Dealer Damaged my Cab While Replacing Body Mount...What should I be asking for? Pictures Attached

[roegs]

Frist, let me say that my servicing dealer is great. Yesterday they were replacing a cab mount (tech said it was first he'd done) and while lifting the cab to do the replacement, bent the pinch weld areas on both driver and passenger side. Truck is '21 CC Standard Box Cummins HO Limited Longhorn that's pretty much loaded. 32k miles, and basically just as clean and nice as the day it rolled off the sales floor. No accidents, dings etc, and to be honest, I'm pretty particular with my vehicles. I ordered the truck just to get it the way I wanted. They've offered to send it to their body shop at their expense. I'm not so sure though...we live in the salt belt and that area to me seems like a corrosion magnet. I want to be fair with the dealer, but also don't want to accept something I'll regret down the road. Here are my options so far:

1. Have dealer repair it at their shop. You can see that the cab is not only bent up, its also bent out. I'm concerned about future corrosion in that area down the road which would then be at my expense. I'm also concerned about taking a Car Fax ding when I sell / trade the truck down the road.

2. Dealer locate a new '23 model and give me a 'good' deal. My truck stickered for $87,020 when I bought it, and they'd offer me around $70k getting me into a 2023 for around $19k to $20k. To be honest, new ones are far and few between around here and I'd need to make some concessions.

3. Dealer orders me a new 2024 that stickers for $107k and he'd sell to me for $98k. Problem is he cannot guarantee what he'd give for mine when the new one comes in. Both this and option 2 make for a very expensive service visit.

If this had been a scratch in the tailgate or something like that I'd be fine just getting it fixed. The cab being bent like this in the pinch weld area is a difficult thing for me to accept and I don't want issues down the road (corrosion or Car Fax).

What do you guys' think is a reasonable thing to push for in this situation?

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

Sounds like they owe you a cab…. He must have lifted it with stuff still folding it to the frame….

 

[Bombaman]

Recommend 1 - As its not claimed under your Auto Insurance, it shouldnt be a car fax ding. Get them to cover it with your choice of auto repairer if you want to go the repair route, otherwise as mentioned above brand new painted cab and swap out while they put you in a loaner. Plus get an extended warranty thrown in for good measure.

2) and 3) is the dealer still making money, on 3) for example thats still above what you could get one from MD or simmilar. As well as them making additional money on your trade.

 

[Ramsomair]

Have it repaired

 

[areuriding]

Have them fix it it and keep rolling..

 

[mountainears]

I would opt for the repair as well (assuming you can’t get them to replace the cab). I have a body shop I use around here that lifetime warranties their repairs for the original owner, something like that would help seal the deal for me in case it does have problems later they commit to fix. I would check what the warranty of their shop is.


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[CJ99X]

Have an appraiser look at it and then get a dimished value estimate and work from that. You evidently already have it documented and after you get the dimished value that is more to work with as the appraiser will give you the actual value of the truck before and after the damage. Then you can better decide on where and what to do. Even if they repair it the repair even though not car faxed "may" have to be revealed during a future trade in.

 

[jetrinka]

Any good body guy worth his salt should be able to fix that without any problem. Heck a paintless dent repair guy could probably access/massage that out and then have the painter repaint/blend the spots.

I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. Let them correct it and move on

 

[elephantrider]

that's a tough one. I get the " let them fix it and move on" mentality, kind of. the lack of attention to detail is the real rub. it does reflect on a body of work, unfortunately.

I've been lifting vehicles for years with a buddy at his shop. aint never done some shyte like that. an absolute smorgasbord of vehicle types have been through there.

 

[Alligator John]

S**t happens. Have them repair it and roll on.

 

[Wheelz]

Have an appraiser look at it and then get a dimished value estimate and work from that. You evidently already have it documented and after you get the dimished value that is more to work with as the appraiser will give you the actual value of the truck before and after the damage. Then you can better decide on where and what to do. Even if they repair it the repair even though not car faxed "may" have to be revealed during a future trade in.

This and go for #2...new truck, new tech...why not. its a good "excuse" for an upgrade

 

[roegs]

First off....thanks for all the replies!

I'm hearing a couple of thoughts:

Replace the cab. While I see the logic of 'you damaged my cab so give me a new one', I think this would be more of a risk. - at least for me. I've now lost all the factory paint and the amount of things to move from one cab to another opens up all kinds of possibilities of other problems.

