Evo in for warranty repair damaged by dealer
May 16, 2009, 12:07 AM
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Evo in for warranty repair damaged by dealer
I guess I'm going to hold off on the name of the dealer at this point...
This is a long drawn out story that starts out with some rust on my car...
The car is an 03 blue evo, with a few slight modifications. I bought the car in 06, stock, except for a blow off valve and bltz turbo time. Parked the car for the first winter that I'd had it, and then was forced to drive it for the second. It hasn't been driven in over a year now, due to waiting for some rust to be taken car of under warranty, plus the registration's up currently. It has 99, 740 miles on it, so I couldn't drive it if I wanted to try to get it covered.
Trailered it to the dealership in early April, and they examined it and quoted the repair at around $3000. The rear driver's quarter has a quarter sized rust spot, and the trunk was rusted under the wing. I told the dealership that I would understand if the trunklid wasn't going to be covered, but was expecting the quarter to be. They told me to give them two weeks, and see what mitsubishi had to say about it. I called them two weeks and one day later, and they said "Oh, you have to get us a quote from an outside shop. Great... I trailer the car down the road, and get a quote from a local shop, who's expecting me to get some work done with him, which I hopefully still will. I get the fax at work with his quote, and I take it to the dealership. The shop calls me and says, "We sent it to your work, but it ended up at this dealership. They called us asking why they have a quote from us. We'll send it agian, maybe we had the wrong number." At this point, I'm asking mitsubishi corporate why the dealership is bringing up questions after they've requested this quote. They don't really know. The dealership asked me to give them a couple of days for mitsubishi's decision.
I get a call in four days from the dealership with the good news that it's going to be covered, but just the quarter. That's fine by me. I get the car trailered up after work, and lock it up in the parking lot. I stop by in the morning to drop off the keys, and go over any paperwork. I signed the papers for the inspection of current damage, where it was noted that there were a few chips in the hood, and the rear passenger side of the bumper near the marker lens was scraped (from a hit and run a couple of years ago) and there was a small ding in the rear driver's door. Everything seems fine and I head to work.
I get a message at about 4:30pm that day to call the dealership. I call, and the body shop manager says that there was an issue with my car and some damage at the shop. He asks if I can stop in to talk about it in the morning. I tell him I'll be right there, as I'm about five minutes away. I get over there, and he said that somehow, out of nowhere at all, it started all on it's own, and it was in gear. "I can assure you 100% that nobody was near the car." I said that somebody was playing with the keys. I may get some flack for this, I know, but I have a remote start in the car. The clutch has been bypassed, and it will start in gear. I know it's not the best thing to have, but I checked with three sheriffs, two state troopers, and a supreme court judge; it's not illegal in New York. Furthermore, even if it were, I've been told by the above people, it was in possession of the dealership, any damages inflicted while in their possession are the responsibility of the dealership.
The body shop manager tells me that there was a person pinned by my car. I look at the car, and the rear glass was out, the trunklid was crushed, and the bumper was crinkled. amd removed. I asked specifically how the person was doing, and he said that he was okay, he was startled more than anything, and that his wife may take him to the hospital to get checked out, but nothing was broken. The person was an outside glass contractor, and was taking the rear window out at the time. I asked the manager what they were going to do about the damage, and he seemed as though it were my fault. I told him that someone at the shop had to have been playing with the keys. He assured me again that nobody was near my car. I told him that the point of a remote start was that you don't have to be near the car. He said then changed his story and said that he could assure me that nobody had the keys, and that they were in the door. He also said that any modifications to the vehicle were illegal. I was pretty upset and I told him that I would have to wait to figure out what to do. The other peson at the stop told me that I should talk to my insurance company. I asked him why, and he said that I could claim it on my insurance. Mind you, my car has not been registered for over a year now, but I still have full coverage for insurance. I told him that I already pay $3000 for my car and truck insurance, and another $2000 a year for a motorcycle, and I see no reason why I should have to claim the damages and see my premiums go up even more. The manager said that the owner was out of town untill the morning, and first thing, he would talk to him and find out what he wanted to do, as it's his final call.
