RUDE AWAKENING- Dealership sold me wrecked truck with clean title?

Sucks to hear.

Unfortunately I can just about guarantee one of the papers you signed states all vehicles are sold as is. And if it didn't show up on the carfax until after you purchased it.. it'll be pretty easy for the dealership to play dumb and say they had no idea.

 

Minor body damage does not equal a bent frame I think you need to have it looked at by a frame shop before you go to the dealer and see what they have to say.

 

Diminished value, you have been screwed, even if the second shop sez it is okay, you have to deal with the diminished value now that the accident shows on CarFax, this will happen when you go to sell it....also, if the bank/finance company finds out about it, they may demand a chunk payment to bring the outstanding loan amount down even further...

Diminished value, keep that in mind when talking to the dealer, you actually have a real good case, you are the one that stands to lose in this situation...time for the dealer to make it right....

 

I could see the dealer staying, "Who's to say the bent frame is from that past accident and not something in the year you've owned it?"

One can't positively prove when the frame bent. The evidence might lend toward the accident but that's not absolute proof.

Regardless this whole scenario sucks to be in.

 

Too late now but why would you pay $30k plus for a used 2012? I ran in the same thing when I bought my 2009. $1350 more for a 2009 TRD OR versus a SR5 with almost 30k on it. Dealer made the choice easy by over pricing the 2008.

 

Yes, whatever happened to computerized frame straightening? Can't it be done on these frail Taco frames assuming it isn't rusted away?

 

subbed!

 

Could be a mistake. Why go in screaming diminished value on the very truck you may need to negotiate a trade in for?

I believe my suggested course of action is the correct one. Post #20.

 

Yep can't tell you how many times I've seen various issues with used vehicles on the lot and I'm thinking "what happened to their multi-point inspection?" One example is a first gen I was looking at, the drivers side door wouldn't open from the outside. You had to reach into the passenger side to open it. I'm like seriously? Why is this on the lot labeled as "ready to go" if you can't even get into the darn thing?

You STILL need to check vehicles over even if they are brand new. I've seen new vehicles have their issues and even walking around our local Toyota lot I've seen a few brand new vehicles with dents (I assume from being shipped and bouncing and hitting things) that I'm sure they wouldn't tell you about unless you really looked the new vehicle over.

And another example, my mom had bought a brand new Audi TT in 2013. Few months down the road this girl forgot to put her car in park and it rolled across the parking lot and hit the TT. It was a bit of a pain since it's an all aluminum body and they had to fly out a specialized repair guy. Long story short the guy called us asking if it was ever wrecked before this. Obviously no, we bought it brand new. He saw that some stuff didn't match up like places that were supposed to be rivoted has screws in it. His theory had something to do with a forklift? I dunno.

Of course the Audi dealer was super pissed because they had it shipped into their dealership from another for us and they could get into huge trouble for selling us a car that was wrecked and labeled as new. Audi decided just to write it off and gave us a 2014 for in exchange.

 

Carfax is a joke. Don't ever rely on it alone. It is very easy to check for VIN stickers on a Toyota, they have been doing them since the early 90's. Most police agencies (Seattle PD especially) don't report accidents or damage to anybody. They have more important things to do than to inform a PRIVATE COMPANY such as Carfax about what just happened to a vehicle in it's jurisdiction.

Only when an insurance company has a car in a shop for repairs, then they MIGHT report that to state DMV. And to OP, I'm driving and have driven much worse damaged cars than your truck. The guy who told you that you will mess up your truck in a pot hole is a clown.

You got a raw deal there but that's how dealers go and now you know that having a "clean title" doesn't mean anything. There's alot of people out there that have it alot worse than you so just deal with it.

 

OP update:

Stopped by 3 body shops this morning to have them put the truck on a lift. All said visually the truck looked fine. all pretty much said that guy was full of it about the whole pothole thing. 1 guy said your not going to hurt a Toyota frame by hitting a pot hole, which made me feel better. All confirmed that the door and possibly the whole uni-something had been replaced/repaired. Only 1 had an opening this Wednesday to actually put it on the lift and measure it. After all that running around i couldn't take it so i went to the dealership.

asked for the manager, (thx for the advice, i would have dragged the ol fuker who sold it to me out of his office lol). i told him what was up in a quiet and respectful manner. he took me to his office and pulled the record of what they had done to the truck after they purchased it. The same record they showed me when i bought it. Listed was standard things, batteries, brakes, etc. no door repair/ replacement/ paint fender etc etc. He stood behind his certified 160 point quality inspection. Assured me that I wouldn't have been sold a truck with a bent frame that he had great mechanics. He doubted the reliability of the mechanic that told me the pothole info, which i do to, and asked me not to jump to conclusions. Fair enough. He made it clear that the truck didn't leave this lot with frame damage.

