[sankdadevil]

Originally Posted by neoonwheels

When you deliberately want to sell a car which is fixed for some reason, its obvious that you want to minimize any loss, then how come you expect the other party to compromise on something for which the whole amount is/would be paid. Best is to sit with the customer, discuss the issue and potential discount and then take a call. Skipping this just shows you and your company's integrity when it comes to do business.

Somebody has to own the mistake and why should customer be penalized for something happened on your watch? Similarly, during the ownership of the vehicle, would you fix the scratches for free?

This pretty much sums up the entire thread. "Integrity" in doing business will pull in more customers in the long run. Minimize the short-term loss, however have a long-term view. Most customers these days are reasonable and if the dealer is owning up to their fault, the customer too will be willing to take the discussion further and negotiate. Such negotiation is fair to arrive at a middle ground acceptable to both parties and as such will help in building a trustworthy brand of the dealer.

[pannags]

The one thing that this boils down to is INTEGRITY. Honesty and some cushioning by way of freebies should help reduce the dissatisfaction/disapproval.

BTW, I find the comparison to gadgets and appliances a bit misplaced. The logistics of transporting a car from the plant to a dealership is a different ballgame altogether.

[Mortis]

Rather than start a new thread, I might as well ask it here since it seems like maximum chances of damage are likely to happen while a new car is stored in the dealer stockyard or when it's being driven to the showroom for delivery or in the showroom premises itself.
How does one take delivery of a new car in the shortest amount of time and from the stockyard itself, pretty much as soon as the car is unloaded from the transport truck ?
I'm assuming you would have to pay the full on road price in advance (would the VIN be available in advance for this ?). The car is unloaded, dealer does stock check and PDI, can Temp registration be done in advance, do the cars already have temp registration, how much does a temporary plate cost, you turn up and do your own PDI and if it's fine you drive the car home. Meanwhile the dealer completes the registration and once done you drive to the showroom to get the plates fitted, etc

Can someone give me a breakdown on how feasible something like this is ?

[ananbanka]

Hi Kedrock!

Unfortunately, most consumers would believe that they are entitled to the perfect experience, and rightly so, since they have invested their hard-earned money, and more importantly, their time. But in a practical world, this is far from true.

I believe this issue will be more pronounced with someone who finds out about the re-painted panel on his / her own, or someone who is made to feel that they have been done a favour for their panels being repainted. I think a lot of times, it comes down to the ego of a person.

As an auto-component supplier, having spent time in the factories of many OEMs, I can tell you that not every car passes the final inspection at the end of the assembly line, and every OEM has a rework station where issues are corrected. The end customer assumes that every car leaving the assembly line is perfect, but that is not the case. And the OEM would never tell the dealer or end consumer if anything on the car has been re-worked before leaving the factory.

As a dealer, maintaining transparency since the day of the booking, under-promising and over-delivering at every stage is the best way to build a relationship where you can communicate about issues like this before the PDI without having to pay out of your pocket. For customers that are stubborn, the only other way out would be to give them some kind of compensation - sometimes, the person arguing wants to feel superior, and if the ego is satisfied, you may be able to save on the financial part.

Hope this helps!

[somspaple]

Originally Posted by Kedrock

..
So, why repainting a panel (on a new car) is made into a big deal?
..

I guess this is the favorite part of the post people love to quote - to the extent that I used keyword 'big deal' to search this thread! Even I wanted to reply immediately to the OP but my response would've been obvious. But then had to face the issue myself last week:

TLDR: Dealer tried to push repainted car - didn't provide details of the damage - we denied taking delivery, yet to get refund

My brother had booked Tata Nexon with URS KAR , Mysore and after waiting for 6 months finally received a call confirming that the car has arrived at dealership. We went to do the PDI - car was partially washed and was parked in basement of the showroom building. Basement was lit with few tube lights. We started the inspection with the help of phone torch [while simultaneously recording] in SA's presence. Within no time we noticed slight uneven rear bumper fitment. SA was saying this is a common issue while bashing Tata for QC issues- soon I started noticing color shade difference on rear right door. Mind you this is a White solid colored car - probably one of the easiest to panel match after a repaint. Shade of repainted color was almost like 'Robin liquid blue' White while rest of the car had much warmer shade of White. When we brought this to SAs notice - he outright denied stating that the car was dirty and one polishing session will fix all of this.

