carl20320

I've had my truck now for almost 2 weeks. This past weekend, after having it for jsut over a week, I was going to crawl underneath to check a couple vents on the fuel tank. When I crawled under, I discovered that the truck had been damaged some time back. There is a long scrape, a dent, and the metal is rusted where the paint has chipped off. This is under the bottom of the rocker panel just in front of the rear wheel. Unless you are really looking for damage from a distance, you would not see it.

I took it back to the dealer and of course the sales guy was not in. Spoke with service and they put it up on the rack. They were furious. They say they do not even get to do inspections on dealer trades. They went and grabbed the sales manager. The sales manager did not even want to talk to me. The service manager said I can take it to their body shop and have it repaired at their expense (no kidding).

Today, the salesman calls me up saying that they are going to fix it and I won't even know it is there. I told him I am not OK with that. I paid a new truck price and have a damaged truck. Sales guy was saying that is all they can do. I told him that I don't think that is acceptable.

What are your thoughts? What would you do? What actual recourse do I have?

I'm remembering why I despise dealing with car sales men.

Carl

greasemonki

I would think there is definitely some legal recourse you can take. I would suggest trying to find a number for Chrysler "homebase" and calmly explain what the deal is, with someone who can do something. Remember getting ****** at the person on the phone isnt the answer, they didnt sell the truck, and they'll get fired for not following their protocol. A cool level head works much better than a hot one. People are much more responsive, and helpful when they are dealing with someone polite. Is the truck BRAND new, or a trade in. Cause I know that Chrysler dealers are REQUIRED to rack the tade in trucks before they take them, there is a BIG rubber stamp with the word "RACKED" that goes on every incoming vehicles paperwork, the truck doesnt belong to them until then.

carl20320

Supposed to be brand new. It did have 329 miles on it when I took delivery.

MAD DUC

I guess that I'm not sure what you are looking for. If the dealer IS going to fix it at no charge to you what else are you wanting them to do? Yea it's 'damaged', but it is nothing major, just very minor body work.

JThiessen

I gotta side with Mad Duc. What exactly do you expect from them? Free trucks for life? From their perspective, you have a customer that comes in with an issue, asking that it be resolved. They really have no idea if the damage was actaully caused by them or yourself, but they are accepting your side, and offering to fix it to the best of their ability. What really is going to be the difference between thier repair, and what you'd have on a replacement rig (I'm assuming thats what your after)? The paint they put on will likely be better than the crappy thin stuff that DC puts on, and will probably last longer. Maybe you should see if they will, at thier expense, paint the entire rocker panel with paint that has more rubber compound in it, to resist the chipping we all see with the new paints.

03 ant a hemi

Well it was sold as new correct, that would mean no damage. And if there was damage then they would have to disclose that. I would ask for $10,000 back from the sticker price and for them to fix the problem. The truck is no longer worth the $40,000 or so. As the truck was not in new condition when sold.

Luke S

Are you serious man? Just have them fix it and be done with it. How could the dealer give hime $10,000 back? I hate to tell you but we have no where near that high of a profit margin.

8mpg

not just that but these cummins based trucks dont lose value like that. $10k loss is like 50k miles and a messed up paint job.


I would let them fix it and make sure you get a NICE rental, not some BS neon. Not much you can do really. Maybe they can paint the whole truck, cause no matter how many times they paint and blend, it never matches perfect. From the texture (orange peel) to the color

JD Dearden

Get a new truck man you just spent alot of money for it demand perfection, if you don't you will regret it for a long time.

CIN'S DODGE

A New Truck is a New Truck no matter how you look at it. I would go back to the Dealer also and tell them I either want it fixed or I want a Different new truck.You didn't know it was damaged until you already bought the truck. See what they say about the situation. If you start Demanding it's not gonna get ya anywhere. Trust me been there done that.I wish you luck

CUMMINSBILL

This happened to a friend of mine on his 03 but he noticed it before delivery. After waiting a month and a half for the truck to come in with the options he wanted he didn't want to pass on the truck so he had them fix it and throw in nerf bars and a few other accessories for his troubles. If the damage isn't that visible and not really bad I would try the same thing as my buddy I think parts and labor for the freebies was around $1200.00.

03 ant a hemi

Well his truck has automatically lost $10,000 in value from the repair on it. And yes I am serious, although the profit for these trucks may not be that large, mistakes like this can linger for years to come. The cost to repair the problem is more then likely a couple of grand our cost, plus rental vehicle, hassle of it all. The mistrust of not only this customer but others that find out about it. To me would be worth $10,000 and fix it.
A Brand new $40,000 truck with dent in it, factory, ahh how about not.
Once you have any type of notice on your truck for body work the value plumits.
The other route I would go is ask for a new truck. I mean if rust is already there, I do not care how great of a job they do, the rust will appear again easier then if it was original.

Good luck.

blord

Come on people get real. After it goes to the body shop neither you nor a potential future buyer is ever going to know it was there!

Keeping messing around with a dealer that is bending over backwards to fix something that was beyond their control and you may find the service mgr. wanting to talk to you and saying; "It wasn't like that when it left here. You want it fixed, this is what it will cost."

It seems to me they've been more than responsive and reasonable. Get it fixed and get on with life! Be glad you have a good dealer!

Badd Dogg Guy19

I like how some people on here are so quick to say "Get Over IT"!! Easy to say when YOUR truck came through with no flaws!! When it takes someone a year and a half of finding an extra $50 a week to stash away, for a down payment towards their new future dream truck, and also take on a $375 a month payment for 5 more years after that, Yea, I'm gonna want a "new" "dentless", "damageless" truck. You know that in two years, if you decided to bring that "the damage was minimal when I bought it" truck for a trade in, you can bet your bottom that the dealer is gonna put it on the lift, and come back and say, "do you know theres some damage under your truck??"

Just recently, my sister traded in her 2004 loaded Maxima, she bought it new as a "Hail Damage" car. Long story short, when the new car dealer put it on the lift, they found all weld marks on the back subframe, welds in the trunk area, and you can see where the actually hooked chains on the sub-frame to re-align the car. You dont do all that for hail damage. So heres a car that we thought we were gonna get a good-trade in on, and now we took a big loss because of the obvious damage.

Oh yea, A "good dealer" wouldn't of sold you a truck with damage in the first place.

So. to you "Carl", you have every right to be upset at whats going on, I know I would be!!

8mpg

Well what do you want the dealership to do?? They are trying to correct the situation already. There really isnt much to do. Fix it or get rid of the truck. I saw a guy get a damaged dually not to long ago. He bought it and it got hit by another car. The dealership fixed it without a hitch and it looked fine. It sucks but put yourself in their shoes...you are trying to fix the truck but you cant go crazy and offer a new truck.