Dealer crashed my Lightning

[uniblab]

About a week ago I dropped my Lightning off at the local dealership to address an issue with the windshield wipers and an annoying squeak coming from the rear seatback. Yesterday I got a message from the dealer while I was work requesting that I call them. I thought they were going to tell me my truck was done, come pick it up. Then I saw a message in the FordPass app saying my truck had been involved in an accident. Sure enough, one of the service reps rear-ended someone while test driving my truck. Although the airbag did not deploy, there is significant damage to the front of the truck. The dealer says they will fix it, of course but I have some concerns. They claim there will be no diminished value and that it will be 100% good-as-new.

I want to see the truck's EDR (Event Data Recorder) data that is associated with the accident but the service manager was not able to provide it. I am hoping that there was a non-deployment event stored based on the fact that Ford notified me that my truck had been in an accident. Anyone have experience with this? How can I get the event data from the truck? I would like to know the details of speed, acceleration, ABS activation, etc. surrounding the accident. Thanks!

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[GDN]

Ouch. I had a pickup stolen from a dealer lot, so craziness can happen.

I wonder how they will avoid the carfax and diminshed value? Likely just planning on ordering parts and having their body shop fix it with no claim to any insurance?

 

[uniblab]

Ouch. I had a pickup stoled from a dealer lot, so craziness can happen.

I wonder how they will avoid the carfax and diminshed value? Likely just planning on ordering parts and having their body shop fix it with no claim to any insurance?

That is my guess. If they contact my insurance, I'm going to be pi$$ed. I'll have that discussion with them this morning just in case. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Old Aviator]

You also need to be compensated for the diminished value since that truck will show up as having been in an accident. Based on the price of the truck probably 5-10%. Don’t let them off the hook. Fixing the damage only covers part of the loss.

 

[flyct]

It’s highly unlikely that the accident won’t be reported and show in carfax. They hit another car and if an accident report was filed with police or the other car that was hit reported it then it will show up.

You need to be compensated for diminished value.

 

[uniblab]

It’s highly unlikely that the accident won’t be reported and show in carfax. They hit another car and if an accident report was filed with police or the other car that was hit reported it then it will show up.

You need to be compensated for diminished value.

The dealership said that the other vehicle involved in the accident "drove off". My assumption is that the other vehicle did not have any insurance or otherwise didn't want to become involved but I will probably never know.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Sorry this has happened.

 

[detansinn]

The dealer is more than capable of making sure that the incident doesn't show up on Carfax. I wouldn't sweat an accident report on Carfax here.

 

[ThomasNC]

The diminished value comes from having been in an accident not from the accident being reported. Whether it shows up on Carfax or not is irrelevant to the actual value. Selling someone the car and telling them it had never been in an accident when you know it has would be fraud in all 50 states. Whether or not you have to disclose that it had been in an accident willingly probably depends on state law. Whenever I've traded in a car to a dealer I've always had to sign an accident disclosure signing that with no accident listed and then the dealer finding evidence of repair leaves you in a risky position. The scenario is probably unlikely but you need to keep it in mind. You honestly might want to call your insurance so they can represent your interest here as unsavory as that sounds but little guy vs corporation is never really a position you want to be in.

 

[ScubaSteve_TheReal]

Sorry to hear of this event.
Loss of use of your vehicle, loss of value/diminished value as damages as well as your loss of enjoyment from driving an accident free vehicle. I’m thinking a free no exclusions best warranty ford offers as a starter. These are just my opinions, take them or leave them. Best of luck.

 

[uniblab]

The diminished value comes from having been in an accident not from the accident being reported. Whether it shows up on Carfax or not is irrelevant to the actual value. Selling someone the car and telling them it had never been in an accident when you know it has would be fraud in all 50 states. Whether or not you have to disclose that it had been in an accident willingly probably depends on state law. Whenever I've traded in a car to a dealer I've always had to sign an accident disclosure signing that with no accident listed and then the dealer finding evidence of repair leaves you in a risky position. The scenario is probably unlikely but you need to keep it in mind. You honestly might want to call your insurance so they can represent your interest here as unsavory as that sounds but little guy vs corporation is never really a position you want to be in.

You're right, I may have to disclose the accident to a potential purchaser - that's a good point. My intention has always been to trade the truck for a newer gen Lightning when they become available. I think it's going to be very difficult to prevent a Ford dealer from building an accident-discount into the price they offer me for a trade even if they say they aren't.

 

[RickLightning]

You also may need to report it to your insurance, read your policy.

 

[3121]

Remember that you pick where the repair is done. I wouldn’t let them pick the body shop to do the repairs. Obviously, they will just pick the cheapest option or someplace they do a lot of business with.

I would locate the local Porsche Audi, certified body shop with active certifications from those manufactures. Those are the gold standard certifications for body work.

or get an attorney to contact the dealer and ask them to replace the vehicle and they can resell the damaged one after they repair it. Make it their problem dealing with the diminished value

Regarding CarFax. The repair will show up 99% of the time. Most dealerships and repair facilities sell their repair data to Carfax for profit. In this instance the dealer could repair the vehicle off the books but it be very difficult for them to prevent the repair from being picked up by Carfax. Any repair would still require work orders and parts orders and I think it’s impossible for the dealership or body shop to single out one vehicle’s data from the bulk being sent to Carfax.
Just my experience with dealers and body shops.

 

[tubby]

I didn't see this anywhere yet from the forum response contributors, but where was the auto braking that is supposed to happen? Was that turned off? There are notification sounds also when you get too close. And the person that was rear-ended took off? Something doesn't sound right. There has to be more to the story.

 

[RickLightning]

I didn't see this anywhere yet from the forum response contributors, but where was the auto braking that is supposed to happen? Was that turned off? There are notification sounds also when you get too close. And the person that was rear-ended took off? Something doesn't sound right. There has to be more to the story.

AEB MAY active IF it determines a collision is imminent. Many times these happen when the vehicle surges into a stopped vehicle from a stop itself. The system has no time to work in that case. Note that no airbags deployed.

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