jonredraider

Hello, I havent posted in a while, but I would like to ask all the experts (and those who just have an opinion) some advice:

My friend just bought a jeep. He had it for a week and brought it back to the dealer to have the undercoating done. He gets back to work and gets a call from the dealer telling him that the place that was going to do the undercoating wrecked his week old jeep. Funny that they didnt even tell him that they outsourced this procedure. Anyway, he goes to look at the jeep and the bumper is crushed and needs to be replaced and his fenders are damaged pretty badly.

Of course, the dealership says they will fix it (not replace fenders) and pay for a rental car but my friend is not satisfied with this. He feels he had a new car and now the value has dropped. He feels that there might be some hidden damage to the engine/trans/etc that might not appear for some time. He feels that they will just repair the fenders and repaint it. He feels the color might not match and his chances for rust are now much increased.

He has told them his desire to have them order him a new jeep and then they can fix and sell his. They have said pretty much no-way. He called a lawyer who said that his only legal case is that he paid for delivery of a jeep that had undercoating which he does not have (seems a little far fetched to me).

Anyway, any thoughts from all of you,y'all, yous(depending on where you are from)?

By the way, if this is supposed to be "off-topic", sorry. Its called car talk but wasnt sure if that car had to be the TSX

tonyTSX

There is no way they are going to give him a new jeep.

I know what happened was unfair and wrong but fixing it will be the only feasible option.

My advice to your friend however would be for him to get an estimate from a reputable repair shop and have the undercoating company reimburse him directly. That way he is not getting his jeep fixed by the cheapest place in town.

jonredraider

I suggested that he call the news channels. They have those "on your side" stories. I figured even if he can get them to call the dealership to get the story, they might be more willing to give-in to avoid bad press. That doesn't really solve his problem.

gfxdave99

Bullshit, i'd call around to some lawyers and see if you can get one to take the case pro-bono..

cmf

He already signed his life away or paid for the car......????? He is in it for the long haul. Tell him to get it fixed and try to sell the Jeep. Either way, once he left the lot with the Jeep, undercoating or not, it's his...and whatever happens to it is in his hands. He should be lucky that they aren't giving him the run around to even get it fixed. Just have him take it to the dealership rather than some crap ass body shop to get it fixed..... It's sucks and I'd be pissed too, but once papers are signed and done...bottom line...it's his car...

Helicobacter Pylori

That really sucks...

It's really scarey listening to a friend who works in a "reputable" bodyshop. They do all kinda shit to client's cars and outsourced cars. Sometimes they have to relocate the cars from shops to shops to get different type of fix done. It's just a perfect opportunity for them to test drive. My friend used to learn manual on client's cars. His boss doesn't even care. And the funny thing is his shop looks first-class.

There is nothing his lawyer can do? Tell you friend ask around. I know there is no way that dealer is getting him a new one, but your friend deserves a good explanation. It's a long haul going after dealer. But I'll do whatever I can to give them a piece of my mind.

Call news channel is a good idea! Getting a new car or not, I will love to make dealer looks ugly.

Btw, I heard that undercoating is useless.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

It sounds like the shop that was supposedly doing the undercoating should be totally responsible and that's who you should be going after instead of the dealership. This seems like a pretty good case of negligence and I'm sure that with the right lawyer, your friend would be able to get something out of it.

Personally, if I were the owner of the dealership and heard about this problem, I'd replace the jeep with a brand new one and go after the undercoating shop myself. People who do business should learn that there are situations where protecting your reputation can mean as much as protecting your profits.

jonredraider

Thanks for the input so far. I will let you know how this all turns out.

gt0279a

Your friend might want to look into how the damage will affect the title of the car (i.e. salvage)

Even after the car is repaired, it will be worth less becasue of diminshed value.

At the very least, you could try to be compensated for the loss of the vehicles value.