I waited until about one o'clock to call and find out what was going on. I got no answer, and was bounced around to voicemails. I then decided to call mitsubishi corporate, who asked all of the details, and assigned me a claim number. They said that they would look into it, and let me know as soon as they talked to the dealership. They called me a later to tell me that they spoke to the dealership, and there wasn't a whole lot they could do, as my options were to let them finish the work, take my car out in the condition it was in, or leave it there and sue the dealership. Great, again. The owner was still out of town and couldn't be reached yet. I called the sheriffs to again verify the legality of the remote start in my car, and was told it wasn't illegal, and that I should call the county sheriff and have them meet me there to write up an accident report. I did so, and the sheriff showed up, but the body shop was closed. I was told I could go and look for my car by the sales manager, so we looked around the inside of the shop, and I finally found my car, with the bumper reinstalled (damaged) and the new quarter panel partially installed. So even after damaging the car, they continued to work on it. I went back to the manager, with the sheriff, and told him to make sure they stopped completely until I found out what was going to happen from the owner. The sheriff asked me to hold off on the report until then.
I waited until the morning, and called the owner of the dealership, and left a message to call me back. He called about an hour later, and told me that he didn't want to argue with me, but he saw no fault of the dealership, as I didn't disclose the remote start to them. I said that there was a lot that I didn't disclose, like the turbo timer, the electronic boost control, the high pressure fuel pump, the full alarm system... He said that those didn't matter to him, and by the end of the conversation, he told me that he was willing to give me a break on the price of repairing the trunk and bumper, and that he wouldn't cover the repairs unless he was ordered to by a judge. He also told me that the person who was involved had not been hit by my car, but had twisted his knee when he went to run around the side of my car to try to get in to shut it down. I asked him, if the car actually did start all on it's own, then why was the battery not disconnected when I arrived, if they had any concern that it could happen again, all out of the blue. He told me that it wasn't normal practice for them to disconnect the battery when doing body work. I told him that it's not normal practice to have a car in for body work and have it damaged even more. He didn't really have a response for that. A friend of mine was sitting next to me while I was on the phone, and said he couldn't believe the tone of voice that the owner had taken, as he could hear him over the phone.
I had called my insurance company just to notify them of the entire ordeal, and I was completely straightforward with them, explaining the remote start and clutch bypass. They said that wouldn't have anything to do with it, and it was completely within my rights. They said it was good to notify them anyway, so they wouldn't be caught off guard if something came up later. I ended up talking to a friend of mine who is a judge, and he advised that I file the claim under my insurance, making sure that they knew I was anticipating the return of my deductable, since it was the fault of the dealership. I called up and asked if an adjuster could be sent out to assess the damage. In the meantime, the car has been sitting, and I've had no information as to what condition it was currently in. The insurance adjuster estimated the damage to be around $1100, if they could heat and repair the bumper, and about $1300 if they couldn't. He also said that they seemed to be doing a good job with the repair, and suggested that I let them finish it, then get the car out of there. I went ahead with his advice, and have been waiting this week for them to finish the car.
Last night I got home, and got a letter from a law firm requesting the contact information for my insurance company. I called my insurance, and they said that I just needed to fax the letter in, and that I don't have anything to worry about, they'll take care of it. I know that since the person was working, it should be covered under worker's compensation, and as far as I was told, he wasn't even injured by my car.
