OMG - Dealer Wrecked My '04

[LJSB]

Is this car financed/leased or is the vehicle paid for and wholly owned by you without lien?

What state are you in?

If you decide to consult a attorney I would be interested in what he/she thought of your situation.

Was the tech who drove your vehicle issued any summonses by the police and did you give a signed or verbal authorization to repair your vehicle?
If possible bring that to your lawyer if you decide to consult one.

I would talk to your insurance company and get their opinion on the liability in this situation as well.

Sorry for your problem and good luck.

 

[djskyy]

man....I sure would be pissed as hell if it was my car....good luck!! TAKE THEM BASTARDS TO COURT!!!

 

[NSXWIND]

no useful suggestion from me, just wish you the best of luck to solve everything.

 

[okie]

i agree with everyone else on here, i dont see how they could even think of saying 'we arent covered by insurance'

its a bunch of BS - they are for sure covered for this sort of thing.

 

[NsXMas]

One of my tires was having a slow leak (new neighborhood, new construction, a nail most likely) and the car was getting near due for an oil change, so I called my dealer to have them come pick up the car for service. My salesman actually picked it up for me (great guy, bent over backwards to get us the car, 4th car we've bought from him) yesterday morning.
...

If their tech was not covered, is the sales guy covered driving your car?

If you didn't care about their sales guy driving your car, I can only presume that it must not bug you too badly that their tech drives your car.

Unfortunately when someone else drives your car, bad things may happen.

Sorry to hear about this, I hope you get the situation fixed to your satisfaction. But IMHO, you should not even have let the sales guy drive your car if you cared about it as much as you profess.

 

[jimmycinla]

Dealer should buy the car.
He should search his nationwide Acura dealer network to find a like mileage 04 in mint condition(doubt it) or get you an 05.
This is your 4th car with them --- they NEED to do this for you.

-jim-

 

[SugoiNSX]

Very sorry to see and hear what happened to your beautiful car. Please check your private messages.

 

[okie]

If you didn't care about their sales guy driving your car, I can only presume that it must not bug you too badly that their tech drives your car.

Unfortunately when someone else drives your car, bad things may happen.

i think some of you guys are coming off a little harsh. whether or not he lets someone else drive the car isnt a good indication on how much he cares/doesnt care for the car.

regardless of that, no tech should have the right to crash your car. if i drove a cavalier it doesnt give them the right to put it in a ditch. its my understanding that if he was 'on the job' then the company is responsible, insurance or not. this applies to other fields ive worked in, but admittedly i am not a lawyer or insurance agent.

again, your best bet is to ask them to resolve the situation to YOUR satisifaction and if this doesnt get them into shape, contact an attorney

 

[03 raw nsx]

the salesman picked it up - crashes it - HE EATS IT.

end of story. That's where I would start off..

best of luck :smile:

 

[comquat1]

Why was the tech driving the car is all you had done was an oil change and fix a leaky tire?

 

[slashmatt]

B.S. from the dealership. Get a lawyer. Any time an employee is doing his job, the employer is completely responsible for that employee's behavior.

 

[Da Hapa]

First of all, my condolences. I'm absolutely heart sick for you and it's not even my car.

I would strongly encourage you to engage an attorney. All the free advice you get here isn't worth beans compared to real, valid, legal advice.

And if it were me, I would not settle for anything less than a brand, spanking new 2005 in the color I wanted with the same upgrades installed that you had. Absolutely nothing less. The difference in "depreciation" should be happily eaten by the dealership as consideration for your inconvenience and understanding.

Good luck.

 

[Osiris_x11]

options...

hmmm... Nice candidate for a wide-body kit or JGTC-style body that another NSX'er is working on. (for whoever obtains it later through the insurer)

'05 Blue/Blue 6spd NSX-T, nice combo! I'm sure that'll work out for you, no doubt. Keep us posted on what's happening.

 

[nsx-tech]

if the tech had no licence there would be no insurance coverage. if he does then the dealer is full of s--t. If you didn't want someone to drive it why didn't you take it in your self? Will your insurance pay? If you are as good a customer to the dealer as you say the dealer should be going out of there way to make you happy. have you considered having the car repaired and them giving you a cash settlement for the depretiation factor? if you don't want this to ever happen you need to tell the dealer when you drop off the car no road tests. then make yourself avalible to drive if the tech needs to verify a driveability problem.

