Seeking advise for problems with a recent CPO purchase
07-04-17, 10:19 PM
#1
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Seeking advise for problems with a recent CPO purchase
I've posted a few times already on the forum regarding my 2015 es300h CPO that I purchased back in April.
I finally got back my vehicle after they agreed to fix the bumper, dash, etc.
Looks like they've done a good job on the dash and the control ****.
But the problem was the bumper. they 'repaired' the crack on it, which was also creating very fine hairline cracks that was basically starting to expand in a web. After the repair and the paint job, the color is clearly off, and the service guy at my dealer also noticed it, however saying he could not tell at all under the sun. He advised that I give it about a week to heal up and see if it gets better.
I come home agreeing to it, and take a closer look to find out the whole grill has cracks and lots of teeth between grills were also broken. though most of them are still in place, they are clearly broken. I've attached photos below. First photo is how the bumper was originally.
When getting the car, the dealer told me the car had the chrome tip of the grill repaired that was broken off somehow, and said that the car was not in an accident. Whether it has been in an accident is still unconfirmed but seeing these cracks in the bumper with what they had to do to fix it initially to sell, and more problems existing afterwards, im beginning to wonder. (they also said they replaced LED bulbs but beginning to think it may have been the whole headlamp unit). Also, I'm kinda shocked that they did not notice the grill that's ready to fall apart when doing the paint job with the repair.
I would not have bought a car paying close to 30k that is CPO that screams "i had the bumper replaced". And to top it off, I really don't know how or why it happened as none of the repairs should have affected it, but something in the sunroof right above my head in the driver's side began to rattle like crazy and its driving me nuts. def sounds like something hitting against the sunroof or darn right near it but moving or changing sunroof position does not mitigate it at all. Unless I was completely ignoring this sound before leaving my car at the dealership for nearly a month, this rattle was not there.
I realize that these may only be cosmetic but I'm pretty disappointed to say the least. I'd really appreciate any of your opinions and how I may or should approach this issue.
I finally got back my vehicle after they agreed to fix the bumper, dash, etc.
Looks like they've done a good job on the dash and the control ****.
But the problem was the bumper. they 'repaired' the crack on it, which was also creating very fine hairline cracks that was basically starting to expand in a web. After the repair and the paint job, the color is clearly off, and the service guy at my dealer also noticed it, however saying he could not tell at all under the sun. He advised that I give it about a week to heal up and see if it gets better.
I come home agreeing to it, and take a closer look to find out the whole grill has cracks and lots of teeth between grills were also broken. though most of them are still in place, they are clearly broken. I've attached photos below. First photo is how the bumper was originally.
When getting the car, the dealer told me the car had the chrome tip of the grill repaired that was broken off somehow, and said that the car was not in an accident. Whether it has been in an accident is still unconfirmed but seeing these cracks in the bumper with what they had to do to fix it initially to sell, and more problems existing afterwards, im beginning to wonder. (they also said they replaced LED bulbs but beginning to think it may have been the whole headlamp unit). Also, I'm kinda shocked that they did not notice the grill that's ready to fall apart when doing the paint job with the repair.
I would not have bought a car paying close to 30k that is CPO that screams "i had the bumper replaced". And to top it off, I really don't know how or why it happened as none of the repairs should have affected it, but something in the sunroof right above my head in the driver's side began to rattle like crazy and its driving me nuts. def sounds like something hitting against the sunroof or darn right near it but moving or changing sunroof position does not mitigate it at all. Unless I was completely ignoring this sound before leaving my car at the dealership for nearly a month, this rattle was not there.
I realize that these may only be cosmetic but I'm pretty disappointed to say the least. I'd really appreciate any of your opinions and how I may or should approach this issue.
07-04-17, 10:41 PM
#2
Lexus Champion
I would definitely take it back and tell them that this is unacceptable. If the color doesn't match now, it will not match in a few days. Hopefully it was in your contract (due bill) to have these things addressed. Rattles is covered in your warranty so just bring it up and they should address it.
07-05-17, 05:19 AM
#3
Pole Position
Oh hell no! This would be completely unacceptable. The grill would have to be repaired, as would that bumper cover. This isn't "normal" so while they may not be aware of a collision, this car has obviously been in some kind of accident. It doesn't look like the damage was major, but there was clearly damage that should have been caught and repaired during the CPO process.
I would also also try to speak with the service manager about this. There is no way a reputable body shop missed that damage. They made a conscious decision not to repair all the damage and I would want to know why.
I would be be extremely disappointed to find this degree of damage on my car. It is really incumbent on a prospective buyer to look the car over closely when making the purchase decision and make sure these sorts of repairs are noted or the price is adjusted to compensate for them. With a CPO certification, I would have really expected this to have been caught by the dealership though. It certainly seems to dilute the value of the CPO process.
