i live on the east coast,and will not name my dealer,but here goes ... i purchsed a 2013 FF in middle of February..told dealer to keep the car in the showroom for a month because of all the terrible potholes ..picked up the vehicle on march 25th and put on 1700 miles....was enjoying the car and just getting use to all the bells and whistles.. told the dealer that i had a front wheel vibration and was probably a balance issue..it was ,and gave him the vehicle on april 15...on april 22,dealer called and said upon a road test,the dealer's driver "HIT A GUARD RAIL", to which there has been over 50,000 of damage to my new car....car is still being repaired ....i have asked for a new vehicle ,to which all parties have been radio silent on this matter... the likely will be they will patch up my 350k car and say enjoy...has anyone experienced something like this? Should I take the car back? Should the dealer give me a new car? I refuse to take the car back because its driving a car with a diminshed value?
Would be really interested to see what people say who have experience with this. I agree with you that I would be reluctant to take the vehicle back without additional compensation. Namely because now it is a "storied" car that has had an accident. Surely a buyer will pay less for this car than an identical one with "no stories". Many will argue that this should not be the case if repairs are done correctly, but the fact is that the market will not pay as much--we have seen that over and over.
Seems to me the diminished value is a real economic damage to you and you should be properly compensated.
$50k repair is going to take some time to complete. What do they give you in mean time? Dealer has insurance for this im sure. Make him take it back and give you new one
Carfax will follow this car forever, because of serious damage the car immediately is worth at least 30% less then before accident. Refuse to accept "just" repair, get a lawyer ASAP........
I agree... Lawyer Up. I would never take back the car as it was brand new and completely their fault. That being said...whatever you feel is fair should be honoured by them. If they disagree, set the lawyer loose on their butts.
I would not take the car back. It is branded for life and the future resell price will reflect this. Check your state for diminished value laws. If your has them you can always file a claim for compensation. This should be a last resort as your best option is to fight long and hard for a new car. Good luck and keep us updated.
Agree with this. Dealer should take the car back and deal with the consequences a damage title brings with it when his facility is responsible for the damages. A damage title does not go away, the value of the car is as mentioned above 'scarred' for life.
Zuckerman, I agree with everyone else. If I was in the market for a used Ferrari, several things would make me avoid the car, multiple owners and any damage report. The dealer caused the damage, the dealer should provide you the opportunity for a brand new car to be ordered or give you your money back. Pretty simple. These are not GM cars that they make millions of.
I would also contact Ferrari customer care - this is not the experience of the Ferrari dream that they want their dealers to create You have purchased a new vehicle - not a repaired one - so start with dealer and tell them there proposal in unacceptable, then try Ferrari, then lawyer up and USE social media - tweet to Ferrari perhaps! Good luck - it shouldn't be this hard.... Devonboy
I have heard of more than one incident where a vehicle is released into the care of a dealer only to be damaged by its personnel. Many times the dealer will try to bury their head in the sand and hope the whole thing goes away. Based upon your "radio silent" comment it would seem that is what happening here. In all likelihood they will eventually tell you to go through your insurance company. This dealer should be insured for damage to customer vehicles. Your insurance company would issue a demand letter for payment from the dealer. The dealer would send this letter to their insurance company, who would make your insurance company whole. HOWEVER, you have suffered a major monetary loss in both future diminished value of the vehicle and loss of use of the car for 2+ months and counting....... Time to lawyer up. You need someone to protect your interests whether it is compensation for diminished value or a full replacement of your car I understand that you have not named the dealer. Nice people don't name dealerships that wreck their vehicles because.... well, they are too nice. Dealers count on this to shirk their responsibility. Name names It may help someone else avoid a similar incident in the future. One other thought, check to see if your insurance company offers "new car replacement" if the damaged vehicle is relatively new (as is the case with your car). It may resolve the diminished value issue.
I would avoid disclosing any names at this stage. You don't want to end up with the dealer going after you for some sort of vilification.
High on the list of things to look for when buying a used Ferrari is the question about it ever being damaged. I would certainly immediately reject any car which had been wrecked and repaired, especially if the seller was asking anywhere close to normal market value because there are just too many around which haven't been wrecked. A well repaired wreck, even when offered for sale at a huge discount will be rejected by many potential purchasers. A repainted component alone, without any serious damage to the rest of the car, raises concerns and questions with most buyers. As others have pointed out, your very nice and very expensive car has suffered a significant decrease in value which will never be recovered. Do not expect any insurance company or dealer to voluntarily compensate you for this lose of value. Unfortunately, you're gonna' need a good lawyer.
Oh, please. The dealer WRECKED HIS NEW CAR. "Vilification" is not going to fly as a civil case in any court in the U.S. so long as all he is doing is to demand his losses be recompensed. The accident report is already public knowledge. BTW - haven't we been through this whole issue over the Enzo that was wrecked by a dealer?
If I was in the unfortunate position of the OP, I would play it out as cleanly as possible. Please don't misunderstand me as trying to justify or support the dealer in question (or bad business practices in general for that matter), because I do not. I'm simply trying to offer my best advice to the OP on how he can reach a satisfactory solution as smoothly as possible. I'm wildly guessing here, but I think must people would like to just get the problem solved without having to enter any verbal or online quarrel with the dealer... Now if you aren't that type of guy - great, go ahead! As the saying goes; you have everything to lose and nothing to win, in this case by outing names prior to any form of settlement with the involved parties.
I understand your concern. Listing the name of the dealership where the car was taken is simply a statement of fact. It is not necessary to identify individual persons involved with this fiasco. Though, I suspect that if some of the employees or owners, continue to frustrate the O.P. and exacerbate what is a tense and emotional situation, that may change. While incidents with staff can happen, the way the dealership handles this issue is important. It may well speak volumes about how they treat all of their customers.
Litigation is a complicated game of cards, no reason to show all your cards when there is no need for it yet (except satisfying our curiosity here).
Update on the damage: the dealer said that there was front bumper, hood, and passenger fender replacement. As well there were some structural components replaced forward of the engine compartment. The car was not "racked". Dealer emailed today that the car was completed and ready for inspection, 3 months and 3 weeks after the initial accident. Lawyer has already served legal papers to dealer and Ferrari North America. In this time period I never received a courtesy replacement vehicle, not even a fiat lol. After dealer responds to the legal actions perhaps I will name names. But I will not take back this vehicle, they "killed" the car.
If accident happened on the road and it's other car's fault, can we sue that car's owner or insurance for the diminished value?
Not so sure about carfax in this case. If the dealer used his business ins to pay for repair it may never get listed. As to legality, i wonder if fine print of service contract says dealer not responsible for damages when leaving car for repair.
You did inspect the car before repairs started and took photos I hope. Good luck. Interested in the outcome.