I was called today about my car being ready to pick up, and I asked if they could just lock the doors and leave the key in it. I stopped after work, (9pm) and got in the car, and the turbo timer was hanging below the steering wheel, with the casing missing, and the display cracked. I immediately got really angry again, and called my insurance just to document it. Getting through all of the explanation, I took the car back to the garage that I'm going ot be storing it at, and at about 11pm, I pulled it in under flourescent lights, and realized how terrible of a job they did. They oversprayed the paint and clearcoat into the parts that were supposed to be blended, the rubber trim along the B-pillars is high in the middle, as in, not even pressed in, the plastic lower rear window trim isn't even pressed back in, the paint on the edges where the quarter meets the trunk is still rough, and where they buffed it, they burned the paint, the other quarter is chipped where they were working on fitting the bumper back in, and it looks like they buffed it with sandpaper.
So now I'm waiting til the morning to get a sheriff out to file a report for the turbo timer, and hiopefully to document the quality of the repair work, so I have some documentation. I'm going to have to wait until monday to deal with my insurance company and mitsubishi corporate (both of wom have been extremely helpful, and I'm grateful to) to see what can be done.
If anyone has any advice for me, I'd appreciate it. One thing I'm going to work on tomorrow is a magnetic neutral switch. I've done them on other cars before, just didn't really see the immediate need for my own, until now. Also, if anyone wants info on the dealership, PM me, and I'll send it... it's in western NY.
Thanks for the time,
-David
This is a long drawn out story that starts out with some rust on my car...
The car is an 03 blue evo, with a few slight modifications. I bought the car in 06, stock, except for a blow off valve and bltz turbo time. Parked the car for the first winter that I'd had it, and then was forced to drive it for the second. It hasn't been driven in over a year now, due to waiting for some rust to be taken car of under warranty, plus the registration's up currently. It has 99, 740 miles on it, so I couldn't drive it if I wanted to try to get it covered.
Trailered it to the dealership in early April, and they examined it and quoted the repair at around $3000. The rear driver's quarter has a quarter sized rust spot, and the trunk was rusted under the wing. I told the dealership that I would understand if the trunklid wasn't going to be covered, but was expecting the quarter to be. They told me to give them two weeks, and see what mitsubishi had to say about it. I called them two weeks and one day later, and they said "Oh, you have to get us a quote from an outside shop. Great... I trailer the car down the road, and get a quote from a local shop, who's expecting me to get some work done with him, which I hopefully still will. I get the fax at work with his quote, and I take it to the dealership. The shop calls me and says, "We sent it to your work, but it ended up at this dealership. They called us asking why they have a quote from us. We'll send it agian, maybe we had the wrong number." At this point, I'm asking mitsubishi corporate why the dealership is bringing up questions after they've requested this quote. They don't really know. The dealership asked me to give them a couple of days for mitsubishi's decision.
I get a call in four days from the dealership with the good news that it's going to be covered, but just the quarter. That's fine by me. I get the car trailered up after work, and lock it up in the parking lot. I stop by in the morning to drop off the keys, and go over any paperwork. I signed the papers for the inspection of current damage, where it was noted that there were a few chips in the hood, and the rear passenger side of the bumper near the marker lens was scraped (from a hit and run a couple of years ago) and there was a small ding in the rear driver's door. Everything seems fine and I head to work.
I get a message at about 4:30pm that day to call the dealership. I call, and the body shop manager says that there was an issue with my car and some damage at the shop. He asks if I can stop in to talk about it in the morning. I tell him I'll be right there, as I'm about five minutes away. I get over there, and he said that somehow, out of nowhere at all, it started all on it's own, and it was in gear. "I can assure you 100% that nobody was near the car." I said that somebody was playing with the keys. I may get some flack for this, I know, but I have a remote start in the car. The clutch has been bypassed, and it will start in gear. I know it's not the best thing to have, but I checked with three sheriffs, two state troopers, and a supreme court judge; it's not illegal in New York. Furthermore, even if it were, I've been told by the above people, it was in possession of the dealership, any damages inflicted while in their possession are the responsibility of the dealership.
