Dealership employee total's customers ZL1 after they taken it for a joyride

iluvmycsx

iluvmycsx

Mr Csx
VIP Member
3,216
1,317
Regina - The City That Rhymes with Fun
Vehicle Model
Acura Csx
Body Style
Sedan
On Sunday, December 15, 2013, my prized 2012 Camaro ZL1 took its last breath at 4:47 pm. The car was at the dealer in Georgetown, DE for paint issues (under warranty). It had been locked in the service bay over the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, an employee of the dealership (service writer) entered the locked building, removed the keys to my car from the service department, and went on a joyride. The car was totaled when he lost control and sheared off a telephone pole.

The dealership informed my wife and I on Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. of our loss. Yes, they waited over 16 hours to tell us about our car. I am sure they discussed the incident with their attorneys prior to calling us.

It is now Friday, the car has been officially totaled by the insurance company, and the dealership is telling us it is not their problem. They even refuse to provide my wife and I (and our insurance company) with their insurance information.

I traded in my 2011 SS2 Camaro and sold my 1969 Camaro SS in pristine condition to buy the ZL1. I will never be able to afford another new ZL1, and basically I don't think I should have to be put in the position to have to buy a new one. We trusted the dealership to use vigilance while our car was in their possession. We can't even have charges pressed against their employee for theft because the car was not in OUR possession when stolen.

Something about this whole thing just doesn't seem right. What would you do if this was your baby
Click to expand...


http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=333504
 
That is an utter ridiculousness. I really feel bad for the owner.
 
if you read the quoted portion posted here, it clearly says the dealer isn't being cooperative at all.

he's worried because he now has
to fight a long and stressful battle just to get to a point that he was prior to this incident, at no fault of his own.
 
I'm amazed how people drop off their car, hand the keys to a stranger, then walk out without any paperwork. I once walked out of a dealer that treated me like I was being unreasonable for asking them to write up paperwork before leaving my car to do work. Their attitude completely turned me off, and I never went back.

There are dealers who do things very professionally, and others that are loose as a goose.
 
Remember the camaro owner who had issues like a year ago? The one who put a recording device in the car to capture what happened on their test drive etc. He had to really fight to get anywhere with the dealer.
 
In situations like this one should note waste time with a dealership. If they don't cooperate you immediately go straight to the top. Head office makes things happen quickly.
 
The Chevrolet dealer posted this on their website:

"Recently 1st State Chevrolet had an employee enter the dealership on Sunday December 15th and take a customer’s Camaro without authorization and subsequently totaled the customer’s car in an accident. Our business is closed on Sundays and was locked as is usual procedure. The employee acted on his own in this unfortunate event. This is an awful situation for both the customer and the dealership to deal with. We have been in contact with the customer and apologized for this situation at length. Both parties’ insurance companies are working to handle this claim in a satisfactory manner. Hopefully this situation will be settled in the very near future.

-Robert L. Hansen

President 1st State Chevrolet"

The issue at hand is that Hooper and 1st State Chevrolet can't come to an agreement for the replacement. You'd think that the dealer would want to keep the client happy and compensate him for his loss and time as well, while also avoiding any negative publicity by offering a new ride, but they want to give him a used model of equal worth, and that's where they disagree.

As reported by the CapeGazette that followed the story, the dealership offered Hooper two used Camaro ZL1s, but he declined both on the ground that they were not comparable to what he lost.

The first one was said to have had two previous owners, while Hooper's wife Debbie found out that the car also been in an accident, while the second one was the same year model but had 3,000 miles more.

While the issue drags on, Debbie Hooper said that the couple will continue to make payments on the car. They also met up with an attorney who told them that they are not "entitled to pain and suffering, lawyer or court costs".

“It's going to end up costing us more money if we go forward with the attorney,” she said.

For the time being, they're driving a loaner car from 1st State Chevrolet with a cracked windshield since the ZL1 went into the shop for the paint problem.

“We're losing sleep over this, time off from work, and this still isn't resolved,” John Hooper said. “This is so ethically and morally wrong it isn't funny.”

As for the employee responsible for this whole mess, Delaware State Police charged Eric Peterson, 42, of Georgetown with careless driving and failure to have insurance identification in possession. The man was also fired from the dealership. Police told Debbie Hooper that she could not file theft or any other criminal charges against Peterson as the car was in the dealer's possession when the crash occurred.

c1.jpg c2.jpg c3.jpg c4.jpg
 
I've seen a couple of these totalled out by dealership employees. it is a difficult car to drive fast and people are stupid with them.
Never a customers car have I seen wrecked but a couple of new ones off the truck with a VERY unhappy dealer operator.
 
At least the two people who lost their car seem happy with the conclusion. It would really suck to be in the right and have something bad happen that nobody wants to take responsibility for, i feel like it should've been fixed sooner than this. One Camaro is definitely not worth the blow to customer satisfaction that couldve been avoided
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top