Dealership Scratched My Car Badly...

[Swordfish]

Man, I hate to read this post to be totally honest. I'm sure you like myself and everyone here works very hard for their money, so when you commit to $20,000+ for a vehicle and it is damaged due to no fault of your own that's incredibly regrettable. Then you are charge $70 for a cracked windshield for a vehicle you'd never have to had used if they didn't mess up your car in the first place. I understand for an older vehicle, but for one that is only 1 yr old, I think the OP went really easy on the dealer, but then again the dealer is denying it so maybe just the re-touch is the best that can be done in this even if they are at fault.

If there's anything positive from this it's a general lesson on documenting. I hate to do this, but moving forward, before any work is done at the dealer, I'm going to take pictures and video record with a time stamp and date my car prior to any work being done because of things like this. Personally, if I had it documented, I'd have demanded the entire panel be re-painted.

I had a situation before with my old car where I had window tinting done. The idiots used a low quality razor to trace the tint film on the outside of the glass and created faint scratches on the glass. Fortunately not too long afterwards they went bankrupt and closed up shop so I felt somewhat happy about that.

Sponsored

 

[Draken187]

Man, I hate to read this post to be totally honest. I'm sure you like myself and everyone here works very hard for their money, so when you commit to $20,000+ for a vehicle and it is damaged due to no fault of your own that's incredibly regrettable. Then you are charge $70 for a cracked windshield for a vehicle you'd never have to had used if they didn't mess up your car in the first place. I understand for an older vehicle, but for one that is only 1 yr old, I think the OP went really easy on the dealer, but then again the dealer is denying it so maybe just the re-touch is the best that can be done in this even if they are at fault.

If there's anything positive from this it's a general lesson on documenting. I hate to do this, but moving forward, before any work is done at the dealer, I'm going to take pictures and video record with a time stamp and date my car prior to any work being done because of things like this. Personally, if I had it documented, I'd have demanded the entire panel be re-painted.

I had a situation before with my old car where I had window tinting done. The idiots used a low quality razor to trace the tint film on the outside of the glass and created faint scratches on the glass. Fortunately not too long afterwards they went bankrupt and closed up shop so I felt somewhat happy about that.

Exactly.. I would have said im not paying for the glass.. Why? I shouldnt have had to drive here in the first place to get my paint fixed... Wich is when your loaner vehicle got hit by sonething..

 

[haced]

Man, I hate to read this post to be totally honest. I'm sure you like myself and everyone here works very hard for their money, so when you commit to $20,000+ for a vehicle and it is damaged due to no fault of your own that's incredibly regrettable. Then you are charge $70 for a cracked windshield for a vehicle you'd never have to had used if they didn't mess up your car in the first place. I understand for an older vehicle, but for one that is only 1 yr old, I think the OP went really easy on the dealer, but then again the dealer is denying it so maybe just the re-touch is the best that can be done in this even if they are at fault.

If there's anything positive from this it's a general lesson on documenting. I hate to do this, but moving forward, before any work is done at the dealer, I'm going to take pictures and video record with a time stamp and date my car prior to any work being done because of things like this. Personally, if I had it documented, I'd have demanded the entire panel be re-painted.

I had a situation before with my old car where I had window tinting done. The idiots used a low quality razor to trace the tint film on the outside of the glass and created faint scratches on the glass. Fortunately not too long afterwards they went bankrupt and closed up shop so I felt somewhat happy about that.

Exactly.. I would have said im not paying for the glass.. Why? I shouldnt have had to drive here in the first place to get my paint fixed... Wich is when your loaner vehicle got hit by something..

T_T fuk. Definitely a lesson for me as this is my first new car. Overall the car looks pretty decent now, but you are right I shouldn't have paid for the windshield.

Like I said, I was worried a repaint would lower the overall quality of the paint job, especially over time (i.e. fading, chipping, etc.). I've read, heard, and was told by the service rep that a repaint will be a topic of discussion in the future if I ever wanted to sell the car. Most places would guess I was in an accident I believe.

 

[Swordfish]

T_T fuk. Definitely a lesson for me as this is my first new car. Overall the car looks pretty decent now, but you are right I shouldn't have paid for the windshield.

Like I said, I was worried a repaint would lower the overall quality of the paint job, especially over time (i.e. fading, chipping, etc.). I've read, heard, and was told by the service rep that a repaint will be a topic of discussion in the future if I ever wanted to sell the car. Most places would guess I was in an accident I believe.

It's just one of those live and learn things. I just hate to see people done wrong like this. There's a reason why "car salesmen" are second to last from members of Congress in terms of ethical/respect from the public perspective: http://www.gallup.com/poll/1654/honesty-ethics-professions.aspx

It appears there may be some truth to that perspective.

I don't see how a re-paint would be an issue but again I'd be leery about even bringing it to the dealer again and if you were to take them to small claims you'd have to show how they did in fact cause scratches which would be hard without any documentation.

Long-term though it'll become a non-issue. I remember my last car that I mentioned above got scratched I was worked up about it for a week b/c it literally happened 2 months after I got the car new. I just sold it a few weeks ago and I still enjoyed it. It eventually got wear like most cars did with dings and rock chips, etc, etc....just never really thought about it after awhile.

