Question: We just discovered that the new Mustang GT we purchased had body work on it before we took delivery of it. Can you give us some advice?

September 20, 2005

Hi Tony

Recently, my husband purchase a 2005 Ford Mustang GT. It took about 5 long months before the car was manufactured and delivered to him. He got the car about 2 months ago.

After he got the car, both he and I kept looking at the driver's door, thinking that the color looked different than the rest of the car, but because there is a vent in front of the door, we were thinking it just looked different.

Yesterday, he took it to the dealer for the 1st oil change. While he was there, he mentioned it to the salesman. He was shocked. He told my husband that the car was only on their lot for 2 days and nothing happened there. He told my husband to take it over to the body shop at the dealer and have them look at it.

He did this, and when the man working in the body shop opened the door he said that the door had been "over-sprayed." (I apologize if I am saying that wrong). Bottom line, the door had been repainted, separate from the car.

My husband immediately called the salesman again who told him he would contact Ford right away. Last night at 9:00, no phone call. My husband called the gentleman on his cell phone and was told that he had been too busy to make the call. He told him to call back today and he would call in the morning. At noon, my husband called again, and once again, the salesman told my husband he was too busy to call Ford.

My husband called them himself. He was told that it was not uncommon for the cars to get damaged in shipping and that often they just touched it up.

That is unacceptable. We paid over $27,000 for a brand new car. It is not brand new if the door has already had to be repainted. I read the other article on your website in which the couple's car was wrecked, however, it sounds like they had a lot more damage.

Do we have a case like this as well? In my opinion, they owe him a brand new car! And then he should be compensated in some way. I like the other couple's compensation; a lower interest rate. We have a friend who is an attorney who we have called. I hate for it to come to this, but that is a lot of money to pay for a car that has already had body work.

Do you have any advice for us?

Thank you so much,

Julie B.
St. Louis, MO

Answer:

Hi Julie,

You need to do two things:

First - Forget about the salesman. To him it's just a big headache that he wants to avoid. Contact the General Manager or preferably, the owner of the dealership. Tell him you would never have taken delivery of the car had it been disclosed to you that it had been damaged and repainted.

Tell him he must take the car back and replace it with an undamaged one. Tell him if he doesn't do what you ask that you will file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and with the State Attorney General's office.

Second - Keep contacting Ford until they get one of their reps on the case. Tell them the same thing. They have the ability to buy the car back. Ask them to track down the repair invoice and give you a copy of it. This way you'll know where the car was repaired. I can't believe it was repaired at the factory in the way you describe.

If the car was shipped directly from the factory to the selling dealer the only other place it could have been repaired is at the dealer where you bought it. I know they played stupid about it - all the more reason you need to know where it was repaired.

Don't let any of them play it down like it's routine. That's bull. Someone needs to step up and do the right thing for you, and it probably won't happen unless you drive them nuts and threaten to file the complaints mentioned above. You should also threaten them with legal action.

Stay on them and don't give up until you're satisfied. Believe me, Ford wants you to be a satisfied customer.

All my very best...

Tony Iorio