Damage Discovered After Delivery

[justsometallguy]

I took delivery of a new Lariat 3 days ago from a dealer a few hours away. The whole process was incredibly smooth, including me headed there to pick it up, and had zero complaints. I did a visual inspection of the vehicle and all looked great so I did the 3 hour drive home.
Fast forward to today when I wanted to give it a quick wash (that Agate Black is a dirt magnet, but beautiful when clean!) and I noticed some pretty severe scratches on the roof.
When I did my walk around at the dealer, I poked my head up top real quick, but didn’t notice these scratches. They’re deep - through the clear coat and into the paint - and look like someone opened the moon roof and tried to load something in through it.
I contacted my sales rep immediately and sent pics, and he said he’d never seen that type of damage before but would check tomorrow with someone to see if it could be classified as transport or manufacturing damage.
I understand I likely have no recourse here, but wanted to see if anyone here has dealt with something similar and if they have any advice or suggestions on how to approach this.
Thanks in advance!

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[B177y]

To me it sounds like you are taking the best approach possible. I would be doing the same thing.

If your salesperson comes back with a "There's nothing we can do" answer, I would probably try to push a little harder one more time. If that didn't get any traction, I would resign myself to getting estimates at a body shop.

 

[VTbuckeye]

Had this happen with our Volvo back in 2016. It was actually a few weeks later. I was washing the car and found scratches the length of the roof. Black car, they missed them, I missed them until washing. I am 5'4", I can't see the roof unless I am standing on the wheels. The scratches ran from just in front of the moon roof to the back edge of the spoiler lip. They got deeper the further back. They noticed them on the the glass as well in long straight lines. There was no way for me to do this.

They replaced the moon roof to glass and had a local body shop fill/repaint the roof. This was a shop they usually do business with, that works primarily on European luxury brands. I didn't have to fight. They classified it as transport damage and no questions asked fixed it.

 

[justsometallguy]

Thank you. These guys have a great reputation and it’s been stellar so far. I really hope they step up here and are able to make it right.

 

[SSNutz]

Yeah, work with your sales person. I bought my Flash last fall. Did my inspection and test drive. Everything seems good to me. Picked my wife up and one minute later she said what is that, looks like a chip .....dang she found a chip in the passenger side of the truck windshield. You could only see it from that side. Text the salesman with pictures and they honored getting it right. Good luck with your truck!

 

[Lytning]

Possible cause of roof scratches would be the hauler driving under a tree with a low-hanging branch. I would move it to a likely cause if your truck was on the top level of the hauler. Also, some dealerships have mechanical car washes which could possibly damage the roof paint.

 

[StevenC56]

The problem with claiming transportation damage is that it either has to be noted upon delivery of the vehicle, or if found afterwards (Usually called hidden damage) the manufacturer usually has a time restriction that's usually only a few days after receipt of the vehicle.

 

[justsometallguy]

The problem with claiming transportation damage is that it either has to be noted upon delivery of the vehicle, or if found afterwards (Usually called hidden damage) the manufacturer usually has a time restriction that's usually only a few days after receipt of the vehicle.

My sales rep said that it’s a no-go on claiming it as transportation damage for the reason you cited. Not giving up yet…

 

[OG_Ragnar]

A few days after purchase, I found some minor damage on the black plastic lower front grate by the air intake on mine a few days after taking delivery last year. The out-of-town dealer would not fix it even though it was noticeable in a picture taken on day of purchase. Said they had to be notified w/in three days or less, although never gave this to me in writing upon purchase. After haggling back and forth, and moving it up the chain, best I could get was dealer to repair it at cost, which I did.

I had other poor purchase experiences with this dealer, especially in the finance department, but the price was right and I still do like my Lightning.

Hope you get yours repaired smoothly, and that your dealer is more reasonable than mine was.

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