Damage At Dealership?

[Claude7629]

I picked up on this topic on another subject in the forum. I would be curious to hear from others on their experience of susbstaining damage to their vehicles at the dealership. I had my roof rack damaged when I took it in to get the cross bars repaired. They somehow became jammed. When I got my RX back the end caps were broken, but it was put back in a way as to hide the damage.

My wheels were scratched all the heck and back when I had a flat repaired. I got the repairs made properly but with no compensation for my time which I consider valuable.

I know I am not alone on this one. Experiences anyone?

[1990LS400]

It is fairly common to have cars damaged at car dealerships during service and clean-up operations -- one of the main reasons I rarely use dealerships, do most minor maintenance myself, and use a small indie repair shop where I know the owner and staff. I haven't found Lexus dealers to be any worse than dealers who sell other makes -- the most bizarre string of damage incidents I've had was at a Mercedes dealership with much of the damage being caused by just one employee - a relative of the dealership owner. Heck, I once even found out the same Mercedes dealer used my car to shuttle other customers to and from their work places. Sadly, that dealership -- Prestige Mercedes of Kansas City -- declared bankrupcy and ceased to exist about 20 years ago.

It's been so bad at car dealerships that I have required a service writer to do a walkaround inspection with me and document on the service order than there is no existing damage. That gets their attention.

[denslexusgx470]

I know how dealerships work. I worked at a dealership once, they made me test drive a customer's car BUT told me to go thru the McDonalds drive-thru before I head back

That's why my local dealerships do a thorough walk-thru of my car before taking my car into the shop. PLUS I take note of the mileage before I leave so that I'm aware if my car's been used as a shuttle or if it truly was just serviced. PLUS I learned to thoroughly walk around my car before leaving the dealership because my GX's rim was VANDALIZED once! They rotated my tires, but some idiot wrote "F" and "L" on my rim! (on the rim located on my front left) :chairshot: Told the manager about it and luckily they fixed the vandalism. On my 4Runner they chipped my chrome-plated rim, because when they rotated it the tech must have missed the lug nut and hit my rim instead. I told the service advisor before I left, and voila they ordered a new rim for me :)

Just be responsible and know your car, its damages (scratches, dents, etc) and mileage, and you should be fine with taking your car to the dealership ;)

[momtogrif]

I just had my 07 RX350 in for service. They did the white dust fix(replaced the heater core) and did the oil line fix. When I got the car at the dealership there was grease all over my seats and black smudges all over the plastic interior. I had to clean it myself and then when I got home I noticed there was condensation inside the driver side light casing. Um, never had that problem before! After reading the advice in this thread I will now know to do a walk around with a service advisor both before and after service!

[The G Man]

I just had my 07 RX350 in for service. They did the white dust fix(replaced the heater core) and did the oil line fix. When I got the car at the dealership there was grease all over my seats and black smudges all over the plastic interior. I had to clean it myself and then when I got home I noticed there was condensation inside the driver side light casing. Um, never had that problem before! After reading the advice in this thread I will now know to do a walk around with a service advisor both before and after service!

Do you think the condensation was from the car wash?

[momtogrif]

I just had my 07 RX350 in for service. They did the white dust fix(replaced the heater core) and did the oil line fix. When I got the car at the dealership there was grease all over my seats and black smudges all over the plastic interior. I had to clean it myself and then when I got home I noticed there was condensation inside the driver side light casing. Um, never had that problem before! After reading the advice in this thread I will now know to do a walk around with a service advisor both before and after service!

Do you think the condensation was from the car wash?

Yes, it was. They replaced it but in the process of working on my vehicle and fixing a rattle in the dash that occurred when they fixed the white dust problem, they broke my driver side vent. The piece that slides the vent back and forth was stuck and wouldn't move so I had to bring it back again and have them fix this. They also had put a hole in my glove box casing and I had to have them fix that, too. And, again, there is grease in my car but this time it's on my passenger side floormat. Honestly, I'm pretty much done with this dealership. Just once I'd like to get my car back in better shape than when I dropped it in their care. Sigh.....