At the dealer: my car slipped off the lift!

[herbert68]

Yesterday I just wanted to check in about the fuel door not closing, the dealer took the car in and for some reason they decided to lift the car up. One of the arms was likely not placed correctly and the car slipped (didn't fall!) and at the passenger side the bottom beam under the front door got deformed (bent in).

Obviously I was not happy, but the dealer fully admitted their fault and they will repair the damage at their cost. As I was just leaving on a trip over New Year we will do the repair first thing when I come back.

What a start into the new year!

 

[one69chev]

dude that sucks......get them to throw in some sweet accessories, just so they can learn their lesson

 

[JASONP]

How lazy are the techs to have to put the car on the lift for a fuel door issue ??
Sorry about your luck

 

[Blackbomber]

These things happen. Since your issue sounds like a relatively minor one, they probably handed the ticket to one of the lesser experianced techs. I'm sorry his learning curve had to happen on your car, and not a Routan or Touran. As for why it would need to be lifted. Maybe they wanted to remove the tire and inner apron to look at it from the other side?

 

[owr084]

Could have been worse

 

[MTjake]

Holy crap! A fuel door issue? Isn't this a MK5?

 

[Farfromovin]

That sucks man. I had some repair work done on my brand new 06 so I know how you feel. The crappy part is that it'll never be the same. The color will be every so slightly off, the paint will not be as high as quality as the OE paint from the factory. At least it's just the lower rocker panel. My front end had to be repainted so I noticed hundreds of tiny rock chips over the next 6 months because of dealer paint vs factory paint.

 

[fleuger99]

Sorry to hear you had this happen. As somone else said, I'd definitely try and get an accessory or two out of this for your trouble! Speak to the GM not some guy at the front service desk.

2010 will be better for you. Happy New Year!!

 

[shoE30]

Make sure your car is straight (as in frame not bent and your alignment is correct) before you sign off that the fix is complete.

 

[herbert68]

Thank you all!

Sorry to hear you had this happen. As somone else said, I'd definitely try and get an accessory or two out of this for your trouble! Speak to the GM not some guy at the front service desk.

2010 will be better for you. Happy New Year!!

I'll let you know how it goes as soon as I'm back. Happy New Year to you all!

 

[spee]

What a shame! I hope that everything gets fixed correctly for you.

I assume based on your location that you are talking about Leitzinger/State College Motors (The dealership formerly known as Shields) Good to hear that the dealership is making an effort to be more honest with customers. When it was owned by Tom Shields their service dept was abysmal. I went through Autohaus of Lancaster to buy my Golf TDI because of a number of terrible experiences my family has had with Shields.

 

[herbert68]

What a shame! I hope that everything gets fixed correctly for you.

I assume based on your location that you are talking about Leitzinger/State College Motors (The dealership formerly known as Shields) Good to hear that the dealership is making an effort to be more honest with customers. When it was owned by Tom Shields their service dept was abysmal. I went through Autohaus of Lancaster to buy my Golf TDI because of a number of terrible experiences my family has had with Shields.

Yes, you guessed right, it's Leitzinger/State College Motors. I'll be driving back there tomorrow and will report on any progress.

 

[kleine deutsche Autos]

Oh no! That sucks! It's a relief to hear that they're being honest about it instead of trying to hide it. I hope that the work is done to your level of satisfaction and that you have your car back soon!

BTW... I was up in State College about a month and a half ago and only saw one newer TDI and it was my car's twin (heard it before I saw it - ahhhh... I LOVE the sound of diesel clatter in the morning ). You don't happen to drive a blue graphite metallic sedan, do you?

 

[herbert68]

@Rachel: My TDI is white. Sorry I missed you when you were here! BTW, do you speak German?

 

[kleine deutsche Autos]

Yeah, I speak a bit of German.

Have you heard any more news about your car? Any pics??

 

[herbert68]

Just dropped the Jetta off for repair. There were no questions at the dealer, everything went, Yes, of course! And we are very sorry! And, thank you for working with us to get this fixed quickly for you!

I drove off with a loaner Routan and the dealer promise to "work with me" on future repairs.
So far so good.