 

[Oliseles]

Seems to be an issue with Honda dealers everywhere
They absolutely dont care about clients car
I cant believe how many similar stories come up here an there
Its scary
Honda dealers are the worst in my opinion
Ive been with VW and Toyota before and Honda dealers still have a long way to go unfortunately

 

[Draken187]

Seems to be an issue with Honda dealers everywhere
They absolutely dont care about clients car
I cant believe how many similar stories come up here an there
Its scary
Honda dealers are the worst in my opinion

After working for bmw... Hah... Brand new m3's scratched during pdi.. The guy in the washbay deciding to clay a 3 month old 7 series... Without ever using a claybar... Trust me.. Its not a honda thing.. But it doesnt help that honda uses a single coat of paint either...

 

[Oliseles]

After working for bmw... Hah... Brand new m3's scratched during pdi.. The guy in the washbay deciding to clay a 3 month old 7 series... Without ever using a claybar... Trust me.. Its not a honda thing.. But it doesnt help that honda uses a single coat of paint either...

Oh its mostly a Honda thing
Honda customer service is one of the worst in the business and it definitely translates in the way Honda dealers care about your car when you bring it in

 

[dabahichos]

Here is the final update/story:

I ended up talking to the service rep over the phone about my problem and quickly brought over my car for them to look at. They assured me that this wouldn't come from their techs, but agreed to fix/paint it anyway since they can't prove otherwise. (Hurray!)

• So I took my car in 3 weeks ago on a Thursday and expressed my concerns about what "painting" the car meant as I did not want off-colored paint on various panels that could ruin the car further. Their paint/scratch guy agreed and said the best course of action would be to touch it up and go from there. I agreed.
• Fast forward to the next Tuesday I dropped off my car, got a free rental (Honda Fit 2016 LX I think). It was not as nice as my car, but it worked just fine.
• Came in that Thursday after they said it was "done" and inspected the car. The scratches still looked pretty noticeable and they even missed the ones on the driver side doors. I could tell because it was still dirty so they clearly hadn't even wiped it down.
• (SIDE NOTE: As I was driving the Fit back a rock flew up and cracked the windshield -__- hurray for me. I settled this later with the dealership.)
• Because the "scratch" guy is only there on Wednesdays I had to come back this past Tuesday and drop off the car again. Sure. Got a second Fit 2016 and drove that until this past Thursday again. They also agreed to do a full detail of my car to get it looking clean again (outside was pretty dirty)
• Picked up the car at around 6:30pm (it was pretty dark at that point) from the cashier (Service closed at 6pm). Payed $70 to fix the Fit windshield, which is not so bad, but still sucks. The car looked amazing in the dark (mostly because it was professionally washed/waxed), but I could still tell the scratches had occurred in the right light.
• Friday after work once I got home I took these photos below. As you can see, the scratches are definitely still visible in the right lighting, but overall I'm pretty satisfied. I just wish it could have been fixed sooner without a cracked windshield.

TLDR; Car got touched-up and detailed. Cracked the rental windshield. 6/10 would not do again.

Sorry about the scratches man but I noticed you have yellow brakes and a turbo sticker on your car. I also have the pearl white civic and was wondering how you got the colored breaks and where can I get them for my civic. Thanks in advance!

 

[haced]

Sorry about the scratches man but I noticed you have yellow brakes and a turbo sticker on your car. I also have the pearl white civic and was wondering how you got the colored breaks and where can I get them for my civic. Thanks in advance!

The yellow "brakes" are MGP Caliper Covers and the Turbo decal was from a civicx.com forum member @timothyjay. Hit him up for details. The decal is ~$11 if I remember correctly.

 

[VIto416]

Man seeing this makes me so mad the amount of money you spend for a new car and the dealers fuck it up and basically fuck you over I wouldn't know what to do

 

[haced]

Man seeing this makes me so mad the amount of money you spend for a new car and the dealers fuck it up and basically fuck you over I wouldn't know what to do

wallow in your own sorrows until you forget about it like me

 

[VIto416]

wallow in your own sorrows until you forget about it like me

You're a strong person I couldn't

 

[Swordfish]

I take photos inside/out now of my car prior to any work being done so it's documented. Does not take long to do and gives you documentation. The OP got the best resolution possible.

The only thing would be to take the dealer to small claims court and have the whole thing re-painted. Someone else also told me about the issue mentioned where if it were repainted it "could" have been in a wreck or something to that extent which I wouldn't give a sh-t about. I generally buy all my cars brand new and drive them until they stop working, so when it's time to get rid of the car, the value is very little anyways, so I wouldn't care if it "appeared" that it was in a wreck due to new paint.

 

[haced]

I take photos inside/out now of my car prior to any work being done so it's documented. Does not take long to do and gives you documentation. The OP got the best resolution possible.

The only thing would be to take the dealer to small claims court and have the whole thing re-painted. Someone else also told me about the issue mentioned where if it were repainted it "could" have been in a wreck or something to that extent which I wouldn't give a sh-t about. I generally buy all my cars brand new and drive them until they stop working, so when it's time to get rid of the car, the value is very little anyways, so I wouldn't care if it "appeared" that it was in a wreck due to new paint.

Yea I plan on taking photos after this ordeal

My car will be with me until it dies anyways so as long as the scratches are hidden then I can live with it and I didn't want paint mismatching or fading due to a repaint.

 

[Daniel776]

Yesterday I went in because my infotainment system wasn't working properly. They replaced it, when I got home I released there was a HUGE scratch on the driver side. I contacted Honda right away, but they keep playing games, I'm going tomorrow to get some answers. They always do a walk around, so its not something the car had before. When I saw it, I almost passed out lol.

Sponsored