Any News?

 

Have you tried getting their attention by going to the GM zone manager? Dealerships have to keep a good rep or GM will dump them. Ask the dealership management who their zone manager is and complain to him.

 

Perhaps some of the staff is staying there even though the ownership (front desk management?) has changed repeatedly....and service still sucks, with poor reputations eventually forcing new management (or a sucker) to come in...and staff stays, and service still sucks and the wheel goes round and round. Clear out of there (once advised to my a lawyer) and good luck.
? Spreading bad news or bashing that place by word of mouth may help other stay out of there...and I that is legal I think.....;-)

 

I don't think gm or the zone rep would give a hoot about anything that happens to a 20 year old car. They only deal with warranty issues. I had an '88 s-10 pickup with a delaminating paint job after 3 years. You think they cared if the factory paint job only lasted that long? Hec no. The rep was very nice while taking my information. Then he pretty much said the paint had a 12 month warranty so I could go hang. So much for caring.

 

Well... I just got the Vette back from the Painters shop... I had them buff out the scratches in the hood and replace the door window tinting that they scratched all up.... 395.00 BUMMER!

I'm still working on everything my Lawyer gave me to do and getting the hood scratches taken out was the first repair.

I left a msg with the only shop in my area that was referred to me by a member here... hopefully he'll call tomorrow so I can arrange to have it taken there as I just as not sure where else to take it and I HAVE to get this ball rolling... But it will be raining outside all week and you all know how that makes one reluctant driving them in the rain.

I was wondering if I should call the Zone manager but since I started this path with my attorney, I think I better just stay on this course?! I'm hoping my attorney will deal with GM specifically after a demand letter is sent to the dealer and they ignore.... we'll see.

I do think that the repeated "Ownership changes" may not be as all inclusive as what was implied to me... but may be more of what was "window dressing" changes of those UNDER the ownership umbrella... who knows!

Anyway... as soon as more comes... I'll definitely let you know. But please... keep your insight coming... it is VERY valuable to me!

Mark

 

Guys;

I need some assistance here; My lawyer has requested that I not only get my finals repairs completed, but also,,, that I get a shop that can assess the value of the car as well as the deteriorated value of the car now that the original engine is been stolen out of it. Any suggestions?
Mark

 

just wondering,i see it came out of the bodyshop a couple of weeks ago and you had a call in to a shop.
so i take it the shop you were hoping to use didnt pan out?
have you checked out nada used car pricing to see if you can compare your car priced with all #S matching and then again without matching #S?
should be some way.
im stuck.
ttt anyway

 

Yes, it cam out of the body shop fine, Got the scratchhes out of the hood... the was a load off my mind. But, they shop I had set up, I don't know if they can assess value for Corvettes... you know? Plus, they don't really have any indoor bays, and I know I'm ****, but... I just don't want it out in the rain or absolutely no DRIVING in the rain.

And righht now... it's raining constantly.. so, I need a shop around that can keep it inside for a few days.

Pricing guides really don't apply to special Corvettes as a whole... they really are more for a generalized average of like vehicles, unless there is a guide I'm not familar with whichh could be VERY possible (Smile)!

 

Unforuanately, I had a bad experience with the body shop at a Chevy dealership last year. My 95 had to have about $3200 worth of paint work done after it was hit by a horse and buggy (please, feel free to laugh). They had to repaint about 60% of the car. The drivers door had "orange peel" really bad, one of the bolts on my top was stripped out, my turn signals didn't work, and the hood wasnt even closed correctly (only one side was latched). Even worse, the car was now two toned, it looked like it had been painted by my nieces third grade art class.

Luckily for me, my wonderful girlfriend just so happens to work for my insurance company who has picking up the tab for this. I took the car straight to my agents office. After my agent saw it, she immediately called the claims office and put a hold on payment until furhter notice from her. I went back to the dealer where I was rudely told that they would not do anything else unless authorized by my insurance company . The adjuster was wainting on me when I got back to my agents office. He took one look at the car, shook his head, and said "I don't understand why they didn't just paint the whole thing". After I told my agent how they treated me, she picked up the phone and called the general manager of the dealership and told him that if anyone in his body shop ever spoke to one of her policy holders like that again that she would have them removed from the insurance company's service first list.

When i took the car back, I thought the body shop manager was about to get down on his knees and kiss my ***. Needless to say they corrected the problem and even called me to look it over before they finished it

Do you know anyone in a position to put a little pressure on them by threatening there bottom line; cars in, cars out, $$$$$$$?

 

Someone in your local Corvette club may have a lead on an appraiser. You may also want to contact a company in your area that specializes in the sale and or repair of Corvettes, for a referral. Otherwise, here’s a couple of links to sites I found concerning diminished value:

http://www.ican2000.com/help/dvpros/#va
http://www.prodiscussions.com/cgi-b...ce.pl?read=1136

 

I've read this thread with awe. Wanted to jump in several times, but had nothing to add except to rant with the rest of you. The Better Business Bureau is useless to the average citizen: they only take action when a business requests it. Regional GM manager will be just about as useless, unless it's a new car. It looks like the attorneys are going to get something for Mark, and I think we all need to know the name of this company that has scr.wed him. It does not sound like the company made a mistake but was doing downright unlawful actions as near as I can tell.

