Tips on Buying Cars: Returning a car after discovering body damage, nissan z350, returning a car

Question
My sister just purchased a Nissan Z350 from Victory Nissan in Richmond, VA -the afternoon that she bought it (Saturday - January 5,2008, she drove it to show my family and they noticed that there was visible body damage and the car had been worked on.  At the time of signing the contract, the salesman said that as far as he knew, there had been no work to the car.  1) Is it possible for them to not know - or was that just another used car salesman cheap tact? 2) What can she do at this point?

Answer
Hi Chrys,

Immediately, you need to have your sister go back to the dealership and ask for a manager.

This could be a gross over sight by the dealership, but I doubt it. The sales person may have seen it and hoped that your sister didn't see until after the she took delivery. This happens for a couple of reason,firstly the salesperson doesn't want to hold up the deal or lose the deal if your sister would have noticed it, secondly after a unit is delivered, if he comes back for repairs either body, engine, whatever...then the cost of that is not deducted usually from the sale and it's applied to policy work. This of course doesn't effect the salesperson's commission.

Regardless, no matter what happens...it makes the dealership look bad. The salesperson can move from job to job and hide behind good dealerships until their exposed as a lousy salesperson.

But on a personal note...I know and have spoken to the owner of the Victory organization on a few occasions. He's a brilliant business man and is totally customer focused. He has no tolerance for that kind of nonsense.

Again, I would highly recommend that your sister returns to the dealership with the car and demand some answers regarding the damage that was repaired etc. If it's a used vehicle, I would demand a "CarFax" history and a most importantly...why the damage was never disclosed!!!

I would investigate if there was any frame damage, or if it was just sheet metal. Get a full disclosure of when, where, and whom repaired it. If there is a warranty on the repair etc.

If your sister cannot get a carfax, email me the VIN (vehicle identification number) and I will gladly run it for you and send you the results.

Again, move quickly...and please understand it's not always a slick cover up by the dealership, or even the salesperson...sometimes it is an over sight. But make sure your sister is handled promptly.

Good luck!

Doug