ItsChris

iTrader: (16)

Hey guys, just wanted to ask your opinion.

I bought about a month ago an 2006 GS 300 RWD GFM/Black Interior. I bought the car with 35k miles certifed preowned from the dealer.

After of about 3 days of ownership, I managed to wash the car and tend to find out that the driver side rear bumper was in a minor fender bender(no damage to frame, just rear bumper was repainted) and you could see where they didnt finish buffing the bumper.

So I bring the car back to the dealer, raising hell, that the car was hit in the rear or something, because you can obvioulsy see the seam of the rear bumpber is not aligned with the rear fender. So they tell me okay no problem, they fix it after 2 days, etc.. blah blah. I also bring the car back because the winshield is "ticking" or the dash board is. I think get a response from the dealer they cannot honor the winshield or the noise because the car has an AFTERMARKET winshield, the sales guy didn't even tell me !

So I get things fixed and leave the dealer, with the aftermarket winshield saying they can't fix the rattling.

So, comes today. I bring the car to another dealer, to get the dashboard rattling fixed because its rattling pretty loud on bumpy roads. They tell me, if its the winshield rattling, there's not much they can do, since its an aftermarket winshield, but I tell them I bought the car like that ! Lucky enough, the SA says they will fix the dash rattle, but if its the winshield rattling, they will see what they can do.


Long story short, when I bought the car, the salesman NEVER told me about the rear bumper incident, and the Aftermarket Winshield ! And now they are telling me they cannot or it will be hard for dealers to warranty the winshield rattle because of the aftermarket winshield but I bought the car like that w/o knowning !

What should I do????

BinaryJay

With used cars it's buyer beware when it comes to accidents. The dealership doesn't even need to disclose if the car has been in an accident or not unless you ask, and even if you do ask that, they only have to go by what the carfax report tells them.

A lot of cars have been in minor accidents that are not reported, in fact, most accidents are probably never reported. If it's not reported, it's not on the carfax, and they can legally sell you a car that is "accident free".

Even if a report says a car is clean I always carefully look over it myself to look for telltale signs of repairs etc.

The windshield, if it was replaced, you're probably out of luck. If lexus didn't do the replacement themselves then they are not really responsible if it was not installed correctly or used an inferior part in some way that is causing your noises. The best you can do is try to do some detective work and figure out who/when the windshield was replaced as maybe THEY have some kind of warranty on their work that you can try for.

ItsChris

iTrader: (16)

hey jay thanks for the response, but isn't it the responsibility of the dealer ship to disclose that the car has been in a minor accident or the winshield repaired, thus, voiding my warranty on any winshield rattling repairs? If they would have told me in the future, that, "hey, the winshield is aftermarket so we cannot warranty any rattling" I would think thats pretty messed up.

I talked to my new SA and he said a new winshield cost $1,800 from the dealer installed. ....um yeah ...lol...im not paying that just to fix a winshield rattle, it just sucks.

BinaryJay

It's not really their responsibility to disclose everything they know about a car, no more than it's your responsibility to do so when you trade yours into them. If you replaced the windshield on your car that you traded in, you don't necessary have to tell them that (or any of the hundred other things that you may have had done to the car outside of a toyota/lexus dealership).

Chances are they didn't even know that the windshield was replaced until you went to them to complain about the rattle and they took a look at it. They probably didn't know about the rear ending either... I don't think they spend very much time antagonizing over the cars they bring in like us owners do. They look at the paperwork, have a tech look it over to see if anything is obviously wrong with it and then they sell it.

It sucks but I don't really think you can get anywhere with them on this unless you can find a way to prove to them that there is a way to make the rattle go away with your current windshield - even then they might want you to pay for that since it technically does not involve any lexus work or lexus parts.

I would take it to an independent glass shop and ask them what they think they can do to help you out. You might just have to pay some small fee for them to dismount and remount the windshield. You can try pressing on the windshield with your hand while you drive to see if the rattle goes away, or attach a suction cup to the windshield and try pulling it back as you drive to determine if it's just not seated tightly enough - which I feel is likely.

ItsChris

iTrader: (16)

yeah...o well, I was just hoping, maybe something good might come out of it.

Surprisingly, when I called the dealer to get the rear bumper fixed, the Used sales manager Knew about it. The SA said, the Used sales manager had some notes regarding the car and that the rear bumper was in a minor bumper accident, and he had no problems fixing the rear bumper, because a "clip" was not aligned.

Just seemed pretty shady to me.

EyeKutr

iTrader: (5)

I was not aware that a car that was in a wreck could become CPO - I guess it can
http://www.lexus.com/cpo/overview/certification.html

IXI187IXI

iTrader: (3)

keep in mind, the sales people do not know every little detail about the car. when i bought my cpo it had aftermarket brake pads on it (which i did not know) and they would not honor any brake noise squeeking.

as far as the windshield, its that expensive because of the rain sensors. you can get cheaper ones. as far as your rattling goes, thats the dash, not the windshield.

I8ABMR

I am sorry to hear about your issue with the dealership. I hope they will make you happy. This is the reason I panic when buying used. You always woner. And the salespeople will always kiss your *** when the deal is being made but then when you need service they act like they have nothing to do with it

The G Man

There is a TSB on the windshield ticking noise on the GS, find a copy of it ask the dealer to perform it. It involves trimming off a piece of the windshied clips.

IXI187IXI

iTrader: (3)

but if the windshield is aftermarket, they will not touch it.

ItsChris

iTrader: (16)

thanks guys for all the responses.

I contacted the dealer where I bought the car from, after leaving a message with the sales manager. The salesman that sold me the car called me. He said that they are willing to fix the winshield TSB and still keep the warranty under the aftermarket winshield and any other rattles on the car. Pretty good niffty service.

Just kind of sucked in the beginning, you would think a Certifed preowned car from a reputable car maker, would let there customers know of these things before they buy the car. After all, they "checked" out the car before they put it out on the lot.

The G Man

ItsChris, good for you, a informed customer will always get better result. Now, I just hope the aftermarket windshield installers did not take off those windshield clips, otherwise, the TSB will not apply.

anaq110

Hey Chris I had a similar issue with my GS350 and in Jersey the Lemon Law protects you if the damages or repairs are higher then $1000. My car had the bumper repaired thru the dealership which they didn't disclose to me and then I ran into problems right after purchase was light assembly going bad, vibration of engine and dash rattle (Wouldn't honor TSB). At first the dealership would not touch anything because the claim of an accident. I conferenced Lexus Corp\Original Dealer of purchase\Dealership of repair and tore them a new one. The Dealership of Repair kept stating the accident is causing these problems, so I told them to do an inspection of frame and if they can prove it I will pay the diagnostics fees and go head to head with dealership of purchase if not they need to **** and do the work.

In the end every issue has been taken care of no extra cost its just a matter how hard you fight. Good luck dude.

The G Man

When Lexus 1st started its certified pre-owned program, it was top notch, everybody copy it. They would fix these kind of problem without questions, the warranty was as good as a new car. Also back then, I thought the insepction proccess was much tighter and they replace most tires that are half worn. Its a shame that Lexus let such as good program slide. I guess it a sign of tough times, everybody is try to cut back.

IZZO2FIZZO

iTrader: (2)

ask for the service history it will show what was done during the certification process and if the did any bodywork or intalled the windshield they need to fix it for you if they dont you can always call 1800LEXUS and let them know whats going on