 

If you paid for a paint job, you may have been entitled to reembursment. There were loads of autos form that time frame that had the same problem, primer was to good and paint wouldnt stick to it. The roof on my chevy van looked like the paint was peeled off by the wind.

 

well,since its tough to figure a percentage of negative value as it sits now,maybe you could price out how much its gonna cost to put it back as close to original as is possible.
price out an identical engine assembly and then prorate the wear for the mileage you had.add the same r/r labor as they charged you as they cant very well dispute that.
see what that price tag comes out to and how it would make you feel.
if they come back with "what about the engine we put in?" you can say "i didnt bring my car to a dealer to have it bastardized,i want my original engine returned to the vehicle" if they cannot do that they may find it cheaper to buy the car.

 

When they say "what about the engine we put in" tell them they can have it back when the car is done, with the proper engine.

 

I would think the fair thing to do at this point would be to have the car made to run as good as it can now, and replace the missing parts. Hopefully that's pretty good. Then have the shop that goofed it up pay for that plus the difference between what this vette is worth now and what it would have been worth unmolested, plus the attorney fees, plus a little more for the agravation.

 

Ohhhhhh... I like the sound of that.. it just kinda'... has a nice ring to it! Indeed these are good thoughts. I'm sure an appraiser would be a great place to start.

 

Glad you got a lawyer, however before you get more involved with the media or even here, you should ask the scum sucker errr lawyer if you should keep your mouth shut for now, or if you can yell to anyone that will listen. personally i say push them till you own the dealership.

other thing just to mess with there minds have a few friends go in to look at a new car, make sure they want colors and options not on the lot, so the dealer has to bring in the cars, then a few days later while the car is in transit they can go in and cancel there order since they found out what a bunch of crooks there service department is. may drive the message home.

anyway stay on top of it, get all your bills for the repair and for the damage they caused plus a modest fee for your own time to repair what you have, say 15 an hour based off flat rate books and go after them for all of it. the lawyer will be the best money you ever spent on the car. trust me I know ( 4k motor rebuild non approved)

 

Greetings one and all:

Well, here's the latest; On Christmas eve day, the GM "Legal Department" representative, Mr. Fultz, responded called me at home to respond to the certified letter I sent them outlining what had/has occurred with this engine rebuild from one of their dealers. He wanted some info as the sequence of events to which I basically gave him.

On conclusion of the phone call he said he would do an "investigation" into the matter and call me back today 01-05 which he did. He stated "the dealership has no paperwork, no documents and no information as to what had occurred (thankfully, I do) and the dealership has recently changed ownership and at this point, there is nothing more that "GM" can do and that I need to resolve this issue with the dealer."

I replied; "Are you telling me that dealerships, that operate under the corporate umbrella share no responsibility for their dealers?" He replied,"No, but in this case, they have no liability!"

So, it appears that this dealership has AGAIN, changed ownership but what I now believe is, this dealership is not at all changing legal "ownership," but it merely stating such and changing staff. I believe that it is simply a marketing strategy. As you drive by this dealership... the advertising slogan painted on the windows is "Under New Ownership." but this slogan has now been in place for nearly two years now, yet they claim to change ownership roughly every 6 months.

With that, I'd like to get all of your input on this; Is the Corporation, GM, immune from individual dealership liability? It would seem that hat are NOT as each dealership operates under the corporate umbrella and basically with all their operations, I don't see how a dealership COULD operate out of he corporate structure.

At any event, the vette was taken to a third party repair facility that I trust and appears that just to complete the process that the Dealer did not, is going to cost an additional $1500.00 and I have already paid the body shop to remove the scratches a total of $395.00. But regardless of it's completion, it will never be complete because they stole my actually, original block and other parts. I will be conveying this to my attorney but I would like everyone else's opinion. I can find little way
a corporation can evade liability from the actions of it's subsideraries(sp?), unless I am missing something, the law just doesn't work that way. I know GM or any other corporate platform would love it not to be so but the law just doesn't read that way.

 

I'm sure it's against the law to fleece the public in that fashion, but I don't know where you can start. I recommend you pursue this avenue on a federal level. The "locals" can't mess with you much (legally speaking) on the federal level, if you can make your case.
Can you prove ownership is changing or just shuffling paperwork?
Can you contact the previous employees of this outfit? Their may not be much loyalty if employees are that expendable with this management/ownership staff.

 

Law of Corporations 101:

1) A corporation shields its owners from liability
2) A parent company is the owner of a subsidiary company and therefore if the subsidiary is a corporation, the parent is "generally" insulated from tort liability for the acts of the subsidiary.
3) I thought dealerships were Franchises and not owned by GM, in which case imposing liability on the Franchisor (GM in this case) for the acts of the Franchisee is even more difficult.

GM may have good faith responsiblity and a moral responsibility to make good on the work/actions of its dealers, but frankly - a legal duty? sorry - probably not.

I'm not licensed in your State either, but I wish I was - sounds to me like a very worthwhile case.