You are are not being too picky. Stick to your guns and make sure the dealer takes care of this. Just out of curiosity, what color is your car? Is it the Atomic Silver or the Silver Lining Metallic? It is my understanding that the Atomic Silver is very difficult to match paint colors during a repair, but it is NOT going to get better with time, they were just hoping you wouldn't notice it as much after you got used to it. I would think the entire bumper cover will need to be repainted to get a reasonable match.
Sorry to to hear about the issues but a reputable body shop should be able to make it right (just not the body shop your dealer used). It almost makes me wonder if the dealer used their detail shop rather than a reputable body shop for your repairs. I would sure question them carefully before letting them attempt the next repair and make sure they plan to "repair all existing collision damage on the front of the car".
As to the rattles, I agree with dchar, plus there is really no way to tell if the collision caused it anyway. In order to cause sunroof issues, I would have expected greater damage to the front of the car. In some ways, seeing the grill damage illustrates that the damage wasn't too terribly severe as you and the CPO inspection both missed it. If the collision was hard enough to cause sunroof damage, I would have expected the front of the car to have been damaged severely enough that it would have a new grill already. Just one opinion of course...
I would also also try to speak with the service manager about this. There is no way a reputable body shop missed that damage. They made a conscious decision not to repair all the damage and I would want to know why.
I would be be extremely disappointed to find this degree of damage on my car. It is really incumbent on a prospective buyer to look the car over closely when making the purchase decision and make sure these sorts of repairs are noted or the price is adjusted to compensate for them. With a CPO certification, I would have really expected this to have been caught by the dealership though. It certainly seems to dilute the value of the CPO process.
You are are not being too picky. Stick to your guns and make sure the dealer takes care of this. Just out of curiosity, what color is your car? Is it the Atomic Silver or the Silver Lining Metallic? It is my understanding that the Atomic Silver is very difficult to match paint colors during a repair, but it is NOT going to get better with time, they were just hoping you wouldn't notice it as much after you got used to it. I would think the entire bumper cover will need to be repainted to get a reasonable match.
Sorry to to hear about the issues but a reputable body shop should be able to make it right (just not the body shop your dealer used). It almost makes me wonder if the dealer used their detail shop rather than a reputable body shop for your repairs. I would sure question them carefully before letting them attempt the next repair and make sure they plan to "repair all existing collision damage on the front of the car".
As to the rattles, I agree with dchar, plus there is really no way to tell if the collision caused it anyway. In order to cause sunroof issues, I would have expected greater damage to the front of the car. In some ways, seeing the grill damage illustrates that the damage wasn't too terribly severe as you and the CPO inspection both missed it. If the collision was hard enough to cause sunroof damage, I would have expected the front of the car to have been damaged severely enough that it would have a new grill already. Just one opinion of course...
07-05-17, 05:29 AM
#4
Lead Lap
Sorry to hear about the continuing issues with trying to get a proper repair.
There is no need to get further confirmation about whether the car has been in an accident. The crack in the corner of the bumper is exactly what you would expect to see if the bumper took a hit, and the cracks in the grille are also what you would expect to see when the bumper was pushed back and impacted the grille. It may not have been a "serious accident", but the front of the car clearly did take some sort of impact. An additional indication that the bumper sustained an impact is the fact that cover over the tow hook doesn't appear to fit properly. I'm also wondering if that accident might be related to the issues with the dash. The accident could have required repairs to something mechanical or electronic that required removing and reinstalling the dash.
As far as the paint is concerned, as dchar stated, if it doesn't match now, it isn't going to match in a week. The color of the car appears to be one of the pearl whites. Is that correct? Pearl whites are among the hardest colors for which to get satisfactory paint matches because they are multi-stage pearl finishes, and, often, the only way to get a satisfactory paint repair is to blend the new paint into the adjacent panels. Doing so won't make the paint match perfect, but it will conceal any mismatch by spreading out the transition between the new paint and old paint over a larger area.
The only way to have done a proper repair on the front of the car would have been to replace the bumper and the grille (not just try to repair them) and to refinish the new bumper, including blending the new paint into the fenders and, possibly, the hood. That is likely a $3000+ repair. It looks to me like someone made a decision to try to get away with a $500 repair. If that was the case, the car should have been sold for a reduced price "as is", and it should not have been sold as a CPO car.
