the story of stupidity, sadness, solicitation and the deal or steal?

[webgurl]

The Story......I am still a relatively new Vibe owner (only 3 weeks in) and last week my ex bought my daughter a 05 Hyundai Elantra (so she can practice before she gets her license in January), which I picked up at the dealership a week ago Thursday. When I picked it up, it had a small dent in the right side wheel cover, they stated they would pick it up on Tuesday (this past week) and repair/return. The Stupidity....Well, over the weekend, I was backing my Vibe out of the garage excited about a big party I was going to attend and yes, you guest it - I backed into my daughter's new car with my new car.....I wasn't used to another car in the drive - been living here 6 years with the driveway all to myself, and her car wasn't visible in the rearviews since it was parked on the left - The Sadness........It caught my back tire panel and just a slight scarring on the bumper cover. Her's on the other hand I got right at the passenger side door seam down to the metal. My heart sank for me and for her!!!The solicitation......(estimate)Well, decided since it was going into the dealer (hers) on Tuesday, I would go ahead and have them estimate the cost of repairs. I really didn't want to put it in on insurance and was going to pay both if I could.The deal or steal.....Seems the dealer put the cart before the horse, I received the actual estimate on Wednesday around noon, took a look and decided to bring it elsewhere to have the repairs estimated, would let them fix the ding. This is where the fun begins...the dealer called on Wed around 2:30pm, he was actually calling me to say the repairs would be more than estimated due to the fact they would need to blend the paint....I informed him that I was going to bring for a couple of more estimates - his reply, we already have it fixed and ready to be painted....Note, I had not yet sent in the authorization to begin work, they had nothing signed by me authorizing any work since it was the dealer that picked up the car. After a little (ahem) discussion it was decided they made an error, would finish the car and I would pick it up no charge....Went to pick it up today, they wanted 1099.00 payment - aghast! Even the original quote was 853. Here was my quandry, legally, they had no right to do anything to the car, but they did. They did not want to release the car to me without payment and so the discussions ensued, lawyers were tossed about, etc. Finally, I said, I will pay 500 for repairs and will be taking my car, this allowed for the materials they had into the repairs and recouping some of thier labor costs - they accepted.The kicker, the guy said, we went ahead and fixed that ding in the fender - I looked at him and said that is why it was originally brought in here - it was a condition of purchase - they didn't even know that, do businesses not communicate anymore???My question - what would you of all done? Held out for free repairs or accepted what i did? Really curious, I have people going both ways on this one. Stay tuned - have to get mine repaired as well, it goes, with me, to be estimated on Monday......btw, truly enjoy reading all your posts - thanks!

[jake75]

I assume the $500 was a fair price to get the damage fixed so I would be satisfied. It has been a long time (almost 40 years) since I was in law school but there is a concept called unjust enrichment and I think getting this car fixed for nothing would be in that category.

[Digger]

I would say it is fair all the way around. the dealer got his money back and you got your car fixed.

[joatmon]

I guess what you should have done depends on your conscience. Seems like it was a reasonable compromise. Getting the repair for free over a miscommunication doesn;t seem fair, you got a good deal, they got some money, you would have spent that much on it anyway.Now you're kinda stuck having to go easy on your daughter when she has her first accident.

[BOZACK]

I would say it was fair. Most deductibles are $500.00 so it seems fair. I would say that the dealership seems unscrupelous in thier assumption of repairs for the car though. I would not be tosure about bringing the car back there for repairs in the future.

[jmf2]

I agree with everyone else, sounds like you ended up on the sunny side, esp considering you kept it away from your insurance! But I would shy away from that dealer in the future. Good luck with the vibe repairs, I imagine it will a bit more expensive.

[goodvibe]

You got off cheap. His original est. was actually reasonable for the damaged described but upping the # was wrong for an est. without hidden damage. Hyundai parts aren't cheap like the cars. It also doesn't mean he should work on your car without aproval. Many dealers wouldn't have released the car to you under the same circumstances so it could have gone much worse. Everybody screws up now and then but if he really was trying to tke advantage of you, you wouldn't have come home with the car. Thank god that didn't happen. I can imagine your ex and daughter looking at you while you're explaining where her car is. I'd say you done good. How much to fix the Vibe?

