Dealer DAMAGED car and GM wont help

[Polar Bear]

As some of you know Courtesy Chevrolet in San Jose damaged my car (twice actually) and has had it for over a month while they "fix" it. (Info here ) I called Chevy to ask for help and guess what...they won’t help. Monday I was told by the rep that she would call me back. She never did finally at about 430pm today I called here. She told me that according to the dealer they did not damage the car. I asked the rep then why are they taking slow steps to fix the problem, to which she replied I "I can’t take sides". She told me that GM cannot tell the dealer how to run its business and that I am on my own. She additionally told me that since it is not a GM part she cannot help me, even though the damage was done during a warranty repair of a GM part and there are agency issues (legal theory of liability). NICE GM

I called the dealer trying to get a hold of someone (they have not called me since asking for my credit card and I said no) after not being able to get though I left a message.

Bottom line is I am picking up a damaged car, fixing the part myself, taking the dealer to court and selling the Z for something non-GM

The Z06 is by far the best car for under 150k (Modenas can be had at this range) but I will not do business with a company that allows repeat customers of their most expensive vehicle to be treated like this.

I will post the car for sale on the board probably in about a week (once I get the new X-pipe).

I can’t believe that a dealer would behave in this manner and GM would allow it. You think they would try to make it right but I guess not so this is where I part ways with GM and Corvette. It may be an American icon but if I cannot get service for it and get kicked in the balls by the company who makes it...I don’t want it

[2002Z06Yellow]

I am sorry to hear it ended up being that ugly. But thats the problem with owning a CHEVY.

[aldrichc5]

The dealerships are individually owned and not by GM. I found that out the hard way myself. I paid 2000 down on a new Z06 in 02 at Maxie Price to a dealer (not nameing any names)
and changed my mine on the deal. They would not give me the time of day, much less my money. After I looked at the paperwork I noticed where I signed a form saying no refund
if I backed out. I called GM and they told me they could do nothing about it because they did not own the dealership. Every dealer that I've told about that incident said they have never did that to anybody. I'll make sure I'll never sign anything like that ever again. A lesson learned the hard way.

[Dr.Electron]

Are those storm clouds I see on the horizon?
Doc ZE.

[RC45]

And this surprises anyone how?

[Z06Vette405]

Actually, I received a call from a company today that takes surveys of people who have purchased a new car from Chevrolet.

We talked about Courtesy Chevrolet a lot, and even told them about what happened to your car (although I never said who you were -- I just said they damaged a Corvette because they don't know what they're doing and have had the car for at least a month).

I told them I would never bring my car to Courtesy to have it repaired, and that Courtesy of Morgan Hill is the worst dealership around.





I thought I heard someone mention on the message boards (sometime recently I believe), that they used a lawyer they found over the Internet. They said they got paid an extremely fair price and that was after the lawyers fees.

The dealership damaged your car, you should be entitled to compensation. Shouldn't matter whether the warranty work was being done or not. You own your car, the dealership doesn't own it. The dealership willingly took possession of the car to work on the car. In the process, the dealership damaged the car because of negligence on their part when working on your car. Pretty simple case. It's just a matter of whether they'll have to fix the car or pay for the damages. Since they haven't fixed the car, I think it's unlikely a court would expect them to fix it, the court would likely have them pay for the damages.

I suggest finding a lawyer in the Bay Area -- there should be good ones around. A good lawyer typically won't take the case if the don't think they can win. The guy who used the lawyer said it all happened over the phone -- once the lawyer got involved, it was settled quickly and easily.

Good Luck.

[IT L GO]

Sad story. Hindsight is 20/20. I bet if you had to do it over again you would have handled it differently.



.

[ambleZ06]

Polar Bear aren't you a lawyer? Why don't you build a case against them? Just my .02.

Later

[Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by IT L GO

Sad story. Hindsight is 20/20. I bet if you had to do it over again you would have handled it differently.



