Dealership Totals Customer's Camaro ZL1, Owner And Dealer At War

[VYBerlinaV8]

I can't imagine the dealership having insurance to cover such an event.

If it were me I'd be checking to see if my insurance would cover me on the basis of having a clearly identified party to recover the money from (the dealership). This is really no difference to if you had lent the car to a family member and they wrote it off - the insurance still applies.

The big issue with insurance is having someone to chase for the money. I strongly susppect that when the lawyers get their hands on it, that the employee who crashed the car is going to have a very bad day.

[FollowTheSapper]

After some recent issues I have had with my car I make it very clear the car is not to go for a test drive unless I am present. I take the odometer reading and if I don't trust the place I sit there. I am also installing a blackvue dash cam. It's a shame it has come to this but people just don't respect others cars these days.

[Radikl]

Simple question if i was the dealership, what is the cost of the negative publicity to their business! They have had a lot of free advertising globally via socail media and the internet!

Small box mentality!!!

And to top it off, they offered a repaired vehicle to be seen to be doing the right thing!

Good luck to the dealership and hope the owners bend them over and win it. (Assuming all the details are what they are!)

[VNV8]

As above, I can't see anybody who has read this story going anywhere near this dealership, servicing or sales. The dealership should be getting them a new car, or paying them out the retail value of the car.

[Woodchukka]

That sort of thing would embarrass the dealer to no end and people will go there because some will not believe the owner of the car. The dealer should either pay up or give like for like. I feel for the owner of the car.

[planetdavo]

This is one of those stories where we start to understand why the world has lawyers...
End of the day the criminal actions of one person caused this to happen. Note the highlighted word CRIMINAL. Doesn't matter if he worked there or not. He partook in a criminal action to gain access to the car- with his place of employment dragged into it because this guy is a criminal.
It SHOULD be between the car owner and the person who wrote the car off. It's gets more complex because a third party got dragged into it through no fault of their own...

[planetdavo]

Simple question if i was the dealership, what is the cost of the negative publicity to their business! They have had a lot of free advertising globally via socail media and the internet!

Small box mentality!!!

And to top it off, they offered a repaired vehicle to be seen to be doing the right thing!

Good luck to the dealership and hope the owners bend them over and win it. (Assuming all the details are what they are!)

Some people will no doubt think this way, but I suspect most will realise the dealership got shafted by the criminal actions of their (now) former employee.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't is what it amounts to in this situation!

[matthewfnorbert]

This is one of those stories where we start to understand why the world has lawyers...
End of the day the criminal actions of one person caused this to happen. Note the highlighted word CRIMINAL. Doesn't matter if he worked there or not. He partook in a criminal action to gain access to the car- with his place of employment dragged into it because this guy is a criminal.
It SHOULD be between the car owner and the person who wrote the car off. It's gets more complex because a third party got dragged into it through no fault of their own...

and thats why he should take the good offer by the dealer and walk on.... he will get squat from the criminal and months/years of stress

[Drizt]

This is one of those stories where we start to understand why the world has lawyers...
It SHOULD be between the car owner and the person who wrote the car off. It's gets more complex because a third party got dragged into it through no fault of their own...

The car was left in the care of the dealership. The dealership SHOULD be responsible. The dealership SHOULD be covered by their insurance and / or they should be sueing their employee who crashed the car.

[planetdavo]

The car was left in the care of the dealership. The dealership SHOULD be responsible. The dealership SHOULD be covered by their insurance and / or they should be sueing their employee who crashed the car.

