Mike04Z06

And I'm rather pissed off about it!

Today I was going through my glovebox and through all the papers that were given to me in a giant envelope when I bought the car. A lot of them the salesman/finance guy went over with me when I was purchasing it, but I came across a 3 sheet stapled form that said "Damage Repaired".

I start reading the sheet and it basically says "Scratches up and down drivers side door and drivers side rear quarterpanel, refinished, labor charge $400". So I step out and get low so I'm eye level with the side of the car and sure enough theres a ton of scratches that are about 2" long going up and down the car, from the middle of the door all the way back to halfway through the back quarterpanel. At eye level they are extremely noticeable and when I touch them with my finger I can feel that they are there and pretty deep...definitely cut down into the clear coat quite a bit.

They're not noticeable from a normal height/angle because of the silver paint color, but if the car was, say black, red, or blue, the scratches would be VERY noticeable. I'm extremely pissed that no one at the dealer even *mentioned* this to me before I purchased the car, but I'm not sure theres anything I can even do about it. I could bitch to the dealer but what are they really gonna do? offer to stand a buffer on it for 10 minutes until it grinds down even more clearcoat?

Should I even mention this to the dealer or try to get it resolved somehow, or should I just put 5 coats of Z5 on it and hope that they fill in some? I'm at least somewhat elated that they're not visible from normal angles (other than a couple real deep ones right by the door handle, where you can tell someone scratched the car, but even those are only visible from within 36" or so).

sakz06

Take it back and get them to replace the car!!!, If they sell you a new car and don't disclose that there was damage that they fixed, then their in the wrong!!!!

Good Luck, they sound shaddy!

Mike04Z06

The problem is I've had the car for a month + 1000 miles now, I know theres no way they will replace the car, especially since they probably don't even have another Z06 anyway.

I'm thinking my only options are to either have them replace the door, replace the quarterpanel, or rebuff everything. Not sure I like any of those 3 options, especially if the dealer is doing the work.

Crushinator

First off, be as nice to them as possible. Let them know you will be a repeat customer when it's time for a new Vette. Tell them everything about the purchase has been great up to this point. But let them know you are not happy about not being informed of this and you'd really like them to take care of it however possible. If you call with an attitude, that'll put them on the defense right away. Good luck!

ZO6R1

I feel your pain. Makes you wonder how dealerships expect us to take our cars back to them for service. You need to bring this up to the guy at the top of the ladder in the dealership. Record on paper what he tells you(He will prob. tell you to bring it in). Be calm and tell him what you want to fix the problem, if you are not happy with the responce, see a attorney. Sorry to hear about your hassel.

ZO6Lee

First off Return the Car, Then call the attorney General and file a complaint, then contact your attorney, then your local News Channel, then sue the crap out of them

RedHot

I can't believe that you found a dealer that wasn't completely honest with you. What are the odds?

gr8corvette

I hate to say this, but you were given the papers, you did not read them. I agree that they should have pointed it out to you, but you should also have read everything they gave you.
My wife always drives me nuts: she wants to sign without reading and I always read every scrap of paper.
That being said, something did not make sense in your write up. You said the paper stated there was a $400 dollar charge for fixing the scratchs, yet they are still there. I agree with the previous post that said you should be calm and polite when you first call. Part of your solution should be the scratches were not fixed and you want to take the car to a Corvette specialist of your choice. They have already appraised the damage at $400. That should be the start of your bargaining, plus the time, etc that the repairs will cost you. Perhaps $400 and an extended warrenty or 5 oil changes????

lilesv

it's a matter of providing them incentive to fix the problem. if you go in p.o.'d, they'll have your $50+k and just chalk it up -- and you'll have a fight on your hands. but the possibility of another $50+k next year justifies their efforts to make sure you're happy...

canesfins

WHich dealership did this to you. Dealerships in SOuth Florida are a bunch of dishonest crooks. A friend of mine is having her battles with a local dealership where we both bought out Z06s.

Mike04Z06

I did not sign any of these papers. I was never shown these papers. They were anonymously shoved into an envelope with all the other papers without my knowing it. This is the very first time I've even seen these papers at all. You can't tell me it's my fault for not reading something that I wasn't given directly. How was I supposed to even know it was in there? Basically the guy pulled out some papers, went over them with me, shoved them in an envelope, pulled out some more papers, went over them with me, shoved them in an envelope, etc. But these were put in the envelope without me knowing at all. How am I wrong to assume that I've already read everything in the envelope when I watched the process with my own eyes?

As far as them being still there, yes, they are, but you can tell they've been buffed a lot. You can only see them up close and personal from a certain angle. I'm guessing the charge was for buffing and polishing the surface or something of the sort. I'm really not sure they're bad enough to go through all the hassle of everything and the stress, etc....but I think I will just bring it up with the General Manager or Sales Manager when I take my car in for it's first service.

TorqueWinsRaces

I can tell you from experience that they will do nothing and you have no legal recourse- my experience was in Virginia, your state may have better consumer protection laws, so check anyway. I had the same thing happen to me with a Nissan truck that I purchased. The Virginia AG office told me that I should have inquired about damage prior to buying the car. I will never buy another Nissan as long as I live.

