Heres my dilemma...

1. Ordered a GTS a few months and have been waiting patiently since.
2. Car arrives at dealer this past Sunday...said it would be ready on Monday.
3. Dealer calls on Monday and tells me it wont be ready. Tells me he will get back to me to let me know when.
4. Dealer calls Wednesday and tells me the car was actually "dropped" when unloading, so there is a "small" scratch on the fender that needs to be repaired/repainted. Also, he tells me the tire needs to be replaced. Says the car should be ready by Friday...

I dont know much about car repairs, but if the car needs to be in the shop for at least a week for a repair AND the tire needs to be replaced, my gut feeling is it was more than just a "small" scratch. Actually, my gut tells me some doofus clipped a curb on a test drive of the car.

Im going to ask to see pictures of the damage and the invoice of the repairs on Friday before I decide (and also will ask a big discount). But anyone else have a similar experience with a car purchase?...Does "dropping while unloading" make any sense....is the dealer's story plausible?

 

How dealers think this is acceptable is beyond me. They should be straight up about the damage, offer a discount because the car is now worth less is you ever go to trade/sell it and then let you decide if you still want it or not

 

If there's slight damage to the wheel and/or tire and a 'scrape on the front finder, then it probably hit something. If they need to repaint the fender, I would pass unless they give you huge ($5k) discount. If you're purchasing the car, any experienced dealer will see that you've repainted the fender, so its been in an accident, and that will lower the resale significantly. You'll always have to explain the damage to anyone you resell it to, so you certainly need to understand EXACTLY what happened.

Good luck!

 

What dealer is this? They definitely sound shady to me!

 

I agree 100%...When it's time to sell you will be going through the same story the dealer is telling you now. Porsche guys are very particular on paintwork even if its just a bumper respray.

 

Exactly my thoughts. Id say -10% or pass.

 

Yes, I am with Kip. At least 10% (10k) more off of agreed price. I sold my C2S back to the dealer, they quoted me 68k but when they saw it in person and took a paint meter to it, they noticed respray on the doors. This was done because someone keyed my car and it was repaired, it was not in any accident at all. So they reduced their purchase price to 62k just because of the respray to the doors. That was 10%!

 

Unless you are leasing the car and planning on returning the car to the same dealer I would not accept it period. I have a couple of experiences to back up my advice.

When trading a BMW on inspection they found paint job on the driver door. I was the only owner and never had an accident. They looked into it and found that the car was "dropped when unloading." It was the same dealer so they honored their initial offer and I got rid of the problem.

Now an Audi. I was the only owner, no accidents. When trading it in a different state on inspection they found the car had been COMPLETELY repainted. I mean, front, back, sides, top. I called the initial dealer, they said they had nothing on record. I called the factory, they said they had nothing on record. If nobody was lying something happened between the port of exit in France (the factory had tracked the car until the car was loaded on the ship) and the dealer I bought the car from. The dealer that was now buying the car could no longer honor their offer (one of their managers was actually taking my car). I thought about taking legal action but decided not to. In the end I took the hit and let it be.

In some ways at least you know there was a problem with the car. But I don't think 10% will compensate you for the future headache. I am not sure if the paint job will even show on the car's history. But any trained eyes will catch it and I feel this should be disclosed when selling the car.

In the end, the dealer does not seem to be 100% honest with what is happening. I would think twice before continuing to do business with them. God knows what they will do to your car when you drop it for service (yes, I have stories about that as well...).

 

I'm so sorry to learn this...Ask them to locate equal or better new car in the country and ship it to you.

 

It probably was dropped off the carrier. I wouldn't assume someone test drove it to cause the damage described. Even though I lease my cars, I still wouldn't accept it. What happens if you want to trade it in early and the dealer or another dealer devalues it because of the damage? What happens if there's a suspension issue that continues to plague the car after you've taken delivery? Forget about it...