Hail Damage

When I bought my Tacoma last week, it had a small blemish (barely noticeable) on the tail gate which had apparantly been touched up. The truck also had 150 miles but the salesman said it was due to it being driven to Maryland from a far away dealer as a trade for an in stock Tacoma. He was adament that it was not a loaner.

I inspected the vehicle careully and the salesman said that if I found any further damage, I could bring the truck back for repair. This struck me as me as odd but I attributed it to good customer service-maybe he knew something I didn't?

Today, I washed it and polished it with Liquid Glass. I found two very small dings on the hood and several minor blemishes on the clearcoat in other areas-I'm unsure if the blemishes are oxidation or damage to the clear coat.

I called the salesman about the dings and he scheduled me to see the "Dent Works" rep next Monday-their dime obviously. I asked him if it had been in a hail storm and he said that a few months ago hail fell in the area but he did not work there then.

Is this kind of thing common, this minor type of damage. Funny thing is that when he said I could bring the vehicle back, my gut told me that I would find damage. Am I reading too much into this?

 

I dont think so... You paid full price for a truck they had an insurance claim on already. They hoped you wouldnt notice, but not that you did they have to spend some of that money they got from insurance to repair it. Not nearly what they got, or what you SHOULD have saved, but some.

Thats my take of it! I would find out if their was a claim agianst it, and then go ape-shit if their was.

 

Any idea how I would find out if it had a claim?

 

I wouldn't necessarily read anything into the salesmans comments....

I bought my truck new 1.5 years ago and they had to drive it from Maryland - (150 miles) it was the only one in the area. It had a front license plate on it and I forced them to fix the bumper (holes they drilled) since PA doesn't require a front license plate. I also spotted 2 scratches on the doors - all of it was fixed. I also asked them to re-allign the access cab doors & fix my windshield washer squirter (it wasn't working). And the sales guy said the same thing..."If there's anything else wrong, let us know"

Oh yeah, and we forced them to re-write a factory paint warrantee on the front bumper repair work & paint (where they repainted) to last 60k miles. All of which was taken care of.

I wouldn't assume there's an insurance claim on it. Even if there was...you're never gonna get any information from the dealer about it and why waste your time fighting them trying to find out? And even so, what's that gonna get you? Nothing...other than piss off the dealer.

Spend your time looking over the truck and insisting they fix whatever you see wrong. Get all the dings fixed and make sure they're fixed to your expectations. While the dealership is happy with your purchase - get them to MAKE IT RIGHT.

 

Carfax may have an insurance claim on it...

I know my truck had some pretty bad hail about 3 months ago. $3K later you couldn't tell besides the minor scuffs they left on it.

My thought is that they most definitely repaired hail damage and missed some. These cars have very thin sheet metal and dent easily.
Here's what my damage looked like.

Had about 30-40 of those little boogers everywhere...

It was like watching someone you care very much about get beat up and not be able to help... depressing

 

Dude that sucks. Soo sorry it happened. What's your plan? Plastic surgery? or are you going to let it be and rough it up now at the trails?

 

I was lucky and able to claim the damage under my comprehensive car insurance. $400 later my car looks brand new (almost).

All in all it was around $3000 worth of damages that the repair shop estimated. Also gota new windshield out of the mess.

 

I feel so lucky I didn't get any damage when my truck saw hail in New Mexico. I would be so mad.

 

There have been a few dealers in my area that have tried to get away with the crap I described. They take the insurance money, never invest it back in the vehicles, and still sell for full price, only to hope that the new buyer doesnt notice. I had one ding I noticed on my truck, center scoop, that I didnt see till the day after I bought it. They claimed I put it there because it was a showroom truck, never saw the road till I bought it. So the dent is still there!! Everyone is trying to get away with whatever they can nowadays, we all have to keep our eye opened to keep from getting potentially screwed. No reason to bend over and take it when all you have to do is ask a few questions.. Get the delivery date, and look back at weather. since that day... Any hail storms? And call any local insurance company to find out if there were ANY claims from those storms.. If yes, its pretty likely that the dealer filed some as well.

 

Thanks all. I've found one more ding (for a total of three so far) -all very minor, nothing like the ones above. I'm cocerned about the clear coat as it appears damaged in several areas. Perhaps from the previous dent repair? I don't no about clear coat spot repair so it seems to me I will have to fight for them to respray the hood and the top, which is whre the clear coat has additional damage.

 

Dude - that sucks...

 

Working for a dealership, I run across things like this all the time. Do what everyone said, talk to your sales guy and let him know the issues your having. And that they need to be fixed ASAP. After 30 days of purchase, it's hard to convince someone that you didn't put the dent/scratches in the truck. Remain cool, no one likes a asshole, unless things aren't going as planned. Then if you haven't mailed back the customer survey, use it against them. Tell your sales guy you'll slam them on the survey and kill there CSI (customer service index). This is what the dealership is graded on in the eyes of Toyota corp.
Use this as a last chance resolution. If nothing works out and you slam them, you've just burnt that bridge with that dealer.
Hope all works out, a new purchase is supposed to be fun and exciting.