Has anyone else ever arrived at the dealer to pick up their car from a service visit, only to discover that someone there has damaged it?

This happened to me yesterday. Now I am in a loaner for god knows how long while my passenger door gets repainted.

 

Bummer. But at least they agreed to fix it. That's more than most Mini dealers would have done.

btw, a lot of paint damage to customer cars occurs during the "courtesy" car wash your dealer wants to impress you with. Just say no!

 

Which dealer was it? Main line of Otto's? Just curious.

 

that's weak man, sorry it happened. I had a local dealer curb my rim while it was being taken into the garage and all they wanted to do for me was fix it. After over a hour of teeth pulling, they agreed to get me a new one, but just UNBELIEVABLE people to deal with at some of these dealers.

 

My MINI was in the shop for 6 weeks following a wreck (while I was driving......(grrr).........a rental ) and, while the repairs went fine, it'll take me months to have them fix all the stuff they scratched or broke while it was in the shop. I have new scratches on my wheels, a few new bonnet scratches (minor), some chipped paint, a scratched downtube, and other stuff. Automotive shops, imo, are just not careful for the most part, and expect that "good enough" is alright with most people. To their credit, the shop has been eager to fix everything, but I gotta find it all!!! Makes me mad and frustrated, but no money is coming out of my pocket, so the real question is who's more determined them or me??

 

You know how a lot of times you go to these 'car meets' and people come around checking out your ride and they put their hands and arms on your
car like if it was their own? by the end of the day, you got big and
small hand marks all over the car (little hands from kids watching how
their dads lean on people's cars)...


Well, I come to find that a lot of guys like that work at a lot of dealers...
they don't give a damn. Im glad my Mini dealer isn't like that.

 

So true Kenchan. It really pisses me off when people at meets start to lean their body against your car, that is so rude and inconsiderate. People in my club are well warned against even putting a finger on my car. If you want to touch or lean on a car, better be your own, buddy.

Car enthusiasts should know that leaning on a car can create unintended damage and it is a bad habit I always see in car meets.

 

I hate bringing my car to the dealer for service. I have an MCS (my first!) on order and I just hope the dealer is careful.

Some years ago, I had a Porsche 944 Turbo that I was leasing and, when the car was about to come off lease, I brought it to the dealer to have some minor work done. Someone at the Porsche dealership drove into it with another car while it was sitting in their lot awaiting work. It took them weeks to fix the collision damage that they caused and, meanwhile, Porsche Financial kept calling and threatening me because I hadn't returned the car on time even though I had repeatedly explained to them that it was at the dealer waiting for them to get it back but the dealer damaged it and I was getting it repaired so it could be returned.

Mark

 

I have heard of several instantces of dealership's being reckless with customers vehicles, MINI's and BMW's.

--->MarkS: welcome to NAM! Nice to see you here and on MichiganMINI Sorry to hear about your Porsche experience - looks like nobody's immune

 

Two dealer stories: Had a car in for service a few years back, and a friend of mine said I saw you racing the other night in another part of town. Dealer had the car that week, so it wasn't me driving. Wonder if the dealer employee won the race? Dealer didn't care, and denied it all.

Another car was in for service, and to get a state inspection. Went to pick up car, and taillight was busted out. Dealer said they didn't do it; however, I asked how I passed the state inspection with no taillight. They couldn't answer that one. What a headache.
Lately, if I drop a car off, I've asked to do a quick walk around with the service writer. That way, there is no question if damage is old or new.

 

Hamster: This happened at Otto's.

 

I just took my car in a few weeks ago to the service department and repeatedly told them I did not want anyone 'test' driving my car. They complied but only after trying to convince me a tech should test drive my car. I told them I would let them know if something was wrong with the way the drive was driving.

But the funny thing was when I returned to pick up my car, my odometer had 2 less miles on it (after ECU flashed to 38.1). Several others have said this happened to them, also. Strange.

 

yes this has happened to us and they said they would fix for free put we havent gotten around to doing this.

 

If anything happened, they could still deny it. It's getting harder and harder to trust car dealers these days, especially Mini dealers.

I think I'm going to start asking them to note any pre-existing damage (or absence of any) on the work order from now on!

 

My dealer always notes the condition of the car prior to begin servicing. The SA walks around the car`with you and notes the condition on the form (Has car cut out diagrams of all sides) and then the both of you initializes on said form.

All dealers should follow this basic but important procedure.

 

Update:

Otto's reviewed their security tapes and it turns out a customer opened their door into mine and caused the damage. They still fixed the damage and are looking to go after the customer.

Since they park the cars in the back and bring them around when picked up, I'm starting to wonder if they were fibbing when they told me this. I wonder why they would let customers back there.