 

[okie]

the thing about having insurance or not, doesnt really matter.

what matters is if the company is at fault. if the company (or company representative) is at fault, then it has to pay. if the company has insurance or not doesnt matter - they STILL have to pay.

 

[RyanITV]

My concern isn't with who drove the car or the fact that they drove it - my first words to the tech when I arrove were "thankfully, you weren't hurt". Under normal circumstances, I have no problem with him (or the salesperson) driving the car - like I said, it was just a really stupid move to turn the TCS off with wet roads. When replacing both back tires, I can understand taking it for a drive to ensure no wobbles or issues.

Why not make myself available for a drive with the tech or take it in personally? Because the dealer is an hour away, I'm busy with a ton of work on my plate and one of the perks of having a good rapport with the dealership s that they'll come grab the cars for service and not charge me for pickup/delivery.

Good people can sometimes make stupid decisions - I'd prefer a new, undamaged car with my parts on it. I'll continue to bring the car to events for the dealer (open houses, car shows, etc.) assuming all this gets resolved to my satisfaction. My insurance company seems to agree that the responsibility lies solely with the dealer, regardless of whether he was "authorized" by the dealer's insurance to drive cars.

Ryan

 

[NSXnBRLA]

Kick his ass, Sea Bass!!!

Just kidding.. I figured you could use a good chuckle, even if its for just a second. Hopefully the first thing you do this morning or before you talk to the dealership again, is have an attorney call them and tell them that he is now the one to talk to relative to this case. You can bet your ass they've gotten in touch with theirs already. Best of luck though Ryan. Keep us updated please...

 

[NsXMas]

i think some of you guys are coming off a little harsh. whether or not he lets someone else drive the car isnt a good indication on how much he cares/doesnt care for the car.

regardless of that, no tech should have the right to crash your car. if i drove a cavalier it doesnt give them the right to put it in a ditch. its my understanding that if he was 'on the job' then the company is responsible, insurance or not. this applies to other fields ive worked in, but admittedly i am not a lawyer or insurance agent.

again, your best bet is to ask them to resolve the situation to YOUR satisifaction and if this doesnt get them into shape, contact an attorney

I don't think I was being harsh at all. My point is that if you are going to let someone else drive your car, you have to face the possibility that something bad may happen to it beyond your control, like it or not.

I don't like putting other people in that position, and make me or them feel bad that something happened to my car. I only let very few people drive my prized NSX, which include my family, very close friends, and trusted people like Chris Willson of SOS or Mark Basch.

If I do allow others to drive my car, then I've resigned myself to the fact that something may happen to my car, whether I like it or not.

Again, I hope this situation gets resolved to the OP's satisfaction.

 

[RSO 34]

If the tech was driving the car in the course of his employment with the dealership, something I will presume was the case based upon your description, then the dealer is liable for the damages. That does not mean you are entitled to a NEW car. You are entitled to get back an '04 with 6000 miles in the same condition in which you dropped it off. That means getting the body work, etc. done to your satisfaction and to factory specs. There is no obligation on the part of the dealer, or even your insurance company, to give you a windfall with a new vehicle just because your old one was in an accident.

You can also go through your own insurance carrier and let them go after the dealer in a subrogation action but you will have to wait for them to recover your deductible so it is easier to go through the dealer's insurance.

 

[RyanITV]

If the tech was driving the car in the course of his employment with the dealership, something I will presume was the case based upon your description, then the dealer is liable for the damages. That does not mean you are entitled to a NEW car. You are entitled to get back an '04 with 6000 miles in the same condition in which you dropped it off. That means getting the body work, etc. done to your satisfaction and to factory specs. There is no obligation on the part of the dealer, or even your insurance company, to give you a windfall with a new vehicle just because your old one was in an accident.

You can also go through your own insurance carrier and let them go after the dealer in a subrogation action but you will have to wait for them to recover your deductible so it is easier to go through the dealer's insurance.

