Ha! I was expecting to see a list of charges for slightly bigger scratches and dents than otherwise would be within the tolerance. Not a stolen set of wheels. Curious to know the end of this story, keep us posted.
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This is wild! GM financial does not want to take responsibility, nor the dealership? To avoid this in the future, how do you turn a vehicle in to GM financial? I just dont get it.
Definitely escalate within GM Financial to ask them to stop collecting on this payment for 30-45 days while you get to the bottom of this with them and the dealer.
Iād reach out to the general manager of the dealer where you returned the vehicle, send them documentation of your lease return, the photos you took day-of, and ask for an explanation.
If neither of these work, Iād prepare demand letters for GM Financial and the dealer and prepare to hire a lawyer to deal with it. This is crazy.
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Are there usually 2 inspections done? You said 9/28, but from their report it says 10/1?
Legally speaking, the dealership is acting as the agent for GM Financial. Therefore, once the vehicle is handed over to the dealership the lessee is relieved of any responsibility for that vehicle.
As others have suggested, someone stole those wheels and tires off the vehicle and the dealership just didnāt want to deal with filing a police report and going thru insurance so theyāre trying to put it on youā¦as dumb as that may seem.
I would suggest you speak with the GM at the dealership to clear up any misunderstandings. If he/she isnāt 100% cooperative and willing to rectify the issue immediately then get an attorney to write them a letter and start putting the dealership on blast. You can contact your attorney generals office and possibly even a local news station that does those āinvestigativeā pieces on their channel. Theyād surely get a kick out of it and the dealership would get a ton of negative attention.
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Twitter is a great place to contact local reporters. Surely one would LOVE to jump all over this instead of more COVID stories. Make a Twitter and tweet this out to as many in your area as possible
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Really this should be handled by them, GM financial should be contacting the dealer. Iād contact the police too and have a report made by them for documentation purposes. Preferably unannounced to get the dealers attention, just show up and call the cops. Iām sure the dollar amount is above a point where they would come out and make a report and have video pulled from the dealer/etc.
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Does Chevrolet dealer provide any type of written documents to prove you dropped off the vehicle with all parts on it? Donāt the dealership do an inspection to clear themselves?
Theyād come out and file a report but if the dealership doesnāt want to share the video surveillance tapes then the only way they can get access to them is with a subpoena signed by a judge.
When you have your lease inspected, you should be given report on the spot showing all wear and charges. That report and photos of the car at turn in should protect you. Many dealers are happy to take your car because they want to sell you another. Dealerships donāt do inspections. They park car in lease return area awaiting pickup by bank. Car could be hit or better yet, someone goes need tires and rims? Look at the Camarillo lease return. Should make you wonder. Just because the dealer says soā¦ if I were you Iād pay them a visit!
So what does a lawyer charge to understand the issues and then send off a letter.
The damages are at most $2200 as stated by the OP. I suspect that a lawyer would charge you a least $1000 (probably more) to write some letters. Then there could be additional charges as the situation unwinds.
If you cant easily resolve this with the dealership and/or GM Financial, then I would suggest getting your insurance company involved. They have people who deal with stuff like this
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Itās a fair point - an initial consultation and demand letter shouldnāt be that expensive.
Suspect the issue with insurance will be what if they dropped insurance the day they returned it? Insurance may determine it isnāt their problem because this happened post drop-off.
The act of dropping off doesnāt cancel insurance. Itās when OP called and took the car off his policy that matters.
Take the pictures to the dealership. Tell them you will file a police report for wheel theft if they cannot explain what happened to the wheels.
You can get an attorney to type up a letter for $100-200. Usually thatās enough to scare off the dealership and get them to act in good faith.
Are we to assume that one drove to the dealership without wheels? I donāt quite understand how GM could even remotely accuse you of this?
^^^ This. And the fact that it was driven to the storage lit. OP likely parked in front of the dealership and then signed the necessary paperwork and left. An employee then moved it to the storage location. Could be an inside job
I understand that. But if OP is like most, they probably suspended their insurance the day they dropped off - why would you keep paying insurance for a car no longer in your possession?
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Do NOT file anything with your personal insurance. You are NOT responsible for that vehicle after itās turned into a dealer. Why would you file a claim with your insurance and then have your rates go up?
If you got time I would document that you tried to resolve it, and then sue GM and Dealer in small claims court and tack on time and bad faith and stress etc.