Hi

Apologies for the long post in advance but am after some opinions and advice on where I stand on this matter..

I dropped my car off with my local dealer last Friday to have a faulty temperature dial replaced under warranty and arranged to collect the car Saturday morning.

As soon as the car is brought out to me, I notice a 2-3 inch scratch on the lower front bumper and point this out to the service guy. I take pride in my cars appearance, esp because its so new and notice every dent or scratch and believe me this was not present when it went in on Friday - I told him so.

He suggests he tries t-cutting but that doesn't shift it as its quite deep. He then says he will take care of it if I like (er, yes!) but will need to speak to another chap on Monday and will contact me. Fine I say and as I get in the car to head home I notice a parking permit in the screen holder :confused: He explains that as they don't have enough room to store cars onsite during the day, they arrange parking in various side roads, ie on the public road!! :eek: Not once was this ever made clear to me. I question overnight storage but I'm relieved to be told that they are locked up onsite! Phew! I suspect the damage may have been caused while on the street but there's no way to prove this. Anyway, my confidence in them is knocked a tad but relieved to hear it will be put right.

No call Monday morning so I email my contact. The reply comes back around 5pm and boy am I taken back by their tone! Their first comment was to say that at no point did they admit responsibility for the damage, nor that the offer of polishing warrants accountability, more it was customer courtesy to offer to try and polish it out. They do add that they would be happy to quote for a repair! Odd thing is that the guy doing the quote would infact be the same guy that tried polishing out the damage! This was not how it was explained to me on Saturday, believe me I would not have driven out of the dealers without a fight!!

I know the damage was not there on leaving the car. I suspect it was damaged in the street (I kept the permit which states up to 5 hours parking) so although not on their premises, it was in their possession and therefore I believe them to be responsible for its wellfare. Leaving it out on the public road does not constitute a reasonable level of care in my opinion!

If the car had been stolen for example or the damage had been more obvious - eg a smashed windscreen or whatever - surely their insurance would cover them?

At no point was the car looked over when I dropped it off Friday, so I can't prove the marks weren't there - but I know they weren't.

So where do I stand? What would you do?

Cheers

My view is 'benefit of the doubt' is on your side because they didn't check it and you immediately pointed out the issue. Small claims court is easy-peasy and cheap and I can't see you losing this one BUT chance to let the 'boss' resolve it first has to be given as 'reasonableness' on your behalf always counts when having to go to the law

first of all talk to the owner or someone fairly high up to start with, tell them look, i like your buisness i also like my car, so you take care of that scrape and im sure we can do buisness in the future. if they start getting ****ty with you its amazing what a raised voice in a showroom with possible customers in earshot can do. best of luck and let us know what happens.

Sorry to hear about your issues.

What does one do these days when droping a car off at the dealer - do you get the service guy to walk around the car with you (like they do with loan cars) to show the car is clear of damage? Or do you just check when it comes out and if something is there they don't have a leg to stand on because they can't prove it was there when you dropped the car off?

Sorry to hear about your issues.

What does one do these days when droping a car off at the dealer - do you get the service guy to walk around the car with you (like they do with loan cars) to show the car is clear of damage? Or do you just check when it comes out and if something is there they don't have a leg to stand on because they can't prove it was there when you dropped the car off?

I think that this is what I am going to do after reading this and similar stories!!

Hope you get it sorted BTW.

Steve

i would also mention on top of small claims that you will go to the press about the way the car has been treated and that they use car parks and side roads to store customers cars (is that really service and looking after a car if its dumped off site once you gone).

i would also mention on top of small claims that you will go to the press about the way the car has been treated and that they use car parks and side roads to store customers cars (is that really service and looking after a car if its dumped off site once you gone).

but he is in london, you have to be realistic... city dealers struggle for space....

and.... if i take the car to the garage i expect them to look after it and keep it in safe hands not park it down a side street where they wont see it till they need it.

and.... if i take the car to the garage i expect them to look after it and keep it in safe hands not park it down a side street where they wont see it till they need it.

then dont buy from / use a city dealer?

I posted the same thing a couple of weeks ago after the garage had my car for the day.

Part of this thread:

http://briskoda.net/forums/octavia-i/todays-antics-water-footwells-continued/106401/

They also park there cars on the roadside during the day and In the past I've noticed cars left overnight.

