Anyone can be responsible for damage at dealership

Customers entrust their vehicles to car dealerships for standard repairs and maintenance. Occasionally, however, customers’ vehicles are damaged while on a dealership’s premises, and these situations can cause stress between the customer and the dealership and need to be addressed.

For instance, let’s say a customer picks up his vehicle from the service department and discovers that a rear tail light is cracked. Understandably, the customer is upset and demands compensation from the dealership. The four most common scenarios: 1) A vehicle arrives undamaged and the dealership staff damages it.

2) A vehicle arrives undamaged and another customer hits the vehicle in the parking lot.

3) A vehicle arrives damaged, but the customer does not legitimately know about the pre-existing damage.

4) A vehicle arrives damaged, and the customer knew it, but tried to blame the dealer.

The dealer should accept responsibility for damage in only one of the above scenarios.

If the dealership is at fault, then it should fix the damaged vehicle or financially compensate the customer. Dealerships gain nothing and can only lose by shirking their legitimate responsibilities and sending customers away unhappy. Dealership staff do not intentionally damage vehicles. Customers usually understand that mistakes can happen. We’re all human after all. Most dealerships have an internal policy of not financially penalizing or disciplining staff members for damaging a customer’s vehicle.

If a vehicle is damaged by another customer, that’s different. In this case, customers tend to blame the dealership, but that’s unfair. It is akin to expecting a shopping mall to fix your car if it is scratched while in the parking lot of the mall. The mall rarely, if ever, pays for it.

Let’s say someone hits your vehicle while it is at the dealership. If that someone reports the accident to the police, then it is a matter between you and the guilty party to resolve. The dealership will assist with any collision repairs (paid by any combination of you/the guilty party/the insurance company) and serve as a liaison between you and the insurance companies. But the dealership is not responsible for any damage caused.

Many dealerships have on-site video cameras for security reasons. These cameras help to deter theft, but they are also useful sometimes in tracking damage to vehicles.

When you consider that the average new car dealership employs 25 to 200 people and that dozens (if not hundreds) of vehicles are being moved around on site every day, it stands to reason that accidents can/will happen.

My best advice to a customer whose vehicle has been damaged at a dealership is this: don’t jump to conclusions. Be polite and courteous with dealership staff/management when discussing these situations. Work with staff/management to figure out how the damage occurred in the first place. If the dealership is at fault, they will more than likely accept responsibility and make the necessary repairs at no charge to the customer.

If a dealership is at fault, customers may wonder how that will affect the customer’s insurance rates. The answer is: it won’t. The dealership will cover the costs of repairs and your insurance company will be reimbursed by the dealership’s insurance company or the dealership will absorb the repair internally, depending on the amount of the damage.

Bottom line: If you are going to check your car for damage after visiting a dealership, please inspect the vehicle before arriving there as well. In the end, the dealership wants to have a great relationship with its customers and doesn’t want these situations to get in the way of that happening. Bob Redinger is president of the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association and is a new-car dealer in the GTA. This column reflects the views and values of TADA. Write to president@tada.ca or go to tada.ca.