Dealer Sold Damaged Car in Lieu of New

Ldealking10 on 22/05/2022 - 16:43
Last edited 24/05/2022 - 19:14

Hi Guys,
What you are about to read is bizarre! I need your suggestion in handling this matter. I bought my New SUV car from a dealer outside my state in Nov21.
This month I took it for a regular 1st service check-up and requested the service dealership near my home to check for the sensor-related error messages which recently started to appear whenever I drive in reverse.
After the dealer checked the car, they told me that there is evidence that this car had been damaged from the front passenger side they could see that the headlight assembly is cracked from a corner, and out of the 4 sensors in the front, the driver side sensor is working, middle 2 sensors are not working and the passenger side sensor was replaced by a replacement sensor but it can’t be established if that was procured legitimately or not as there is no record about how it was changed. There is damage to wiring in the front radiator as well. All in all, about 7 -8 K of the repair cost.
I called the Dealer Principal (DP) of the dealership who sold me the car and told him the entire story, he said he is willing to help me, and said this car was a part of a dealer swap (I think he knew everything and is just trying to save his face) and offered me to choose one of the below options:
1. DP will pay for the repair of the car and then I can keep the car
2. DP agreed to refund me all the money which I incurred in buying the car $71K (Deposit+Rego+StampDuty+Transit Cost)
The DP is NOT willing to give me a replacement car stating that he does not have that car in stock to offer me and even if he finds a car the price has gone up and I must pay an extra 8K to buy the same car and wait up to 6 months to get it.
This matter is made worse as I bought the car from a different state so I don’t know what are my options in this case I meant raising it to an authority etc would be of any help?
What do you suggest as the best way to handle this issue without incurring any more costs by me?

  • Created a poll as suggested by a member.

Update 24/05 - On further pressing for a replacement car DP suggested that he can't do anything further and requested me to go to the consumer helpline. He wants to genuinely help and asked me to take time and decide, he had no issues with refund and repair at all.

The latest PPSR report was checked on the car and no issues were found in the report. The repair option is getting the car checked by local dealership and then quoting for all items needs replacement, as the parts are plastic, like headlight assembly, and 2 sensors which can be easily replaced, I am thinking to give this a go and see if this resolves the error messages. The DP said to forward the quote to him so that he can get it approved by their insurance provider.

Refund and buy a new car - Checked with many dealers, the new car market is extremely tough atm, and SUV cars can take 12 to 18 months to arrive. The price has already increased up to 10K for the same model, and even if I book any car at the current price it will be increasing as cars take a lot to be delivered.

Poll Options expired

  • 4
    Get the car repaired and afterward seek compensation from the dealer as he clearly did not comply wi
  • 534
    Get a refund for the money spent on acquiring the car.
  • 20
    Escalate the matter and ask for a replacement car without paying anything extra + wait up to 6 month
Automotive

Comments

  • kaleidoscope on 23/05/2022 - 21:06
    +1

    Not sure why this is a question even OP 🙃.

  • cashless on 23/05/2022 - 21:41

    Sell used car for price of new car.
    Do we really need a poll for this?

  • Brick Tamland on 24/05/2022 - 08:29

    If you can get it fixed properly by an independent and the selling dealers pays for repairs thats not a terrible option. My biggest concern is the initial dodgy repair and what else could be wrong with it. If it was my car I'd get the refund because it sounds like its had a relatively significant accident and thats the risk you take buying second hand, not brand new. There are cars around for immediate delivery so finding a replacement shouldn't be too hard if you are flexible on the car.

  • Dowhatuwant on 24/05/2022 - 11:24

    Take the refund and buy a car that's better value for money anyways.

  • MessyG on 24/05/2022 - 11:26

    OP I would have it refunded, process my disappointment over what the buying a new car experience should be (which I suspect is where you're stuck), and go get a new car from your local and clearly more honest dealership.

    (And I would buy an electric MG ^__^)

  • wildstone on 24/05/2022 - 11:40

    Get a refund when you can… yes dealer is in the wrong but do you know what kind of time and effort you need to deal with if the dealer simply refuses to remedy? You would have to go through a whole lot of processes to make them refund you. You might get the outcome that you wanted in the end but you still lose even if you win, due to all the time and stress.

