I have debated with myself if I should post this information for a month. I am
not trying to do a hatchet job on a particular dealer,but have decided that it is
better to make note of this to allert any prospective buyers.

On August 25th,I made a deal with Chantilly Jaguar of Virginia to trade in my
6,000 mile Maserati Grancabrio and purchase their new 2016 BRG F coupe,
S AWD. The list was $93,600. I split the cost with them to ship the car in an
enclosed trailer to my Florida home. I assumed the car was perfect and only
saw pictures of the vehicle on their web site.

Well, this is what I got:

A car filthy on the inside and outside. You could grow potatoes inside the
engine compartment. Grease on the seats.

Multiple scratches on each side sill.

Acid rain etchings over the entire car that had to be professionally compounded
out.


Tires that were inflated to 47,48,46 and 24lbs rather then 35.

A battery that was dead the next morning.

A gas tank that read 3% full.

A passenger window with six verticle scratches.

The car had never gone through a PDI. The topper is that 52 days have
gone buy and they have yet to send the Florida title,plates or registration
that I paid for.

Enough said.

 

I would get Jaguar Corporate involved...

 

The first question they will ask is whether the dealer has been contacted about the issue and been given a chance to rectify the situation . If that's not been done, don't expect much help.

These dealer bashing threads rarely end well.

 

The dealer is 500 miles away. I called Jag USA Today just to inform them of
the delivery condition. I will pay out of pocket to respay the scratched areas. By the way,the car came straight to me in 9 hours and was never off loaded. How it was put on the trailer is how it was delivered.

 

You've explained everything except the obvious question...

What was the dealers position and response when you brought this issue to their attention? Certainly at the very least, they should have offered to send you $300 for a pro detail to bring their car to the same condition as the one you sent them. That is beyond reasonable as far as the cleanliness portion alone.

The other question we would have for you is: Did you take pics of the car at the time of delivery so you have proof of the condition? There should be a reasonable expectation of the overall condition of a new car being bought from a dealer. I think JLR would be appalled if you had delivery pics that reflected anything close to what you describe.

I disagree that going public rarely goes well re: dealers...

I had issue with Weatherford BMW and went public on Yelp. Within days, the service manager contact me and said they would do anything within reason to make it right with me if I would consider retracting my review.

The mere threat of you threatening to go public should worry them to no end. Tell them what you think is fair and see what they are willing to do based on the fact that their performance was so unreasonable. A high level manager should gladly make it right for you. If not, feel free to go public, or even consider filing a case.

Never refrain from going public. This is the age of social media and companies are very concerned about protecting their public perception and reputation. Just a few bad reviews on Yelp alone would easily cause a potential customer to seek another dealership to trade with. In my locale, there are four BMW dealerships with 50 miles of each other. If one of them decides to go foul, they get the business publicly.

 

When I spoke to the sales manager,he explained that he was on vacation and
blamed my sales person for not checking out the car. He offered to send me
a free accessory,so I did get that. It was clearly a situation where the dealer
took advantage of a delivery far enough away so that the car would not be brought back for repair. I don't know of any customer that had eyes accepting
the car as it was had it been picked up by him or her. The part that really pisses
me off is no plates,no title,no registration 52 days after I complained to the dealer regarding delivery condition.

 

What does the manager have to say about this?

I'm assuming you have the temps so it's not prohibiting you from enjoying your car right?

As far as the free F-Type gift...F-That. Demand $300 cash for a detail. Better yet, forward them the detail receipt (or have your local detail ship write you up an invoice) and send it over.

 

To an extent the threat of going public may work in your favor, but there are things to consider.

1. If the dealership actually did all these things intentionally, they probably don't care about a "threat" to go and write a negative yelp review.
2. If this dealership is out in the middle of nowhere, will individuals buying a car really go and check online reviews? Not everyone does this.
3. There can be blowback and the dealership may take offense (as unreasonable as it is) to said threat and become more rigid and possibly vindictive.

Many of us saw the pizza delivery man and used car dealership "wrath of the internet" but that's only because there was undeniable proof of what happened.

Regardless, good luck with getting everything straightened out. A headache, for sure.

 

He sent me over to their tag division who I have spoken to on 5 occasions. The last date they promised to send it to me was 10/10. Must be we still have Pony Express. As a side
note,how can a dealer leave a 94k car exposes to the elements for 5 months after removing all the protective materials? Do they not expect some acid rain damage?

 

Do you have photos of when the car was delivered?

 

Many cars sit out in the rain longer than five months without "acid rain" damage. True acid rain is a localized event, though these guys are apparently next to Dulles Airport, surely a source of jet engine exhaust products. If the problem was really acid rain, you would never clear it up with a detail. How do I know? I worked at a coal-fired power plant and had true acid rain damage as the parking lot was in the plume of the stacks. Total repaint was the only thing that fixed it.
I hope this ends up well for you; I would agree to never use this dealer for a long-distance purchase. I have bought 3 cars long-distance, but picked them up in person. Never had an issue with delivery.
Larry

 

Sorry to hear about your issues. If it's a new car, I would generally try to work with a local dealership for them to do an exchange with the remote dealership for the purchase. That way from my perspective, the purchase is local. If the dealers have comparable cars to swap each other, you'll usually just need to pay a little extra for the destination charge.

 

Sorry yes, I was assuming that the "hello I wish to make a complaint" chat had already been made with the dealer and it didn't progress to any satisfaction.

 

I think the OP clarified that there had been a chat and that the dealer did offer some sort of compensation.

Other than the issue of the plates, not sure what else is expected.

 

Taking and posting photographs of the fuel gage, tire pressure and filthy condition goes a VERY long way with reviews and corporate interactions.

 

Thanks to all. My mistake in not taking pictures. I do not expect anything at this time,only posted to inform people and vent a little. I emailed the dealer at 12:30 today telling
the general manager that I had posted this review today and that he should reply on this forum if he had any factual changes to make.

 

I had a similar situation once. Had a new car shipped from Boston to Philly. It did not go through PDI, which was obvious upon arrival, and had several issues.

Had good response by calling the sales manager and corporate, and got things resolved quickly. Dead battery was replaced under warranty (after making a small fuss because dealer did not properly maintain it prior to delivery). Missing owner's manual was sent overnight. Local dealer finished PDI and coding.

Try going to the sales manager @ Jag Chantilly. The salesperson is responsible for the transaction end-to-end, including ensuring that PDI was performed, and car got onto carrier in good condition.

p.s. you have good taste with a BRG F-Type Coupe, but I am biased!

 

Chantilly is not very far from me. I've left my MINI out in the elements for the last 14 years and the finish still looks quite new. I doubt your issue is acid rain (this isn't upstate NY). Are you certain it's not bird crap damage? That'll eat through a finish in just a few days. Let me know if you need someone to personally have a conversation with someone at the dealership.

 

Yes,I am sure that all large blotches etched into the paint,especially on the hood were caused by birds. However,I am positive that the hard mineral
spots on all glass areas,water collection spots and flat areas were caused by rain.
From the looks of it,this car was seldom,if ever washed and had zero wax on it.
You may have left your Mini out in the elements,but I am sure you took steps
to clean it on a regular basis.

 

I had a mustang once that had a water spot problem. The detail guy said it was from the car being in the hot sun after it rained. It came out though, good luck. Its to bad you had that problem in Virginia because you have a pretty good dealer right their in Jacksonville.