Have an appraiser look at it and then get a diminished value estimate and work from that. This is probably what I'll do next. The dealer I purchased from is a small town about 50 miles from here. I'll bring it down there with the damage and ask his opinion on the value now and what he thinks it would be after the repair.

Fix it and keep rolling - This very well might be what I end up doing, but I also like the idea of a lifetime (as long as I own it) warranty on the repair work. I stopped at an independent body shop that has a good reputation locally, and they mentioned that in tricky repairs like this, they give a lifetime warranty on their work. The did mention this to the dealer (who wants to use their own body shop) but they baulked at the idea saying that decision was above their pay grade. Guess I'll have to keep going up the chain.....

I do like the idea of taking advantage of the situation for an upgrade. While I was not planning on upgrading until RAM changes the body style, I would not mind upgrading in a situation where the dealer was not making a profit. In other words I'd pay the difference between my truck and a new one. Problem is I don't think I could ever determine if a deal was fair.

 

[Alligator John]

This might be a good one to send a pm to Ramcares about. I don't know how much of an advocate they can be for you, but can't hurt to try.

 

[phatboy64]

Unless you plan to drive it until it is dead I would go with number 2 all the way and get them down to $15k…carfax will kill any resale value down the road…

 

[44Dan44]

Have the dealership repair it (with an equivalent loaner). You said your servicing dealer is great, let them make it right.
You ordered exactly what you wanted, the 23 on the lot won't be that and unless you paid in full I'm sure you have a better interest rate than you'd get now on the 23 or on the 24 in the future. The cost in interest charges, your own normal depreciation, in addition to the increased prices 23/24 make it far less desirable to consider options 2 and 3.

 

[snocam]

I actually just had something similar happen with my truck. My 2020 2500 was in to have the front body mounts replaced per the service bulletin. Somehow the service department managed to dent the lower front corners of the bed with the power step xls when they lifted the cab. Truck has 20k on it. It's set up just how I want. I let them have it fixed at their shop. The body shop did a fantastic job and also fixed a small dent in the bedside that was my fault, free of charge. I am in the rust belt as well and they did a good job sealing everything up and adding anti corrosive treatment to the backside of the repair. It was a stupid mistake, but the dealer took care of it and the repair is perfect. Your repair is a bit more difficult, but I'd still let them fix it. Pay extra attention to the repaired area with rust prevention like fluid film. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

Unless you plan to drive it until it is dead I would go with number 2 all the way and get them down to $15k…carfax will kill any resale value down the road…

Do people actually waste money to buy a carfax report?

 

[Power247]

I had this happen with a car I owned a while back. They got it fixed, paid for the repair and provided the loaner. On top they gave my some service credit coupons that covered future oil changes. If it happened to me again I'd handle it the same way.

 

[Docwagon1776]

Do people actually waste money to buy a carfax report?

Only if they are smart enough to understand it's use, apparently. Co-worker just detected odometer fraud via a Carfax report. Private party selling a used 4-Runner with 150k miles on it, CarFax showed maintenance records from a previous owner up to over 300k miles. Currently seller bought it at auction and likely did a cluster swap, cleaned it up, and is taking advantage of a 'miles exempt' title to misepresent it.

It's the same as a mechanical inspection in that it's not fool proof and it doesn't cover every possible issue, but it provides you with more information than you had to research further as appropriate.

 

[Enve46]

This is a tough one to answer honestly. But everyone is different. I owned a 22 and had lots of problems with it, then switched to a 19 which wasn't without fault but was able to shed some weight and drastically changed how it drove. If you're not into modifying Id probably spring for a new one but negotiate a better deal. Right now, you're in the more "powerful" position and while Im not in the camp of taking advantage of someone's mistake I would be negotiating the best deal possible. Id have Mark Dodge or similar dealer quote you a 23 similar build and use that as a tool. Otherwise, have them fix it and move on with life. Should have no affect on the carfax report and as mentioned, most shops offer warranty on their body repairs. I wouldn't be afraid to have it fixed. We are all in different situations so you'll ultimately have to decide what you want to live with. You'd be surprised how relatively easily that is repaired, especially the pinch weld. They'd strap that down to a frame machine, and pull that area down. My guesstimate 75-80% of the damage will be fixed with just that alone.