On returning to work from collecting my car I found a scratch and ding on the bonnet of my vrs. my heart sank and I was straight on the phone to them.

I was asked to pop back in and show the damage to the service manager. They told me there was no way they caused the damage, but through showing my dissapointment and telling them I wanted it sorted my car was Booked in a few days after and dent devils were called out to correct the scrstch and ding.

Just keep on and don't give in.

I've moved this thread to General Car Chat as its not really Octy2 specific, so you should get a wider audience.

Hope thats OK.

Tom.

A guy at work had his car damaged whilst at the dealers too. He got the same treatment as you did. First they appeared to admit liability but the next day said he couldn't prove it had happened whilst in their care. I know he was planning to take it to the small claims court (after no response from several letters to the manager) so I'll ask him how he got on and report back.

Good luck

Katie

Not being an expert in civil law .......

Surely the garage is liable as you left the undamaged vehicle in their custody care and control so it will be covered by their insurance. Otherwise how can they drive it from garage wher you left it to side street?

Speak to a solicitor costs nowt to talk to them but don't let them pick a pen up!!!

as they didnt check the car over when they brought it in and theres no way for them to acount for the damage as the car was parked off road all day i think you have them by the balls!

but i dont agree with getting messy in the showroom as that puts everyones backs up and they wont want to deal with you. firstly go in and speak to the workshop manager. then if you dont get anywhere with him go to the dealer principle. i cant beleive they have emailed you back saying "theres no way we caused that damage" they didnt even store the car on site!!

i think its one for watchdog. can you imagine the fun they would have! they would follow the car to where its parked. then take it and swap it for an identical car with lots of damage see them squirm out of that!! lol!

Thanks all for your opinions... And Tom, absolutely fine to move it - sorry, I should have thought it better off in general rather than my default Octy II section...

Yeah, I couldn't believe their email either! I'm going to compose a suitable response today. I'll let you know the outcome.

It is getting to the stage where everyone will need to take a camera along when dropping their car off at the dealers / garage.

Maybe dealers should have sheet like when you rent a car - where any marks on the body are ticked off on the sheet?

I had the same thing happen with my beemer but they took responsibility for it immediately - car was not checked in. On every visit after that, the car was given a visual checkover by myself and service guy and a form signed. Never had a problem after that. Its a pain that we have to do this but I don't see a way around it.

Years ago I had an immaculate Manta that a window cleaner dropped his ladder on.

He was okay - he had public liability insurance.

I took the car to the large local GM dealer and they did the worst repair/respray I've ever seen, before or since. The bonnet looked like some berk had drop a pint of thinners on it and left it there. The clear top coat at the roof edge was so thick it had filled in the groove detail of the shape, near the door's top edge.

They said it had been like that when I took it in - as if!

They put it right eventually but I had to scream blue murder first - and even then it was not too great.

I spoke to my colleague who had a similar problem and he hasn't got round to taking it to small claims so no advice he can give I'm afraid.

Good luck sorting it.

Thanks for trying, Little Katie.

I emailed the dealer yesterday - awaiting response. Surely they will see sense here....

Still awaiting a response. Apparently they are very busy

I've just received a response from their operations manager.

They do not take any responsibility for the scratch and can assist me no more. They justify leaving my car on the public road by explaining that thats what other dealerships do!

Quite frankly I'm disgusted by their response. Next step?

Same thing happened to me and I pointed it out to the service manager on collection. He appologised and booked it back in to be repaired without any argument what so ever.

Keep pushing and maybe contact Skoda customer relations.

I've just received a response from their operations manager.

They do not take any responsibility for the scratch and can assist me no more. They justify leaving my car on the public road by explaining that thats what other dealerships do!

Quite frankly I'm disgusted by their response. Next step?

Small claims court

It is getting to the stage where everyone will need to take a camera along when dropping their car off at the dealers / garage.

Maybe dealers should have sheet like when you rent a car - where any marks on the body are ticked off on the sheet?

Many good ones do. If they dont by default, specifically ask for one to be done at drop off - especially if they park cars off-site, move between sites, tight carpark areas or you think someone will take it for a razz on the sandwich run.

Yes I know someone who saw his 3 month old Civic Type R being razz'd past where he works, and telephone the dealer who said it was still on site (was in for warranty work). Mate turned up with CCTV few minutes before guy with sandwiches did. To make matters worse, they hadnt even looked at his car.

I wish I could have seen their faces!