The body shop manager tells me that there was a person pinned by my car. I look at the car, and the rear glass was out, the trunklid was crushed, and the bumper was crinkled. amd removed. I asked specifically how the person was doing, and he said that he was okay, he was startled more than anything, and that his wife may take him to the hospital to get checked out, but nothing was broken. The person was an outside glass contractor, and was taking the rear window out at the time. I asked the manager what they were going to do about the damage, and he seemed as though it were my fault. I told him that someone at the shop had to have been playing with the keys. He assured me again that nobody was near my car. I told him that the point of a remote start was that you don't have to be near the car. He said then changed his story and said that he could assure me that nobody had the keys, and that they were in the door. He also said that any modifications to the vehicle were illegal. I was pretty upset and I told him that I would have to wait to figure out what to do. The other peson at the stop told me that I should talk to my insurance company. I asked him why, and he said that I could claim it on my insurance. Mind you, my car has not been registered for over a year now, but I still have full coverage for insurance. I told him that I already pay $3000 for my car and truck insurance, and another $2000 a year for a motorcycle, and I see no reason why I should have to claim the damages and see my premiums go up even more. The manager said that the owner was out of town untill the morning, and first thing, he would talk to him and find out what he wanted to do, as it's his final call.
I waited until about one o'clock to call and find out what was going on. I got no answer, and was bounced around to voicemails. I then decided to call mitsubishi corporate, who asked all of the details, and assigned me a claim number. They said that they would look into it, and let me know as soon as they talked to the dealership. They called me a later to tell me that they spoke to the dealership, and there wasn't a whole lot they could do, as my options were to let them finish the work, take my car out in the condition it was in, or leave it there and sue the dealership. Great, again. The owner was still out of town and couldn't be reached yet. I called the sheriffs to again verify the legality of the remote start in my car, and was told it wasn't illegal, and that I should call the county sheriff and have them meet me there to write up an accident report. I did so, and the sheriff showed up, but the body shop was closed. I was told I could go and look for my car by the sales manager, so we looked around the inside of the shop, and I finally found my car, with the bumper reinstalled (damaged) and the new quarter panel partially installed. So even after damaging the car, they continued to work on it. I went back to the manager, with the sheriff, and told him to make sure they stopped completely until I found out what was going to happen from the owner. The sheriff asked me to hold off on the report until then.
I waited until the morning, and called the owner of the dealership, and left a message to call me back. He called about an hour later, and told me that he didn't want to argue with me, but he saw no fault of the dealership, as I didn't disclose the remote start to them. I said that there was a lot that I didn't disclose, like the turbo timer, the electronic boost control, the high pressure fuel pump, the full alarm system... He said that those didn't matter to him, and by the end of the conversation, he told me that he was willing to give me a break on the price of repairing the trunk and bumper, and that he wouldn't cover the repairs unless he was ordered to by a judge. He also told me that the person who was involved had not been hit by my car, but had twisted his knee when he went to run around the side of my car to try to get in to shut it down. I asked him, if the car actually did start all on it's own, then why was the battery not disconnected when I arrived, if they had any concern that it could happen again, all out of the blue. He told me that it wasn't normal practice for them to disconnect the battery when doing body work. I told him that it's not normal practice to have a car in for body work and have it damaged even more. He didn't really have a response for that. A friend of mine was sitting next to me while I was on the phone, and said he couldn't believe the tone of voice that the owner had taken, as he could hear him over the phone.
I had called my insurance company just to notify them of the entire ordeal, and I was completely straightforward with them, explaining the remote start and clutch bypass. They said that wouldn't have anything to do with it, and it was completely within my rights. They said it was good to notify them anyway, so they wouldn't be caught off guard if something came up later. I ended up talking to a friend of mine who is a judge, and he advised that I file the claim under my insurance, making sure that they knew I was anticipating the return of my deductable, since it was the fault of the dealership. I called up and asked if an adjuster could be sent out to assess the damage. In the meantime, the car has been sitting, and I've had no information as to what condition it was currently in. The insurance adjuster estimated the damage to be around $1100, if they could heat and repair the bumper, and about $1300 if they couldn't. He also said that they seemed to be doing a good job with the repair, and suggested that I let them finish it, then get the car out of there. I went ahead with his advice, and have been waiting this week for them to finish the car.
