Barkley45

Thanks for all the suggestions. Ill pick the car up later this week. The service manager called me yesterday and was apologetic about the situation and said that there was some confusion with the porter who picks the cars up from the body shop, and the service advisor. The service advisor was not at the dealership on Friday when the porter went to retrieve the car. The service manager said that the porter was only doing as he was told on thursday evening by the service advisor. However, the car was not ready (not sure why the bodyshop would let the porter take the car if the job wasnt complete). Not sure if I believe much of this story, but the dealership said that the repair would be done correctly by the end of this week. They also offered me coupons, and free oil changes. They also offered to deliver the car to my home.

To answer the question about how the gash got there, that's another long story ill try to make short. My car was towed to the dealership because my stock rims and tires were stolen. When i picked the car up, i noticed the gash. The dealership tried to blame the towing company. The towing company denied damaging the vehicle. What saved me were a few things; 1. I took pics of the car before it was towed, and when it was on the tow truck. 2. The towing company took pics of the car when they put it on the truck, and when they delivered it to the dealership. 3. The insurance company took pics of the vehicle while inspecting the car when it was sitting in the dealership lot. None of the pictures showed any damage, so that left the dealership to blame, as it happened while in their possession.

azipod

Thanks for sharing your story. This is a great lesson for all of us.... it explains why we are all somewhat OCD. haha!

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

The whole we pickuped up the car from the body shop before it was ready sounds like a crock of BS. The fact that the body shop needs almost a full working week to fix it sounds like more work than a cut and buff, sounds more like they have to redo it or something. The fact that damage was so obvious it happened at the dealership(they take their own pictures when they take in your car), they tried to blame the towing company, then paid for a maco paint job, and tried to give it back to you in that condition, just shows how crappy this dealership is. Hopefully by the end of this week this story has a happy ending.

bclexus

Barkley45 - It sounds to me like the dealership is trying their best to appease you by offering you coupons, free oil changes and home delivery, which is exactly what should happen.

flowrider - Lou, it sounds to me like the dealership is the one using 'honey' to appease the [damaged] customer, which is spot-on exactly what I predicted would happen...

Barkley45

I;m revisiting this topic because I went to the dealership earlier this week for an oil change and while my car was being checked in, the service guy asked "who painted the car?". So i asked if he could see how hazy it looked and he agreed. So that's when i told him that the job was done by the dealership. To be honest, I was never really happy with the job they did, but i lived with it. So i took my shot and asked if the car could be repainted, but this time by a body shop that i chose. The service guy spoke to the manager, who then came to speak to me. He remembered the incident and told me that they could have the car repainted by another body shop they use, and ensured me that the paint would be "flawless" this time. I asked why it wasnt "flawless" the last time, but he didnt have an answer. He also said that the paint job was under warranty and that they had to use a bodyshop in the dealership's network. I didnt like his answer and pushed back, but he insisted that he had to use a bodyshop within the network.

So my questions is, should I accept his offer, and try this again? The body shop I would like to use does excellent work, and i trust them as they have worked on some of my other cars. Im afraid that the dealership is going to do a ******y job again. To their benefit, they have done everything ive asked for, except deliver an acceptable paint job, lol. I would be provided with a loaner while the paint job is being done.

What say you?

azipod

It is understandable that you don't want this shop to paint your car again. However, to be reasonable, I think you're obligated to give them an opportunity to fix anything they didn't do right ... at least once. If on the second shot they couldn't do it properly, then I think you would have better traction by asking to have the work done somewhere else.

This isn't the best example, but I believe in Lemon Law world, a consumer would have to give the dealer 3 attempts to fix the same problem. If by the 3rd attempt, they cannot fix it, then the car can officially be declared "a lemon." Not the greatest example but I think you get the point.

SW17LS

Which MD dealership was this?

Barkley45

Ill send you a PM.

jonathancl

I had a similar experience following some rear bumper work at a local Lexus-authorized body shop.

When I inspected the rear bumper, the color did not match the rear quarter panel on one side but looked fine on the other.
He insisted it was just the lighting, so I turned the car around to show the color didn't match in any light. Then I started finding clear-coat drips here and there and said, "The more I look at this, the worse it gets." He called his supervisor over for a confidential chat, and they agreed to redo it.

The second attempt was excellent: colors matched and no clear coat issues.
Sometimes whoever does the repair is having an off day, maybe rushed. All kinds of reasons.

Barkley45

Thanks jonathancl. Hopefully ill have the same results.

CottageChz

I know this is a bit late, but...

I’m never really inclined to use the dealer’s body shop if I actually care about the car. I use a local small family-owned place that has always done impeccable work for me, and they have told me some nightmare stories about dealer-owned body shops or the body shops the dealers use. They could just be trying to scare me to make sure I always come back to them, but I’m inclined to believe the guys... I have taken them a car for a pre purchase inspection that had a repair from a deer hit (repair done by dealer shop), and they pointed out to me where corners were cut in the repair.

Your case is a bit different. Since the dealer brought it up themselves that the paint job was bad without you soliciting it, it sounds like they will actually want to make it right and will probably do their very best. I would of course still prefer to take it to my own place, but if they refused, I’d probably let them try once more at their own shop if the paint had been bothering me.

Also kinda curious about what MD dealer this was. I just bought a 17 CPO GS in MD and whoever certified it was sloppy. There were a few problems with the car that should have been caught and fixed. Got them fixed free under warranty but I was still peeved.

Barkley45

ill PM you

azipod

You are correct. There is a huge misconception that that the dealer is always the superior repair or service facility. In almost all cases, this is false. Dealerships are licensed to use the manufacturer's name but they are all privately own and they are no different than any other reputable shop. The biggest difference is that they have deep pockets to pay for the huge rent, large amount of staff, and inventory of vehicles on their lot..... Rest assured none of that goes towards the quality of their work. Mechanics at a dealerships usually get paid flat-rate for the job and it is advantageous for them to work on it as fast as possible.

SW17LS

There are exceptions though. The shop that my dealer (Lexus of Rockville) partners with is one of the best body shops in the area (Euro Pros)

I certainly wouldn't choose a shop based just on the fact that it was connected to a dealer.