.

I am not sure what u mean by that


And I am not a lawyer YET, I am a third year lawstudent and work at a large firm and am BAR certified.

The only thing I could get out of the dealer is a new pipe put on my car, which they have agreed to do, they are just dragging their feet, giving me headaches, and some other crap. THe easy fix is to buy the new pipe put it on and deal with SLP on their own time, I have already given them recipts and the name of the shop wo put it on. INstead they are trying to get the shop that put the part on to warranty it Legally the only thing I COULD get if I litigate this is the cost of repairing my car some money for the time they had it (maybe) and a small ammount of punitive damages (not likely).

I am not gonna get a lawyer over a few hundred dollars I would just go to small calims court.

what amazes me is that GM is paying for a rental caddillac for me, by now the rental fees are more than the cost of the part, why is the delaer running around with SLP over the part that is less than 300 dollars

and Z06vette405 its Courtesy in San Jose not Morgan Hill but they are the same owner

[gresch]

Originally Posted by Polar Bear

I am not sure what u mean by that


And I am not a lawyer YET, I am a third year lawstudent and work at a large firm and am BAR certified.

The only thing I could get out of the dealer is a new pipe put on my car, which they have agreed to do, they are just dragging their feet, giving me headaches, and some other crap. THe easy fix is to buy the new pipe put it on and deal with SLP on their own time, I have already given them recipts and the name of the shop wo put it on. INstead they are trying to get the shop that put the part on to warranty it Legally the only thing I COULD get if I litigate this is the cost of repairing my car some money for the time they had it (maybe) and a small ammount of punitive damages (not likely).

I am not gonna get a lawyer over a few hundred dollars I would just go to small calims court.

what amazes me is that GM is paying for a rental caddillac for me, by now the rental fees are more than the cost of the part, why is the delaer running around with SLP over the part that is less than 300 dollars

and Z06vette405 its Courtesy in San Jose not Morgan Hill but they are the same owner

how can you be a 3rd year AND have passed the BAR exam?

[Polar Bear]

I do not belive I said taht I have passed the bar, I am bar certified meaning I can argue in court under the supervision of an attorney, but I have not passed the bar nor stated that

[bigbadbevo]

Sorry to hear about your woes but this one falls squarely on GM's shoulders and they work hard to earn their crappy reputation. Even though the dealerships are independently owned, GM still should enforce basic standards of operation to which they all need to comply. To simply brush something off as "out of their hands, b/c the dealer is an independent entity" is total BS. That dealer maybe independent but they still carry GM products and are the embodiment of GM to the consumer.

I liken it to a franchise in a way. Most McD's (if not all) are independently owned and operated but they still are reigned in under McD's corporate operating standards. Hell, there are auto manufacturers out there that set strict guidelines to their dealerships. For example, I -believe- no Infiniti dealership is allowed to mark a car up above MSRP. Every manufacturer has a bad dealership or two out there but GM has more than its share IMO.

Best of luck to you. At least you are in the right field of work to deal with GM.

[ZO6 AL-X]

Sorry to hear about the car. You're right, just take 'em to court and get some money out of it - it's the principle of the thing.

I would write letters to GM -- can't hurt, I guess. And if you do get rid of the car, include that in your letter to get their attention.

[Polar Bear]

Originally Posted by ZO6 AL-X

Sorry to hear about the car. You're right, just take 'em to court and get some money out of it - it's the principle of the thing.

I would write letters to GM -- can't hurt, I guess. And if you do get rid of the car, include that in your letter to get their attention.

Good idea about the letter, I will include a bill of sale for the new car i buy and the bill of sale for the Z

there is nothing to take them to court over, esentally it is a 200 dollar part, maybe I can get a month of car payment out of them but thats not worth my time.

[Z06Vette405]

Good luck on getting it resolved.

And yeah, I agree, a few hundred dollars isn't worth going to court over.