This. They have Garagekeepers liability insurance and should notify their carrier. They are trying to take the cheap route. Go straight to their corporate risk management department and raise hell. All of these dealerships are owned by a large parent (Group 1 Automotive, Penske, Sonic, etc.)h2oag95 said:
They will try to fix it first without involving their shop liability insurance, because their deductible is fairly high, but will eventually have to get them involved to repair it correctly and get diminished value. Make sure you demand it unless it's a lease. If it is a lease car they may get out of it because you won't suffer any loss of value at time of turn in.
I have personally handled lots of these as a service director at a European car dealership. If you have any questions about the process from their perspective I would be happy to help.
There's a flaw with your statement though. That means that he's still paying against the original residual value/money factor. I would demand a lower payment or to have the dealership get me into a new whip.h2oag95 said:
They will try to fix it first without involving their shop liability insurance, because their deductible is fairly high, but will eventually have to get them involved to repair it correctly and get diminished value. Make sure you demand it unless it's a lease. If it is a lease car they may get out of it because you won't suffer any loss of value at time of turn in.
I have personally handled lots of these as a service director at a European car dealership. If you have any questions about the process from their perspective I would be happy to help.
I would STRONGLY advise you to useaggiedaniel06 said:Wonderer - Thanks for the detailed response. I am planning on going to the dealership tomorrow to speak with the General Manager as I have got no response to my emails/voicemails from the Service Adviser and Service Manager. Also, what would be your estimate for the diminished value that I should request?The Wonderer said:
See what their offer is to rectify before you involve an attorney - it'll probably save you money on something like this.
Their ins should cover it without question. I'd shoot for (best case):
- they fix it with new rear door skin and pull/fill the quarter panel (required);
- give you a loaner for the entirety of the repair (required);
- give you monetary compensation for the diminished value (negotiable, but be reasonable here, push too hard and they'll just get their attorneys to handle it); and
- have them throw in some freebies like all inclusive maintenance out to 100K or extended warranty to 100k (optional, but do not discount the value of this in your head if it is brought up, actually do the math).
While it sucks, accidents do happen and if you are dick right off the bat, they will not want to work with you and that will force you to get an attorney which will just cost more money because he will charge you by the hour (this doesn't seem big enough to me to warrant taking it on contingency (personal opinion, other attorneys may vary)).
Slam on the brakes right there. With an issue like this they need to make time.aggiedaniel06 said:
***UPDATE***
Went to the dealership yesterday and the GM was unavailable to meet.
Another hell no. They should have been well aware of the situation.Quote:
I met with the Service Director and Service manager, and they had had a "deer in the headlights" look as apparently this is the first time they have heard about the issue. They called the Service Adviser who was not working yesterday and apparently this issue was lost in communication.
You should be. If it was me I would call up and explain that you WILL be seeing the GM after the meeting with the Service Director and that he should clear his schedule around your planned meeting time. If he cannot or will not make the time for an issue like this you can pretty much guarantee a rough road ahead in dealing with your repairs and any claim. At that point I would go ahead and start getting a lawyer ready. Maybe this is just that GM but the few times I have had an issue at the dealership the GM made sure to at least stop by and confirm that he is aware of the situation and would be following up with those in the dealership and with me to make sure everything was made right.Quote:
I was appalled that the Service Director was unaware of such an incident taking place in his shop. Anyhow, since everything was news to them, I asked them to get themselves up to speed and I am supposed to go in later today again.
That's good. I would make it very clear to everyone involved that they aren't to so much as breathe on the car before you discuss with them how the repairs are going to be made and have everything written down.Quote:
As far as the car goes, thankfully they haven't started doing any work on it and I will be inspecting it for the first time today. We didn't get into too much details about the repair scope and diminished value claim, but I could already tell that they are going to play hardball in regards to the DV claim.
He does not, but still knows people there that he passes things to.sts7049 said:
agproducer doesn't work there anymore i believe
Does he have it in writing from them that it happened at their shop? Does he have video proof that it happened in their shop?Sasappis said:1208HawkTree said:
I didn't read every word of every post, but I didn't see this mentioned. Does the shop have security cameras? Maybe there is a recording what actually happened.
It doesn't matter what happened. It happened while in their custody and control caused by their employee. They are liable per se
crowman2010 said:Does he have it in writing from them that it happened at their shop? Does he have video proof that it happened in their shop?Sasappis said:1208HawkTree said:
I didn't read every word of every post, but I didn't see this mentioned. Does the shop have security cameras? Maybe there is a recording what actually happened.
It doesn't matter what happened. It happened while in their custody and control caused by their employee. They are liable per se
Believe me, I've dealt with a similar situation.
Wife went to Discount Tire for B/R. Wife gave the keys to the kid, walked inside. Wife walks back outside to get the car when they were done, notices dents/scratches/paint marks all the way from the rear driver door to just above the tire, and even markings on the tire. When she questioned them about it, they stared at her and said they had "no idea how it happened". Luckily, I had her take photos of the brick wall of the cargo bay, which clearly had been hit more than it should have.
