[HOLY S**T!] Freakin Car Dealerships

[arraamis]

Four months ago, I took my car in to the dealership for new front brakes {Rotors and Pads} and other work. Dealership charged me a nice hefty fee for the repair work and I was sent off into the sunset with a written statement of the work performed and the individual charges. I was pissed that it costs so ****in much, but guessed that's the price you pay when you have a foreign sports car.

Anyway, everything peachy keen right??? ... Wrong!!!

Brakes recently started squealing like crazy, I ignored it because I had only driven 4K miles and sometimes even though new, they do squeak a little. Squeaking got worst & worst, so I was like WTF is going on here ....

Took my car to another dealer to have them checked out. Once the second dealer's Tech came out with the work to be done, I whipped out my four month old statement of work performed by the first dealer. The shop manager and the Tech looked at each other shaking their heads .....

Report: Brake pads were never replaced and because I was driving with new rotors but bad pads, the damaged pads started chewing into the once new rotors.

WTF!!!!!

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*Commerce and Trade*
CHAPTER 49A. AUTO REPAIR FRAUD PREVENTION

§ 4909A. Enforcement and remedies.
(a) The Attorney General shall have the same authority in enforcing, remedying, and otherwise carrying out the provisions of this chapter as is provided by Chapter 25 of Title 29 and by §§ 2511-2527 and 2531-2536 of this title.
(b) Any violation of § 4903A of this title shall be deemed an unlawful practice in violation of § 2513 of this title.
(c) Transactions where an automotive repair facility has violated the requirements of §§ 4903A, 4904A, 4905A, 4906A and/or 4907A of this title shall be voidable by the consumer in actions brought in the Justice of Peace Courts. In successful actions brought by consumers under this subsection, the automotive repair facility shall be liable to the customer for twice the amount of any consideration obtained in violation of this chapter and the costs of the action; provided however, that the customer must first allow the auto repair facility the opportunity to resolve the dispute prior to filing an action under this subsection; and the Court may further award a customer reasonable attorneys' fees.

Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a person from otherwise seeking a recovery in an action for damages against an automotive repair facility in a court of competent jurisdiction.
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Now I got to ****in think about contacting a lawyer to go after these bastards, because the first dealership committed fraud and was stupid enough to put it all in writing. I'm also at the same time, wondering if I should even bother with a Lawyer, because the fraud is so blatant, that I could just take it to court and pursue the Maximum penalty including all charges incurred by the second dealer and win without paying out Lawyer's fees.

SUCKS!!!

[Prince Mongo]

You are going to win this. Do your preparation, check with a lawyer friend if you have one if you can visit the manager after you get a break down of how likely you are going to win and the total costs to the other side + colateral bad publicity etc and see if they are up for paying you a nice chunk of change to let it all go. If not give them hell but I can tell you from experience that legal actions take a lot of time and take a toll on you and the legal fees mount up fast and you don't get value for money
I have a property dispute going right now where a neighbour next to a piece of land I own in London built a patio on my land and fraudulently used my land in her planning application so that she ended up geting a huge extension that she would never have got. Fortunately for me my lawyer did it on a no win no fee basis as he saw it as a slam dunk case but it has cost me several thousand in court administerative costs. But because it is no win no fee my lawyer can charge the other side up to 100% upside. It is due to go to court next month the fees before she gets the 100% upside will be $50,000. I am also going to go for damages of around $30,000 and she has her fees to pay and this lot is likely to cost her IRO $160,000. Once the boundary is defined she will have to reapply for planning and will most likey have to take down her extension or huge part of it which is the size of a house. Fortunately for me it is on a no win no fee basis but I would never have believed that such a simple case could escalate to this level and it has taken 2 years so far. The idiot offered me $5000 for my land which has potential to build 4 apartments worth $400,000 each.Her plan was to waste time and hope I just gave up,she even called the Police on 3 occasions to say I had turned up with 3 heavy guys on 2 occasions and 2 on another to threaten to beat her up. The plan was to create a counter case so that I would give in but I was in the States on business when those 3 phantom visits happened and my passport can prove it.
Try and get a no win no fee lawyer if you can and understand they charge 100% upside to the other side and their legal fees will dwarf any claim you have and that gives you a lot of shake down leverage to walk out with big $$ from this but you need legal advice if you go this route to make sure you don't prejudice your case.

