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Think buying a new car means you're getting a new car? That's what I though too. Would you believe me if I told you that the "new" car you were buying wasn't really new?
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I've learned some extremely disturbing news as of late regarding practices by new car dealerships. Flash back about a week when I took my car into the dealership to have it appraised. The sales manager took a look at my car and hands a sheet of paper to my salesman. He starts to go over figures and asks me why I didn't disclose that my car had been in an accident. I looked at him quite puzzled because I purchased my car new, and it has never been in any type of accident. I figured this was some type of scam, and they just wanted to offer me less for my car. I immediately wanted to talk to the sales manager and he said the entire passenger side of my car had been repainted. I was more than a little upset that he was accusing me of lying, and immediately ran to my hood release. I popped the hood for him and showed him each of my vin # still in tact on my hood, doors, front and rear corner panels. He just shook his head and continued to tell me the entire side had been painted over. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small digital meter.
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He told me that by placing this meter on the car, it would tell how thick the paint was on each portion of the vehicle. He said Honda vehicles should show up as 5.5-6.5 in thickness on each panel of the car. He began on my drivers side, and everything showed between 5.5-6.5 in thickness. He walked over to my passenger side and placed the meter on the panel above my front tire. The meter read 11.0 there, 9.5 on my passenger door, and 8.5 on the rear corner. I basically stood in disbelief and didn't even know what to say. The car had never been in any type of accident, so I couldn't explain what the meter was showing. I was the first owner of the car, and picked it up with 5 miles on the odometer. All panels had their factory vin number as well, so how was I supposed to take this news?
The dealership basically was telling me that either I was lying about the history of the car, or the dealership had repainted the car before I took delivery of it. I obviously didn't believe what he was telling me at this point, so I just left and figured I'd get to the bottom of it. I immediately drove the car to the dealership where I purchased it brand new. They said they didn't know what these meters were, so I didn't get very far there. The next day I called up and spoke with the head manager of the entire dealership, and he said he would look up my car information. He said if anything was repaired or painted on my car, it would show up in the folder with my vin number. I was so shocked that he said this, I had him repeat it. He said that it's very common to have new cars come in with scratches, dents, or dings that need repaired. Another common problem he said is vandalism on the lots. Cars get keyed and sometimes there are accidents during test drives. He said I would be amazed at the number of cars that go out with some type of body work or paint. I just stood with the phone to my ear in silence not knowing what to say. I was outraged to hear that my "new"� car was not really new after all. I asked him why in the world this wasn't told to me when I bought the car. Here is the great part of the story. By law, a dealership only has to disclose repairs or paint work done to a vehicle if it is above 6% of the MSRP. Anything below 6% of MSRP does not have to be mentioned. Anything above 6% by law must be provided to you in detailed invoice during the purchase of the vehicle. I also found out that this 6% is at wholesale cost to the dealership. This allows them to have large amounts of work done compared to what average citizens could have done ....non wholesale. So what might cost us $3000 in paint, might cost the dealership $1500 or even less.
If you do the math, on a $20,000 car, the dealership is allowed to perform $1200 worth of repair work without even telling you. If you were to ask them if work had been done, they are actually allowed to say, "no" granted it's below 6% of MSRP. A car with an MSRP of $50,000 could undergo $3000 worth of repairs without you knowing it! How good would it make you feel to learn at some point down the road your 50k dollar car had undergone close to 3k worth of body work and paint before you picked it up? I would have never known my car had been painted unless that meter was put on my car. The paint color matches perfectly, there are no tape lines, all vin #'s are on each panel, and there is no orange peel effect on any part of my paint. The manager said the car was probably keyed down the entire side of the vehicle once it got to the lot. He said it was probably repainted and blended all over the door so that it wasn't noticeable at all. Needless to say, nothing is wrong with my car, yet it is "worth less in the eyes of dealerships" using this type of meter. He said he had a customer coming to sign paperwork today on a new Honda Pilot that just went under 8k dollars worth of repairs. A service person from Honda got into an accident when taking the car to the gas station for delivery. He said unfortunately he has to report this repair work under law to the owner before they sign the paperwork. Just another day in the life of a new car dealership I guess. Buyers beware.
I've learned some extremely disturbing news as of late regarding practices by new car dealerships. Flash back about a week when I took my car into the dealership to have it appraised. The sales manager took a look at my car and hands a sheet of paper to my salesman. He starts to go over figures and asks me why I didn't disclose that my car had been in an accident. I looked at him quite puzzled because I purchased my car new, and it has never been in any type of accident. I figured this was some type of scam, and they just wanted to offer me less for my car. I immediately wanted to talk to the sales manager and he said the entire passenger side of my car had been repainted. I was more than a little upset that he was accusing me of lying, and immediately ran to my hood release. I popped the hood for him and showed him each of my vin # still in tact on my hood, doors, front and rear corner panels. He just shook his head and continued to tell me the entire side had been painted over. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small digital meter.
The dealership basically was telling me that either I was lying about the history of the car, or the dealership had repainted the car before I took delivery of it. I obviously didn't believe what he was telling me at this point, so I just left and figured I'd get to the bottom of it. I immediately drove the car to the dealership where I purchased it brand new. They said they didn't know what these meters were, so I didn't get very far there. The next day I called up and spoke with the head manager of the entire dealership, and he said he would look up my car information. He said if anything was repaired or painted on my car, it would show up in the folder with my vin number. I was so shocked that he said this, I had him repeat it. He said that it's very common to have new cars come in with scratches, dents, or dings that need repaired. Another common problem he said is vandalism on the lots. Cars get keyed and sometimes there are accidents during test drives. He said I would be amazed at the number of cars that go out with some type of body work or paint. I just stood with the phone to my ear in silence not knowing what to say. I was outraged to hear that my "new"� car was not really new after all. I asked him why in the world this wasn't told to me when I bought the car. Here is the great part of the story. By law, a dealership only has to disclose repairs or paint work done to a vehicle if it is above 6% of the MSRP. Anything below 6% of MSRP does not have to be mentioned. Anything above 6% by law must be provided to you in detailed invoice during the purchase of the vehicle. I also found out that this 6% is at wholesale cost to the dealership. This allows them to have large amounts of work done compared to what average citizens could have done ....non wholesale. So what might cost us $3000 in paint, might cost the dealership $1500 or even less.
If you do the math, on a $20,000 car, the dealership is allowed to perform $1200 worth of repair work without even telling you. If you were to ask them if work had been done, they are actually allowed to say, "no" granted it's below 6% of MSRP. A car with an MSRP of $50,000 could undergo $3000 worth of repairs without you knowing it! How good would it make you feel to learn at some point down the road your 50k dollar car had undergone close to 3k worth of body work and paint before you picked it up? I would have never known my car had been painted unless that meter was put on my car. The paint color matches perfectly, there are no tape lines, all vin #'s are on each panel, and there is no orange peel effect on any part of my paint. The manager said the car was probably keyed down the entire side of the vehicle once it got to the lot. He said it was probably repainted and blended all over the door so that it wasn't noticeable at all. Needless to say, nothing is wrong with my car, yet it is "worth less in the eyes of dealerships" using this type of meter. He said he had a customer coming to sign paperwork today on a new Honda Pilot that just went under 8k dollars worth of repairs. A service person from Honda got into an accident when taking the car to the gas station for delivery. He said unfortunately he has to report this repair work under law to the owner before they sign the paperwork. Just another day in the life of a new car dealership I guess. Buyers beware.
