Car Warranty Part 2

Part 2: The Tables Turn

To recap, I have rust damage on my brand new car, the dealer is treating me like I’ve done something to cause the damage and then they intentionally damage my car to make it appear as though it is all my fault. It’s not looking too good huh?

Well guess what? It’s about to look better…for me anyway. You see, I used to work at an auto shop and my father has been a mechanic for 25+ years. So I know a bit about cars and what you can expect if you run into a shady repair shop. One of the reasons my dad stopped working for auto dealerships was because they kept expecting him to screw the customers over and he wouldn’t do it. You see, repair shops tend to have you at a disadvantage. They know that customers most likely don’t know much about auto repair and they know that if they take a firm stance on an issue they can bully customers into fixing an alleged problem without much objection. I mean the mechanic knows best right?

You’re wondering how this is looking better for me right? I mean, so what if I know that repair shops can be shady? What good does it do me now? They’ve done the damage to the car and taken and aggressive stance and blamed it on me. At this point what could I possibly do? Dissagree with them? Whoopdee freakin do. All they will do is say I’m lying or mistaken and then the warranty company will have to make a decision based on the only evidence that they have, the pictures the dealer took. Right? Well…not exactly. You see, when I first called them about the rust issue and they took this aggressive, arogant stance with me it kinda set off warning bells in my head. And you know those errands I had mentioned I ran on the day before I brought my car to the dealer? Well gosh, one of those errands just happened to be to run out and buy a digital camera. Whoops!

So I just had to try out my new toy. And what better way than to take hundreds (yes literally) of photos (and a few videos for good measure) of the damage to my new car? You know…the kind of photos that show things like the gap between the hood and the fender where the damage was. And the kind of photos that show that the car didn’t have so much as a scratch indicating an accident. And the kind of photos that show things like the position of bolts on adjustment brackets. So in plain and simple terms what my photos showed was that:  A) The fender was physically bent away from the hood by the dealer mechanic.  and B) The headlight braket bolts were loosened so that the headlight could be pushed against the fender and retightened making it look as if the headlight had been hit with enough force to be pushed into the fender causing the paint to crack, which caused the rust.  To make it more simple…the b@$!@^#s damaged my car to try and get out of paying a warranty claim!!!

So at this point I begin to get my facts in order and organize everything that I will need to do. I know I have a couple of days until they dealership gets back to me and it is still possible that they will cover everything and I won’t have to worry. Not likely but possible. Well in any case I’m not one to just sit and wait and let them take control of the situation. So I start compiling the before and after photos in an organized manner. I also find out how to contact the president of the auto dealer and start a letter to him. Of course I start a nice little timeline of all the events related to the incident. Next up, I contact a guy I know that used to own an autobody shop but now has his own company investigating auto insurance claims for consumers (he fights the insurance companies when they say things aren’t covered…nice!). And finally, I start an action plan on what I will do if they refuse to cover the damage they did and the rust damage.

As expected, a couple of days later I get a voicemail from the dealer saying that by their pictures it looks as though I somehow damaged the car and that I should call them so we can discuss it. This instantly made me unbelievably furious. To expect something to happen in one thing. To have it happen is another thing entirely.

So now onto my action plan. The first thing I do is send the letter to the president of the dealership. It details everything that had happened to me up to this point including the fact that I have pictures proving the damage they did. I sent this letter by Fedex and got signature proof of delivery. Next, I got in to see the autobody guy I know and got his evaluation of the damage to my car. In his professional opinion there was less than $1000 damage to the car and, yes, my pictures show that the car was damaged at the dealer. Also, there was no indication of any type of accident. So I got a letter stating all of this from him. After that, I started doing some research online for the cost to implement one of my other ideas.  You see, my dad owns the house right across the street from the dealership. That would be a prime location for me to set up one of those large yard signs (~$200) letting everyone know to beware that dealership. Of course I would have had flyers detailing the whole situation as well. And a website dedicated to the incident. And I found a guy who I could hire to picket the sidewalk in front of the dealership for $50 per weekend. And would have definitely sent out mailers to the local community. And contacted the local Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau. Of course I checked all of this out with a couple of lawyers. One I deal with on a day to day basis (I do reputation management for a living and deal with a lot of defamation cases) and the other is a relative.  Oh yes, and one very important thing I took action on right away was to contact the corporate headquarters and file a complaint with them on the dealership. They contacted the dealership the same day I believe.

Well the day after I sent my letter I received another voicemail from the service manager saying that he needed me to bring my car in one day so that their corporate rep could come in and make a determination on whether or not they would cover the damage. So I got a hold of him and explained the situation. The car you sold me was factory defective, the mechanic who took the pictues of my car intentionally damaged it, and I have the ‘before’ pictures to prove it. Here is where I get the story of, ‘Oh he’s a good kid. Been working here since high school. Gonna replace me when I’m gone. Blah blah blah.’

More to come…