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Dealer dropped my C5 off lift -- need advice

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Ok lets consider this an accident.....Why should he have to lose money on a GM product that was serviced from a GM employee ???....Does a GM employee or franchisee have ANY sort of responsability or pride when servicing a top-of-the-line GM product?......Aren't GM employees better with GM cars?....Shouldn't Barendth have the right to go home with a vehicle that is worth as much as the day before he brought it in for servicing?........Before I get jumped on,I know it was just an accident and it's just a car.. ....You should go over to the sales dept. and tell THEM that..........seriously how many times do you think this will happen??..... Are the people involved scared that it will be a big problem with other clients????........I repeat..... this story stinks and I am very dissappointed in the way GM is dealing with it......They missed a great chance to give a client a break......Good luck Barendth.......I wish an attoney decides to take the case for free......Hey I'm allowed to dream right?;LOL
 
Gm

After considering the above,and thinking it over I believe there is only one way to effectively communicate the Corvette community's frustration with Stewart automotive,and that is a full boycott. Not just for Corvette owners' but for anyone else who may consider buying any type of merchandise or service from Stewart automotive group. Although I know that this might not be the greatest approach to solving Dave's problem,or timliest. I believe it is an obligation for a community as strong as the Corvette community, to make sure that fellow and future owners receive no problems such as this again.
 
ibanezplayer said:
After considering the above,and thinking it over I believe there is only one way to effectively communicate the Corvette community's frustration with Stewart automotive,and that is a full boycott.
I can't imagine that anyone who has heard or read this story would buy a lug nut from Stewarts if they had the opportunity. I know I wouldn't.

A full boycott would be hard, but if we keep spreading the word then I'm sure that Stewarts will eventually feel some pain. They may not notice, though, depending on their volume and/or how effective the word got out.

I still think getting a poster shop to print up 5 foot blow-ups of the damage pictures with text reading: "This car was in for an oil change, what will happen to yours?" and having a picket line, however small, would be effective.

But that's just me.
 
Erik,money dominates any business,if we let Stewart know why they are being boycotted,and can some how hand out or made pictures public of the accident. I'm fairly sure no one in their right mind would do business with Stewart, I believe the best thing that can come from this accident,besides full re-inversement for Dave. Is education of the public,consumers are naieve to realise things like this happen when their buying mini-vans,but if we make them aware not only have we done our part,but Stewart is in turn made fully responsible for the mistakes they have made. This is not about emotion,or violence,it is simply about educating consumers.
 
invinceablevett said:
Ok lets consider this an accident.....Why should he have to lose money on a GM product that was serviced from a GM employee ???....Does a GM employee or franchisee have ANY sort of responsability or pride when servicing a top-of-the-line GM product?......Aren't GM employees better with GM cars?....Shouldn't Barendth have the right to go home with a vehicle that is worth as much as the day before he brought it in for servicing?........Before I get jumped on,I know it was just an accident and it's just a car.. ....You should go over to the sales dept. and tell THEM that..........seriously how many times do you think this will happen??..... Are the people involved scared that it will be a big problem with other clients????........I repeat..... this story stinks and I am very dissappointed in the way GM is dealing with it......They missed a great chance to give a client a break......Good luck Barendth.......I wish an attoney decides to take the case for free......Hey I'm allowed to dream right?;LOL

Yeah, especially with the "Mr. Goodwrench" commercials and all. Quite frankly, this whole thing is disgusting and Stewarts should be ashamed of themselves. :eyerole
 
Have you contacted the Better Buisness Bureau or the Consumer Protection Agency yet? I just recently had my front door bought back by Masonite after sap started to come out of the wood. I had to comtact BBB to get them to do it though. They should respond to you within thirty days so you have nothing to lose.


-Shane
 
New offer from Stewart's

I've been working with a consumer advocate who specializes in this sort of thing (http://www.appraisalgroupofamerica.com/), and he had a long talk with Stewart's today (Frank) about the diminished value resulting from the fall. The frame is within factory spec's, but there has been structural damage.

Lots of back and forth, but the adjuster said that Stewart's will offer me $23,000 if I'm not satisfied with the repair. (and why would I be?) The car should be done on Friday. Of course, Stewart's would like to sell me another car, but I'm under no obligation to buy from them.

There is the possibility of improving the offer. My wife thinks we should ask for $25,000. The Kelly price for private sale was $26,400 for this area, features, and mileage.

