Phil
Enthusiast
Car CRASHED by a local dealer\'s service department!(long)
Hello all. I want to share this sad happening to every viper owners out there. I have a 98 Viper GTS which I took it to the local dealership's service department to do some minor work on about June 16th or 17th last month. By the time I dropped off my car, I've mention that my car suffer somekind of vibration in 4th gear and I told the one of the service advisor to check it out for me and along to do some other minor work. And i also told them that i will leaving the car with them until everything is fix. So anyway, on June 22nd, a few days later...the dealership phoned me and told me that most of the stuff is fixed and they had already taken my car out for a test drive. And the only thing outstanding was they ordered a small little part for the door and they said it won't arrive until sometime next week. So since it's a Friday then and it's really sunny, so i told the dealership that i will take the car out for the weekend and return the car back on monday or tuesday when that part arrive. As soon as I took the car and drove out of their lot, right away i've noticed that my car had about 250km extra mileage on it. So i was really upset and noticed that obviously someone at the dealership had taken my car out for a joyride. (250km is about the mileage to drive from Vancouver, BC to Seattle, Washington).
So right away I phoned the service manager and told him about this and express my angry toward the dealership. Then I've carefully instructed the service manager from now on, no one should drive my car without my prior consent. And the service manager agreed and told me don't be upset and they will takecare of my car for the future...etc...trying to keep my business with them. Anyway, when I returned my car to the dealership on June 26th, again, I've express my anger toward the dealership for taking my car for a joyride and driven excessive mileage on it and again I was being told by the service manager that no one is allow to drive my car without my consent from now on. So, feeling a bit relaxed after that, I left the dealership. A few days later, on June 30th, a Saturday around 6:30pm, I received a phone call from the service manager and asked me to call him at his home. So as soon as I got the message, I called him back and the first thing he asked me was did I give authorization to one of the service advisor to take my car out that day....and right away I said NO! And i asked him why? speaking carefully, he told me that "it seems like that service advisor had came in to the dealership and taken my key and took off with my car. Right after I've heard that, I was already jumping up and down. Anyway, the service manager told me that he will try to find out more and call me back later. Then, about 2 and a half hours later, he called again. And the first thing he asked me was the same question he asked before"did you give authorization for that guy to drive your car?" and I've answered NO again. Then...again..speaking carefully...he told me that it seems like the car was involved in a "HIT AND RUN" accident. I'm sure everyone who reads this can pretty much know how i feel after i've heard that from him. I asked him right away...where's my car and what exactly happened? But he just said he don't really know and will call me back when he find out more. But he didn't call me back on sunday and monday(monday is a public holiday-Canada Day). By tuesday, I called the service manager to find out more, guess what?? He refused to talk and transfer the phone call to the owner of the dealership. And when i talked to the owner of the dealership, he told me to go to the dealership and look at the car...and he said it wasn't really that bad. Anyway, without saying much to him, i went to the dealership. When i arrived and saw my precious Viper, the whole front bumper had fallen off and inside of it was all cracked and damaged...and a few scratches on the side of the car as well. After seeing my car, the owner came out and talked to me. So of course i've expressed my deep anger towards him and told him that this is obviously the dealership's fault. And he told me that it's not the dealership's fault. I explained to him that it's because he is an employee of this dealership, that's why he can get a hold of my key and stole my car out and crashed it. Anyway, guess what the owner told me??? He simply just said"You have insurance and we have insurance, let the insurance takecare of it and get it over with!" My goodness!! How can he just said these kind of words only?? I brought the car brand new and been taking care of it until now without one single scratch on it and now since I trusted the dealership and leave my Viper with them to do some work, a employee of theirs simply stole my car and crashed it??? It just doesn't make sense to me at all. I demanded the owner to at least offer me something and he said he will call me back. Then, it had taken him one full week and still didn't call me back. And when i called him at the end of the week, he even avoided my calls. So i was so piss off and left him a message saying that since a week had passed and he didn't bother to call me, so he's leaving me with no choice other than giving this matter to my lawyer. And after this message i left him, the owner phoned me back on a monday and told me that he's willing to offer me a deal. So I told him that since the car been crashed, i don't want the car anymore and i want to get another one. And i asked him what can he do for me? And he said obviously he won't be able to get me another brand new 1998 GTS. So he said how about he find me a 2001 Viper GTS and offer me a "really great deal" and then he will try to find a buyer for my crashed one. I then said to him maybe this will work. Because I'm not greedy at all and I've told him, if I come to you and asked you to compensate me a brand new Viper since you guys crashed my car, then I'm not being practical and somewhat greedy. So anyway, he promised me that he will call me back once he have something. Then..a few days later...the owner called me and told me that he had located a 2001 GTS for x amount of money and told me that the other party won't release the car less and he had also told me that he found a buyer for my crashed car for x amount of money. Anyway, this x amount for the new 2001 was way too expensive and the x amount for my crashed car was way too low. So, without taken his so called "great deal", i had my own car broker to work on it. And guess what?? My car broker had managed to get the same car that the dealership is talking about for much less and also found a buyer for my crashed car for more money. I just can't believe that the dealership is still trying to make money out of my pocket after what they had done to my car.
