Long story short, in December 2017 I purchased a brand new Toyota Sienna with 7 miles on it in the bay area. Fast forward to recently, we started having trouble with the hatch closing and then noticed we had a small water leak as well. I took it to the dealer thinking they would have to just replace some trim and everything would be covered under warranty. To my surprise, I get a call from the service advisor that my car has previously been in an accident and it was improperly repaired.
I’ve never been involved in an accident with this car which makes me assume that the damage occurred before the car was sold to me.
To those who may know, what kind of recourse do I have with this? I’m on my way to the dealer I bought it from right now but do they have to disclose if there was any damage before selling it to me?
Did OP on that thread ever have any resolution? Kinda odd how they disappeared.
I think he was going to sue for $MILLIONS
@Thinkcam what ended up happening??
Hard to imagine it was damaged/fixed 2 years ago and just discovered now.
Are there teenagers in your life? Have you left your van home while they were scurrying around? Dealership people do an above average job of hiding their fraud.
Just a quick update. The service department showed me the paint had no clear coat on the inner part of the car near the hinge for the hatch and they also showed me how misaligned the hatch. I walked over to the sales department and they said they have no record of any damages and showed me the pre inspection notes. So they basically said there is nothing they can do and asked me to call my insurance company to have them repair it.
I’m absolutely enraged at the level of bs these guys are pulling but I’ve really got no where else to turn. I’ve always leased my cars and now I remember why I should have continued to do so.
I had a similar situation with our previous X3. Car kept shorting out due to a leak in the trunk area where battery was located. Our BMW dealer, who sold us the vehicle new, said rear hatch was improperly repaired from an accident and it wasn’t them. I knew it didn’t happen while we owned it. After being given a $6800 estimate and told to contact my insurance company I spoke to dealership GM who basically said sorry we ain’t paying. Two days later I retained an attorney who placed a phone call to the GM. Abracadabra the dealership completely changed their tune and fixed it for “good will”.
He got his dough and retired to the Bahamas
No teenagers or other people driving the car except myself and my wife. I’m honestly so pissed off, I’m thinking about dumping it and just leasing another minivan so I don’t have to deal with this thing.
Look for a carfax and see if anything shows up. Have you tried contacting Toyota USA directly? Is there any way to prove this accident happened at the dealership?
No one disappeared. As I mentioned before, It is being played out in arbitration. Once it is resolved I will update you all.
Pull a CarFax and Autocheck, the damage may be on there. If you find anything on there, call a consumer protection attorney right away.
Why would the damage be on the carfax if the dealership sold it as new with 7 miles on it? Why would they report their own damage to it?
If the dealer made an insurance claim against it, it would show right? Unless they got their lot attendant to fix it with a hammer and a spray can lol…
That would be a silly response… it’s not the end of the world and ultimately maybe compensated or allowed out of your lease and/or given a replacement.
You definitely have to do your due diligence and see if you can find anything to link it the dealer (or it could have been swapped from a different dealer). Lot damage is rather common but this seems extensive.
You may want to search out a lawyer anyway since they are paid by the dealer/manufacturer if successful, so their willingness to take the case may be an indicator of how strong they think your case is.
Any chance you parked it in a garage for any long period of time? I’ve seen shady stuff like this happen in NYC garages.
There’s probably a paper trail somewhere, either the dealer did it, they traded for the car and that dealer did it(although doubtful with 7 miles), or it was damaged before being to delivered to the dealer(I’m leaning towards this). It happens, but usually gets disclosed, if you can prove it, the dealer or manufacturer will have to give you every penny back that you paid. Might need a lawyer that specializes in lemons/automotive issues. Doubt this would be on a carfax, that only happens if a police report was made, this thing wasn’t on a public road when this happened.
I’d get another opinion from a body shop to determine if it was actually damaged. The misaligned hatch could just be poor QC at the factory, look at a used one and see if the paint is the same too.
Not necessarily. I’ve had accidents show up without having gone the police report route. I believe it’s up to the individual insurance company, just like each individual garage.
Personally I don’t put much stock in carfax, yeah it could show up, but I doubt with this thing, this thing would not have been covered by a policy specific to that car, would have been a blanket insurance policy, if a claim was made I would very surprised if the damage was reported to carfax. I’ve seen so many cars with damage not listed on carfax that I wouldn’t trust it ever. And on the flip side I’ve seen cars with such minor damage that have a carfax ding that it’s ridiculous. Doesn’t hurt to check though, would certainly make things easier for the OP
I’m not so sure there either. I’ve seen cars with lot damage that have been reported to Carfax. I wouldn’t think they would be for the same reason you have, but for whatever reason, it was.
That said, I take the info on Carfax with a grain of salt. I’ve had accidents show up for me that never happened and vice versa. Oil changes that didn’t report, as well as services showing that never happened. It’s virtually useless.
I actually pulled the carfax on the car and there are no reports of any accidents.
My next step is to take it to a body shop and see exactly what they can find so I have some more information about the repairs that were done and what the cost might be to fix the improperly repaired damage. After that, I’ll reach out to Toyota USA to see if they have any input.
Lastly, if this ends up becoming a time suck, I’ll just sell the car. Right now after 21 months of use, I’ll lose approximately 13k on the car(that includes the tax I paid on the car when I bought it) which ends being about $620 per month of usage. It’s not fair but definitely a lesson learned and another reason for me to continue leasing cars rather than buying them.