Here are a few fuzzy cell phone pictures of the damage:

 

[dieseldorf]

That's nothing, sheesh! I've had similar damage done to a car, it caused severe rust a couple of years later

I had a friend who really did have a car fall off the lift, OK, car hauler, and it was brand-new. The dealer still sold the car as a new car and it took them a year or so to finally identify what had occurred. The dealer ended up getting the car shoved down their throat, gave a full refund and then some

 

[kleine deutsche Autos]

I was expecting significantly worse damage. I'm so glad it's not bad at all! Definitely keep us posted.

 

[owr084]

And that's why I like my Passat. The rocker panel is plastic and easy to replace. As a bonus, the bottom of each door has a plastic strip to keep the door from scraping low lying objects. Why VW didn't use this design on its other vehicles, I don't know.

 

[Gregataustin]

Make sure and tell them that you want diminished value for the car. If you car fax it, it will show body work, so you can't sell it as a straight car. You want the difference in the money from them, because it is their fault. Offer to litigate over it, because they will be liable.

 

[herbert68]

@gregataustin Thank you for this tip, great suggestion, I will definitely raise this issue!

 

[herbert68]

Finally I can report on the next step in this drama: It took a while to get a slot but the body shop did a great job in repairing the dent and the dealer installed an under-seat drawer I already had as a courtesy and committed to installing a dash cubby as well, once it get's shipped from OEMPL.us ... so far so good.

When I was ready to leave the shop I turned on the radio, but nothing happened. I cycled the ignition and tried again, but still no sound from the radio, none of the buttons worked. So I went back in and asked what happened?

They called the mechanic who worked on my car and he tried, but again no sound. He took the car back in and hooked it up to VAG-COM but came back a few minutes later to tell me that the head unit was dead!

Dead? How can that be?

They'll call into VW to check what needs to be done to replace the head unit. I took that opportunity and asked them to also check what would it take to upgrade to the nav sytem RNS-510 as we are already opening the dash. They said they would check and call me back tomorrow.

I left with numerous apologies from almost everyone at the dealership including the boss. I almost started feeling sorry for them ...

On the way home I realized that the Bluetooth function (all of it) was dead too ... this might be connected to the dead head unit, but I'm no expert ...

Oh well ... I'll report back as soon as I have something new to share.

 

[740GLE]

i wonder if installing that underseat drawer did something to the bluetooth and radio, its a long shot, but a guess

 

[jayb79]

i wonder if installing that underseat drawer did something to the bluetooth and radio, its a long shot, but a guess

If its on the pass side.

 

[cmannorth]

fell off lift

gregataustin,diminished value is in fact a real issue as you state but!!!! Not all states recognize diminished value.The insurance lobbyist's are a powerful group.Also,I doubt that the dealership has filed a claim with there insurance carrier regarding the damage.It sucks that this has happened but there is truly nowhere to go regarding a claim.Litigation is a stretch financially considering what one might gain if successful.A dented rocker panel and the subsequent repair is not something that will be a big deal.Take photos before and after,and put them in a file.In the future were you to sell the car you could produce your file when asked of the cars history.I doubt it will be an issue to most potential buyers.It sounds as though the dealership is trying to make good on there gaff.Keep working with them towards a reasonable resolution that will benefit you.

 

[Gregataustin]

Hey, I know that the radio has a small fuse on the back of it, use some radio removal tools, and if the dealership charges you to remove the radio, kick them in the nuts, square in the nuts. Just pull it out of the dash, and look in the back, where the wires all plug in. Mine is a 15a standard blade fuse. My buddy had no sound for amost a year. Told the same thing, we pulled it to install a cheap crappy one I had in my garage, found the fuse, replaced it, and it all worked again, after he got the code. But if you can get them to give you a free navigation, go right ahead.

 

[herbert68]

... But if you can get them to give you a free navigation, go right ahead.

No free navigation, unfortunately! All it took was a quick "static discharge", as they called it, apparently built up by welding work during the body work mentioned above. Everything is working fine like it did before. Amazing.

 

[ibid]

booo.. I would have brought up the 'diminished value' idea as a way to get that done!

oh well.. as long as you are happy, that is what matters most!

 

[Gregataustin]

"Static discharge", sounds like "Transmission Shock" to me, maby that guy could check your "blinker fluid" as well, sometimes it burns out bulbs when it gets low. I am happy as hell for you that it works again. Watch out on dry days when its windy, you could get "static discharge" again from your fingers or hair.

 

[balkor2]

Nice, Let me count the ways 1 - 100 - 1000 - 10000 - 20000 dollars?

Could have been worse