Need Help Fighting Dealer

[USSCajun]

I had something like that on my new Bronco. Went to eBay, bought touch up paint and slathered it over the blemish. All good. Playing Don Quixote is too much mental energy.

What if you found out they damaged the vehicle during transportation more than the $50 required for disclosure when signing and had it fixed in their own shop at cut rate hours to avoid the Carfax?

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[MNBronc]

Touch up paint and this:
it will be perfect.

https://www.amazon.com/3M-33889-Def...locphy=9019517&hvtargid=pla-961965194845&th=1

 

[kodiakisland]

Touch up paint and this:
it will be perfect.

https://www.amazon.com/3M-33889-Def...locphy=9019517&hvtargid=pla-961965194845&th=1

If that doesn’t work, just cover it
https://www.etsy.com/market/drama_llama_stickers

 

[Bruno]

You are mad... Becasue they are offering to fix it for free?
You think they lied to you and hid the chip with a deflector? They probably did!

You are getting a $2,000 wrap.... And you care about a pea size chip that will inconvince you becasue you have to wait to get your wrap installed?

I could understand if this was a Lambo....

sry this just sounds like whining

 

[Bellime]

I would take a step back to the beginning. Was this a new buy or a “as is” used bronco buy?

these non-factory add-ons seems like this was a return from someone or a dealer driven vehicle.

I am just very suspicious of this purchase

 

[Bruno]

OP here,
what has me livid is that the dealer willfully deceived me about a defect in the vehicle.
!! they don't get forgiven for that by simply paying for the repair !!

"They dont get forgiven - by offering to correct the problem...."

Dude, this position is not going to get you very far in life. Its something an angry young 20's something guy would say.

Maybe you should see a therapist over this, find out why it triggered you.
Maybe theres someone that never forgave you? When you just had the best intentions....

 

[Johnny Vikes]

The stock paint chips very easily. My first chip off-road I about fainted. Now I’m use to it.

Ive always been told that if you get a car repainted it will never be as good as the factory paint - is that just not the case with these broncos?

 

[NeoS281]

They hid the defect which in my opinion, they don't get forgiven for that by simply paying for the repair.

How do you know they hid the defect? Did you happen to see other Bronco's on the lot with the same hood deflector installed? If so, it might just be them adding accessories to validate their $5K in ADM charges.

 

[Johnny Vikes]

The Bronco paint is somehow a step up from the '19 Ranger that I had previously. I swear if you looked at the truck the wrong way you were getting a chuck missing.

Are there shops that can repaint better than factory?

 

[kodiakisland]

How do you know they hid the defect? Did you happen to see other Bronco's on the lot with the same hood deflector installed? If so, it might just be them adding accessories to validate their $5K in ADM charges.

The shop removing the deflector could have also done it, even with the correct trim tools. The dealer could refuse and blame the other shop. Sounds like the dealer is trying to make it good regardless.

 

[CarGuy]

Long story short, I flew to pickup my Bronco several states away as it was nearly exactly what I was looking for with model/options. When I picked it up, there was a cheap plastic air deflector installed on the front of the hood (the type held on with 3M tape). I figured when I got it home I'd remove it, no big deal.

I got home and decided to get a stealth PPF wrap. The company doing the wrap offered to take the deflector off when they performed the wrap. They then texted me the large chip in the hood that the deflector was hiding.

We tried to get Ford touchup paint in that model, but every dealer within 100 miles was out of stock saying it was "impossible to get" (yet another reason for dealer to install deflector).

When confronted with all of this, the dealer requested a quote from a body shop to repair and they would pay the bill. I should mention, they charged me 5k over sticker due to some term I forget, but basically they're hard to come by so pay a premium.

To say I'm livid is an understatement. Before I get into it with the dealer, I was hoping to get a bit of info:

1. A cheap plastic air deflector is not a factory option, this is something only the dealer adds, correct?
2. There was no air deflector on the sticker, or anywhere in the paperwork. Dealers "never" throw in things for free, correct?
3. Has anyone seen a Bronco on a lot with this air deflector installed?

A good body shop, Dr. ColorChip (or similar) can mix a batch of touch-up that will be closely match.