Well, anyway...I've been typing too much already...just to cut it short...the dealership refuse to compensate anything to me after what they did to my car. So, since the car is crashed by some bozo, I had already sold the car and brought a new 2001 GTS. And I've also instructed my lawyer to get ready to sue the dealership for all damaged that I've suffered, of course including the depreciation of the car after it's a crashed car. And since I was being so nice to the dealership at the very beginning and wanting to make a deal with them, too bad they had refused to even compensate me for anything, besides to sue them, I will also spend some money to buy the front page of the local newspaper and let everyone know about how this dealership is treating their customer's precious VIPER!!! What I want to tell everyone here is that becareful and please remember to check your mileage every time when you take your car to service and when you get your car back from them. You never know when they will take your car for a joyride. And i'm basically waiting for the arrival of my new 2001 GTS. Although I'm still somewhat feeling upset of what happened to my precious GTS, I guess now I can try to put my sad feelings away and look forward to my new GTS's arrival. Thank you for those that spend your precious time to read about this.
For SEAN ROE if you read this: I've received your nice HID light kit already. But when I received it, the car already been crashed. So I'll definitely tell you how's the HID when I put it in my new GTS, ok? And thanks for your answer to my previous question regarding adjusting the light in my previous GTS, although i don't have the car anymore, but appreciated your prompt replied.
TAKECARE EVERYONE AND HAPPY MOTORING WITH YOUR PRECIOUS VIPERS!!
PHIL(98 GTS)
Hello all. I want to share this sad happening to every viper owners out there. I have a 98 Viper GTS which I took it to the local dealership's service department to do some minor work on about June 16th or 17th last month. By the time I dropped off my car, I've mention that my car suffer somekind of vibration in 4th gear and I told the one of the service advisor to check it out for me and along to do some other minor work. And i also told them that i will leaving the car with them until everything is fix. So anyway, on June 22nd, a few days later...the dealership phoned me and told me that most of the stuff is fixed and they had already taken my car out for a test drive. And the only thing outstanding was they ordered a small little part for the door and they said it won't arrive until sometime next week. So since it's a Friday then and it's really sunny, so i told the dealership that i will take the car out for the weekend and return the car back on monday or tuesday when that part arrive. As soon as I took the car and drove out of their lot, right away i've noticed that my car had about 250km extra mileage on it. So i was really upset and noticed that obviously someone at the dealership had taken my car out for a joyride. (250km is about the mileage to drive from Vancouver, BC to Seattle, Washington).