[Mavrik]

lol... without a signature from you, you didn't even need to pay $500... Now I probably would have as I'm in that world every day and can relate to the little problems of getting wrong estimates... Its easy to do. A service advisor gets time from the tech or book, the tech also supplies the list of parts cost from parts... and they always forget to add something and its usually the big number one lol. I don't let a customer leave until they sign my repair order and I always tell them up front an estimate (its an estimate because those are not always 100% accurate) of the repairs if its not warranty.But you could have been 100% legal about it with no lawyers involved and payed $0.00 on the repair. It would be simple. They have a lawyer... so paint shop manager askes the lawyer. "I got a customer that won't pay for his repairs." Lawyer asks... "did he sign saying he would and authorised the work?" ... "Um... no..." is the reply. "Well then he isn't LEGALLY forced to pay for something you did to his car without his writen concent." You'd have won.And sales and service and parts... its funny how a small amount of no communication can toss a big wrench in the gears.

[webgurl]

Thank you all for your notes.....I felt it was a fair deal for both of us, yes, if I would of gone to court with it, even the manager stated I would of won, but he still wasn't budging and quite frankly was being a real behind - it is required for them to have a signed authorization/approval for work to be completed, otherwise all shops could have your car in, estimate it, do the work without your consent, then hold your car for ransom. I didn't want to take the time, hassle and probably more $$'s it would incur to tie this up in court. Being a single mom of 2 very active kids, $$$ are very precious around my house - so I do try to get the best deal I can.Most all the estimate was labor, parts were only 38.20, and paint was 120.00, all the rest of the original quote was labor - this was my issue with them, thought thier labor rates were a little high. During the meeting with the manager, he started quoting what he would charge the dealership for repairs which of course was less than what they charge the public - so in figuring out what I would offer, I covered any materials they had into the repair and about 1/2 thier labor. Will let 'ya all know when I go for my Vibe's repairs - hopefully it will work out better!thanks again!!!

[Mavrik]

thats when you go bring in a couple of big "brothers" lolcouple things a service advisor or manager hates...#1 Big tall angry loud men (even if the advisor is right)#2 (no offence to some people) mother and daughter combinations with bad attitudes...#3 Women who bring their brothers with them... somehow the "looking after little sister" impression is more frightening then "looking after the wife" impression.#4 Last but not least... having completed work with no authorization... seriously your car can't be held for ransom and guess who's pocket the mistake comes out of? You probably handled it better then I would have. I'd have refused to pay since I didn't sign. At least they only charged you less then the actual job because thats a good price.

[AKLGT]

yes, i'd have raised a lot of hell. especially if they did the repair without my approval or consent! :< i don't know if i would have offered to pay the $500 or no, but that is a very fair compromise for both. when i bought a used car a while ago, the engine was leaking and forget exactly what was wrong, but it was about a $1400 in repairs, but after much discussion and back and forth with the dealership they agreed to do it for cost of parts only. I paid $400. that was fair. i have since purchased other vehicles from them since they did make it right....

[webgurl]

And now for the rest of the story.................Had my Vibe estimated by a body guy friend who works at a local (good) body shop - it is going to be repaired for 275 - yeah!!!! He is also going to go ahead and take care of the few gravel nicks already there. Between following all the gravel trucks - no choice, the pits are on the same highway and driving to many, many soccer fields - lots of gravel lots - sigh! there are a few dings in her already....Okay mini-rant - damn gravel trucks, where do they get off putting 'not responsible for damage stay 500 ft back, what a bunch of bull**** - you can be 2000 ft back, if they are running with no cover that gravel is bouncing all over the place, and when 5-6 of them are driving in rush hour it's just hopeless. I want to put a notice on the back of my Vibe, not responsible for rear-ending, please stay 2-3 car lengths back.

[BOZACK]

Well, it seems as if you got really lucky. Repaired both cars for less than a grand. Nice! Keep away from those gravel trucks.