jerome8283

What is the process the dealer should follow when inspecting our cars for damage when they come in for service? I had a scratch after service which I know was not present before. Shouldn't they look over the car and have you sign off before accepting the vehicle?

BM2BZ

yes. and couple members here had something way worse happened than just a few scratches. you can do a search and you'll feel you are fairly lucky compare to them. anyway, you should talk to your dealer right at the time when you picked up the car. now could be a little late but still not hurt to try.

jerome8283

Yes, I did speak to someone when I picked up the car. Service was closed and they left the car with sales but I made the sales manager come out and see the scratch before I moved the car.

BM2BZ

that's good. at least you have a "witness" and don't worry a bit. they'll take care of the repair. good luck!

telemakhos

This varies dealer to dealer. My dealer did a walk around with customers when taking cars in for service. They seemed to have stopped doing this now, though.

Next time you might want to take the initiative and suggest a walk around.

BM2BZ

it's a good and fair thing to do a walk around. but if they don't do it and if you happen to have couple small dings here and there, you can always tell the dealer to repair them when you pick up the car. that is something so small and happens all the time. they'll just do it in a heartbeat. it happened to me once when i had my bmw. i didn't mean to cheat on the dealer and i thought those couple small dings were not there before. dealer repaired them w/o any problem but i later found out those dings were there before i took my car in. oh, well. thank you, bmw .

btw, car rental companies used to do the walk around before but not anymore. i always do my own walk around and mark as many spot as possible on the slip that hand back to the guard. don't want them to say i created all those scratches and dings and have to pay big bucks for repair later.

CorvetteOJ

I am one of the guys BM2BZ speaks of. I won't go into detail because I have wrtten about it a couple times on this forum. First, let me say, I have never seen any dealership inspect a vehicle when you turn it in, and they would prefer you don't inspect it before you pick it up.

I am 65 years, old and have owned 66 automobiles in my lifetime...I ahave had my share of nightmares. The Chevy dealer damaged my new '86 S10 Blazer and had to do paint work on it, another dealer damaged my new 89 Grand Prix and had to replace it with a new one. Both of these cases, they attempted to give it back to me with the damage on it. Another case with a '96 Mitsubishi 3000 GT, however they were able to repair it to my satisfaction using a paintless dent removal specialist. Ironically, in this case, I made a big deal out of inspecting my car and saying I expected it returned in the same manner. It only had 200 miles on it.

The straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak, was when the Chevy dealer (the same dealer who damaged my '86 Blazer) damaged my first brand new Corvette in December '97. It only had 335 miles on it at the time. I won't go into the details because it is such a long story, but I can assure you, that no one on this site has seen an adult so pissed over a damaged automobile by a dealer. They took care of the damage, I was even under the car helping (one of the largest Chevy dealerships in Alabama) and no one dared say a word to me. That in itself is a very long story, I could write a book about that incident. It did include welding on the frame! It wasn't just a little scratch or tear.

As a result of that incident, I never, ever, take my car to a dealer and leave it. I always stay with it. I have since December '97. I would take a day of leave, schedule it on a holiday, or whatever it took, but I be damned if I would ever leave my car at a dealer again. At the Chevy dealer, I am right there with the car, holding lights, fetching parts/tools or whatever. At the MB dealership, they are a notch above all the other dealships in the area. There, I still never leave my car, but I don't feel a need to breathe down the neck of the technician either. As a matter of fact, I do have an unusual amount of respect for the MB service department. I like the operation, the attitude, the effort and attention to detail.

By the way, I only mentioned the major incidents. There were numerous others throughout life.

CorvetteOJ

OH, I failed to mention, the new Corvette the Chevy dealer damaged...Well, they gave it back to me damaged. Before I left, I noticed it and went back in to get the Service Manager. When he knelt down and looked under the front end and I saw his face, I knew right away it wasn't going to be a good day!...I was right!