I get you are upset. But, there is still a language barrier here. They offered to fix it, right? So you can’t say he “hasn’t done anything.” You don’t want to be accused of lying, do you? That would only hurt your reputation and your case.
I don’t agree that it was undisclosed. You admitted you saw the damage prior to leaving the lot, and they told you they’d take care of it. The degree of damage, yes. The general term of “undisclosed” is a stretch here though.
Should they have done something prior to you leaving the lot to make it right…sure, especially since you live 1,000 miles away. But you saw it and left with it anyways.
They offered to fix your car. You’re not going to get a new one at this point. That option left when you hit the highway.
They offered to fix it on spot when it was noticed by OP and he still decided to leave and take a 1000 mile test drive without getting it fixed? Am I understanding this correctly?
I think the dealer said he will make it right when OP left. (Whatever “make it right” means).
This is the risk of doing such a far away deal. You pay for convenience when you get it close to home.
Life is too short to get all stressed out over minor things like this. They offered to fix it, you declined and drove away because you wanted to go home, end of discussion and end of their responsibility. Drive the car and enjoy it, no one is every going to notice or care about whatever you think is wrong with the rear bumper.
FYI, cars get re-sprayed and fixed in vehicle assembly plants all the time. The baseless accusations aren’t making you sound very good.
Take your palm and smack the sh*t out of the side of the bumper where it’s protruding. It will pop back in and catch the clip that it’s supposed to be on. You’re welcome.
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BTW, I remember a case with BMW where a lot of new cars have had bodywork done on them.
Found something related to it
While I side with OP here on the fact that the dealer was perhaps a bit shady in not being forthcoming about the bumper damage - it is unfortunately 100% on OP as he noticed the problem and continued to finalize the deal.
Sounds to me like OP was impatient regarding getting into the car and joy riding back home without regard for the problem at hand. That falls on himself and no one else. There are contracts in place and you will not get out of them over anything short of a lemon case or an insurance claim.
You think the dealer is tough to deal with? I guarantee you corporate is worse. Put yourself in the dealer/manufacturer shoes if everyone had problems with their vehicle and decided to go back and say “I don’t want it anymore, put me in a new one”. This is why lemon laws exist, to protect both parties - not just the consumer.
People have far greater headaches over hidden problems that pop up 2-3 months after ownership on vehicles that are well over $100k+.
Rule of thumb: Get everything you want out of the deal prior to signing on the dotted line.
How did you expect them to fix it after the fact anyway if your home is almost 900 miles away?
My suggestion to you OP is to either let the selling dealer remedy the problem and make you whole, or just bring it to a local dealer and wash your hands of the selling dealer all together. Anything else you are just spinning your wheels wasting time.
The issue is bad for both parties involved, but OP don’t make a mountain out of a mole hill. It’s going to get you nowhere in this case. I am telling you this from experience.
Sorry to hear that brother.
Hopefully something figured out.
Thanks Yongming,
Very encouraging conversations so far with PA Attorney General’s Office and Alfa Romeo corporate. PA has very stringent pre-sale new car damage disclosure laws.
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Thanks for this info, coss1600
Good luck with your complaint.
That said, I’m still befuddled by this as the damage was noticed by you + the dealer prior to you leaving, so one could argue the damage was “disclosed”. Unless you can prove the damage was more than a couple missing clips that would exceed the threshold.
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Dont give up to get your right as a customer. To me, the dealership supposed to not do that no matter what. You are doing right thing bro.
Supposed to not do what?
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PA has stringent laws around disclosures of damage that the dealer is aware of (e.g. that happened while on the lot). Nothing about what might have been handled by FCA in transit or at the port.
I still maintain and am willing to bet this was a repair gone awry at the port that no one noticed.
Hope it works out for you OP…
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Read the post.
I did. Saw it from the beginning.
I don’t own an Alpha, but I did lease a Honda Accord in September and the rubber liner around the front windshield had small tears in it.I took some pictures sent it to the dealer they never got back to me,spoke with my body and fender guy about it and he told me they would probably have to break the windshield to replace the rubber liner between the windshield and the car body and with that reprogram the cameras located between the rearview mirror and the windshield , an all day affair, to say the least. After not hearing from the dealer after 3 phone calls to them I decided to call Honda corporate, they resolved the issue with the dealer, took 2 days, I was given a similar model loaner to use while they made the repairs. Honda corporate was very responsive and had the dealer perform the necessary work. I didn’t need a lawyer to resolve the issue,once lawyers get involved it gets into another level and anyone here telling you to suck it up is probably a car dealer, I would see to it that they make you whole on this issue.
I’d lean towards FCA/Alfa on the corporate side wanting to make things right, even if the dealer wont. There’s a stigma attached to Alfa to begin with that they haven’t managed to shake this go around. If they can make a customer happy within reason that sounds like the better option vs having them hit local TV, social media, consumer sites, etc. It’s worth a shot.
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I thought this site was for the consumers.
Dealer sold him a damaged car, passed off as new. How is anyone siding with the dealer on this?
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But it was a new car?
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