That dayam "wood" trim and plastic around the shifter is soooooo fragile. Last week's visit to the dealer reaped a small gash on the shifter area plastic. And SOMEHOW (probably me...no probably the dealer folk) some small gashes got into the "wood" trim (close to the seatbelt latch).

Any ideas on how to diminish the blemish?

 

For the part the dealer damaged, have them replace it. B*tch if you have to. If it's under warranty, have them do the seatbelt area also. The dealer is reimbursed by Acura for warranty work. I have a '91 Legend. The dealer did some work on the seat memory and scratched a small piece of plastic under the interior door handle. I pointed it out and the replaced it without a hassle. Funny thing, the quality of work on my car seemed to go up after that.

 

PAW.....that sounds great but how do you PROVE it to the dealership. Our last visit (prior to last week) resulted in THREE deep chips on our freshly painted hood. The tech admitted that while he was test driving the car, there was alot of heavy construction.....and said "sorry". This last visit was when the small scratch on the plastic appeared. I'm like WTH.....EVERY time I come in there is gonna be damage to my car? But how do I PROVE it was not caused by me? I guess my next visit, I'll casually mention it to the service mgr....and ask them to be more careful with my baby.

How does that sound? Cowardly?

 

I would make a huge fuss and get them to fix the damage, at the least.

Good luck.

 

Guess I'll be doing that on my next visit.....just wanted to make sure that wasn't being unreasonable or sounding like a prima donna.

Thanks guys

 

TL4Mo - The dealer was working on the seat memory switch. As in 2002 TL, they are located next to the interior door handle. The plastic piece was under/behind the handle. The scratch was at the little indentation where you would pop out the piece to access the screws. So it was obvious and not a hugely expensive repair. But, the finally solution to the under lying problem was. The problem was that the seat memory was not fully working. After replacing the seat memory switches and computer twice, they had to replace the entire seat frame. A $3000 part! This happened at the end of the warrany period and the seat frame was replace AFTER the warrany expired. The service manage had to contact the regional service rep for approval. All this without anything more than taking the car back and saying "it's still not working". So, dealers want to keep you happy. Word of mouth is important to them. This is especially true for higher end manufactors like Acura. No flames please. You should not have to prove dealer damage to them. Complain! Be nice at first, you can alway get mean and nasty later. If the service manager does not help, talk to his boss and your salesman. If you don't get a satisfactory resolution, take you business to another Acura dealer (if possible). It's your dollars that bought the car and maybe are paying for it's repair or service. Remember the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Sorry for the long post.

 

Thanks PAW! Just always want to do a "reality check" and make sure I'm not being to anal about this car

I'm definitely going to mention these items on my next visit.

Wish me well.

 

Don't wait until your next visit. My personal experience has been that the longer you wait the less likely chance there will be that they will admit fault and repair the damage for you.
While the best case scenario is to inspect your car while its still at the dealer after the work is done, if you don't do that then you must go back as soon as you find a problem. This way, the dealer remembers that you were there, he remembers that his dealership did the work, and he knows that there wasn't much time elapsing between your pick up and your now bringing it back.
As well, the dealer is less likely to be busy with 'other things' right after he is done with your car, since you were one of his 'other things'. Later on down the road, when you come in to comlain he will have a whole bunch of other problems to deal with, and your paint chips or scratches or whatever will be far down on his priority list.
That's been my experience...get things done right away and save yourself a lot of hassle later on.
John

 

I wouldnt wait long to report this, it diminishes your credibility and will make them assume you or someone else did the damage. I would report it ASAP.

That piece is a single piece that is easliy changed, they should just change it for you.

 

Noted. Will get on that right away.

Thanks!

 

I'm 100% agree with you!! Don't wait too long; otherwise most likely dealers will give you bunch BS.