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

[RamCares]

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?


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Hi @roegs,

We regret to hear about your vehicle experience. Please send our team a private message with your VIN so we can look into your concerns. Thank you!

Blair
Ram Cares

 

[roegs]

Hi @roegs,

We regret to hear about your vehicle experience. Please send our team a private message with your VIN so we can look into your concerns. Thank you!

Blair
Ram Cares

Much appreciated Blair! PM sent.

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

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.

i grew up buying vehicles long before carfax was a thing never once got burned but as a former mechanic i know what to look for.

 

[Docwagon1776]

i grew up buying vehicles long before carfax was a thing never once got burned but as a former mechanic i know what to look for.

I grew up before the Internet was a thing, but that doesn't stop me from using the resources currently available to me. Lots of things aren't an issue until they are an issue. No mechanical inspection will detect title fraud, just as Carfax can't tell your ball joints are shot. More info for a better informed decision seems like a pretty straight forward thing to decide, especially since it's easy to get a Carfax free or nearly so.

 

[phatboy64]

Do people actually waste money to buy a carfax report?

Thats been my experience with the last few cars/trucks I bought…

 

[Blythkd1]

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.

Exactly what I was thinking. I don't know that I could see the new cab happening anyway, but even if they agreed to it, in my mind the risk of creating new problems in the cab changeout is too great.

I wouldn't hesitate having a good body shop fix it.

Side note: I feel your pain. About 20 years ago I ordered my first new vehicle, a HD diesel pickup spec'd out how I wanted it. It got body damage to the front end on the transport and had to have a new lower fascia installed then get painted. The paint didn't match and it was back in within the first couple years to be repainted due to paint coming off. But again, I wouldn't hesitate to have damage repaired, I'd just be very picky about who did it.

 

[Finn5033]

I’d say, let them repair it and make sure the body work is warrantied as long as you own it with rust proofing and undercoating as well. Loaner truck as capable as yours in the meantime. And toss in 5 free oil and fuel filter changes.

 

[Riccochet]

A PDR guy can fix that easily.

 

[roegs]

A PDR guy can fix that easily.

Say what? Are you serious?

 

[Riccochet]

Say what? Are you serious?

Yeah. I don't see any paint missing, it's just bent a little. That's what they do, bend metal back in to shape. A good PDR guy can fix that.

 

[jake2544]

How are they going to repair it? Are they replacing the rockers or just pulling the dent and body filling?

 

[roegs]

Right now I'm planning to go down the repair path. As one other member suggested, I checked with the appraiser at the dealer that I typically purchase through, and he said the repair would make little (if any) difference when it comes time to trade. Said that it probably would come through on Car Fax as a minor repair. I've spoken to 3 RAM dealership body shops and 2 independent. One dealer shop spent a while with me and said not to let who ever does the job talk me into cutting and replacing - said he's almost certain it can be pulled out. The dealer shop that's going to do it seems fantastic. Spent well over an hour with me. I talked to the guy that most likely will do it (saw some of his other work and its very nice) and he said he can pull it out. They will rust proof thoroughly and the repair is warrantied for as long as I own it. On top of this, the dealer where the truck damage happened wants to get it undercoated for me.

Thanks again to all that responded! The comments helped me to think outside the box and also gave me a better comfort level on getting it repaired.

 

[jake2544]

Right now I'm planning to go down the repair path. As one other member suggested, I checked with the appraiser at the dealer that I typically purchase through, and he said the repair would make little (if any) difference when it comes time to trade. Said that it probably would come through on Car Fax as a minor repair. I've spoken to 3 RAM dealership body shops and 2 independent. One dealer shop spent a while with me and said not to let who ever does the job talk me into cutting and replacing - said he's almost certain it can be pulled out. The dealer shop that's going to do it seems fantastic. Spent well over an hour with me. I talked to the guy that most likely will do it (saw some of his other work and its very nice) and he said he can pull it out. They will rust proof thoroughly and the repair is warrantied for as long as I own it. On top of this, the dealer where the truck damage happened wants to get it undercoated for me.