I hate car dealers, they are Bottom-Feeding-Scum-Suckers just like lawyers.

Good Luck!!!

TWR

rbartick

This situation sucks, but you have had the car for a while and you never went over the paperwork. This is a tough call.

jpkemp

I would walk into the dealership and ask the manager and salesman to step outside to see the car. Explain to them that this paper was included but never reviewed when the car was purchased. If you are looking for the scratches to be fixed, they should offer to just repaint the area. If they give you a problem here, obviously other dialogue needs to be had with possibly the owner of the dealership/Chevrolet.

I had this happen to me with 2003 Tahoe... it was a concealed indent in the left passenger door. Being that it was White paint, I saw it in bright sunlight two weeks later. Brought to the dealer and they fixed with the process explained above.

Its a brand new Z06 - its worth the hassle, I think

Dr.Ron

I agree that you should have checked all of your paperwork right there or as soon as you went home. That's what I do. How did you JUST realize the scratches???? You should always do a walk around before you drive off the lot to avoid such hassles! I ALWAYS do.They should do the right thing & fix it, but being it's been so long now, what proof is there that these scratches didn't occur while the car was in YOUR possession??? Good luck!

jmimac351

Mike, if you hadn't found the papers, would you have noticed the scratches? That may be beside the point but just remember right now it's something others don't see. But it would bug me too...

Instead of getting yourself all worked up, just go into the dealer and see your salesman. Take the paper and show him/her. Obviously if a repair was attempted it wasn't done well. It is not uncommon for dealers to wet sand scratches out of new cars. Be reasonable and BE NICE.

Another option... I know that Ford sends out surveys to customers to rate the dealer on the buying experience. Whenever I have bought a car they are REAL touchy about how you fill out that survey. If Chevy is the same way and you haven't completed the survey...... if they don't appear workable mention that you will be sure to reflect your experience on the survey. It may not seem like much, but I had a small issue with a Lightning I purchased and listing the problem there got me a call from the Service Manager asking me what they needed to do to fix the problem. Problem solved.

Jim

Mike04Z06

Like I've already said 3 times or so, the scratches are *only* visible from *very* close, and only at the *exact* angle. The only other way to notice them is to feel them with your fingernail.

The sheet of paper is proof that they didn't happen in my possession. It details exactly where the scratches are, how long they are, and which direction they are.

Mike04Z06

I think thats mostly what I'm going to do..plus I just received my survey in the mail a few days ago, so that would be a good situation.

hiyield

Hey Mike-I'm the one that Canes referred to prior. I received my Z06 covered with waterspots. I didn't realize that these were the type that were baked on. I thought that they could be removed. After a weekend of trying to get them off-I called the sales guy to complain. He said that he would try to get it off. It seems that their prep guy informed them in advance that the spots were going to be a problem. Rather than informing me of this they did the deal anyways. They took the car back and tried to use wheel acid to clean the windows. They then proceeded to scratch the windshied, scratch the sideview mirror paint, scratch the weather stripping above the windshield.Repainted the mirror with some contract guy that got debris inside the paint. This while my car was out of my hands for 4 days of the week that I had it.
So while my situation is not exactly the same, first;
Do NOT underestimate the power of the survey. The dealership apparently recieves either bonuses or inventory alottment, I believe, based on this. I said that I would hold off responding until this was fixed and the sales guy asked me not to bail on him.He seemed VERY concerned.
Second; I think that in Florida there are laws against this type of misrepresentation that do favor the consumer and you should check with the state. I threatened to sue them and would have.
Third: I finally got fed up with their behavior and told them that I wanted my service guy at another branch of this dealership to deal with this-and the sales guy relented because I think he realized that I would end up suing.
A large dealership will not want this type of incident reported to Chevy. I would further contact Chevy Consumer Support and relay this situation and mention "fraud" "purchased in good faith" and "misrepresentation'. I will be writing a letter to the owner of the dealership documenting what occurred and if no response then forwarding to Chevy.
Hope this helps!

TheDVS1

[QUOTE=Mike04Z06]Like I've already said 3 times or so, the scratches are *only* visible from *very* close, and only at the *exact* angle. The only other way to notice them is to feel them with your fingernail.
QUOTE]

Mike, I "feel your pain". When I looked at my Z in the showroom there were some minor swirls and scratches in the finish on the trunk. I told them about it, and they said they'd "clay the car". Well, when they clayed it (which I later learned does NOTHING to remove scratches) they added some real nice long scratches to the hood and top! These scratches were really only visible at certain angles in my garage under fluorescent light, but nonetheless they were there and I was pi$$ed off!

Rather than go back and beef, I contacted the local detail shop by me (West Coast Motoring Accessories), and the guy told me to bring the car on in to see what would work on it. We discovered that 3M Finesse-It, after about 4 applications, managed to remove 95% of the scratches. It was a long tedious process to do the hood, top and trunk, but now I have truly beautiful paint, especially after I applied some P21S as the final coat. The scratches are gone, and I didn't harm the clearcoat!

I guess the moral of the story is, with a little elbow grease on your part, you might be able to further diminish the scratches to the point of satisfaction without letting the dealer mangle it further. Just a thought, and good luck!