Original post here
First of all, I read through almost all of your comments in my original post and I took every suggestion into careful consideration - thank you all for the input. It turns out everyone's opinion on this was evenly split. I probably doubled my knowledge on this subject after dealing with this situation and I decided to create this new post since I figured a lot of people could benefit from the information below.
After making my original post, I consulted my gf's dad who is is very knowledgeable on cars and the auto industry (he used to build car engines as a hobby when he was younger) and he actually swayed my decision from taking the $$ to just swapping the car for a new one.
His 2 cents:
As far as assessing the nature of the cosmetic damage, that is a tough one for either of us. Even if they used all Honda parts and materials to repair the car, there are processes at the factory that may not be replicated in your average body shop. For example, they often dip the car in a bath of anti-rust primer at the factory, then paint it using a process that helps the paint bond better than just spraying it on, such as applying opposite charges to the paint and metal, etc. They then may bake the entire car at 350F to really cure the paint and primer. Of course this all happens before the other parts of the interior, engine, etc are in place, so the heat would not damage them. These kinds of processes cannot be replicated in an average body shop. For this reason the new paint may not age the same as the original paint. This could affect the structural integrity down the road.
In terms of cosmetic vs. structural damage, it is hard to know where to draw the line. In the old days, there was a separate frame and body. In that case you could make an argument that the frame was structural and the body cosmetic. But, modern cars have unibody construction, which saves on weight and cost. They derive their strength from the entire unibody structure and added on structures. So unless you had a computer model of the completed Accord automobile, it is very difficult to determine where cosmetic ends and structural begins. The $3,000 I assume to be dealer cost. So at retail, it might be closer to $4,000. That is a fair amount of damage. It is easy to believe that some structural members of the car may have been effected.
When I got to the dealership, the manager had an mechanic expert open my hood and walked me through the invoice line by line. He assured me that that particular Honda dealership was "Honda Certified" and that their standards are actually higher than the industry standards so they used the best possible replacement parts and services available. I'm sure that is very true, but it didn't sway my decision in the slightest. It turns out the $3,300 in repairs wasn't very minor and only cosmetic. Repaired/replaced items that were listed on the invoice included:
- Front bumper
- Grille
- Front Lamps
- Radiator support
- Cooling
- Air Conditioner & heater
- Hood
- Fender
- Electrical
Lastly, there was a "miscellaneous operations" invoice item that said "Pull & Align Unibody F" for 2 hours. I scanned a copy of the invoice to my gf's dad and he said:
When I look up what F stands for, it stands for Frame. So this tells me that they spent 2 hours pulling and aligning the unibody, also known as straightening the frame. So I would disagree with the assessment that the damage was only cosmetic. The need for this kind of repair can dramatically reduce the trade in value of a car. It probably is in the Car Fax data. So, the compensation that they offered you to keep the car, could have easily been lost when trading the car in at a future date. Once a frame has been bent and then straightened, it is not as strong or as straight as it was when it left the factory.
After going back inside the dealership and sitting down with the manager, he then reviewed the 2 options with me again. Swap my car in for a whole new one (with them covering all transfer costs) or I could keep my car and receive $2000 in compensation. Given the situation, I don't even think I would taken option 2 if they offered $1-2K more.
The manager acted very professional and earnest and I like to think he handled the corrective actions properly. When he first called me and said the damage was purely cosmetic, I want to believe he unintentionally misunderstood the situation. He said he was not a mechanic/engineer/expert which is why he deferred me to one when they opened the hood and reviewed the invoice. At the end of the day, its clear they fully intended on sharing all information with me even if he was a bit misleading in the beginning. He also printed a CarFax report for me and it did NOT show up on the report, although he said it will probably show up sometime in the near future.
How I see it, I got to drive around a car for 2.5 months completely free of eating the costs of depreciation and accumulating the 2,200 miles I put on it. I also originally asked for a black interior when I first bought the car but they didn't have any left in stock, but now I'll get it with this new one. Black on black is pretty damn sexy.
I hope anyone who is new to buying a car or wants to learn more about the industry has learned a lot from my situation. I definitely have.
Submitted September 18, 2017 at 12:16PM by SlimTim222 http://ift.tt/2w3XfT0
