Has a dealership ever damaged your car?

[Xtype0]

Just wanted to get experiences from people that have had their vehicles damaged by the dealership during service.

Aside from the dealer taking it to the body shop to fix whatever damage they caused on their dime, did the dealer do anything to offset the inconvenience or depreciation to your vehicle by spraying?

Please specify the region/area if you are not comfortable naming the dealership.

[overcoil]

When I had Mercedes they always fixed it nothing more. Dealership pissed me off about some damage and the regional rep Wash/Balto area was very good.
It's a story not worth repeating, and I over reacted.

Funny story, was at Mercedes dealer and a good looking older Vietnamese women where they put grease on the back seat of her S-Class said "I don't want that car any more, get me a new one". The service guy didn't crack a smile he was serious to the point of looking scared.

[kprocivic]

My brand new civic si was backed into while at the dealership which put a 1 inch gash in My door. They first were reluctant to fix it but they eventually did.

[Xtype0]

It just annoys me that they do it so often that even their apology sounds as fake as the engine noise they put through the speakers. Its not even their first time doing it. They backed my previous 330 and scraped the rear wheel arch across some white pillar and more recently, they dropped something on my 335 that made a deep scratch along the front fender.

Suffice it to say, I'm done with the dealer and possibly the brand too as I'm disappointed with the low level of customer service given that it is supposedly a premium brand.

[Beartato]

This wasn't during service but I think the story fits. When I bought my M235i the dealer I went with was 2 1/2 hours away, and the car had been shipped from the Los Angeles area. Well, the day I went to pick it up, the dealer noted during shipment the rear bumper had been scratched. Nothing too bad, it was just a small one inch scratch above the wheel that barely hit the surface (as if a careless driver had nicked it with a racket strap). When I did my walk around I noticed the front bumper had a minor scrap too underneath. The CA was very embarrassed and apologetic about the whole ordeal. He said I could either wait until their body shop had an opening (but promised it'd be the utmost priority) or take delivery that day and come back with a scheduled appointment. I choose the latter out of excitement of a new car. I came back about a week later, and they gave me an newish X1 as a loaner. I picked the M235i about a week later on the the day it was promised back, and they did a great job. All the work was done under the dealer's name and not mine so it shouldn't show up on any reports.

According to my CA, after I pressured him out of curiosity how the front bumper was missed and how the rear had only been noticed the morning of delivery when they were detailing it, he said the car had been delivered late at night and their delivery guy failed to complete his post-delivery inspection. Part of me felt bad since as the dealer hadn't noted it to the shipper they had to eat the costs, but the other part of me realized this happens all the time for new car deliveries, it's just we as a customer don't usually see it. Last I heard a new car can have up to around 6% of its value claimed and fixed in shipment before it's not considered new and they dealer doesn't have to tell you.

I'm in no way mad, things happen, to err is human, etc. The only way they compensated me besides the rental was I got the X1 with a full tank of gas and the CA said don't worry about the gas when you return, so I returned it with about a 1/4 tank.

[eluded]

I had bad experience including car being brought to paint shop due to dealer damage. Don't want to rehash it. Be very wary when your cars are not in the garage.

[David70]

My Audi was hit while in the back lot by a van driving through. Van driver saw it and took off. Police called, report done, dealership took care of body work and it looked as good as before it was hit. For minor accidents/scratches, I don't agree with the idea that some have that they owe you more than making you car as good as it was when you dropped it off.

[tec333]

I took my Infiniti in for service, they fried the ECU and had it for a whole week. Then when I came to pick it up there was a big gash on the bumper. 😡

[zx10guy]

I've had two different incidents with my BMW dealer and one with a dealer where I bought my old 94 Z28.

The two incidents with the BMW dealer involved scratches to my car. One was the tow hook cover on the rear bumper. I guess they were trying to remove something or do something back there to track down an issue I had with my dash lighting up like a Christmas tree and then going dead. They did find the problem being a junction box in the trunk. The dealer resprayed the tow hook cover.

The second incident with the dealer was after dropping off my car for scheduled maintenance. The wiper blades were replaced and I guess the tech wasn't careful and put a scratch on the engine hood. Found out about the scratch after driving off with the car but on the same day. Called my SA and brought the car back. He didn't even challenge me on this as he know I'm anal about my car. He took the car back to the detailers to buff the scratch out.

One good thing this dealer does is to do a drop off check out of the car. You walk around with the guy checking in the car and the guy notes any damage on the car and has you sign the sheet acknowledging the condition of the car. If something happens after, there's no dispute over who's at fault.

The other incident I had with a dealer was with my 94 Z28 I bought from their used car lot. The car was in for service under their 30 days warranty. The car developed the infamous Optispark failure. They had the car for a few days and when I went to pick up the car found a long scratch on the front right corner near the air dam. Pointed this out to the service manager and he apologized. Tried buffing out the scratch but couldn't take it completely out. I didn't want to have the bumper resprayed so I just let it go. He did offer up a free full car detail for my troubles but I just never got around to taking advantage of it.

[TheBingoBalls]

Got front bumper scuffed that I was able to buff out myself. Not a huge deal but enough for me to consider using that dealer next time.

[Bucki14]

To keep it short and sweet, bmw somehow managed to get my car rear ended when it was in for a simple oil change. This ended up with me being in a loaner for 3 months (barely wanted to give me that) as they repaired my car. 2x in between this 3 month span they said my car was ready only to show up to it still being effed up. (1/2 assed the job). It was a sad time.

I'm in Columbus, and it was the dealership on the west side (Dublin area).

Wrote a letter to BMW Corporate...

[yousefnjr]

When I was young I used to be a tech at a Mercedes dealer. One time I accidentally sprayed an E-class interior with gasoline, and also fried half the control modules in a C-class. Felt really bad about those ones because they were totally my fault. Other guys I saw there did much worse, including a crashed CLK 63 Black during a pre-delivery inspection (in the goddamn parking lot no less, lol)

My advice - work on your own car

[JoyRin]

I had two incidents, both at the same subaru dealership. First was when i first bought the car. They offered my first oil change for free, so when I brought it in, i asked them to remove the dealership advert. sticker from the trunk. Whoever did it literally used a scraper to scrape it off. A bunch of paint scraped off as you can imagine. They immediately fired the guy (i wasnt the first one) and brought an independent guy to touch up that area no charge. Whoever this guy was did a fantastic job. You would never know that it was scraped up in the first place....im still trying to find out who this guy was so i can use him..lol.

Second time literally two weeks later, i brought the car in for water leaking onto the dash. I went to pick up the car, only to notice that the driver side door had about a 1 1/2 foot scratch. They obviously tried to blame it on me, but i knew they were bs-ing bc as soon as i asked for the service manager, they immediately told me they would take care of it. This time around, the fix wasnt that great. I do remember the van the original touch up guy used and it was a different van this time around.