Well I got the name of a detailer from some of you guys on the board here and went to meet him today to look at the car and give me his opinion on just what I needed since the car still looks great.

As were looking over the car he asks what work I had done to the right rear quarter panel and I tell him none and that the car was bought brand new.

To make a long story short we discovered that my right rear quarter HAS in fact has AT LEAST been repainted. He used a mil gauge and it was reading 7.5 - 8.0 on that panel while all other were right around 4.5. He noticed other stuff to like rough edges inside the gas door and trunk lid and door jamb.

I took it right away to the dealership, ask for a service manager and told him whats going on. He pulled up the cars records and no evidence of work has been documented. But did agree that the car has has work done since the service manager pulled out a mil gauge as well and found the same results as well as the rough bits around the edges.

He is trying to contact higher ups at Infiniti to see what they can find out as far as damage happening to the car prior to the dealer getting a hold of it.

What is the next step i should do? I am extremely nervous about this.

 

If you bought the car "new" and it wasn't in fact new, you can force them to buy it back if you want.

 

^+1

Or the dealer will have to give the car to you for free for not letting you know but then again cars do get damaged during transport to the dealer and will normally be repaired and the dealer does not have to tell the customer

 

Are you sure this is true? It was my understanding that the car is taken and salvaged if it is damaged in transport. It becomes a liability for the manufacture.


<-------Detailer that found the damage.

 

happens all the time with other manufactures. cars damaged on the boat
or trailer and then repaired, prior to selling. also in most cases the dealer
doesn't know because repair is done in a different state.

just make sure you have no structural damage to the frame/suspension, they
can always fix the repair.

 

Yeah, I am figuring that this is the case. If its just paint that was repaired i can live with that, but if there was body damage, thats another issue.

 

A few years ago there was a lot of noise about BMW repainting & repairing cars that were damage in shipping. What I don't understand is why the manufacturer can't do a better job on the repairs; you shouldn't be able to tell.

 

Dang, n737nc. You must have one sharp eye to spot that without initially using a mil gauge.

 

any car panel can get repainted from the factory 3 times anymore than that it is crushed. now if the car was damaged from the transporter the dealer has it fixed. now the dealer does not have to tell you that it was fixed unless the day you buy it an you point it out and ask has this car been repainted. if they tell you no well there really is not much you can do about it other than not buy the car or make them buy it back. it could have been a little scrach or a little dent or the whole thing was caved in. if you go on the lot almost everycar has had some work done to it. alot of brand new cars have had small dents fixed chips touched up or the paintless dent guy comes out. most people can not tell it takes a strong eye and a person has to know what they are looking for. So if your friend had never said a word you would have never known. Sorry you found out this way and good luck.

 

Send me some pics looking down the side. (rear taillight to the front of the car up high and down low) a pic looking from top to bottom and a pic of your gas lid and i will tell what was fixed and what was done to fix it

 

Interesting. The way I always understood it, was that if the car was damaged before it was sold, it would become a liability for the manufacture. Learn something new everyday I guess


So I guess now the question is, is the dealer required to notify the buyer of the damage/repair? If so, what are the consequences if they don't?
For obvious reasons, resale value will drop if the buyer ever decides to sell. I know from what lekker_droom has told me, that he was never notified about the damage. And I believe that he asked if there was any damage before he bought the car. And now he's gone back to the dealer and asked again, and they still deny that anything had happened to the car before he purchased is, is he entitled to any kind of compensation?

Nick
Nick's Custom Detailing
214-205-1287

 

Unfortunately a lot of vehicles receive some minor damage in transportation, be it on the ship coming over, or on the various types of transports to the VDC, (Vehicle Distribution Center) or the dealership.

They do not have to disclose any damage to the vehicle, unless it was a major structural repair.

When I worked for Mercedes Benz, a good percentage of the cars coming in to Newark had some minor damage/scrapes/scratches. They prepped them, and repainted the cars prior to release to the dealers. The damage was recorded, but never released to anyone.

 

bottom line is. since it was never titled...no issue/concern for the dealer