My suggestion would be to make it clear to the dealer that the repairs done to the car are not acceptable, but I would not bother to try to make the case with the service manager, body shop manager, or sales staff. Instead, at this point, I would deal only with the general manager of the dealership, and, in the absence of your getting satisfaction, you might consider dealing with Lexus corporate. If you do so, you should be prepared for the possibility that you may end up having to put forth some effort to get satisfaction, and the ultimate result could be that, even if the bumper is replaced and refinishing is done with blending the paint into adjacent panels, the car may never feel "right" to you. So, you may need to consider, at some point, when it is time to cut your losses and to move on, while considering the purchase of this vehicle as a lesson learned.
Good luck, and keep us posted on what happens.
There is no need to get further confirmation about whether the car has been in an accident. The crack in the corner of the bumper is exactly what you would expect to see if the bumper took a hit, and the cracks in the grille are also what you would expect to see when the bumper was pushed back and impacted the grille. It may not have been a "serious accident", but the front of the car clearly did take some sort of impact. An additional indication that the bumper sustained an impact is the fact that cover over the tow hook doesn't appear to fit properly. I'm also wondering if that accident might be related to the issues with the dash. The accident could have required repairs to something mechanical or electronic that required removing and reinstalling the dash.
As far as the paint is concerned, as dchar stated, if it doesn't match now, it isn't going to match in a week. The color of the car appears to be one of the pearl whites. Is that correct? Pearl whites are among the hardest colors for which to get satisfactory paint matches because they are multi-stage pearl finishes, and, often, the only way to get a satisfactory paint repair is to blend the new paint into the adjacent panels. Doing so won't make the paint match perfect, but it will conceal any mismatch by spreading out the transition between the new paint and old paint over a larger area.
The only way to have done a proper repair on the front of the car would have been to replace the bumper and the grille (not just try to repair them) and to refinish the new bumper, including blending the new paint into the fenders and, possibly, the hood. That is likely a $3000+ repair. It looks to me like someone made a decision to try to get away with a $500 repair. If that was the case, the car should have been sold for a reduced price "as is", and it should not have been sold as a CPO car.
My suggestion would be to make it clear to the dealer that the repairs done to the car are not acceptable, but I would not bother to try to make the case with the service manager, body shop manager, or sales staff. Instead, at this point, I would deal only with the general manager of the dealership, and, in the absence of your getting satisfaction, you might consider dealing with Lexus corporate. If you do so, you should be prepared for the possibility that you may end up having to put forth some effort to get satisfaction, and the ultimate result could be that, even if the bumper is replaced and refinishing is done with blending the paint into adjacent panels, the car may never feel "right" to you. So, you may need to consider, at some point, when it is time to cut your losses and to move on, while considering the purchase of this vehicle as a lesson learned.
Good luck, and keep us posted on what happens.
07-06-17, 09:28 PM
#5
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
I would definitely take it back and tell them that this is unacceptable. If the color doesn't match now, it will not match in a few days. Hopefully it was in your contract (due bill) to have these things addressed. Rattles is covered in your warranty so just bring it up and they should address it.
Anyhow, rattle is covered even for CPOs?
07-07-17, 04:50 AM
#6
CERTIFICATION
In order to meet the rigorous standards of Lexus certification, specially trained technicians at each Lexus dealership put every vehicle through an exhaustive series of examinations, helping to ensure reliability, quality and customer confidence. Only the best pre-owned Lexus vehicles qualify, and they're exclusively at your Lexus dealer.
161-POINT INSPECTION
Each L/Certified by Lexus vehicle undergoes a comprehensive inspection including: engine, exterior, interior, electronics, safety devices, undercarriage and a road test. During the inspection process, we focus on the details. Specially trained technicians inspect every aspect of the pre-owned vehicle, right down to the first aid kit, spare tire and glovebox light.
http://www.lexus.com/lcertified/certification-warranty
In order to meet the rigorous standards of Lexus certification, specially trained technicians at each Lexus dealership put every vehicle through an exhaustive series of examinations, helping to ensure reliability, quality and customer confidence. Only the best pre-owned Lexus vehicles qualify, and they're exclusively at your Lexus dealer.
161-POINT INSPECTION
Each L/Certified by Lexus vehicle undergoes a comprehensive inspection including: engine, exterior, interior, electronics, safety devices, undercarriage and a road test. During the inspection process, we focus on the details. Specially trained technicians inspect every aspect of the pre-owned vehicle, right down to the first aid kit, spare tire and glovebox light.
http://www.lexus.com/lcertified/certification-warranty
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
ahmed24
IS - 2nd Gen (2006-2013)
8
04-02-08 09:54 PM
hsk73
Car Chat
10
09-08-06 11:58 AM
ceoart
GS - 2nd Gen (1998-2005)
25
08-05-02 05:19 PM