So right away I phoned the service manager and told him about this and express my angry toward the dealership. Then I've carefully instructed the service manager from now on, no one should drive my car without my prior consent. And the service manager agreed and told me don't be upset and they will takecare of my car for the future...etc...trying to keep my business with them. Anyway, when I returned my car to the dealership on June 26th, again, I've express my anger toward the dealership for taking my car for a joyride and driven excessive mileage on it and again I was being told by the service manager that no one is allow to drive my car without my consent from now on. So, feeling a bit relaxed after that, I left the dealership. A few days later, on June 30th, a Saturday around 6:30pm, I received a phone call from the service manager and asked me to call him at his home. So as soon as I got the message, I called him back and the first thing he asked me was did I give authorization to one of the service advisor to take my car out that day....and right away I said NO! And i asked him why? speaking carefully, he told me that "it seems like that service advisor had came in to the dealership and taken my key and took off with my car. Right after I've heard that, I was already jumping up and down. Anyway, the service manager told me that he will try to find out more and call me back later. Then, about 2 and a half hours later, he called again. And the first thing he asked me was the same question he asked before"did you give authorization for that guy to drive your car?" and I've answered NO again. Then...again..speaking carefully...he told me that it seems like the car was involved in a "HIT AND RUN" accident. I'm sure everyone who reads this can pretty much know how i feel after i've heard that from him. I asked him right away...where's my car and what exactly happened? But he just said he don't really know and will call me back when he find out more. But he didn't call me back on sunday and monday(monday is a public holiday-Canada Day). By tuesday, I called the service manager to find out more, guess what?? He refused to talk and transfer the phone call to the owner of the dealership. And when i talked to the owner of the dealership, he told me to go to the dealership and look at the car...and he said it wasn't really that bad. Anyway, without saying much to him, i went to the dealership. When i arrived and saw my precious Viper, the whole front bumper had fallen off and inside of it was all cracked and damaged...and a few scratches on the side of the car as well. After seeing my car, the owner came out and talked to me. So of course i've expressed my deep anger towards him and told him that this is obviously the dealership's fault. And he told me that it's not the dealership's fault. I explained to him that it's because he is an employee of this dealership, that's why he can get a hold of my key and stole my car out and crashed it. Anyway, guess what the owner told me??? He simply just said"You have insurance and we have insurance, let the insurance takecare of it and get it over with!" My goodness!! How can he just said these kind of words only?? I brought the car brand new and been taking care of it until now without one single scratch on it and now since I trusted the dealership and leave my Viper with them to do some work, a employee of theirs simply stole my car and crashed it??? It just doesn't make sense to me at all. I demanded the owner to at least offer me something and he said he will call me back. Then, it had taken him one full week and still didn't call me back. And when i called him at the end of the week, he even avoided my calls. So i was so piss off and left him a message saying that since a week had passed and he didn't bother to call me, so he's leaving me with no choice other than giving this matter to my lawyer. And after this message i left him, the owner phoned me back on a monday and told me that he's willing to offer me a deal. So I told him that since the car been crashed, i don't want the car anymore and i want to get another one. And i asked him what can he do for me? And he said obviously he won't be able to get me another brand new 1998 GTS. So he said how about he find me a 2001 Viper GTS and offer me a "really great deal" and then he will try to find a buyer for my crashed one. I then said to him maybe this will work. Because I'm not greedy at all and I've told him, if I come to you and asked you to compensate me a brand new Viper since you guys crashed my car, then I'm not being practical and somewhat greedy. So anyway, he promised me that he will call me back once he have something. Then..a few days later...the owner called me and told me that he had located a 2001 GTS for x amount of money and told me that the other party won't release the car less and he had also told me that he found a buyer for my crashed car for x amount of money. Anyway, this x amount for the new 2001 was way too expensive and the x amount for my crashed car was way too low. So, without taken his so called "great deal", i had my own car broker to work on it. And guess what?? My car broker had managed to get the same car that the dealership is talking about for much less and also found a buyer for my crashed car for more money. I just can't believe that the dealership is still trying to make money out of my pocket after what they had done to my car.
Well, anyway...I've been typing too much already...just to cut it short...the dealership refuse to compensate anything to me after what they did to my car. So, since the car is crashed by some bozo, I had already sold the car and brought a new 2001 GTS. And I've also instructed my lawyer to get ready to sue the dealership for all damaged that I've suffered, of course including the depreciation of the car after it's a crashed car. And since I was being so nice to the dealership at the very beginning and wanting to make a deal with them, too bad they had refused to even compensate me for anything, besides to sue them, I will also spend some money to buy the front page of the local newspaper and let everyone know about how this dealership is treating their customer's precious VIPER!!! What I want to tell everyone here is that becareful and please remember to check your mileage every time when you take your car to service and when you get your car back from them. You never know when they will take your car for a joyride. And i'm basically waiting for the arrival of my new 2001 GTS. Although I'm still somewhat feeling upset of what happened to my precious GTS, I guess now I can try to put my sad feelings away and look forward to my new GTS's arrival. Thank you for those that spend your precious time to read about this.
For SEAN ROE if you read this: I've received your nice HID light kit already. But when I received it, the car already been crashed. So I'll definitely tell you how's the HID when I put it in my new GTS, ok? And thanks for your answer to my previous question regarding adjusting the light in my previous GTS, although i don't have the car anymore, but appreciated your prompt replied.
TAKECARE EVERYONE AND HAPPY MOTORING WITH YOUR PRECIOUS VIPERS!!
PHIL(98 GTS)
