I recently purchased a 2011 dodge challenger, and several days later as i was putting a coat of wax on the vehicle I noticed what appeared to be bondo in the drivers side quarter panel. I also found 5 dents in the car, 2 in the top of the driver's side fender, and 3 more in the roof pillars. I also noted the paint on the front bumper did not match the rest of the car. I also noted buffing holograms on the drivers door, and the bottom of the driver's door was not flush with the quarter panel.
I called the dealer and explained what i had found so they said no problem bring it in and we will have our paintless dent guy get the dents out etc. The dent guy repaired the fender but couldn't get to the dents in the roof pillars. So the dealer sent it to their body shop to have the dents removed and the quarter panels recleared.
They were aware of the shipping damage the car was covered in mud when we first looked at it and we were told that it was test driven on a dirt road. When we picked the vehicle up it was brought out at the last minute and parked between 2 cars so it was difficult to look over as all the defects were obscured.
I called chrysler customer service and explained everything that happened and their response was "You should have looked the car over better" and states that each dealer is independently owned and operated. I stated that the dealer represents chrysler and it is just as much their responsibilty to provide me with what I paid for a new car free of defect. I demanded a replacement vehicle and that anything less was unacceptable. Chrysler said a new car is not an option. You need to talk to your dealer. We went back and forth with the dealer and chrysler for 2 weeks and both refused to give us a new challenger. In the end the dealer agreed to trade us out of the vehicle for any other vehicle on the lot. He had no other new challengers and I already have a 2010 ram 2500 and have been very happy with my truck so my wife ended up with a 2011 ram 1500 qc sport with a hemi. She likes the truck but it isn't what she really wanted but we refused to take a car that really should have been discounted.
In the end i have asked chrysler to give us the same extended warranty that we had purchased on the car to help ease the pain. We had to use our refund from the extended warranty to absorb the 1500 dollars in negative equity. And you guessed it chrysler did not compensate us in any form. So when dealing with chrysler BUYER BEWARE!!!

 

I agree with Chrysler. You looked at a sports car that was covered in mud and were told it was test driven down a dirt road, then didn't take the time to go over the car before delivery?

 

The damage was not related to the test drive the vehicle was damaged during shipping and the dealer was attempting to hide the damage. The dealer and chrysler were aware of the damage but did not disclose the damage prior to sale. They both stated if the damage is less than 1000 they dont have to tell you. I guess it never occured to me to go over a new vehicle looking for shipping damage. It was an expensive learning lesson. To make matters worse i had a conversation with the body shop manager 3 months prior and he told me about a challenger that had been damaged during shipping and they did exactly what he said rather than fix all the damage which would have resulted in the repairs exceeding 1000 dollars

 

They only fixed the obvious. They knew about it and should have told me. This was the 3rd vehicle i had purchased from them.

 

Amazes me that folks spend 30K+ and don't take 10 minutes to look over the vehicle with a fine toothed comb.

Every new car I've ever bought has had a delivery checksheet that you sign off on as you take the walk around. The dealer we bought my wifes car at even had a special delivery bay that was extremely well lit so you could do a really good inspection.

Regardless of how the damage occurred it sounds like it was easily visible and was there when you purchased the car. Tough lesson to learn, but I'll bet you take more care the next time you spend a ton of $$$

 

First, it is the customers responsibility to inspect the car before delivery. This is true of ANY product. As the customer you always look at the product before buying.

With that said... As Chrysler said, the dealers are independently owned and operated. Therefore the dealer really should have had the option to send the car back to Chrysler when it arrived, no different than you had an option to not take delivery. Now, is this really an option for the dealer? I do not know, however if it is not you could use that argument in a court case, saying Chrysler is liable from the standpoint of they passed off bad product to the dealer, who in turn has no other option but to accept the damaged product from Chrysler, therefore in the end it was Chrysler who showed negligence in that the damage started with them when passed off to the dealer and would not take the vehicle back. No different than when you mail order something, if it is damaged the seller or shipper is responsible. And if it is an option for the dealer to send back then liability falls onto the dealer, in which case, again, you could have pursued legal action if you had not already taken a new truck.

I think in this BS situation you would have been best served to visit a lawyer familiar with the laws in your state and have them draft a letter to both the dealer and Chrysler showing you mean business. You could have ordered a new Chally or the dealer could have worked a trade with another dealer for a Chally.

 

Most of you here in the forum must be younger than me and do not remember back in the early to mid 80's Chrysler got in trouble for selling damaged vehicles as new. It cost them alot of money and bad publicity. Say what you want about the buyer checking the car thoroughly, but it sounds like the car was represented as NEW. Not every teenage girl or senior citizen should be expected to get on their knees to inspect a car advertised as new with a magnet or whatever. Some states have laws now about disclosing damage even to used vehicles. I think there is grounds for a good lawsuit here.

 

I believe that inn the 80's Chrysler was taking cars that had been driven, never registered, refurbished and sold as new. In this case the car was new but damaged. If the dealer purposely kept the repair under the reporting limit, as it is in this case, then the owner has the recourse to go to small claims court and sue for the damages resulting from this under-handnes and would probably win a judgement.

 

It was the speedo was not being hooked up and managers were taking them home and moving on the weekend or taking them on vacations and then either replacing the speedo or hooking back up.....wasn't it that?

Anyway, I love the day it is time to pick up the car you have not signed to accept that car yet, I ask to look over the car before I sign papers, sometimes I get a grumbly salesperson and they wanna ask why then we go outside and sure as hell ya find something and you say that is why, whether it be something as simple as they forgot to put the floor mats in or somethng silly like that but it should not be that way, They hand you a paper showing everything they went over...amazing even though everything is checked they almost always mist something. I always read everything also, that really pisses them off but I like to know what I am getting myself into.
I DO HOWEVER THINK IT SUCKS THAT A DEALER WOULD KNOW THIS CAR IS OR HAS BEEN DAMAGED AND REPAIRED, JUST NOT A REPUTABLE DEALER.
My wife brought home a 98 Dakota and it was really clean and the tires even had dressing, it had plates and everything. I open the hood and there is antifreeze everywhere, and the cap was still there so I put some water in and the cap on.....didn't have any antifreeze. So she get back and there was a customer waiting on his vehicle ...yes they let my wife test drive a sold vehicle. To be fair it was a new salesperson, when she told them the cap for the rad was off and I put water in it all they said was did he fill it up, she said yes I think so and they said thank you and she saw the guy take delivery of his vehicle and he didn't look under the hood. She was so tempted to tell him but was afraid how it might impact our service there, well it did we never went back there again. Idiots.

 

Call your local district attorney and findout what they say.