Help!!! - Paint issue not being resolved by a local dealer

[c0rsa180]

There are a few pieces to this story so I'll try to make it as clear as possible. I had purchased my car from a dealer up in Buffalo, I live on Long Island. I was told the car was available for pick up so I flew up there to take delivery, when I arrived the dealer told me about an issue with the paint on the front bumper and they could have it repaired and back to me within a few hours. They painted a section of the bumper without removing it and as far as I could tell they did a great job (albeit it was raining so my opinion was based on the limited light I had). After seeing these issues other people are having with their paint flaking on their bumpers I decided to closely inspect mine...

Sure enough where my front bumper meets the fender I could see the paint was starting to flake (and this is nowhere near the area that was repaired earlier by the original dealer). Even though the flaking is minor I wanted to have it taken care of before it got any worse...

This morning I take it to a local dealer on Long Island (Paul Conte Chevrolet) to have some minor things fixed/adjusted and to have this issue resolved and this is the answer I get for the bumper paint issue "You have to take this up with the dealer who delivered you the car," I explain how it was all the way up in Buffalo, so he said "We cant do anything with a bumper thats been painted by another dealer", So I explain how the issue was not with the delivering dealers work (although upon further inspection it seems as if the clear did not set correctly on that and ran a bit) but a completely different section that was never touched. His answer was that the bumper had to be removed to have been painted and this "flaking" was a chip caused by them. I continued to explain that the bumper was never removed to have the work done, they merely masked off the area and blended the work in. So I was told there is nothing they can do.

The only answer I received was to call an 800 number and see if they could help me. I'm in the process of contacting the original dealer but my salesman will not be available till after 10am. Also, the original dealer told me this work would be covered by GM if anything were to go wrong with it.

Overall I am completely dissatisfied as to the answers given by this dealer and the lack of help or consideration on this matter. The dealer went on to explain that he does not work for GM, he is privately owned and this matter is not their problem...

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to try to give the complete story and hopefully get some helpful advise on how to handle this situation, maybe from some people who have had similar issues or such. Thanks guys I appreciate you taking your time to listen to my issue

*Edit* Added photos of issue in first post on second page...

[Number 3]

First call 1-800-508-3060 for our Customer Assistance Group.

If you have and have an SR number already please PM me with that number your name and a contact number.

First step is to call that number.

[Xmicro_SS]

That really sucks. But I have to say, this is the original dealers issue. Conte has no idea what the other dealer did, and if GM sees the paint was touched they will deny coverage. I would talk to the dealer in Buffalo and see if you can take it to a local body shop to get it fixed and have them send you a check for it.

I live up in Westchester and did not go with that dealer for exactly that reason. If you had an issue after delivery you have to now go crazy.

I think doing it the way I mentioned above is your best bet. If you need a body shop on LI, I use Newbridge auto body. Call and ask for Vinnie, tell him Paul with the SIlver Camaro sent you. My car is there right now for a slight front end fender bender I had.

Good Luck, go after the original dealer!

[c0rsa180]

I'm beginning to think I should have just played stupid and said there was something wrong and nothing about the original dealer!

[MasterJefe]

Hey bud. I'm a long time reader on this forum and when I was looking to place an order in August the guys at Paul Conte had been nothing but arrogant with a heck of a cold shoulder.

Eventually I found HB Chevrolet in Forest Hills and they have been excellent in terms of keeping me updated on my order...which should be here in december

Ask for James Horvat

-Jeff G

[VR Code R6P]

Did you really think your local dealer is going to bend over backwards to help you, after you tweeked his nose when buying the car from another dealer?

I once had a dealer refuse to do minor warranty work on my car when I traded with another dealer 180 miles away..........he said "take it back to where you bought it".

I probably could have made a big stink, called Ford, and had Ford make them work on it..........but do you really want them to, if they are "pissed"? I just took back to the dealer I bought it from. Of course, the dealer that did not want to work on it, did not earn any "extra points" in my book when it came time to trade again.

What goes around, comes around.

[LikaRokBowTie]

Yeah,I have found that dealers get pissy when you bring a car around that you didn't buy from them,unless of course you have moved from a 1,000 miles away then it's not so bad,so good luck with your issue.

[c0rsa180]

Dealers are quite pissy when you dont buy from them, but when they cant sell a product at MSRP or in a timely matter then its their own fault. Plus as far as I know the repairs are paid by GM because the car is under warranty

[squat]

Originally Posted by c0rsa180

Dealers are quite pissy when you dont buy from them, but when they cant sell a product at MSRP or in a timely matter then its their own fault. Plus as far as I know the repairs are paid by GM because the car is under warranty

The repairs are (should) be paid for by GM, but they only make a fraction of what they would normally make when doing warranty work. Since the dealership will make less money on your car sitting in their garage than another persons car I think they often do get pissy about doing work for you since they made no money on the purchase. And then are going to make less money for working on your car (this assumes that their service department is always booked full).

I'm not defending them, but it's a crummy situation for both parties.

[firstmate]

Maybe I am wrong, but I was under the impression that the dealers made far more money doing repairs/service (even when under warranty) than they do on the initial actual "sale" of the vehicle. Just what I thought anyway...

[Dboy23]

I bought my car almost 400 miles away in PA. The dealer there was great and had the exact car I wanted (because I didn't want to wait the 6-8 weeks). I've had my car serviced at Buff Whelan many times and even had a lot of problems (I'm picky) and it's been there 10 days total to be worked on and not once were they rude or anything. Probably the best service I've seen from a dealer in a while. I even bought them all lunch last week since they've been so good to me .

[c0rsa180]

Originally Posted by firstmate

Maybe I am wrong, but I was under the impression that the dealers made far more money doing repairs/service (even when under warranty) than they do on the initial actual "sale" of the vehicle. Just what I thought anyway...

Thats what I thought also, the sale of cars is a small fraction of the income they have, I thought they made a majority of their money on repairs

[squat]

Originally Posted by c0rsa180

Thats what I thought also, the sale of cars is a small fraction of the income they have, I thought they made a majority of their money on repairs

It is, and a service tech can come in and correct me if I'm wrong. But the way I understand it GM pays about 1/3 of what the dealership would normally charge for service work. So if the dealership has to choose between servicing your car at 1/3 the income and another car at full price it makes business sense to service the car at full price.

Of course this assumes that the dealers service department is always 100% booked up, getting 1/3 your normal price is still better than nothing.

[2010SS2SS]

Question isn't making money but the warranty on workmanship performed by the previous dealer. THEY have to stand behind their work and warranty it. If you had not had the repair done, the dealer you visited could and probably would have made the repair under the 12/12,000 adjustment or paint coverage.
This is what happens when people try to overcome profit and travel outside to buy vehicles. Honestly hope you saved enough on the pruchase to return to them for the paint work to be straightened out.