Dealer sold me a repaired Jeep.

[Scott0700]

Is the ‘shipping report’ something that we can ask to see at the time of buying a new vehicle? Is that the document that would always show any issues or repairs in transport?

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[Rocksride]

From that description- it's just a dealer report for work done by vin, it's very unlikely to go on an insurance report as the dealer just direct paid it. Also, you would be AMAZED at how many vehicles get minor damage in shipping. IMHO, this is a non-issue as long as they do a quality fix.

That was my concern that annoyed me. If I was told I would have looked at it real good at the sale. Would have had them fix it and guarantee it.

 

[Lunentucker]

Work 'em a little bit. Milk it and see if they'll float you an extended warranty for your troubles.
The answer to every unasked question is no.

 

[Rob_R]

It sucks to learn that that your vehicle had been damaged in transport and you were not made aware. However, as pointed out, this is a minor repair that the dealership is going to fix for you.

Just an aside on transport damaged cars.....An uncle of mine was a new car transport driver for Anchor Trucking in NJ during the early 60s. I remember a story he told about accidently hitting the hood of a car with a tie down chain resulting in quite a dent. After unloading the cars, somebody from the dealership came out to inspect the load. My uncle strategically placed his work gloves over the hood dent while standing there with his clipboard waiting to be signed off. They signed off on the load and my uncle drove away.

The same uncle during the early 60s also has the notoriety of being the first transport driver to drop a Corvette off of his truck. This occurred on the NJ Turnpike at 60+mph. In a small world type of thing, 30 years later I worked with a gent who was an Anchor dispatcher during the time period that the Corvette fell off the truck. He purchased the wrecked Vette from Anchor. He repaired the car and enjoyed it for many years.

 

[Throwback]

I once bought a brand spanking new GTI, had it for two years -- and only found out when I traded it in that a fender had been replaced. Difficult conversation with the wife: "Is there something you're not telling me?". Everyone agreed the bodywork was perfect, but I still took a hit on resale value.

 

[Florida Mojave]

If you've been on this forum for any length of time you would know how many reports of chitty dealers there are around the country - just be thankful that you have one that's trying to do the right thing, it's very possible that the sales dept did not know about the issue....it would be a worse situation if you were told to F-off.....

 

[TheDerb]

I once bought a brand spanking new GTI, had it for two years -- and only found out when I traded it in that a fender had been replaced. Difficult conversation with the wife: "Is there something you're not telling me?". Everyone agreed the bodywork was perfect, but I still took a hit on resale value.

I don't see how this can be the whole story.

If the dealership fixed something prior to titling, It didn't go against a typical insurance claim that will show up in insurance databases. It would take 30 seconds to rule out an owner claim, which only leaves post-delivery, pre-titling. And if they don't have a reason to tell you when you buy it new, they sure as hell aren't going to list the fix in some database which anyone can access, because that would mean anybody who sold any car that was ever fixed due to delivery damage would take a hit.

If I'm a dealer- I don't want pre-purchase damage data getting out. It doesn't make the transport company look bad- it makes a dealership look bad because the same logic as the OP applied is used by every buyer. People would latch on to this data, and they would come to the dealership equipped with a list of VINs not to buy due to this damage having occurred and then having been fixed.

I cannot imagine that such a list exists. I'm open to insight from somebody who works at a dealership and can possibly elaborate, but I find it quite unlikely that Beaman CDJR in Murfreesboro, TN, is able to see a post-delivery, pre-sale fix that some dealership did in Ottumwa, Iowa. And if this GTI in question was sold back to the dealer you bought it from, what they are doing is so fantastically illegal that it isn't even funny- they could just replace the fender on any vehicle that comes in, and offer less on buy-back for anybody that wanted to do repeat business.

 

[Rubiron]

It's an insurance hit Bill, either against the common carrier that delivered it or the dealership, or JEEP.
Somebody has to push paper to justify the expense of repairing it.
It is on a permanent record somewhere.

Most people don't ever find out about it until they go to trade in.

I’m going through a diminished value case right now and have been told that if an insurance company has made a claim on a vehicle that other insurance companies will be able to see it. It may not always show up on a CARFAX report, but if there’s ever another claim against said vehicle they will be able to tell it has been repaired in the past. I’m not saying that necessarily means much, but figured I’d put that out there.

 

[TheDerb]

I look at this from the opposite direction. Imagine if they had to pay out or discount due to a dealership making delivery repairs. The delivery fee would be 5x the price it is now because that fee would be a de facto insurance escrow account at that point.

 

[smlobx]

This happens with every make of vehicles and since the repair was initially made before the car was sold and registered it will not show up on Carfax.

 

[Rocksride]

Thanks for all the answers. New fender and making it right is fine. I was annoyed at the fact sales said they did not know ( I think that is BS). If I was told I would still have gone thru with purchase. But I would have looked real good at the paint and had it redone. And documented by them for future paint problems. I traded a big FW and Dually Ram for a new Class C and the Jeep is my Toad.

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

Thanks for all the answers. New fender and making it right is fine. I was annoyed at the fact sales said they did not know ( I think that is BS). If I was told I would still have gone thru with purchase. But I would have looked real good at the paint and had it redone. And documented by them for future paint problems. I traded a big FW and Dually Ram for a new Class C and the Jeep is my Toad.

If it helps, from my experience with a non-jeep dealer, it seems "sales", "intake" (the folks who unload, etc.), and "repair" are basically 3 different silos that next to never talk to each other. Makes for some fun interactions.

 

[Badunit]

We're talking about the plastic fender, right, not body sheet metal? If it is, as long as they fix the paint this is such a minor repair that I can't see it making any difference to resale price. You'll have your own rock chips and other paint damage to all the fenders before too long.

 

[MaximusTX]

If your worried about resale value I don't think it really matters. Two months after I purchased my 2023 Bronco it got hit by a hail storm and the hood was covered by dents and the insurance adjuster that came out said there were dents all over the Bronco. I couldn't see them anywhere. I decided not to get the hood fixed as I was going to replace it anyways with an aftermarket one. I ended up trading it in on the 23 Gladiator and dealership ran a carfax on the Bronco and it came back with damage all over the Bronco. The dealer couldn't find any damage on it other than the ones on the hood and they didn't seem to care one bit about it and still gave me full value for the Bronco.

 

[Flyboy2109]

Bought my new High Altitude in Oct. in Nov doing a detail I noticed the white paint on right front fender had some tiny spots of grit in the paint. Took to dealer in Dec and they made an appointment at there body shop to evaluate. ( 6 week wait). So Monday the paint guy looks at it and I question if the grit in the paint was a repair. Body shop runs my Vin and comes back with report. Transport damage right fender. Removed repaired repainted reinstalled $965. So off to sales dept I go. Talk with sales manager and his excuse we did not know in sales but will fix it and will not cost you a penny. My reply to him ( cannot post it here) was of a not happy new Jeep owner. They ordered a new fender to install. I looked up Fl laws and there is a damage clause of 3% for legal claim. Should I expect more from this dealer. Will this shown up now as a repaired vehicle if i ever sell or trade.

Yes, pretty normal fro them to repair transport damage, but you should not be able to notice it-should be "like new". I knew a painter who had great skills and he had a contract with several dealers to do just these kind of jobs.

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