Dealership crashed my Truck

One car hitting another… thats a wreck my friend

 

What if...

The dealership fixes the truck, you get it back and then 6 months later you bring it in for a trade. Would the same dealership run the Carfax and have the balls to low-ball you for an accident?

Hmm... just saying. I don't really have an answer but know dealership's look for any way to "steal" your trade! It's business.

 

this.

Even if not on carmax…you take it to another dealer or try to sell it privately and the person is knowledgeable in collision repair and they catch the repairs. If not fixed perfect and they see nibs in paint, tape lines, or waves in body work they will know it has been repaired.

 

Man, how did we get to the point where minor "fender bender" dents means the end of the fucking world! I recently was transporting my mountain bike in the bed and had the tailgate down. I was sitting parked in a parking lot and a lady was not paying enough attention to her surroundings and gently backed into my deployed tailgate, putting a baseball size dent in the top of the tailgate. I got her insurance info, no police were called, and I did not start screaming "diminished value, diminished value!".

Her insurance company cut me a check and my Toyota dealer body shop put a new tailgate on my truck. Truck looks like new again and I could care less if that little dent shows up as some report as an accident. Not that I plan on selling this truck anytime soon, but when I do and someone complains about this super minor body work, I will tell them they are free to look elsewhere for a used truck.

 

Fortunately, the OP appears to be one of the calm and collected ones just looking for advice. It's the doom and gloom crowd that fluffed up the post by 10 pages. People stress too much about trivial things. To me it's simple: make them fix it, and make them compensate for the time and aggravation they caused by either cash or parts (like $1000 check or a $2000 credit at the parts desk). If they don't want to play ball with that, start sending emails and making phone calls. No point in getting mad, just get even.

 

The OP has a lot of leverage to ensure they receive full compensation. A dealer's nightmare is a Google or Yelp review which includes pics of a car wreck that occurs when all you need is an oil change. I suspect it won't come to that.

 

That is not a point of disagreement, but to automatically call your insurance company as if they are your big brother, is horrible advice. You pay for insurance and it should be treated as such. If there were any indication that the dealership where not going to take care of this, then going through your own insurance as a last resort is exactly what you are paying for. Your insurance company will always take your call and claim to be on your side, but what happens is that becomes a mark against you every time you call. The end result is you become a higher risk and can expect to pay higher rates. I know almost all state have laws that prevent insurance companies from raising rates for various reason, but it really doesn't matter. The way they get around it is not by raising your rates, but not giving you discounts. You will still pay more.

 

This is where I'm at- I honestly wouldn't care at all had it been in a grocery store parking lot or something similar but the fact that it happened at the dealership where it's literally their job to move cars around is really frustrating. Not to mention the fact that they estimate the repair will take 2 weeks while I'm stuck with a crummy rental (not a truck). I'm not looking for some massive payout and I don't feel like it's unreasonable to ask for some parts credit or something similar for them to make this right. It's a huge hassle and if they end up with my truck for 2 weeks or potentially longer then I feel like they're on the hook for a massive screw up on their end. At this point I'm a bit grateful I don't NEED the truck for my job in the next couple weeks but that very well may change and at that point I might push a little harder for compensation.

 

Totally understandable. I was thinking about this later after I posted, and two things popped up to me: 1) Remember that prices at the parts counter include dealer mark-up, so ask for double in parts what you would ask for in cash, and 2) compensation should reflect time, like $1,000 a week (rounded up or daily prorated) that they have the truck or whatever you feel is fair. Lastly, when the truck is ready, take a creeper and get under it to check their work. Even if it looks smooth on the surface you might find that it's got 30lbs of bondo, and if so it's time to start making some phone calls.

 

This may have been said already but but can guarantee if your insurance gets involved a CarFax will show up…..most likely the dealer is going to do this off the books…..

 

Different situation I believe we have here.

 

@Buck Henry is right. Dang you guys are greedy as hell. A new truck? $1000/week in "compensation"? $2500 credit at the parts counter? It's a dent FFS.

I don't work in the car dealership biz but if I did and any of you came at me with those demands I would laugh in your face, tell you that I owe you only to return your truck to "pre-loss condition", and then to GTFO with your ludicrous demands.

Certain states limit or prohibit Diminished Value claims. Demands for DV to me would result in a reply of "call your insurance company and ask them, if they pay you then I'll talk to them about reimbursement."

Maybe they will offer, maybe they won't, but temper your expectations and don't be an angry dick. You can politely ASK but all of the peeps here that advocate bringing out the torches and pitchforks are leading OP in the wrong direction.

 

Yes, I agree. But the point I was trying to make was I treated this for what it was, a minor dent and did not go all Karen on anybody. We got folks here telling the OP to pursue diminished value claim, demand a new truck (that one cracked me up), or insist on a years supply of Rice-A-Roni, etc. Let them fix it and then move on! It's just a fucking small dent!

 

Text-based conversations do not convey tone well. I don't get angry, and I certainly wouldn't get angry in this situation. I will get even, though. If it was me in this situation, either they will repair the damage and compensate for the aggravation their employee caused, or I'll do what I can to hurt their business to a similar degree by making a few phone calls, emails, and negative reviews with photos. I don't get mad. I calmly get even.

I totally agree that bring torches and pitchforks will do nothing to resolve the situation though.

 

Guy doing an alignment at dealership on my brand new 2020 4Runner OR premium with 400 miles on it, backed into a sign an scratched the hatch. They repainted it and it was perfect. Didn’t show up on Carfax etc….It’s inconvenient and sucks but it will likely turn out just fine. Convey to the body shop your concerns about tape lines and Carfax and it’ll be good.

 

Its totaled, Ill give you $600 for the rims.


Have talk with the main guy and see if they can repair it without reporting it. That or ask for a check for the diminished value.

 

No, don't call your insurance company. That is a good way to have the accident reported so that it shows up in a CLUE or carfax report. I would give the dealership a chance to make it right. If the repairs are to your satisfaction and they don't report the damage, you don't have to worry about diminished value.

 

Hahahah I can talk all day about entitled asshats and their comical "demands" but that won't add anything to this thread.

 

Adds about as much as you already did.