Thanks again to all that responded! The comments helped me to think outside the box and also gave me a better comfort level on getting it repaired.

I wouldn’t cut out and replace the rockers either. Think you’re definitely better off pulling and straightening.

 

[44Dan44]

Right now I'm planning to go down the repair path. As one other member suggested, I checked with the appraiser at the dealer that I typically purchase through, and he said the repair would make little (if any) difference when it comes time to trade. Said that it probably would come through on Car Fax as a minor repair. I've spoken to 3 RAM dealership body shops and 2 independent. One dealer shop spent a while with me and said not to let who ever does the job talk me into cutting and replacing - said he's almost certain it can be pulled out. The dealer shop that's going to do it seems fantastic. Spent well over an hour with me. I talked to the guy that most likely will do it (saw some of his other work and its very nice) and he said he can pull it out. They will rust proof thoroughly and the repair is warrantied for as long as I own it. On top of this, the dealer where the truck damage happened wants to get it undercoated for me.

Thanks again to all that responded! The comments helped me to think outside the box and also gave me a better comfort level on getting it repaired.

Have you gotten repaired yet @roegs ?

 

[roegs]

Have you gotten repaired yet @roegs ?

Nope...not yet. Had to get a final estimate and make sure both dealer and body shop agreed on everything. Its finally scheduled though - will drop it off at the body shop November 16. The tech that I wanted to do the work will be doing it for me, which I appreciate. There's going to be more painting than I thought, but I guess they want to get it all to blend properly.

 

[joshuaeb09]

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…

I would honestly be surprised if its listed on the CarFax as anything other than a "minor" repair. Hell when insurance replaced the engine in my old Challenger due to some unavoidable road debris... it was listed as an oil change for a new mopar long block swap lololololololol. Carfax isn't really all that trust worthy.

 

[roegs]

Just to close this out, I picked up my repaired truck yesterday and the repair shop (Luther Collision, Plymouth MN) did a fantastic job. I'm very pleased with how they did the repair - pulling out the damage vs cutting and replace, and they also did a minimal amount of paint work. It pays to shop and get details about how a shop will do your repairs. Had I not asked questions, the first shop I went to would have cut the old section out and welded in new. Way more invasive than necessary in my opinion.

 

[snocam]

Just to close this out, I picked up my repaired truck yesterday and the repair shop (Luther Collision, Plymouth MN) did a fantastic job. I'm very pleased with how they did the repair - pulling out the damage vs cutting and replace, and they also did a minimal amount of paint work. It pays to shop and get details about how a shop will do your repairs. Had I not asked questions, the first shop I went to would have cut the old section out and welded in new. Way more invasive than necessary in my opinion.

That's great that the body work was well done. Again, I had a very similar experience. Only trouble is my new front cab mounts make as much noise as the original mounts. It's really the only thing that bothers me about the truck. After the initial service for the mounts, everything was tight and quite, right up until the end of the summer. I am noticing more noise when it's cold out versus during warm weather. Anyone else have this problem after the mounts were changed?

 

[roegs]

That's great that the body work was well done. Again, I had a very similar experience. Only trouble is my new front cab mounts make as much noise as the original mounts. It's really the only thing that bothers me about the truck. After the initial service for the mounts, everything was tight and quite, right up until the end of the summer. I am noticing more noise when it's cold out versus during warm weather. Anyone else have this problem after the mounts were changed?

My whole fiasco started with replacing a body mount that was believed to be causing the noise I was experiencing. After all this I still have the noise. I've just decided to live with it.

 

[snocam]

My whole fiasco started with replacing a body mount that was believed to be causing the noise I was experiencing. After all this I still have the noise. I've just decided to live with it.

That's pretty much where I'm at now. I don't plan to have the dealership tear back into the truck. There is definitely less noise when the weather is warmer. I almost wonder if the mounts would be less noise during articulation if the sway bar was disconnected and the suspension could cycle easier.