My other alternative is to follow up with a lawyer. At $300 - $400 an hour, I'm afraid that this would cut iinto my walk-away $$$ real fast.

What do you all think?

- Dave
 
After reading all the advise (and misadvise), only you can make the final decision.

If it were me, I would try to get them up to $25k, but if not, and the $23k is a real offer, I would take the money and run away from Stewarts as fast as I could. I know in my area you can find a nice Vette coupe 1997-1999 with under 50k miles easy for that money. I have seen a few coupes with only 35k miles for sale around $25k (asking price-may be negotible). I am sure that you have a hugh army of CACers willing to check out Vettes in their area for you if you want to look nationally.

I have a cousin with a dealership (Buick) who I am sure would have avoided all this, gone to auction, and found a nice replacement for you which would have cost him less than $18k. But unfortunately, you have to deal with who you have to deal with.

Just my $0.02, but I think the longer you ***k around with this, the potential to get a reasonable replacement diminishes. I would take this offer to end all the ***t.

Good luck in what ever you decide.
 
born2saw said:
I am sure that you have a hugh army of CACers willing to check out Vettes in their area for you if you want to look nationally.


You got one here Dave! And not only will I check it out; I'll do an "extreme" test drive on it. :D
 
Edmond said:
You got one here Dave! And not only will I check it out; I'll do an "extreme" test drive on it. :D
Alright!:beer I just might be looking for another C5 real soon:D
 
Whats your time worth? I mean you took your car to them, they screwed up and then expected you to just take it in stride while they put you in a economy rental car, then jerked you around for a month and tried to give you 25% less than what you started with and you were just there for an oil change. My time is worth alot, 1 month would be about $8k plus the fact that I own a vette for pleasure and being denied the pleasure would be worth something as well. How about this, you go take one of thier new C5's for a test drive, drop it off a lift, then take it to your body shop, have it "fixed good as new" and bring it back for them to put back on thier new car showroom floor. I just can't see them being all cheery after that happens.

If you feel comfortable with $23k for a car that wasn't for sale, go for it. But if not, get a good attorney and pursue every legal avenue available. At some point the bad publicity will start to wear on them and then you will finally recieve a fair offer.

Good luck.
 
Vette_Newb2 said:
Whats your time worth? I mean you took your car to them, they screwed up and then expected you to just take it in stride while they put you in a economy rental car, then jerked you around for a month and tried to give you 25% less than what you started with and you were just there for an oil change. My time is worth alot, 1 month would be about $8k plus the fact that I own a vette for pleasure and being denied the pleasure would be worth something as well. How about this, you go take one of thier new C5's for a test drive, drop it off a lift, then take it to your body shop, have it "fixed good as new" and bring it back for them to put back on thier new car showroom floor. I just can't see them being all cheery after that happens.

If you feel comfortable with $23k for a car that wasn't for sale, go for it. But if not, get a good attorney and pursue every legal avenue available. At some point the bad publicity will start to wear on them and then you will finally recieve a fair offer.

Good luck.
Bingo thats probabbly the best way to put it right there, I couldn't agree more, "the car wasn't for sale" so why should there being a problem giving him the value of his car? I think stewerts is getting closer though, first $17,500 and now $23k I wonder how long it will take to get another 5grand or so. of course by this point its not really about money, its the principle of the whole thing.
 
I think you are getting somewhere close to what I think is acceptable BUT whatever happened to the old saying "you break it you buy it?"I personally would like have liked Stewart's to have made the $ 23 000.00 offer to begin with.That would have showed a little more comprehension to the fact that you might want to drive out of that dealer without having lost anything....I would agree with the recent posts stating that my Vette is worth as much as any other non-accidented Vette out there so why settle for less?...... I'd like to add that my lawyer would have jumped at their throats right from the moment they made you the first offer(17 grand I believe?).I spoke to him breifly about this "accident"( everyone knows how much they can make per hour right) and he mentioned that a little note stating everything you would be suing for(rental costs,loss of enjoyment,cost of insurance or insurance hikes if any,cost of title depending on time unused,independant evaluators,time lost due to phone calls and of caurse compensation for stress and aggravation) would have opened their eyes alot sooner.I'm sure he mentioned a few other things but I tried to cut him off ;) as soon as I could..........That dealer low-balled you and that is a standard procedure for them but that "letter" from a lawyer would have got you to where you are now alot sooner.As for what you should be happy with at this point is up to you.I'm sure that you are aware that I'm very @#$^&! by this whole thing mainly because I own my own businesses and I feel that my job is to please every single one of my customers.I am appauled that they even let you think for a moment that you might get the same vehicle back "as good as new".......Someone mentioned picketing,I would have loved to be part of that.Let's face it,life is about money right?.......Why not make Stewart's pay for their mistake since they obviously don't feel like they ought to?....By the way ,the news about Stewart's has reached the ricers up here in Canada too !!!:( ......GREAT JOB STEWART'S AND GM.....Barnetdh I hope you get a same year convertible low mileage corvette because of all your patience.........Wouldn't that be a good PR move on Stewart's part?I think at this point they NEED ONE maybe TWO !!!!!
 