Sounds wonderfully easy, but you are wrong.
The employee, by entering the complex when it was locked up and without permission to enter the complex, has broken the law.
He has BROKEN INTO the complex basically- with absolutely no work related reason for being there. He's a criminal!
What this criminal did was use OPPORTUNITY- by having access to the keys to unlock the complex.
This makes it no different to an employee stealing stuff from the business. In that scenario, he would also have had OPPORTUNITY, so HE would have chosen to break the law by stealing stuff. So what if he worked there? A thief is a thief!
In the "real world", people like this get reported to the police, who charge them upon sufficient evidence being found. The business it occurred at it simply the location the crime originated from. Doesn't matter if it's the dealership, a supermarket car park, or the driveway of your grandmother's retirement village.
Harsh perhaps, but hey, the real world ain't all warm and cuddly all the time...
In Australia, you would get this criminal's name and provide it to your insurer- who would then chase the criminal for the money. It's how the real world works.

[bush_basha]

and thats why he should take the good offer by the dealer and walk on.... he will get squat from the criminal and months/years of stress

What good offer, there not replacing it with the second hand one for free, there selling it to them.

[Toddler78]

What I cant understand, is the owners are still paying the finance on it? stop paying it and let the finance company get involved as well

[bush_basha]

What I cant understand, is the owners are still paying the finance on it? stop paying it and let the finance company get involved as well

Then the owners will get black crosses to there name for not paying and will find it hard in the future for more finance.

[R8SVton]

Hi guys,

I was in the same boat as the poor guys with the ZL1.
Will NOT mention the name of the dealer but I had a brand new VE SSV with under 3000ks on the clock when I took it in to the dealer under warranty for a paint issue. All it needed was the paint protection replied on the bumper after the paint work had a default, something so simple right. I get a phone call from the service manager about 4 hrs later and asking me if I was sitting down. I asked why and he told me that there was an accident with your car, I asked how bad and he told me to come down and have a look at it. So I went down to the car yard and the service manager called them to bring the car down. I asked how the **** did this happen and he told me that the mechanic reversed the car and slammed the rear end into a round solid concrete column (you cant even wrap your arms around it) and push back in at least 400mm right in the middle. And to make things even better, the guy in the car was the guy that smashed it and did not have the balls to get out of the car and apologues for what he had done just sat in the car all that time I was around it.
I did ask for a brand new replacement car but not a chance. By law all they can do is repair it to your satisfaction which I was NOT happy. I went to get some legal advise and was told that as long as they agree in repairing it no matter how long it takes, by law you cant do anything. Didn't see my car for 12 weeks.

[planetdavo]

Hi guys,

I was in the same boat as the poor guys with the ZL1.
Will NOT mention the name of the dealer but I had a brand new VE SSV with under 3000ks on the clock when I took it in to the dealer under warranty for a paint issue. All it needed was the paint protection replied on the bumper after the paint work had a default, something so simple right. I get a phone call from the service manager about 4 hrs later and asking me if I was sitting down. I asked why and he told me that there was an accident with your car, I asked how bad and he told me to come down and have a look at it. So I went down to the car yard and the service manager called them to bring the car down. I asked how the **** did this happen and he told me that the mechanic reversed the car and slammed the rear end into a round solid concrete column (you cant even wrap your arms around it) and push back in at least 400mm right in the middle. And to make things even better, the guy in the car was the guy that smashed it and did not have the balls to get out of the car and apologues for what he had done just sat in the car all that time I was around it.
I did ask for a brand new replacement car but not a chance. By law all they can do is repair it to your satisfaction which I was NOT happy. I went to get some legal advise and was told that as long as they agree in repairing it no matter how long it takes, by law you cant do anything. Didn't see my car for 12 weeks.

All fair enough, but it's important to make it clear that we are talking two VERY different scenarios here, with no real links other than the type of location they originated from.
Yours happened when the vehicle was in the process of having the authorised work performed- so liability for the business is clear- whereas the Camaro was STOLEN from a locked building by someone that used opportunity (access to keys) to steal it- with no authorisation to be there.
I doubt any insurance company insuring the Chevrolet dealer would come to the party insurance wise, as it clearly wasn't a workplace "accident". It was the result of a criminal action by someone not permitted to be there, so it becomes the criminal's problem.
Unfortunately, BOTH the business and the car owner have been shafted by the actions of this criminal. The criminal is the one responsible.