New car, Painted bar?

[Bing Bong]

Car is two weeks old, steering wheel was slightly off centre, so booked in with dealership for wheel alignment and had to keep car over night as wheel alignment machine required calibrating. Got the car back this arvo, noticed a blemish on LHF bar, and to my surprise it has being repainted on that side... Blemishes throughout the paint and slight damage to grill...

To say the least I was not happy, called and complained, they accepted ownership of damage but still haven't admitted full fault. At least they have agreed to get it professionally repainted and give me a car whilst its being done!

Oh and \rant...

[ill0gitech]

Did they tell you the extent of the damage that they had done?
Also can you please PM me the dealership name in case I have to deal with them myself

[Bing Bong]

Yeah went through the small chip I could see just above L/H fog lamp and the slight dent in lower grill, plus the obvious blemishes from the half assed prep the painter did. I would prefer to keep the name quiet as they are very apologetic and are fixing it for me asap.

[gavs]

New car, Painted bar?

Yeah went through the small chip I could see just above L/H fog lamp and the slight dent in lower grill, plus the obvious blemishes from the half assed prep the painter did. I would prefer to keep the name quiet as they are very apologetic and are fixing it for me asap.

Yeah, they're apologetic now, AFTER you brought it to their attention, yes? So now you have to ask, why did they really need to keep the car overnight...?

[BLN355]

I think you need to name names, this is totally unacceptable!
I'd be blowing up delux if a dealer or anyone working on my car tried some shady going ons like this. No doubt at all they needed it over night to fix the damage.

[JustCruisn]

They should have called you the instance they crashed the thing ! Not spin some crap and do a dodgy repair overnight and hope like hell you don't notice.

[Hail22]

I'd be in talks with my solicitor / barrister...they'd be pooing their pants...because who knows if they bent the steering arm (highly unlikely) but still begs the question...

[kam]

probably an apprentice got a bit too excited, crashed the car, they kept overnight to do emergency repair, hoped owner wouldnt notice

not the 1st time its happened

[RoknRob]

Exactly. Who's to say that the damage was only cosmetic? It is no longer your brand new car, but an accidented car. It's value has been seriously diminished.

They should replace the car for you. Especially after trying to pull a fast one on you...

[Bing Bong]

I do feel very, well, molested... It looks like it was only cosmetic, had a fairly good look underneath the car. I assume they scratched the bar getting on a hoist or something, will be going through it with them next time I drop it off.

Honestly, when i brought it up, the service advisor was fuming and not trying to shift blame. I am surprised they didn't just say that as I have taken the car off the lot they are not at fault...

All I can say is its a shame that people in this world try to hide things, I wouldn't give a dam had they repaired it properly the first time and told me.

[GTI JOE]

Time to expose who these wrench monkeys are, obviously after, they repair your car properly. This kind of crap is what is killing the VAG name and hence all stealerships. Not that they have a great reputation at the moment.

[kam]

Honestly, when i brought it up, the service advisor was fuming and not trying to shift blame.

Obviously each company is broken up into seperate departments, so its possible the service advisor didnt know, as the mechanics/whoever crashed the car tried to keep it all hush hush

Either way, sometimes its worth getting aggressive in these situations and demanding an answer, not so much as to why the car was damaged, as these things happen, but more so why they tried to cover up the situation.

[gavs]

New car, Painted bar?

Exactly. But as pointed out, would anyone expect any less from a VW dealership? Look at DETROITCANDY for example, exactly the same thing and I he didn't point it out, nothing would have been done!

[ill0gitech]

so its possible the service adviser didnt know, as the mechanics/whoever crashed the car tried to keep it all hush hush

My family have been in the service business in dealerships for 30 years, and this is very unlikely. If they tried to fix it, the fix costs money, and I would assume any dealership Service department would want to know why they are spraying a car. Besides, most dealsherips wouldn't have on-site spraying.
If the mechanic comes in and says they need to keep a car overnight, it's usually the Service Adviser that that contacts the customer. And an accident anywhere in the workshop should be reported.

If the Service Adviser genuinely had no idea about it, I don't it shows any less incompetency than the fact they tried to cover it up.
I'm in line with what everyone else seems to have said, the deception is unacceptable.

If I were you, I'd be getting the car assessed by a third party to make sure the damage is no more than cosmetic. I'd be asking for a good deal of explanation as to what happened, I'd also be asking for the service not to cost anything and for some other sort of compensation, given the car has now been repaired because of an accident.

Since I'm me, I just want to know who it was because if it's my local dealer, I'm not going to be very happy if I encounter something similar. I can understand not wanting to name them in public though - hence asking for a PM.

[JonP01]

Back in the 90s I dropped my Corolla sedan into a well regarded suspension shop for a spring and damper replacement. Car up until that time was flawless and never had a single scratch. At one point, a mechanic obviously forgot to apply the hand brake. The car rolled into a concrete pillar destroying the rear of the car. A bit hard to hide that one, so it was not surprising they were on the phone as soon as it happened.

But this is why to this day I dread leaving my cars in the hands of others. Up until 20 years ago I would do all servicing myself, but that just isnt possible these days. It is also why I try not to get too excited by owning a car these days. I might be able to baby it when it is in my hands but there are inevitably times when it has to be relinguished to possibly less competant hands. Or certainly less caring ones.