Congratulations Dave. Do not post any of your thoughts as to whether or not you will accept this offer. As 67HEAVEN said,
I think that anything you decide here, publicly, will be known in Stewart's office before you even get there.
Now that you have at least $23K in your pocket let's go Vette shopping. I know that you are a C5 man however C5´s are going to droop in value in the next few years. Now is the time to look at ZR-1´s. A perfect, low miles Z is in your budget and it will start increasing in value almost as soon as you buy it. If that is not your fancy then there are a few early 70´s LT-1´s around, the ones with all the pretty chrome.

Whichever Vette you decide on you get to buy it on your terms. This is great news.:D

My compliments to everyone who has chipped in here, what has been accomplished via this thread goes much farther than Dave getting fair treatment. Not only Stewarts, but GM and thousands of car Dealers around the world are watching this thread and you can believe that the next Dealer that screws up a customers car while it is in their care will go the extra distance to make it right.:)

Without violence, with out a court battle, Stewarts has caved in… good work everybody.:upthumbs
 
RCG said:
Tell the lawyer they can keep anything over $26,500.
RCG - I think they'd do it only if they get to keep anything over $2,650 :L

- Dave
 
Vette_Newb2 said:
Whats your time worth? I mean you took your car to them, they screwed up and then expected you to just take it in stride while they put you in a economy rental car, then jerked you around for a month and tried to give you 25% less than what you started with and you were just there for an oil change. ...
Yeah, I'm thinking about that, Vette_Newb2... For example, the difference in rental car fees between what they gave me and renting a Corvette is about $180 a day. For 39 days, that's $7,020. Of course, we'd be talking lawyers to do that. Allowing for legal fees, I'd still come out a few thousand ahead.

- Dave
 
Erik S. Klein said:
I can't imagine that anyone who has heard or read this story would buy a lug nut from Stewarts if they had the opportunity. I know I wouldn't.

A full boycott would be hard, but if we keep spreading the word then I'm sure that Stewarts will eventually feel some pain. They may not notice, though, depending on their volume and/or how effective the word got out.

I still think getting a poster shop to print up 5 foot blow-ups of the damage pictures with text reading: "This car was in for an oil change, what will happen to yours?" and having a picket line, however small, would be effective.

But that's just me.
I wonder how much that would be worth to them? A guy at work had his brand new truck wrecked at a dealership (someone crashed into it), and he put up a web site about them with pictures etc. They made him take it down, but they also gave him a new vehicle.

Erik -- what's your favorite dealership in our area?

- Dave
 
Yellow2K4 said:
Hey Rain,


I am not sure about the cut off date for the incentives but I guess Dave (Barnetdh) should get on the phone and find out real quick if he is interested ;)

I just saw a post on another forum and the Dealer is offering $11k below MSRP after GM Owner loyalty. He has 8 C5's left as of the 5th. There are other Dealers on the same forum that will match any deal mentioned on that forum.

I almost purchased a 2004 CE Z06 (Z16) from one of those dealers and it would have cost me about $600 to ship it to my door in an enclosed trailer but I finally found a local dealer that was willing to match the same offer. (We never did get the Z16 because we decided to wait on the C6 Z06.)

Dave (Barnetdh), if you need any more information about the dealers I mentioned just send me a private message :)
if I accept, it may be time to go shopping... Although a friend, who's aware of this whole mess, offered to sell me his red '97 coupe with 12,000 miles on it. He's totally obsessed with it -- it's never been out in the rain, and has had the oil changed every 1,400 miles. Totally flawless showroom floor condition. As he says, he only buys cars that he bonds with. He's willing to part with his little red buddy, but of course, if I took him up on his offer, he may insist on visitation rights, and want to come over once a month for a complete car inspection. :D
 
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