Car dealer hail damage to new car

[Kavvy]

Good day,

Really dumb question, I bought a new car on Saturday, picking up today. With all the hail we have had in the last 2 days, if they try and give me a car with hail damage, who is liable for repairs? I just want to ensure I know my rights if they try to pull at fast one.

Bill of sale says it is my car, but I haven't picked it up as of yet (assuming their will be a release form at that point).

Thank you!

[Fuzz]

My assumption would be since it is in their care on their lot, they are responsible, as with any auto shop. Is the reason you couldn't take it Saturday because they had to do some final work on it?

[Kavvy]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

My assumption would be since it is in their care on their lot, they are responsible, as with any auto shop. Is the reason you couldn't take it Saturday because they had to do some final work on it?

Thanks for reply.

Part of their requirements is to do a final clean on the car, and on the bill of sale we stated that they needed to remove their dealership sticker. They couldn't do it as the shop was closed on Saturday due to the long weekend.

[ken0042]

I'll let one of the lawyers confirm this, but from what I recall from basic contract law is that one of the implied conditions of any contract is that the item you are purchasing must remain in the same condition as when the contract is made, as when it is picked up.

[Da_Chief]

Thats a good question. How does it work for a dealership with all these hail damaged cars? I'm assuming they fix it in-house and have the insurance will pay for it?

[undercoverbrother]

For cars on the lot, dealerships will often bring in companies to work on sight. I know in Dead Rear last year one dealership brought in a company from the states.

I would wait till you see it to make the decision, but I know I would push hard for them to cover it, I would take a customer service approach to the argument.

[93Hound]

I used to work in the auto industry for 18 years and I am now on the home and auto insurance side of things.
The dealer should be repairing the hail damage as it was not there when you made the purchase agreement. Now they could give you money off and not fix it.... that is totally up to you to accept the offer.
If you do accept the offer and purchase the vehicle with money off and accept the hail damage.... you cannot file a claim for hail damage and have the insurance company fix it. Kind of a catch 22 if you ask me.

[Kavvy]

Thank you, much appreciated. Hopefully car is just fine!

[darklord700]

Since it is a new car, even if the dealer repairs the hail damage, it'll still show up on carfax, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it be better not to go through with this deal now?

[ken0042]

^^ I'm with Darklord. I wouldn't buy a "new" vehicle that had already received a trip to the body shop. In fact I ran into this when buying my new vehicle in the fall of 2010. There were a number of vehicles matching what I wanted that had repaired hail damage; and they were offering us $3500 off a vehicle worth $40K. We declined, and then waited 6 weeks for a factory order.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Since it is a new car, even if the dealer repair the hail damage, it'll still show up in carfax, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it be better not to go through with this deal now?

Originally Posted by ken0042

^^ I'm with Darklord. I wouldn't buy a "new" vehicle that had already received a trip to the body shop. In fact I ran into this when buying my new vehicle in the fall of 2010. There were a number of vehicles matching what I wanted that had repaired hail damage; and they were offering us $3500 off a vehicle worth $40K. We declined, and then waited 6 weeks for a factory order.

Are you able to pull out of the deal, it is signed & done, because of hail damage?

[burn_this_city]

You'd be surprised how many vehicles are damaged during shipping and repaired by the manufacturer prior to sale. I don't believe they even have to report port repairs since it happens before they are released to the dealers.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

You'd be surprised how many vehicles are damaged during shipping and repaired by the manufacturer prior to sale. I don't believe they even have to report port repairs since it happens before they are released to the dealers.

It's not as bad as some think. I'd say maybe 10%. And most of the repairs are either paintless dent repairs, or just require a good cut polish to repair a scuff. Or little lot bumps. Stuff like that is just the nature of the business when you are shoe horning cars 10 inches apart. You could have concours quality, bubble wrapped cars, and giant spacious lots with Costco calibre parking stall spacing, but then your cars are going to cost more.

Any reputable dealer will disclose anything major. Anytime we have a car that has had a trip to the body shop, it is disclosed before anything is discussed. I think it is unrealistic to expect a dealer to disclose a $50 door ding that took the dent guy 10 minutes to fix, unless your buying a Bentley.