He scheduled my truck to be put on the rack first thing in the morning. I asked him for a print out of everything that had to do with the purchase of the vehicle and i'll be picking that up in the morning. (It was all stolen out of my truck.) So ffs forget i said i paid $30k + for the truck. I don't even know what i paid for it. My wife keeps up with that. The point was it's an expensive purchase.

There's 2 main issues here. The Frame and the fact they sold me a truck that has been in a wreck for the price of one that has not.

1. The frame could be bent a bit. This almost certainly has to be caused by an accident, but will be impossible to prove. I don't even really give a damn. I just don't want my truck to be junk in a year or two. I don't think it's bad or it would be more apparent. Based on a previous poster an off road shop can do things to fix this if the dealership can't.

2. Sold me a truck that was supposed to be accident free. I only brought this up once saying that the carfax was clean when purchased. It's just kind of redundant when the dealership can say they're top mechanics know their shit and then deny that they didn't know it had been in accident.

At this point, i'll take it tomorrow. See what they say. I may or may not take it to the other place Wednesday. I don't want to drag this out if the truck's fine obviously. The obvious undeniable fact is they sold me a wrecked truck. Sure they could probably tell me to deal with it, but you never know. As many of you have said carfax is only a guide and I should of had it inspected. I guess i just wonder where the customer service went to in the whole process. I am part owner of a business and if anything is remotely wrong I redo my services no questions asked. Guess that's why I'm broke and they're not. I could understand a small lot, but the owner of the dealership owns the Vikings. I mean they know I've got to be an unhappy customer receiving an unknowingly wrecked truck with diminished value, right?

So when they put it on the rack and tell me it's fine or bent a small fraction but they can fix it i'll say great and deal with it.

 

I feel ya on customer service its dead.. big companies don't give a damn about loosing a few customers a week or a day they know others will still come. its sad but its the truth

 

Good job OP.

Stay Pleasant. Stay Persistent.

 

You're likely on the right path.

It could have a tweaked control arm and be unable to align properly, and that could easily happen on a strut suspension in a side swipe accident, simply by the tire/wheel being hit.

Stay after the dealer, politely, and see if you don't come to a resolution.

As far as all the love for any 'reporting' software, there was an old phrase called GIGO. Garbage In Garbage Out. Applies here. CarFax and others may be worth looking at, but don't assume they are accurate.

 

Similar thing happened to me on my tacoma, I bought it used from apple in York pa, was shown a "autocheck" vehicle history report that was clean. I traded it in a few years later and was offered a low price for trade, I asked why and was shown the carfax had a severe front impact . Probably explains why during the few years I had it I couldn't get a decent alignment.
In short, fuck apple of York pa.

 

regardless of the outcome, you still face the 'diminished value' brought on by the 'after the purchase' CarFax updateness....I am sure the truck is fine, but if/when you go to trade for another vehicle, they will bring up the CarFax report and offer you less than stellar value...

Find out who did the repairs, if it was the dealer you bought if from....just sayin'....

 

Do dealers really pull car fax before taking a trade? I've traded in quite a few vehicles that would of shown a slew of crap on car fax reports for accidents, major repairs, ect. Never had a dealer say anything about it. Or offer me more or less on a trade. I usually look at 3 or 4 dealers before I make a decision on where to buy.

 

I traded my 2005 Camry when I got my Taco. It has make hail repairs. Later had accident repairs after someone backed into it. Both repairs were done by the dealer I traded it to. They never mentioned it when negotiating the trade.

They did low ball the crap out of me though and I had to stand my ground a bit.

 

Good job OP. It must have been a good repair to get past the dealer. I know they don't eyeball every inch but a bad trade-in ends up in the back lot to auction. They don't want issues like yours popping up after the deal. Maybe you can angle in some after market parts so it can be adjusted to spec.