I hate dealers

audiboy

Hail the power of Quattro
Cliff notes at the bottom

Yes, I know we have plenty of these threads, but a dealer really got under my skin today. A co-worker who is also a pretty good friend asked me to take him to the dealership today to pick up his new SUV. He said he wanted me to look at it and see if I saw anything wrong with the paint. I told him that I didnt have a problem with it at all.

When we got there the dealer was very friendly and seemed really excited about the sale. He said that the car had just got done getting "detailed" and was ready to go. While the dealer was showing my friend about all of the options, I gave it a thorough walk around and was pretty mad by the time I was done. There was a good amount of etching from water spots and bird poo. Swirls were everywhere and some were relatively deep. When I got to the hood, I found a nice 3-4 inch long scratch that had gone down to the metal. I also found a nice patch of touch up paint on the drivers side door.

As soon as the dealer got done talking to my friend, I told him what I found. He was pretty angry about the situation. I asked the dealer what they could do to fix it. He said that they could touch it up, but thats about it. I told him that their body shop could probably make it look almost like new if they put a little work into it. The next thing he said shocked me. He said "Well, it is a black car and black paint is really hard to care for". I agreed that black was hard to take care of, but asked why a 2005 model has more than one large scratch on it. Being at the lot the whole time shouldn't induce that much damage. I asked the dealer if they were willing to fix it to my friends liking. He told me that since I was not the one to buy the vehicle, that it wasn't my problem. I told him that I was only there in my friends best interest. He started to ignore me a bit and told my friend that they could touch it up today, and if he wasn't satisfied, they would look at it the next day.

There was a lot more said in between. Overall my friend was happy that I was there and brought all of it up. I told him that if it isn't fixed to his liking tomorrow he could bring it to my house and I would try to fix what I could.

Sorry about the rant, but I thought you guys would understand.


Cliff notes- My friend bought a new SUV today and the paint had numerous scratches, swirls, and etching. The dealer acted like it wasn't his problem. After some negotiations, he said they would try to fix it.
 
audiboy said:
He said "Well, it is a black car and black paint is really hard to care for".

:nono :rolleyes:

You just have to tell your friend if what he's paying is worth it for a car that comes with scratches and waterspots. Swirls are almost a given nowadays for "dealer-detailed" vehicles but all the rest is just unacceptable.
It's unfortunate your friend didn't take your advice sooner and made the dealer agree to supply a car with fault-free paint or no sale.
 
Uncontrollable circumstances prevented him from getting another vehicle that he wanted. Plus, he got 7K off the sticker. That's still no excuse for the scratches though. I think I might have been more mad than he was.
 
Having seen your work your friend was smart in asking you along. Imagine what could have been the outcome had you not pointed out what an inexperienced eye might not have noticed.

I learned the hard way when I purchased my truck. A little over a year later my wife bought a car from a dealer that had yet to be detailed by the dealership. When I told them to do absolutely nothing to the vehicle the salesman said that the dealership's porter's would be happy to comply.
 
My buddy said that he wouldn't have noticed the scratches until he washed it. He was so excited about a new car and all of the options it came with, that the condition of the vehicle wasnt even in the back of his mind. I guess they called him a couple times last night to let him know that everything would be fixed to his satisfaction. They even told him to let me know that everything will be taken care of and not to bad mouth the dealership, because they really do care about customer satisfaction. I think they care about the survey that he is going to take more than anything.
 
audiboy said:
I think they care about the survey that he is going to take more than anything.

I think you really hit the nail on the head (with the end of a screwdriver I might add.....;) it's a joke from an earlier post...) with that statement. That survey is a huge deal for the dealership, at least that's the way I understand it.
 
He decided to use that survey as a bit of leverage. Personally, I would have told them to find me a different one without 8 months of damage to the paint.
 
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