  • upended on 24/05/2022 - 14:38
    +2

    As others have said, take the refund and look for a new car elsewhere. If I was in your place, I wouldn't want to even deal with a dodgy dealership for the option of getting another car from them. I just would not be able trust them.

    • You have a second car so moving around is not an issue
    • The dealer is offering you a full refund

    Why wouldn't you take this option instead of dealing with the same dealership for a replacement car?

  • resisting the urge on 24/05/2022 - 16:58
    +1

    So many new cars are damaged I'm surprised people don't check them more carefully.

    One time I went to take delivery of a VS Commodore, and rejected it as being damaged as the gaps were so bad.

    • 'It's not a fault' (They have no idea what would, or wouldn't pass, production QA)
    • 'That's not bad enough to send back' (It was)
    • 'They're all like that' (They weren't)

    They eventually delivered one that was better, but it took months

    And after a week or two driving that I took it back because the auto transmission delayed its kick down by >2 secs. Same $#!t again:

    • 'It's not a fault' (They have no idea what would, or wouldn't pass, production QA)
      etc.
    • 'That's not bad enough to send back' (It was)
    • 'They're all like that' (They weren't)

    Not wanting to go through delays again, I opted to accept a replacement transmission.

    It turned out that they fitted a factory reconditioned 'police spec' unit. Apparently these were the only ones that didn't have a delayed kick down. It's amazing, the lengths the cops goto in co-opting manufacturers to slow down all the speeding bogans son the Blue Heelers can catch up.

    This was a long time ago. Since then I've seen hail damaged cars sold new, new cars repaired after shipping and transport, damaged by the dealer, or by customers and returned…

    If I bought something nice today, I'd want to see it arrive at the dealer on the truck, and roll off, at the very least.

  • CRS34 on 24/05/2022 - 18:04

    my idea of a new car is one that hasnt been fixed.. depends how OCD you are.

  • stratbargain on 24/05/2022 - 18:15

    You spent $71k on a car to drive 4000km a year?
    Return it and catch a taxi

  • dbun1 on 24/05/2022 - 19:15

    Get a refund and buy something else

  • Sterio on 24/05/2022 - 19:28

    OP, the suspense is killing us. What decision have you come to?

  • DiscoJango on 24/05/2022 - 20:27
    +3

    welcome to ozmoron 2022, where even when offered full refunds, OP's cant make a decision and must make a thread out of it.

    • matt-ozb on 25/05/2022 - 08:02

      Yea, it's amazing.. if he likes the car then get it fixed, otherwise get refund.

  • Davo1111 on 25/05/2022 - 04:42

    You got a full refund including tax

    Take it.

  • matt-ozb on 25/05/2022 - 08:01

    Dealer was obviously very dodgy and you could let this issue waste a big part of your life and turn into a major issue, however the answer is pretty simple ..

    1. If you like the car and you cant get a better deal, then get it fixed

    2. If you don't like the car and want to try something new, then get a refund.

    3. Burn huge amounts of your time and create high stress and frustration and get nowhere.

  • dealking10 on 25/05/2022 - 16:50
    +1

    Thanks for the amazing support and for pouring your thoughts into this situation. I would have definitely gone for a refund if this would have been normal times. Therefore I am going with option —>1. If you like the car and you can't get a better deal, then get it fixed.

    In today's time getting a new car is really hard. I do not wish to spend any more money on the car so I decided to get this car repaired by a company dealership. I took the car out to smash repairers and they had a look at it and could confirm that the car looks perfectly ok from the front side, their analysis matched with what my local dealership mentioned that the car got bumped from the passenger front side and that caused the light to crack from a corner and sensor to stop working as it might have nicked the wiring somewhere. I am now waiting for the repair quote from the car dealership. I'll keep everyone updated :)

  • dealking10 on 10/02/2023 - 15:21
    +1

    Hi Guys, Just for closing this off, I wanted to confirm that the Repair was done by a company dealership. The parts were awaited and it took some time however all the issues were resolved by Dec 2022. The passenger side headlight, 2 sensors + wiring and another harness were replaced and the car is working perfectly now. The new car cost of the same model is now 84K and I did not want to spend extra dollars for no fault of mine. Thanks again for the suggestions and support.
    Ozbargain Rocks!

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