 

[BASE729]

Well, certainly not the responses I expected. Not sure if additional details will change anything but I'm in this deep, so why not

The plastic air deflector was not on the window sticker, and was not in any of the paperwork. They never charged me for it. The Bronco was a custom order that the customer cancelled. If the original customer wanted it installed, I assume that it would be on the original order/paperwork. If the original customer verbally requested the air deflector then cancelled before the Bronco arrived, I doubt they would fulfill his request on an order he already cancelled. It also makes little sense that the original customer waited until the Bronco was on the lot ready to be picked up until cancelling the order. The most likely explanation is that the custom order took too long to be delivered and was cancelled. I find it hard to come up with a likely scenario where somehow the original customers desire for an air deflector gets fulfilled without it being on any of the paperwork. Also, if not due to the original order, why would the dealer on its own decide to attach a cheap plastic air deflector on a very specific build (more on that later) Though, if I learned anything today, I'm sure there are other scenarios that will be pointed out to me... So to me (and apparently only me) the only way that deflector gets installed is to cover a defect, because I certainly didn't request it.

The discovery of the paint chip was 5 days from the day I picked up the vehicle, two of which were Saturday / Sunday. I got it to the PPF installer as quickly as possible since it was 'new' without any blemishes. It's not like I discovered it 6 months later.

The PPF installer was frantically trying to salvage his work day (only vehicle in the shop) so he offered to go pickup some touchup and do his best to make the best of it. He called 5 Ford dealerships trying to get the exact touch up paint and all 5 dealerships said they were out of stock and they didn't expect any for a while. Upon hearing this, I called 'my' dealer's service department and asked if I could buy some touchup and they had the same response. They had none.

And yes, the PPF installer could have done it. I can't prove he didn't. But that means the dealer installed the air deflector for absolutely no reason, didn't charge me for it, and 5 days later its revealed that there's a big chip under it that the dealer didn't have touchup paint in stock to fix with? That just doesn't pass the BS test.

I pointed all of this out to the dealer when I first communicated the chip to them. That's when they graciously offered to pay for the repair. And yeah, this happens all the time and 99% of the time I would have gotten the estimate and took the dealer's money. But they just happened to be the 1% that I decided I'm not going to settle for just the repair when, it is clear to me (and probably only me) that the dealer really tried to pull a fast one on me and I'd rather forego the offer to repair in an attempt to get additional compensation in return for not complaining to all the appropriate agencies and higher ups at Ford. I'm betting they'd be willing to pay a little more to make the problem go away quietly, in writing. Which is what I offered.

Can't wait for the responses to this. I'll address paying over MSRP in my next post.

 

[BASE729]

I'm an engineer with CDO (which is OCD with the letters in the proper order... that's a joke before I get blasted for it. Well, I do have OCD, that's not the joke part). Every new car I've ever purchased I've custom ordered because I can never bring myself to buy a 50 or 60k vehicle that's not the color I want, or doesn't have a specific option I want. I'm not saying that's the right way to do it, or anyone who doesn't do it that way is wrong, I'm saying that's just one of my quirks. I personally wouldn't be happy unless the vehicle is 'exactly' what I wanted.

Based on the above, I had a nationwide filter setup on autotrader looking for my 'exact' match. I was willing to fly 'anywhere' to pickup that exact vehicle if it became available. In 6 months of looking, not a single hit. My exact match was:

2-Door, Badlands, Sasquatch package, manual, granite crystal, with Lux package.

The chances of finding that on a lot for sale without custom ordering it is near zero.

So when it appeared due to a cancelled order, only 350 miles away and an hour from my parents (who I don't visit enough), I decided to purchase it.

I could have settled for something different, but it wouldn't be "my" Bronco that I wanted. I could have waited for the dealer to drop the price (at the risk of losing the vehicle), or I could have custom ordered a vehicle and waited god knows how long (and this was before the strike). I did negotiate a lower price than he was advertising, but over sticker.

So yeah, I got the exact Bronco I wanted, picked it up 5 days later, and got some time with the parents. I'm not financially strapped, I can certainly afford it, I didn't even finance the vehicle, it was a cash purchase. If that makes me a sucker, or a fool, or whatever else I was called, so be it.

 

[kodiakisland]

I'm not sure what responses you expected, but I think most people would get it fixed and move on with their lives. You're spending a lot of time and effort to be a victim here.

Trying to figure out how telling us you paid cash factors in, but have I mentioned I'm a pilot?

 

[BeardedSkull]

Did the dealer install the deflector after you signed the paperwork or did you think you were getting a freebie?

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