LONG story short. Got a $31,000 sticker 2011 Chevy Traverse for $20,100 with USAA, GM Card savings, rebate and loyalty. Killer deal. $31,000 down to $26,900 and then all the incentives, so they sold it to me for $4100 under sticker. I had to fly from Ohio to Virginia to close the deal. Plane ticket was $127 with taxes. Car was $1800 less than buying it in Ohio with USAA. Well worth the trip...or so I thought!
I inspected the car upon arrival for 20 minutes and took it for a drive. Perfect. Nothing at all wrong with it. We went inside to finalize the papers. We go outside and he calls a guy to take it to fill up the tank. The guy brings the car back with a full tank and comes inside to get us. We walk outside and "Oh s*#t", a huge scratch in it. This dealership is going through a huge remodel outside and they placed a few metal signs with banners (about 6 ft tall) on the sidewalk next to where my new car was parked. It was windy and wouldn't you know it, one of the signs fell over and scratched the new car I just signed for! I about puked and my salesman, who was fantastic, was sick to his stomach. He immediately went inside and got the general manager who was also stunned. He then phoned the service manager to come take a look. This whole time I'm thinking, great, the specific car I wanted (stripped Traverse for cheap, and the color I wanted) is now effed up. I'm 400 miles from home without a way back if I walk and the plane ride will cost me $500. They told me they would understand if I wanted my money back, or if I wanted to drive it home and take it to a local Chevy dealer that would fix it and bill the dealership. They would put it in writing. Yeah, great. A new car that already needed work done to it. Now, I will admit I know every new car I've driven gets door marks, grocery cart dents, you name it, before you know it. My wife's 4 year old Pontiac G6 has more scuffs on it than I can count, none of which she did. This car is for my wife and our two young children and I'm sure in a few years it's going to show some wear.
Then, I had an idea. My father's friend was a paint/repair man at General Motors for 40 years and has a shop at his house where he does work for people he knows. I told the managers I wanted to make a phone call, walked away and phoned my Dad (who also worked for GM in repairs, but mechanical). He said the rear fender would likely need to be totally repainted or his buddy could blend it in near the top. The Traverse's rear fenders aren't very large but they go around the window and all the way up to the front; you'll see in a pic I'll attach. If he was blending it, it shouldn't be more than $150 - $200 to do everything with GM paint and clear. I also noticed an extremely small scratch on the window that you can't even feel with your fingertip that's about 1 inch long. No one noticed it but me (yeah, go figures!). I told them they would have to replace that as well. No problem. The service manager said he would go inside and see what it would likely cost to fix. Note, this was before I made my phone call so he had no idea I was thinking of having a friend fix it. He came back with a figure of $500 to replace the rear window, with labor, and $360 to fix the scratch. $860, way less than what it will likely cost to get it fixed. I'm not going to touch the window. You can't even notice it unless I show you.
I then told the manager that to make things easier that they could just cut me a check for $860 and we would be good. The manager agreed to give me a check for $860 that they will mail to me in a day or two. I got that all in writing, on carbon copy paper, with both our signatures. It was getting late, I had a 7 hour drive ahead of me, I got a killer deal on the car.
Did I mess up? What should I have done differently? Is it too late to demand more or is that just greedy? I mean, in their eyes I got a new car that I'll have to get fixed, which is a hassle, and will have $0 left after its fixed at a dealer. Had the dealership told me this brand new car with 7 miles on it had an 18 inch scratch on it but was fixed I would have never flown to Virginia to get it. But, in reality, I did.
I inspected the car upon arrival for 20 minutes and took it for a drive. Perfect. Nothing at all wrong with it. We went inside to finalize the papers. We go outside and he calls a guy to take it to fill up the tank. The guy brings the car back with a full tank and comes inside to get us. We walk outside and "Oh s*#t", a huge scratch in it. This dealership is going through a huge remodel outside and they placed a few metal signs with banners (about 6 ft tall) on the sidewalk next to where my new car was parked. It was windy and wouldn't you know it, one of the signs fell over and scratched the new car I just signed for! I about puked and my salesman, who was fantastic, was sick to his stomach. He immediately went inside and got the general manager who was also stunned. He then phoned the service manager to come take a look. This whole time I'm thinking, great, the specific car I wanted (stripped Traverse for cheap, and the color I wanted) is now effed up. I'm 400 miles from home without a way back if I walk and the plane ride will cost me $500. They told me they would understand if I wanted my money back, or if I wanted to drive it home and take it to a local Chevy dealer that would fix it and bill the dealership. They would put it in writing. Yeah, great. A new car that already needed work done to it. Now, I will admit I know every new car I've driven gets door marks, grocery cart dents, you name it, before you know it. My wife's 4 year old Pontiac G6 has more scuffs on it than I can count, none of which she did. This car is for my wife and our two young children and I'm sure in a few years it's going to show some wear.
Then, I had an idea. My father's friend was a paint/repair man at General Motors for 40 years and has a shop at his house where he does work for people he knows. I told the managers I wanted to make a phone call, walked away and phoned my Dad (who also worked for GM in repairs, but mechanical). He said the rear fender would likely need to be totally repainted or his buddy could blend it in near the top. The Traverse's rear fenders aren't very large but they go around the window and all the way up to the front; you'll see in a pic I'll attach. If he was blending it, it shouldn't be more than $150 - $200 to do everything with GM paint and clear. I also noticed an extremely small scratch on the window that you can't even feel with your fingertip that's about 1 inch long. No one noticed it but me (yeah, go figures!). I told them they would have to replace that as well. No problem. The service manager said he would go inside and see what it would likely cost to fix. Note, this was before I made my phone call so he had no idea I was thinking of having a friend fix it. He came back with a figure of $500 to replace the rear window, with labor, and $360 to fix the scratch. $860, way less than what it will likely cost to get it fixed. I'm not going to touch the window. You can't even notice it unless I show you.
I then told the manager that to make things easier that they could just cut me a check for $860 and we would be good. The manager agreed to give me a check for $860 that they will mail to me in a day or two. I got that all in writing, on carbon copy paper, with both our signatures. It was getting late, I had a 7 hour drive ahead of me, I got a killer deal on the car.
Did I mess up? What should I have done differently? Is it too late to demand more or is that just greedy? I mean, in their eyes I got a new car that I'll have to get fixed, which is a hassle, and will have $0 left after its fixed at a dealer. Had the dealership told me this brand new car with 7 miles on it had an 18 inch scratch on it but was fixed I would have never flown to Virginia to get it. But, in reality, I did.
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