Dealership Fraud

[markemark82]

My wife and I were in San Francisco and heard a grinding noise coming from our wheels. We went to a car dealership and told them about the noise and asked them to check the brakes because my wife was driving to San Diego the next day. We left the car and the keys with the service person and the courtesy driver dropped us off at a mall so we could eat lunch and wait for them to inspect everything. We got a call from the dealer a couple of hours later saying everything was good. The courtesy driver picked us up and took us to the dealer. We went to the service area and they said we just had to pay our diagnostic fee at the cashier and we would be good to go. We went to the cashier and got our receipt that stated $0.00 charge on a multi-point inspection. we inquired and they said they had waived the $148.00 diagnostic fee. The following day my wife took off for San Diego and called me later to inform me the grinding noise was back. At this point she was between San Francisco and LA so she said she would just stop in LA. She went to a Midas and they looked at the brakes and said there were two large grooves worn into the front rotors and they would have to replace them and all the brake pads because they were all worn down. We contacted the dealership and spoke to the general manager and informed him we would like them to compensate us for the cost of the brake repair. He said he would first need the receipt from Midas, which I can understand. What I am wondering is if we have a legitimate legal case and are we waiving any further rights we might have if we are compensated for the repair?

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

I guess I am missing something. You want a dealership to pay for your vehicle needing a repair on a maintenance item, when they never charged you to even look at it. I want some of what you are having.

 

[justalayman]

No, you cannot expect them to reimburse you for the repair. They did not cause the vehicle to need repair so they would not be liable for the costs of repair. The fact is; you needed brake work. It was just a matter of who did the work and got paid.

If they offer some level of reimbursement, I would take it and run. They are not obligated to give you anything.

 

[sandyclaus]

My wife and I were in San Francisco and heard a grinding noise coming from our wheels. We went to a car dealership and told them about the noise and asked them to check the brakes because my wife was driving to San Diego the next day. We left the car and the keys with the service person and the courtesy driver dropped us off at a mall so we could eat lunch and wait for them to inspect everything. We got a call from the dealer a couple of hours later saying everything was good. The courtesy driver picked us up and took us to the dealer. We went to the service area and they said we just had to pay our diagnostic fee at the cashier and we would be good to go. We went to the cashier and got our receipt that stated $0.00 charge on a multi-point inspection. we inquired and they said they had waived the $148.00 diagnostic fee. The following day my wife took off for San Diego and called me later to inform me the grinding noise was back. At this point she was between San Francisco and LA so she said she would just stop in LA. She went to a Midas and they looked at the brakes and said there were two large grooves worn into the front rotors and they would have to replace them and all the brake pads because they were all worn down. We contacted the dealership and spoke to the general manager and informed him we would like them to compensate us for the cost of the brake repair. He said he would first need the receipt from Midas, which I can understand. What I am wondering is if we have a legitimate legal case and are we waiving any further rights we might have if we are compensated for the repair?

The dealership did nothing but inspect the vehicle for you, and even waived the diagnostic fee to do so.

If they had worked on the brakes and told you that they had fixed them, and charged you to do so, THEN it might be considered fraud. You might be entitled to compensation for the work to be done correctly.

But... the general rule is that if you have no damages, you are not entitled to reimbursement.

You had no damages. You paid nothing for the inspection. You are not entitled to be reimbursed for the work actually done at Midas.

 

[racer72]

You are entitled to compensation for the exact same amount the dealer charged you.

 

[Free_Advice]

It is likely that your pads were worn down & a brake job was required before the inspection was done. You know, looking at the brakes yourself takes like 2 min ~ with most non-drum systems you can see the pads w/o even taking the tire off.

Now onto part 2 -- the rotors -- they like would have needed replacement even w/o the extra time period of "delay". Rotors are made cheaply today ~ I just did my front brakes and the rotors were $16 ea ... it would cost $16 bucks just to cut them ... easy decision -- I always either a) leave to rotors untouched & change the pads or b) change both. Of course, I don't wait until the pads are down to the metal. Never had a problem with doing brakes this way.

And brakes are very easy to do yourself .. why people take them to Midas (the largest markup shop) puzzles me. Brake job takes ~ 20 minutes.