dealership wrecked my car

alh80 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-17-08, 07:22 PM

I have been having lots of problems with my 2007 CTS. I finally found a dealership willing to listen to me and fix the problems. However, they contacted me Tuesday and informed me that they had wrecked my car in the shop. Another vehicle was backed into it. They were nice about it at first and gave me a car to drive while mine is gettting repaired. They gave me a 2005 CTS with 55000 miles that needs the oil changed. I decided to deal with that until they fixed the car. Today I went to the body shop to speak with them regarding my car and was informed that the car was brought in on Monday for an estimate. I have a problem with them getting an estimate before contacting me. The owner had originally told me that the accident occurred at about 1:00pm on Tuesday. I addressed this issue with the owner and he got very ugly with me. The body shop also stated that they did not know what had happened to the car when it was initially brought to them. Im wondering what actually hapened to my car. They told me that no police report had been filed because my car was parked and only one driver was involved. Also, it was on their private property. I am thinking that they are not going to be willing to work on my car anymore because I have confronted them with these issues. Any advice on what I need to do from here?

xshrpshtr · #2 (**permalink**) 07-17-08, 08:06 PM

They are completely liable. Contact your insurance company. They will go insane on the dealer.

alh80 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-17-08, 08:56 PM

I have not contacted my insurance because the dealership is paying for the repairs. My concern is what actually happened to the car. Can I request in writing what happened to my car? Am I just suppose to accept the fact that they wrecked the car and then they fixed it? I mean I did not take them a wrecked car why should I have to take it back after it has been wrecked. Im thinking that it was hit with another truck and no damage was done to the truck, therefore, they did not inform the other customer.

xshrpshtr · #4 (**permalink**) 07-17-08, 09:04 PM

I'll bet you are quite correct. They have already demonstrated they are not trust worthy and quite likely unscrupulous. They have lied to you after wrecking your car. You have EVERY right to ask WTF happened and the like. Find out exactly who lied to you and make a quick log of who you talked to and when. Once the body shop realises the dealer lied to you and they gave them up. They may not want to be so forth coming in the future for fear of losing thier business. I'd go take pics and the works. There are many others on here who know more about this.

alh80 · #5 (**permalink**) 07-17-08, 09:45 PM

Thank you. I appreciate any help I can get. I chose the body shop and it just so happen to be the one that the dealer uses. However, I am a very good customer of theirs and they have done a lot of work for me in the past. I know that sounds bad but I tend to visit the body shop frequently. I told him that they had given two different stories and he said something sounds fishy to him too. I have already taken pictures of the damage and the dealership didn't seem to like that very much. They said that they had already taken pictures and I told them that unless they took them with my camera I was taken more. The dealership staff and the owner continues to tell me that they done nothing to the car to make the damage look lesser than what it is. The fact that they keep saying this without even being accused also makes me very suspicous. They also didn't like the fact that I visited the body shop today to check on my car and find out what was going to be done. I had asked them to have the body shop contact me as soon as they got the car and the body shop says that they were not even aware of the owner until I went up there today.

ghettomike · #6 (**permalink**) 07-18-08, 01:35 AM

lets see pics of the damage... what was the estimate of the repair? ide be doing more than calling insurance... start calling GM and complain... make sure you get all the info you can on all the different stories that you have heard and have them all written down with when you were contacted, what you were origionally told.. etc
GL hope this turns out ok for you.

ewill3rd · #7 (**permalink**) 07-18-08, 08:07 AM

First of all, and not to try to justify anything here... but the folks at the dealer are human. Mistakes happen and sheet metal gets bent.
I can see why they might be defensive about you going straight to the body shop and trying to deal with them, maybe even why they are nervous about you snapping pictures.
If something ever happens like that in our store we call the customer and have them come to the store, we would explain what happened and show them the damage and assure them that it will be handled.
Your dealer might be concerned that you'll go on the web and throw them under the bus as careless and thoughtless but they don't seem to understand that the key to controlling an accident like this is to keep you informed.
I don't see an issue with you dealing with the body shop directly but a lot of times the body shop guys don't even really know what is going on. That can be why you get conflicting stories. The whole "he said, she said" thing can lead to confusion and frustration.
Have you talked to the service advisor? Ultimately it is the Service Manager's responsibility to deal with this issue but he's probably mad at the guy who did whatever right now and thinking about having to pay for it out of the Service budget. Not to mention any heat he might be getting from other customers (God forbid) about other issues.

I'd find someone in the dealer willing to communicate with you, your advisor would be a good place to start. Just ask them to keep you informed and try not to worry about it. At this point the only thing you can do is wait until they are done and then let them know if the work is not satisfactory. (based on your experiences with the body shop it sounds like you should be okay)

This stuff is unfortunate when it happens, there is no doubt. You have a right to be upset but it sounds like the dealer is at least making an effort to handle the situation properly but not communicating with you to your satisfaction.
I am confident that it will turn out okay. The key for you should be to find one person to communicate with and to let them know you want to stay informed. Tell them how often you want an update to make sure you don't get worried about not hearing anything.

Wait until they are finished before you decide what they did wrong.
I hope it all works out to your satisfaction.
I am always sorry to hear stories like this but as I said... we are all human.

BlueMalibu · #8 (**permalink**) 07-18-08, 12:11 PM

Hey don't worry...

They had a few beers, took your car for a ride, were doing neutral slams on the freeway when they backed it into a wall.

They had it towed back to the dealer by a friend and made up the whole accident story.

That's why they are being so evasive.

No worries

Seriously, sorry to hear about your troubles and hope it works out.

cadillacroadside · #9 (**permalink**) 07-18-08, 01:00 PM

ewill is %100 correct, accidents happen anywhere, in my shop as well, we as a dealer first contact the customer and keep him informed, the body shop is third party. they dont know what happened nor do they need to know they just have to get your car perfect. asking them what happened is useless, everything needs to be diclosed to you at the dealer the body shop should have no problem in keeping you aware of progress nor should your dealer

alh80 · #10 (**permalink**) 07-18-08, 01:04 PM

Thank you so much for your advise. I am just going to leave things alone until the work is finished. I have no concern about the quality of work and the body shop is keeping in contact with me regarding the repairs. I have been communicating with the owner of the dealership. Everything was going well until I confronted him with the fact that he lied to me about which day the car was wrecked and I was not informed until an entire day later. I am also appalled by the fact that the dealership drove my car twenty miles to get an estimate before I was even notified that my car had been wrecked. The owner states that he had every right to take my car for an estimate. My point is that my car was in the shop for warranty repairs and they should have gotten permission to take my car that far away for an estimate. The owner is now mad at me and very defensive about the entire situation. Which in return tells me that he is trying to cover something up. The owner has now made comments that he didn't even have to give me a car to drive while mine is in the body shop and he doesn't owe me anything except for repairing the damage. I told him that that is my car and I pay for it, therefore; I should be aware of every single thing that happens to it immediately. I'm not even upset about the wreck anymore and I understand that accidents happen. Believe me, I have had plenty. I am now mad because I was lied to and the owner displays to me that I don't even have the right to determine rather or not they drive my car to get estimates or anything else. Like the car is theirs just because it is in their possession. I would have never allowed them to drive the car that far after they had been careless enough to wreck it in the shop! I would have contacted my body shop owner and he would have came to them and gave an estimate. It's the principle of respect and they disrespected me by going behind my back and doing this.