psajb

Sorry its so long!

I have paint bubbling on the rear passenger side about 12" before the tail light all the way back to the light and around the bottom of the light in the red. Also behind the mud flap in the silver area the clear coat has shattered in large areas and started to peal in other areas. I only see this happening in the rear passenger side quarter panel. The rest of the truck appears to be ok with the accept ion of some junk in the paint in other areas. My truck has an 01/03 build date. I have tried to get the dealer to fix the area. I've taken it to them back in april and july when it wasn't so bad and they keep telling me that they cannot do anything with paint until DC rep looks at it, that they will schedule a meeting and let me know when he will be there. My concern is no one ever gets back to me. I have called DC two days in a row now and they tell me the dealer should contact me within 24 hrs, day three still haven't heard from anyone. At first the bad area just looked like a little dirt in the paint as time went on I have hundreds of bubbles in that area. I'm worried that if it is happening in that are what to stop it from starting in another area of the truck.

Well tonight I pulled the rear taillight and you can tell from looking at the inside that the lower area under the taillight was dented and bodywork was done and that area was repainted. So I was ****** and called the dealer the only one I could speak with was the sale manager. He informed me that the repair could have been done at the factory and the dealer would have no way of knowing. Has anyone ever herd of the manufacturer doing bodywork repairs before the vehicle is shipped to the dealer? Or is the dealer lying to me?? I asked the dealer before I purchased if there were any invoices for repair done to this vehicle becuase I had bad past experiences and they told me no. What do you think?

Burlington City Dodge New Jersey If anyone is Q

natstayl

No. I think the damage stays and gets fixed at the dealership, but I'm hopeful someone whose worked at a dealership will chime in on this one. I saw a new truck come off the carrier and go directly to the bodyshop once. I felt certain the dealership had advance knowledge it was arriving that way and I seem to remember a shop guy telling me a new fender and trim box was shipped along with the damaged truck.
I'd bet though your truck was originally shipped to another dealership close-by. The damage was probably repaired there (may have even happened there) then offloaded to your dealership in a like-vehicle trade because the offending dealership had a customer who wanted one in a different color.
Assuming it was not an "as is" deal when you bought it and the truck was sold as factory fresh, go directly to the dealership Owner/Operator, if you don't get satisfaction, hire a lawyer to make a phone call and send a letter.
Nat

MikeyB

Try to make the dealer fess up to the body work. About a year ago my aunt bought a brand new BMW and few days later found that the car had body work done. A trip back to the BMW dealer and a few hours of talking they put her in a new undamaged BMW.
BTW, my truck came with a few little shipping dents that I noticed a couple of days after buying the truck. The dealer sent a paintless dent repair person to my house on a Saturday and fixed it.

MikeyB

falcondan9570

YES.. Vehicles do get damaged at the factory..Also in transit..

Jonesey

They do make repairs at the factory. My truck is living proof. When I picked up my truck at the dealer they had it parked closely next to a car on the driver side. I did a walk-a-round and all looked good except for a dent in the rear bumper, which they replaced with one of the same color from another truck on the lot. It was cloudy at the time. I thought all was well until on the drive homeward the sun hit the upper driver bedside and while glancing in the mirror I noticed a spot that appeared to be lighter in color. I stopped at my brother's house on the way and checked it out. When the sun hits just right you can see a 10" wide by 20" long spot that is a lighter shade. I wasn't thrilled but I decided not to return to the dealer to let them try to buff it out because it looked liked they had already tried and just made it worse. I called the dealer and informed my salesperson I would just try to wax the spot out when the weather broke and got warmer. This was in January. I had an over the rail Rhino Liner sprayed in two weeks later. When Spring arrived I tried to wax the spot out to no avail. The difference in color is in the basecoat and not something they screwed up while buffing the clearcoat except for the added buffer marks. I now call the dealer and ask them If they did a paint repair when my truck arrived and they reply in the negative. They stated they have heard of repairs at the railyards but did not know if this was the case with mine. A call to DC customer service and they state they show no report of repair to my truck either at the factory or the railyard. Another call to my selling dealer which is appx. 165 miles away is in order. I talk to the service manager and he tells me to take it to a local dealer to let them look at it. I take it to a dealer and the technician tells me he is color blind and can't see anything wrong with it. In other words you didn't buy it here so we won't help you. I leave the dealer and take it up the road about a mile to a body shop that has done work for me previously. They look at it and have no trouble what so ever seeing the spot. They say it is definitely something that was done at the factory that someone didn't want to fess up to. They said it looks like for some reason the area was wiped with a rag, shot with basecoat and sent down the line to be clearcoated along with the rest of the truck. I had the body shop give me an estimate and faxed it to my selling dealer. The estimate included removing the over the rail part of the Rhino Liner and having it reinstalled after painting the entire bedside. This part of the estimate was appx. $300.00 and $375.00 for the painting. The service manager called me and said DC would not pay to have the over the rail part of the bedliner removed and reinstalled. Now I'm really getting upset. I call DC customer service and they state the same in regards to the bedliner. I voice my dissatisfaction and ask how it could have ever left the factory in this condition. They have no answer. I then call the Rhino dealer and check with him on the price the body shop quoted and he said it was a little high and he would work with me if I had to pay for it. The problem he stated would be getting it to match the rest of the bedliner. I called my salesperson and told her about all of this mess and she said when I trade it in she would not see the spot. That's a great help now that she no longer is employed there. I have taken no further action and decided to just live with it albeit unhappily. Moral of this long story is to never take delivery without inspecting your vehicle in anything but ideal lighting and with enough room to inspect it from a distance.

psajb

Well threatened to call attorney, then dealer wanted to see truck again, by the time I got there they said they would have it repaired under warrantee. So aguess if it is fixed under warrantee it must of been damaged at the factory. Cannot beleive there isn't a law that they have to notify you of the repair even though it happened at the factory. It should be discounted or something!!!!

Thanks for the replys!

Jonesey

I could not agree with you more. Discount should equal the amount you will lose when you trade or sell due to the defect.