Problem with car dealer, any advise?

[TMagda]

Thursday my wife picked up her new Toyota Sienna at our local dealer. It was brought in from a dealership about 250 miles away for correct color, options, etc... This morning she noticed glass shards in the trunk area as well as some black glue in the back carpet. She called the dealer immediately to find out if the van had been damaged and after making a call to the dealer he sourced if from, confirmed that yes, it had. He said only the back window had been broken and it shouldn't be a big deal. I looked at the car when I got home tonight and found the shards are actually some glass and some plastic, that matches the tailight lenses, mixed together. Finding the plastic lead me to inpsect the tailight lenses more carefully, and sure enough, the gaps around both of the lenses are filled with shattered plastic. This makes me think the van was hit from behind hard enough to break the window and both lenses at a minimum. The salesman said he would have the general manager call us back immediately, but then they both left for the day. I got online and put a stop payment on the downpayment check. Do you think I was within my rights to do so? I still want a van, just not that one. I tend to keep cars for a long time and I would be concerned with long term perfomance of the paint, as well as the operation of the electric door. In addition, how much faith can you put into the repair if the guy who changed the tailight lenses couldnt be bothered to clean out the original broken plastic. This car was not cheap, and was only slightly discounted. I know my dealer could not have known it was damaged, but it's on him to make it right and he 's off to a bad start. BTW it was supposed to only have the 250 delivery miles on it but when it arrived it had more than 450, indicating a some use prior to delivery. Any opinions on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

[L72copocamaro]

You'll need to act fast as you only have 72 hours under federal "right of rescission" law.

[njsteve]

The stop payment was a good start but did you take out a loan for the van? Next thing is to immediately return it to the dealer. Park it directly in front of their front door, so they have to actually move it to get inside. This way they cant ignore it, or the problem. You need to be there exactly when the doors open tomorrow morning and demand that they cancel the contract. They sold you an obviously damaged vehicle, not a new one, and they never disclosed the fact.

Keep us posted.

By the way, that "they left for the day" crap is a complete lie. Its a business and they will always have someone with some level of authority there, otherwise they couldnt complete any sales.

[67L78conv]

Pictures, pictures, pictures. Document every little detail just in case.

[mockingbird812]

Tom

The stop payment will get their attention. I would be surprised if they do not do a full refund or try to find the right van for you. How are you with a camera and a mike? An astutely made youtube video featuring this dealership, should they not cooperate would go a long way....or at least suggesting making this video!

You are in the driver's seat, so don't let them convince you to do anything you are not comfortable with. Telling them you want to sleep on whatever offer they suggest might be a good idea. Keep us posted and hang in there!!!

[Xplantdad]

Steve is correct. A similar thing happened to us at a Toyota dealer in Ca...when we purchased a Toyota Tacoma extended cab 4WD truck that was "brand new"...with less than 4 miles on it.

When we got it home, I started to detail it (wax inside doors, frame rails [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/naughty.gif[/img], inside the bed, etc) I noticed some overspray/tape/residue on the area between the cab and bed and on some of the rubber sections around the back window.

I immediately called the dealership back up...and they denied any damage had occurred. I asked them to contact the delivery truck people and the storage yards where the vehicles were offloaded. we eventually found out that the truck had some significant damage to it on the cab section and to a portion of the bed.

I was not happy...but still wanted the truck. They gave me a lot more money off of the truck and I made them have their lawyer draft a statement that said that if any fading/crack/damage of the paint or repairs before my purchase and during my ownership of the vehicle occurred...they were entirely responsible to repair it to my satisfaction...on their dime. That satisfied me...and kept me a happy owner.

[Mr. Chevy]

Remember, &quot;The Customer is ALWAYS Right!!!!!!&quot; Hopefully they will correct the problem for you and give you what you want...

Like the others said, document this. Take photos and DO NOT clean the glass and plastic fragments up, leave everything as is and take it back to the dealer..

Rich

I absolutly agree with what you are doing and would try for the same terms Xplantdad went after in his situation.

[TMagda]

Thanks for all of the great advise guys! There is so much auto dealer bashing going on in these forums I am really happy to report an instance of outstanding customer service. The business manager was waiting for me this am and started apologizing profusely as soon as I walked in the the door. Before I could say a word, he said the whole transaction will be reversed and it would be my choice to either 1. bring in an identical Sienna, with an additional discount, 2. bring in a similar Sienna, with a bigger discount, 3. take one of the more fully optioned models on their lot at a massive discount or 4. walk away. It is really great to know in this day and age you can occasionally come across real integrity. Now the dealer that sent them the damaged van in the first place, whole different story...

[njsteve]

That's great news! Congrats.

So which route are you gonna go?