At that moment I mentioned that transit damages do occur and we were interested in knowing the extent of damage and the pictures of the damaged panel before repair. After this he stopped contesting there was no damage and he called his Lead and PDI manager. Since it was obvious that the panel was repainted, they said they would try to get more information within an hour or so.

In the meantime as we started looking further, we noticed there was a slight paint smear on the black bumper cladding - visible only when you lift the tailgate. To this SA said he wouldn't accept this as damage and this was just poor QC from Tata. But as we continued to check , even the rear left quarter panel paint looked freshly repainted[much more pronounced orange peel] - but they had done far better job on this panel compared to first.

Even next day we never received any pics and details on extent of damage. We rejected the car and asked them to arrange a different car. Dealership said nope - we would have to take delivery of this car as they had 'billed' it already! After giving them an earful, now their stand is they can arrange a new car only after another 3 months wait period. As of latest my brother has sent them an email asking for refund of booking amount in full and they are yet to get back to us on refund. I'm sure by now car would have been sold to some other unsuspecting customer in waiting [of course after fixing all faults found in our PDI]. I've left out the details about callous attitude of the staff in this fiasco in interest of readability. So yes, for dealers it's no 'Big Deal' - they don't stand to lose anything.


And sadly for Tata, this is the second instance where we had to move away from their product due to their dealerships. In an earlier instance - in Shimoga - dealership experience made my in-laws switch to Toyota Urban Cruiser [booked/bought from Bangalore]. In both instances Nexon was their first choice.

PS: We went ahead and booked Brezza VXi Automatic this week in Bangalore

[Brumby]

Originally Posted by Kedrock

Dear all

I request you to share your perspective on the topic.

As an automotive dealer, we handle the new cars with utmost care however, on rare occasions (while shifting the cars from stockyard to showroom) the new vehicles may get scratches, tiny dents. We send these cars to workshop and get them fixed (panel or panels repainted) before delivery.

Just one question,

Why do the dealers' used car division makes so much fuss on knowing that the panels have been re-painted and reduce the offers ridiculously?

I have worked on car carriers and I am well aware of how to take care of cars in transport.

Reality check : none of the workshops prohibit their employees from wearing metal ornaments, belts and clothing with exposed buttons. Toyota has a uniform with cover for the badge on the belt, but even they do not prohibit their technicians from wearing rings, chains, bracelets etc...

Now enter a dealership, not even a single guy at any dealership would know that such minor things matter a lot in keeping customers' cars in good condition.

The people working on ships carrying new cars have strict code for dress.

The coveralls do not have buttons, mostly a Velcro, or a concealed zipper. No ornaments of any type to be worn at any time while working in/passing through ares where cars are stored.

When Mercedes/BMW/Audi etc import a car, they will not accept the car from the transporter if there are any damages, however minor they are. They straightaway make a claim for the damages.

So I hope you might understand why a person paying for a product needs to get it delivered in the condition as it left the factory after complying to maker's standards.

May be the dealers should work on increasing the awareness among their employees about how important it is to care of the customer's cars as they are not only high commercial value, but have emotional value too.

Most of the dealers shamelessly add handling charges, those are basically mis-handling charges. If only someone could tell me what kind of handling and care was given by the dealers while the vehicle is with them.

The dealers might sometimes try and see how the new cars are driven, engines revved, driven over potholes, rashly driven (list is endless) by their drivers who move the cars from stockyard to the workshop, showroom, RTO etc. 99% of cars are manhandled in some way or other at the hands of employees of dealerships and the customer is unaware of it.

I have failed to understand how the dealers give the most ridiculous reasons for denying a warranty claim even before confirming with the manufacturer.

For the dealer its business but for most of the customers it's a lot more than just a product.

Regards

[Bhodrolok]

Originally Posted by Kedrock

Dear all
4. Fancy colors like pearl white are tricky to match and have higher chances of getting caught.

Dealers shouldn't be waiting to be "caught" by the customer, any damage to a customer vehicle should be informed and fixed with consent.