[-jose-]

you will always get ripped off at the dealership, best bet is buying your own parts and finding a trusty local mechanic to do the work.

[Walt Liquor]

Did u go back to first dealer and try and handle it first?

You should also write to the manufacturer

[Prince Mongo]

you will always get ripped off at the dealership, best bet is buying your own parts and finding a trusty local mechanic to do the work.

jose830, That is what I do. I can see we think alike on a lot of things. When the head blew up on my VW the dealership quoted me $1,800 but I have a friend who is an A1 mechanic and he rebuilt the head but got me helping him and it ended up costing me $300.

[-jose-]

jose830, That is what I do. I can see we think alike on a lot of things. When the head blew up on my VW the dealership quoted me $1,800 but I have a friend who is an A1 mechanic and he rebuilt the head but got me helping him and it ended up costing me $300.

I worked in the auto parts business for 10 years and I knew all types of mechanics the good and the ones that worked in dealerships, the majority of them are book smart they know about cars because the went to school and read about them and don't have to much hands on experience, I also had 2 VW's back in the days (greatest cars ever, 1st car was a 82 VW Rabbit 2nd was a 89 VW GTI 16 Valve Wolfsburg edition ) and I had a Puerto Rican mechanic that was always drinking beer but bro was one of the greatest mechanics around he even did alignments I kid you not with no computers.

[Prince Mongo]

I worked in the auto parts business for 10 years and I knew all types of mechanics the good and the ones that worked in dealerships, the majority of them are book smart they know about cars because the went to school and read about them and don't have to much hands on experience, I also had 2 VW's back in the days (greatest cars ever, 1st car was a 82 VW Rabbit 2nd was a 89 VW GTI 16 Valve Wolfsburg edition ) and I had a Puerto Rican mechanic that was always drinking beer but bro was one of the greatest mechanics around he even did alignments I kid you not with no computers.

I had the VW Golf 1600 CL which is the Euro Rabbit. The next car I get will be a Golf but the last model before all that silly computer diagnostics went crazy. That way when it breaks down my friend can work on it.

[Prince Mongo]

Did u go back to first dealer and try and handle it first?

You should also write to the manufacturer

He needs to get his preparation into shape before he does those moves so he can explain the warm time the dealer is in for if he does not do things his way otherwise they won't take him seriously.

[Walt Liquor]

He needs to get his preparation into shape before he does those moves so he can explain the warm time the dealer is in for if he does not do things his way otherwise they won't take him seriously.

Sometimes you can just stroll in and handle it before he does all that extra work.

For example, call them up and explain yourself. Ask if you can come in and have everything including new rotors. Ten ask if you should bring the attorney or not... They'll prob hook it up

[~AK49~]

Should have just done it yourself bro. Gotta/should learn sometime, and this is easy enough of a project and will save yourself bank.

-take off tire
-take off caliper
-remove pads
-take off rotor
-get rotor turned
-put rotor back on
-put new pads in the caliper
-put caliper back on rotor
-put tire back on
-profit

You shouldnt have to buy a new rotor, but just take it into napa or sone auto shop and get it turned, costs about 10-15 bucks. When you put the rotor back on, its crucial that you dont get fingerprints/dust/dirt/grime on the silver shiny part as this will help the pads wear in groove marks. Also note, alot of the brake pads they are making nowadays are some porcelain crap, and even when new they squeal. Id suggest getting the older type pads.

But yeah, save yourself some bank.