I disagree - it's not as simple as just repairing it. With a car like this, any body repair work depreciates the car by a significant amount. I ran into the same thing with my loaded '01 M3 CiC... we were preparing to sell it to get another car (4k miles on it), when my wife scraped a guard rail with it. Total damage was 2 new wheels, a fender and paintwork on the one side. While we were offered $55k for it prior to the accident, after it had been repaired (flawlessly), no one would touch it just because it'd been wrecked. We ended up selling the car for $46k.

The car is just over a year old - a new one is hardly a windfall. I've paid somewhere between $15-20k on it and, were it not for this, would be in an equity position on it. If I were to try to sell it now, even after it's repaired, I'd almost guarantee I'm upside down by over $10k, if I could find a buyer.

Ryan

 

[Da Hapa]

My concern isn't with who drove the car or the fact that they drove it - my first words to the tech when I arrove were "thankfully, you weren't hurt". Under normal circumstances, I have no problem with him (or the salesperson) driving the car - like I said, it was just a really stupid move to turn the TCS off with wet roads. When replacing both back tires, I can understand taking it for a drive to ensure no wobbles or issues.

Why not make myself available for a drive with the tech or take it in personally? Because the dealer is an hour away, I'm busy with a ton of work on my plate and one of the perks of having a good rapport with the dealership s that they'll come grab the cars for service and not charge me for pickup/delivery.

Good people can sometimes make stupid decisions - I'd prefer a new, undamaged car with my parts on it. I'll continue to bring the car to events for the dealer (open houses, car shows, etc.) assuming all this gets resolved to my satisfaction. My insurance company seems to agree that the responsibility lies solely with the dealer, regardless of whether he was "authorized" by the dealer's insurance to drive cars.

Ryan

Ryan -

Kudos to you, amigo. My unsolicited opinion is that you've got your head on straight and you're looking at this from the right perspective. Cars can be fixed and/or replaced, people can't. And frankly, in today's litigious society, it's refreshing for someone to say "accidents happen... let's just make it right".

I sincerely hope the dealership is as honesty and integrity driven.

Good luck.

 

[RSO 34]

I disagree - it's not as simple as just repairing it.

You can disagree all you want but the simple fact is that you are only entitled to get the car back in the condition it was in prior to the accident and that means by way of repair. If you wrecked it yourself your insurance company would not be obligated to buy you a brand new, no mileage NSX. If the car was totalled you would only get its book value as of the date of the accident which would take into consideration mileage, depreciation, etc. You would not get a settlement for a totalled USED car that would be the equivalent of the price of a new replacement.

It is no different for an accident involving a friend or a bailee. Negligence is negligence and the identity of the driver does not change the duties of an insurance carrier under an insurance policy. The only way you should get a new NSX out of this situation is if the dealer chose to do that as a matter of good will or customer relations but you certainly are not "entitled" to a replacement by a new NSX.

 

[RyanITV]

I understand your point and agree that their responsibility is solely to have the car repaired and not just give me a new one. My point is that it hurts the value of the car and most likely, the car will ever look (and possibly drive) quite perfect again. I don't want a "freebie", nor do I expect them to eat the price of a new one. I don't want any huge favor... I just don't want the car back after it's been wrecked.

If it's repaired, fine - they can take it in on trade for a new one... I'll gladly start over with a 2005 and just have my parts switched over (the dealer is the one who installed the CTSC anyway, so they're familiar with the process). While I'll lose the equity in the current car, that doesn't bother me as much as having a car that's not "right" by no fault of my own.

Ryan

 

[queenlives]

Good people can sometimes make stupid decisions.
***
amen to that. a heartfelt apology or admission of the error(s), accompanied by willingness to make one "whole", go an awfully long way in re-establishing credibility with the injured party and (in this case) the community they are a member of... bad press travels incredibly fast - and wide.

i'd have my attorney contact them without further delay.

i'm with you: new car, your parts, they pay attorney fees - all's well that ends well (sort of).

best success in achieving the resolution you seek.

hal

 

[RyanITV]

Better pics - took my wife to see the car; she was in tears. She loved driving it as much as I did.