My car arrived in Baltimore on 6/30, but I haven't been able to get any information out of my dealer. I finally heard back from someone at the port today, that there was "damage" and one of the wheels has to be replaced and they are waiting for the part to come in.

Is stuff like this common? I'm a little concerned that the damage was more extensive, but I have no way of knowing. What, if any recourse do I have if I find out something else is wrong down the road?

 

Not surprising. Every car port has a shop where minor dings and imperfections are repaired on the spot that happened during transport. As expensive as the car might be it is just one of 1,200 or so on a cargo ship and handlers are getting in and out of cars, driving them on and off the ships all day long. Things happen, dings happen, even a rim gets damaged. It is a delay nothing more nothing less. Of course when it happens to your car it is personal and more of a concern. But you want a new rim, not a repaired one so the wait is worth it.

 

Sorry to hear. I would speculate that minor damages do occur. They are offloading thousands of cars off these cargo shops, then transporting them by trucks thousands of miles. Some are bound to be damaged, like a wheel scrape.

 

Right, but how do I know that there wasn't more damage? I have no way of knowing that it was a ding on a rim or a container that got rammed into the side of the car and they are repainting the whole thing. Surprised that stuff like this doesn't have to be disclosed to the buyer along with pictures and a write up of the repair.

 

Well, you will have the warranty of course. You could also ask for the dealer to do a complete inspection due to your concerns (though they may do that anyway).

A pro detailer with a paint thickness gauge can measure the paint depth at various points on the car to determine if anything has been resprayed since leaving the factory. I suppose rejecting the car is always an option if its not 100% right.

Edit: You can buy a coating thickness guage quite inexpensively that will work with both steel (ferrous) and non steel (Aluminum etc). Not sure if they will read on composite (plastic etc) panels though. Might be worth it for peace of mind.

 

Cars also get damaged in transit from the port, and at the dealership.

If you ever wonder how they fit so many cars onto the lot without damage, the answer is they don't. Which is where SMART comes in...

 

Having worked in the car biz for many years,they only have to disclose port damage at a certain dollar amount,below that and it's just swept under the rug...and as was mentioned,it's a daily occurrence.

 

I guess the "good" news is that I know there was damage, so I am going to ask for them to demonstrate the extent of what happened and if it involves paint damage or anything more than just a scuffed wheel, I will refuse delivery.

 

I don't think you have anything to worry about. A scuffed/curbed wheel is the most common type of damage in the real world as well, and it is unlikely there was any panel damage.

Those cars move along multiple ramps on the RORO ships, and all of those ramps have edges. There are also many drivers to move them on and off as quickly as possible, because time is big money to them.

 

If it's just a scuffed or curbed wheel, it isn't a big deal. If there is other damage, that is a problem. I don't want to go trade the car in three years from now and have someone tell me it had bodywork. If I go back to my dealer then, they are going to say they have no responsibility as they don't know if I damaged the car.

I'm just surprised that if a car has work on it before it is sold (from replacing a part, to painting), there isn't some kind of law that forces the dealer to disclose it.

 

Of course, but as I said that's highly unlikely.

 

In my case it is very likely, because I know there was damage and until they show me documented evidence of what the damage was, I won't take delivery of the car.

 

Easy solution. Inform the dealership that you're concerned there may have been more damage than disclosed and request a full inspection by the shop including an official written report certifying it is in perfect condition with no hidden damage. Insist on it as a requirement before you'll take possession of the vehicle. If there is a written report, you should know for sure. Plus you can use that as evidence if there are problems down the road.

It is their vehicle at that point. If it doesn't have frame damage and the total damage is below a certain threshold, I suspect they don't have any obligation aside from fixing it, and the latter is just to insure a sale. The rest is covered by the warranty.

 

I wonder if the dealer is even involved at this stage. During transport I'm guessing it's still under Jaguar Land Rover North America control. Dealer probably doesn't even get involved, legally take it over, until delivered to the dealership. Dealer might know as much about the damage as you...probably have to get them to work with JRL to really get more details. You could of course refuse to buy it, but I don't think the dealer will "certify".

 

Not taking delivery of a car without the documentation you say you're going to insist upon is one way of ensuring that you'll never have a car that was damaged during shipping. You'll likely just never have a car.

You're one step ahead in this case because there is no requirement to disclose minor damage before delivery, which makes the wheel damage only explanation more credible.

 

It shouldn't be that tough. When I ordered my BMW and showed up to pick it up, they provided me a written inspection report when I took possession of the vehicle, and I didn't even have to ask for it. I explained ahead of time that I was very meticulous about my vehicles, so they provided the pre-delivery inspection report as a courtesy. And that BMW was half the price of my F-Type.

Obviously JLR isn't BMW, but I suspect if a piece of paper that says their service team inspected the car and didn't find any damage is the only thing keeping a customer from signing the check, then they would be happy to do that. I can't really imagine a reason that they would refuse to do so for a car in this price range.

 

I'm reasonably certain that anyone could obtain a piece of paper from a dealer saying they "inspected and didn't find any damage." If that's all the OP needs in terms of documentation, then no problem.

 

Exactly and if actual damage is found years only later it must haven been done by the owner.

If the suspicions are that strong and trust level that low, hire an independent inspector and let him render an opinion.

The number of cars that get damaged during shipping is probably less than the number that get damaged during assembly and repaired as a routine part of plant operation. Got to be realistic here......................

 

Yep, if you can't be realistic, then you would never purchase any vehicle You'll never obtain definitive documentation that it was never damaged somewhere prior to your acceptance.

 

I'm sure the dealer will give you an "inspection" form, probably because they do it all the time. But for them to "certify" that a brand new car delivered by JRL NA is "new" would be different. I mean it really depends on what your definition of "new" is. In any event, I think it just comes down to your risk comfort level....no guarantee that a "new" car won't have issues..a guy bought a porsche and found it to have water damage! finally got it bought back due to lemon law....go figure