HELP! Need Suggestions Please!!!
 

I got the call from my dealer that my car arrived yesterday, however, he said that as they were unloading my car from the trailer and parked it, the front bumper scraped against the cement block in the parking spot. He said that there are scratches on the bottom of the front bumper, but they are very small and you can't really even notice them.

So since they want the car to look perfect for me they are going to get it fixed before I can pick it up. The shop they are taking it to get fixed is at a separate location, meaning somebody (besides me) will be driving my car. (I live hours 2.5 hours away from the dealer I'm buying from.)

Does anybody have any suggestions what I should do in this situation? I feel like Im buying this brand new car and before I can even SEE it, the value has depreciated because of somebody else's carelessness. Has anyone else experienced a situation with this at their dealer?

I will give them props for being super honest and up-front about it.

My suggestion is; ask them to take some pictures of the damage and e-mail them, then you can decide for yourself if it's a worth it.
Honestly; if I were in your shoe, I would not take it (depending how long the wait is for the next available batch)... Just because it's suppose to be a brand new car.

That being said, the dealer is definitely worth going back for future services IMHO; I've heard scary stories where dealers would just repair their own damage without the new customers knowing. :iono:

I'd say take it...just make sure you inspect the repair closely before accepting it. Cars depreciate no matter what and a little scratch is just a fixable part of car ownership. I could find some small flaw on any new car if I looked closely enough.

Ill have to give them a call in the morning. I appreciate them being honest but at the same time I wonder how much they're down playing the situation. Its not like i can just drive on over there tonight to see it myself. I would ask for them to just order another but we all know that will take forever to come in!! I will probably do some negotiating to get them to lower the price of the car...or at least get something out of them.

Ask to see pictures, as has been suggested already. I think they're allowed by law to be able to offer a damaged car as "new" up until a certain dollar amt. of repairs needed. That sucks, man. Are they going to repaint the whole bumper? I think if I were in your shoes, as long as the dealer was up-front about everything and I was allowed to inspect the car thoroughly before taking delivery, I would probably still take the car. As long as they have it repaired properly you'll never know it was there. They could have just fixed it and not told you... What color is the car?

He said they will be touching up the paint, but didnt mention if the whole bumper was being painted. I just called and left a voicemail for them to send me pictures in the morning. Supposedly the scratches are on the bottom of the bumper and aren't even noticeable. I just imagine it as when you pull up too close at gas station or something and hear that disgusting scraping sound (I heard it several times in my previous car). The car color is SWP :(

See if you can get a discount and keep the barely noticeable scratches.

It's very true. If a new car is damaged on the lot, then they just take it to the auto-body repair place. If they have one on site, no one will ever know if it ever got damaged.

To be honest, it's up to you and it's your responsibility to go check out the car to see what the actual damage is and if you are willing to have it repaired for you to take the car. In my experience from working at many car dealerships, you cannot really use that as leveraging power. The dealership already has the car, they're selling it to you, and then now they have to pay for it to get repaired AND give you a discount? I think they'd rather sell that one to some unsuspecting customer and then sell you the next one that rolls off the truck.

Can they get an estimate of the repair cost and then write you a check for that amount (or subtract that amount from the purchase amount) and let you get it repaired on your own?

Seems like a reasonable request? I'll ask and see what I can get.

This is how I see it too...I feel like it would be too much to ask for a discounted price right after they paid for the damage. Hopefully I will be receiving pictures first thing in the morning and can decide whether I want them to fix it or not

Similar situation, w/ positive outcome... Hope this helps
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16000

Thanks Mango! I'm hoping to get a positive outcome from my situation as well. I'll see how the repairs looks and decide from there...and hopefully somewhere along the line get some kind of perks as you did.

You do know that dealer will test drive that car right? They gotta test drive to make sure all is working properly. I'm guessing, that person prob be the head mech at the dealer.

If it's small and it's on very bottom, not sure it's worth it. If it is decently big then ask them if you can drop it off by yourself. You feel more comfortable doing so