Dealer totals customer's ZL1

Ridiculous

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=333504

The guy doesn't deserve a new car. He deserves a close to new car. But this dealership should really have called him up, told him to come down to the dealer, and handed him the keys to a brand new one. Someone that large in a particular car community should be taken care of to avoid bad press.

That dealership must be drinking buddies with Hennessy Honda of Woodstock.

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Jalopnik angry mob in 3...2...1...

Skimming the thread, there's enough of an angry mob forming over here.

However there's a post on page 7 that I find quite interesting...

Best advice on page 1: "First, contact Chevrolet Customer service and get the situation escalated within GM. They will take this seriously. "

doesn't this happen just about every time a new performance car comes out? i remember way back when the lot kid totalled a guy's S2000 and all of the hoopla that went with it.

BoxheadTim wrote: Skimming the thread, there's enough of an angry mob forming over here. However there's a post on page 7 that I find quite interesting...

I don't have time to wade through all the pitchfork sharpening, but I checked that out. It's a very plausible story. Internet mobs can be such a royal PITA.

Hennessy Chevy of Georgetown?

LOL

Keith Tanner wrote:

BoxheadTim wrote: Skimming the thread, there's enough of an angry mob forming over here. However there's a post on page 7 that I find quite interesting...

I don't have time to wade through all the pitchfork sharpening, but I checked that out. It's a very plausible story. Internet mobs can be such a royal PITA.

I did a little more skimming and some of the quoted news reports seem to be indicating that the dealer isn't exactly pulling out all the stops to take care of the car's owner. Hard to tell if there's selective quoting going on, though.

The Internet mob seems to be hell bent on inflicting as much reputational damage as possible. Not sure that's helping the case much, though.

TBH, it might have been smarter if the owner of the car had quietly lawyered up and posted the story after the fact.

After reading all of the links provided, I can't help but feel this would be a perfect time for a different Chevy dealership to step up and give the guy a new car. Take the insurance money and cover the 15 to 20 grand it would cost to give him a new car. The PR would be fantastic for the step up dealership, and it would translate into many many new car sales. Win win win, guy gets new car, scumbag dealer gets dragged thru the mud, step up dealer reaps the rewards.

Lunacy. The dealer is 100% off-base...and now that the story is out on the 'net, they will deservedly suffer. Good news travels fast, bad news travels faster.

If the long post on page 7 is true, the dealership has fired the responsible employee (duh) and has already offered him two different low mileage 2012 ZL1's similar to what he brought in, whic was also a depreciated 2012. He says no, he wants a brand new 2014 at no cost to him.

This would be like him getting into an accident with it and telling the insurance company he will only accept a brand new 2014 at no cost to him. Not bloody likely.

If that's the case then he's an opportunistic bastard.

This does not appear to be a Hennessey Honda of Woodstock case. This appears to be a case of the dealer trying to take care of it and the customer being an asstard. Dealer was doing anything and everything to make him whole, as the post on page 7 details... assuming that's true, anyhow. This is all he'd get if he totalled it himself, why he's expecting the dealer to take care of it BEYOND normal insurance, is beyond me.

Curmudgeon wrote: If the long post on page 7 is true, the dealership has fired the responsible employee (duh) and has already offered him two different low mileage 2012 ZL1's similar to what he brought in, whic was also a depreciated 2012. He says no, he wants a brand new 2014 at no cost to him. This would be like him getting into an accident with it and telling the insurance company he will only accept a brand new 2014 at no cost to him. Not bloody likely. If that's the case then he's an opportunistic bastard.

They offered him two 12' one with a salvage title and one that had been hit hard on one side and repaired. Not exactly a fair trade in my book. If the reports are true of course.

Yeah, the one he mentions they offered him had more mileage, a salvage title, and was not a car he wanted anyhow.... had a sunroof. I don't recall reading details of the other.

tr8todd wrote: After reading all of the links provided, I can't help but feel this would be a perfect time for a different Chevy dealership to step up and give the guy a new car. Take the insurance money and cover the 15 to 20 grand it would cost to give him a new car. The PR would be fantastic for the step up dealership, and it would translate into many many new car sales. Win win win, guy gets new car, scumbag dealer gets dragged thru the mud, step up dealer reaps the rewards.

Now that's how you spend your advertising dollars.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

This story appears to be going very viral, so the dealership should be cracking shortly. This level of bad press can't be good for them.

mndsm wrote: Yeah, the one he mentions they offered him had more mileage, a salvage title, and was not a car he wanted anyhow.... had a sunroof. I don't recall reading details of the other.

I didn't recall the mention of a salvage title, only that he ran a Carfax and "it had been hit three days after purchase" or something along those lines.

Eh, either way, a hit car is devalued from his previously not hit car. This guy is also banking on the residual value of his eventually collectible ZL1... which is funny because the dealer repaint would actually devalue the car a little as well. Silly prospectors.

Oh yeah, no disagreement on that part. I think that was at least careless by the dealer to offer a car like that to an obvious enthusiast.

Datsun1500 wrote: If someone ran a stop sign and hit the car while the owner was driving it, he would get the value of a used 2012 Camaro. Why does he expect more? Because it was a "big bad dealer?"

S'what i'm saying. Unlike poop's situation where the dealer effed up and refused to make him whole (warranties and such) this dealer is trying (at least one one story) to make it right, by replacing it with another 2012 ZL1 worth comparable value. THIS guy wants a brand new 2014, revised ZL1 for no out of pocket. What he had was a used camaro, not a new camaro. He gets a used camaro in return. If the dealer balls up my ms3, I expect another 2007 ms3 with about 76k on it back in return, NOT a 2014 or whatever.

Agreed. This guy's viewpoint is that his was a lovingly stored, never abused pristine collector show car - true or not, that's what he believes. His used car was as good as new. So he should get new. And some of it is the entitlement attitude that he deserves to be rewarded.

tr8todd wrote: After reading all of the links provided, I can't help but feel this would be a perfect time for a different Chevy dealership to step up and give the guy a new car. Take the insurance money and cover the 15 to 20 grand it would cost to give him a new car. The PR would be fantastic for the step up dealership, and it would translate into many many new car sales. Win win win, guy gets new car, scumbag dealer gets dragged thru the mud, step up dealer reaps the rewards.

I agree that this would be the best course of action. Nice thinking