Last night I got home, and got a letter from a law firm requesting the contact information for my insurance company. I called my insurance, and they said that I just needed to fax the letter in, and that I don't have anything to worry about, they'll take care of it. I know that since the person was working, it should be covered under worker's compensation, and as far as I was told, he wasn't even injured by my car.
I was called today about my car being ready to pick up, and I asked if they could just lock the doors and leave the key in it. I stopped after work, (9pm) and got in the car, and the turbo timer was hanging below the steering wheel, with the casing missing, and the display cracked. I immediately got really angry again, and called my insurance just to document it. Getting through all of the explanation, I took the car back to the garage that I'm going ot be storing it at, and at about 11pm, I pulled it in under flourescent lights, and realized how terrible of a job they did. They oversprayed the paint and clearcoat into the parts that were supposed to be blended, the rubber trim along the B-pillars is high in the middle, as in, not even pressed in, the plastic lower rear window trim isn't even pressed back in, the paint on the edges where the quarter meets the trunk is still rough, and where they buffed it, they burned the paint, the other quarter is chipped where they were working on fitting the bumper back in, and it looks like they buffed it with sandpaper.
So now I'm waiting til the morning to get a sheriff out to file a report for the turbo timer, and hiopefully to document the quality of the repair work, so I have some documentation. I'm going to have to wait until monday to deal with my insurance company and mitsubishi corporate (both of wom have been extremely helpful, and I'm grateful to) to see what can be done.
If anyone has any advice for me, I'd appreciate it. One thing I'm going to work on tomorrow is a magnetic neutral switch. I've done them on other cars before, just didn't really see the immediate need for my own, until now. Also, if anyone wants info on the dealership, PM me, and I'll send it... it's in western NY.
Thanks for the time,
-David
Last edited by fruhead; May 17, 2009 at 08:10 AM.
May 16, 2009, 01:04 AM
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Holy cow david, I hope youre not the guy I see on Delaware semi regularly.
I am in WNY as well and would love to know this hack bodyshop and this dealership..
Speaking of which I was in for a minor warranty issue and have yet to hear back from Transittowne.
Good luck with everything, I'm sorry youve had to deal with such shoddy work and all this garbage so far. Keep us updated
I am in WNY as well and would love to know this hack bodyshop and this dealership..
Speaking of which I was in for a minor warranty issue and have yet to hear back from Transittowne.
Good luck with everything, I'm sorry youve had to deal with such shoddy work and all this garbage so far. Keep us updated
May 16, 2009, 09:48 AM
#5
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And that's all you can do. Right now, the only thing you'll be out of is your deductible if you have the car fixed somewhere else, right?
I think I would cut my losses and take the car somewhere else to have the rest of the repairs done and the bad work done right.
Let Mitsubishi know that the repairs are unsatisfactory and see what they say.
I think I would cut my losses and take the car somewhere else to have the rest of the repairs done and the bad work done right.
Let Mitsubishi know that the repairs are unsatisfactory and see what they say.
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May 16, 2009, 11:01 AM
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Me personally, if I had a remote start in manual and was leaving it anywhere, I would keep the remote and just give them the key. So many people put manuals in gear when they park them that its simply not worth the risk.
Did you let the deal know up front that there was a remote start in it?
Did you let the deal know up front that there was a remote start in it?
May 16, 2009, 12:58 PM
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Wow... if that would of been me... I would of been sleeping in a cage that same day cuz booyyy!! Would I've killed someone!! I hate letting the dealers even touch my car! They don't know how to drive it right so they stall my car. I feel ya on the remote start! I have the same in my IX MR. Best of luck homie! Hope u get ur car back in top shape!!
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