed went to lease deals usually, but I think by law it was 500-1500 in damage did not have to be disclosed, but its up to the dealer, and with that, I now understand why certain people only buy certain cars on the lot, examine for hours, inside and out or buy ones straight off the truck.

Its a big investment but I've also seen people come back a day later with the rims trashed, scratches all along one side

LexFather

A friend got an Audi AllRoad and it got sent from NH to Miami for a dealer xfer.. somewhere along the way the rear bumper got a good size scratch easily noticeable. Of course they wanted to act like it was fine but we didn't budge, so they offered to fix it but the part wasn't in stock. So the car is still sitting (now 2+ weeks) while he drives a loaner but it is being fixed.

No price was taken off since the color, car is really rare.

RX_330

That happened to the dealer I worked at. We brought in and did an inspection/report on every vehicle on the lot. After that we left them on the lot as-is depending on the damage. If the customer wanted, they could take the car as-is or we could repair it for them before taking delivery. It was actually quite a successful setup that we had.