Long story short, they didn't want to pay at all to repair the damages. I threatened to take them to small claims court for roughly 4x the value of the damage estimate for diminished value/time lost from work, etc. They finally agreed to cover the repairs so long as I would sign what was effectively a gag order not to go to the media, along with a statement that said DT was not responsible for the damage, but was extending a courtesy repair for a customer.
Major media outlets such as TV and Radio. Unless they pick this up on their radio broadcast, no issues.PooDoo said:crowman2010 said:Does he have it in writing from them that it happened at their shop? Does he have video proof that it happened in their shop?Sasappis said:1208HawkTree said:
I didn't read every word of every post, but I didn't see this mentioned. Does the shop have security cameras? Maybe there is a recording what actually happened.
It doesn't matter what happened. It happened while in their custody and control caused by their employee. They are liable per se
Believe me, I've dealt with a similar situation.
Wife went to Discount Tire for B/R. Wife gave the keys to the kid, walked inside. Wife walks back outside to get the car when they were done, notices dents/scratches/paint marks all the way from the rear driver door to just above the tire, and even markings on the tire. When she questioned them about it, they stared at her and said they had "no idea how it happened". Luckily, I had her take photos of the brick wall of the cargo bay, which clearly had been hit more than it should have.
Long story short, they didn't want to pay at all to repair the damages. I threatened to take them to small claims court for roughly 4x the value of the damage estimate for diminished value/time lost from work, etc. They finally agreed to cover the repairs so long as I would sign what was effectively a gag order not to go to the media, along with a statement that said DT was not responsible for the damage, but was extending a courtesy repair for a customer.
They might consider TexAgs to be a form of media.
They aren't going to do squat. They've already done the repair. Coming after someone for violating a "gag order" never goes well for the one who requested a gag order to begin with.PooDoo said:crowman2010 said:Does he have it in writing from them that it happened at their shop? Does he have video proof that it happened in their shop?Sasappis said:1208HawkTree said:
I didn't read every word of every post, but I didn't see this mentioned. Does the shop have security cameras? Maybe there is a recording what actually happened.
It doesn't matter what happened. It happened while in their custody and control caused by their employee. They are liable per se
Believe me, I've dealt with a similar situation.
Wife went to Discount Tire for B/R. Wife gave the keys to the kid, walked inside. Wife walks back outside to get the car when they were done, notices dents/scratches/paint marks all the way from the rear driver door to just above the tire, and even markings on the tire. When she questioned them about it, they stared at her and said they had "no idea how it happened". Luckily, I had her take photos of the brick wall of the cargo bay, which clearly had been hit more than it should have.
Long story short, they didn't want to pay at all to repair the damages. I threatened to take them to small claims court for roughly 4x the value of the damage estimate for diminished value/time lost from work, etc. They finally agreed to cover the repairs so long as I would sign what was effectively a gag order not to go to the media, along with a statement that said DT was not responsible for the damage, but was extending a courtesy repair for a customer.
They might consider TexAgs to be a form of media.
And unless there was a liquidated damages clause, they'd probably only recover nominal damages because technically it is a breach of contract.Say Chowdah said:They aren't going to do squat. They've already done the repair. Coming after someone for violating a "gag order" never goes well for the one who requested a gag order to begin with.PooDoo said:crowman2010 said:Does he have it in writing from them that it happened at their shop? Does he have video proof that it happened in their shop?Sasappis said:1208HawkTree said:
I didn't read every word of every post, but I didn't see this mentioned. Does the shop have security cameras? Maybe there is a recording what actually happened.
It doesn't matter what happened. It happened while in their custody and control caused by their employee. They are liable per se
Believe me, I've dealt with a similar situation.
Wife went to Discount Tire for B/R. Wife gave the keys to the kid, walked inside. Wife walks back outside to get the car when they were done, notices dents/scratches/paint marks all the way from the rear driver door to just above the tire, and even markings on the tire. When she questioned them about it, they stared at her and said they had "no idea how it happened". Luckily, I had her take photos of the brick wall of the cargo bay, which clearly had been hit more than it should have.
Long story short, they didn't want to pay at all to repair the damages. I threatened to take them to small claims court for roughly 4x the value of the damage estimate for diminished value/time lost from work, etc. They finally agreed to cover the repairs so long as I would sign what was effectively a gag order not to go to the media, along with a statement that said DT was not responsible for the damage, but was extending a courtesy repair for a customer.
They might consider TexAgs to be a form of media.
The amount of attention that that they would get by suing someone for violating a gag order would defeat the purpose of them going after someone that may or may not have violated it. That and recoverability of damages is darn near nothing! It would get tied up in deposition after deposition to someday get in front of a jury who'd say "shut up and get out".
Sorry for your blue balls, was just trying to help a brother out. Stat Monitor Repairman said:
If you let them try and fix it, it will cost you money when you try and sell the car. Better tack on several thousand for diminished value. They will balk at it for sure but you'll regret it a few yrs from now.
