About a year ago I purchased a 2003 CL from a used car dealership in Virginia. At the time of purchase, the dealer and I (in written documentation) stipulated that a few things must be checked including the dimness of my headlights. They assured me that the reason was that the assembly was dirty so they would clean it. A few days later the work was done (again have documentation) and took the car home. Over the past year the lights were always a bit dim but never too much of an issue. Well last week my inspection was up and the car failed inspection because the headlights were not bright enough.

My mechanic and I decided to take apart the light and see if the bulb just needed to be replaced. Come to find out someone had re-wired the headlight to use a normal bulb rather than the HID. Problem is the light can not reflect correctly within the headlight assembly.

I guess I am just wondering if anyone has any advice to how I can handle this situation with the dealer who sold me the car. I find it hard to believe they took the light apart to clean it and did not see wrong headlight and wiring. Furthermore how did it even pass inspection?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for your response.

 

They might tell you that it's been a year, and you should have noticed by now that it was bad.

But try talking to the dealership and seeing what they say. Be polite but firm, but don't get bitchy, as they'll never give you a damn thing if you give them an attitude.

Good luck.

 

well it took you a little long to figure it out, however, since you have documentation that the headlights were dim to begin with, take it back to them and see what they say.

On the contrary, post some pics of this "conversion" I'm really curious.

 

I think you are too late.

If you had taken the car back soon after they did the cleaning and told them it still wasn't right, you may have had a case. As you waited a year, it is reasonable to assume you were satisfied with what they did and accepted it.

 

You rally have no recourse with the dealer unless you want to sue them. They can easily deny they didn't see it or notice it before they sold it to you. And it's been a year.
When they said clean them I'm sure they meant & did only the outside of the lights. There's no way to clean the inside without taking them apart with heat & resealing them. No dealer is doing that.

I'm more puzzled how you did not see the different between HID & regular lights.

This is a case of buyer beware, & not knowing more about a car. Chalk it up & learn from it.

 

in your case, instead of buying expensive new original parts, you better check for used parts or aftermarket HID kits.

 

I'd say the used car dealer really did not know that mod had been made. As stated above, it's unlikely they took it apart to the point where they'd have known.

There is a chance that they DID know because they did it themselves. If they purchased the car and one of the headlights was out they may have opted not to do a proper fix (those lights are EXPENSIVE) in order to keep their profit margin.

It's impossible to tell at this point in time so basically you're SOL. I do have to wonder though why you would run around for a year with headlights so poor they wouldn't pass inspection.

 

Well I appreciate the responses.

Update from the dealer paperwork. I have documentation for what they called "repair of right head light assembly" So I spoke with them and they have agreed to take a look at it. My lawyer seems to think the car may have been in a fender bender and they did it for a cheap fix.

On a side note, i fully realize that I should have gotten the lights checked out when they were so dim. The reason I posted on this forum was because of my current situation. If i had a time machine, I would go back and rectify the situation.

I do appreciate those who were helpful though. I will update what happens after the dealership looks at it.

 

Still confused how you could not tell the difference between HID lights & regular halogen lights. It's really a night & day difference.
I hope you get it rectified.

 

/\ unless he didn't know it was suppose to have HID's. if the dealer redid both lights to be non-hid and didn't say it came with hid's i can see it being the case.

hope it all ends well for you, glad they are atleast trying to work with you to some extend