Hi,

I took in my tC three weeks ago to fix a rattle in the rear. The 1st week in the shop they told me they found the rattle in the hatch and didn't know how to proceed in fixing the car. They had to call Toyota to bring an engineer down to take a look. So the 2nd week in the shop, when the engineer came, they were able to fix it by WELDing my car. However, after putting back all the panels they found another rattle near the roof. They were able to fix that problem too, so finally after 20 days in the shop, I get my car back. But to my dismay, I found 5 deep stratches on the rear bumper and a chip on the back left panel, close to where the trunk opens. In addition to those issues, there were additional chips near the sunroof. My question is that, what should I do? They want to repaint those sections, but is that okay? I mean my car has never been in an accident, I don't believe that it should be repainted, I think I should demand for a new Scion for all my trouble. I have only had this car for less than 3 months and it was out of my possession for nearly 3 weeks out of the 3 months. Please help me in what to do? Should I just let it go and go ahead with the repaint? or demand for something?

 

check with your local lemon laws. there's a time limit to how long they have to fix your car. getting your car repainted will not lower the value of your car. since its still new there shouldn't be a mismatch in color. just go over your car real good before they paint it to make sure there aren't anymore scratches

 

I think 30 consecutive days is when it's determined a lemon, your states laws may vary.

get in writing, what work was done, how they concluded to weld, and what they welded exactly. If this is a normal fix or an improvised fix. An improvised fix could later become a serious liability for the dealer or brand if God Forbid, anything terrible happened later and was caused by this fix. If this is a normal fix, get documentation that it's a standard aka normal fix for this specific problem and how many times this has been done to this particular vehicle.

As far as the re-painting, it will maintain the value of the car as opposed to lowering it. Make sure it's factory spec paint and done without flaw. Make a point of documenting all problems written, invoicings and photos. If it were me, I would be livid and demand that it all be fixed and returned to me in the condition I bought it NEW.

Also, did they set you up in a loaner? If not, I beleive that is your right, when recieving warranty work. I might be wrong, but you can stipulate that. Especially If you end up paying for your own rental, in which case, entire amounts spent in rental could be owed to you, via court.

Good Luck !

 

Every state is different, but AZ is 30 days out of service in the first year. When they take the car back to repaint it, that will count as more down time.

Problem with lemon law stuff as I'm finding out is you pretty much need a lawyer ($1000+ right there) and atleast here, they pay you the market value for the car, not what you paid for it, so they basically just buy it as if you were selling a used car, so you get screwed there too. Probably $2000-3000 there.

Good luck. I'm dealing with pretty much the same problems. Car has been in to have the rattles and other problems fixed 5 times, and car is still falling apart.

 

I dont' think getting the scratches fixed up would be as big a deal as waiting however many months for a new one. You know when new ones come in, they are gonna give it to new buyers first, before they offer it to you. And what if that one has the rattles too!? I say just let them cover the scratches, and be happy the ratlles are gone. Maybe you can get them to throw in some carpeted floor mats or a shift *** or something.

 

My car has been at the dealer for SIX FRICKEN weeks. I swear the parts they had to order are comming on the slow boat from Japan. Im ____ed off.

 

Not to knock you, but if you brought your car in for rattles and it took longer than 2-3 days to solve your the moron. I have few rattles here and there in my tC but its something to expect. I have never owned nor known anyone with a car that didn;t have rattles. Your making car payments and paying insurance on your car, and are without it for 20 days thats just crazy. I would expect 20 days if you were in a major accident. Now the whole welding thing thats scary. There should be no need for that. I have no idea what Scion is doing, nor do I think they do. Just have the idiots at your dealership to repaint the car. it won't hurt your resale value. Would be nice to get a new car from them but its not gonna happen. Even if it was over 30 days in the shop.

P.S. No disrespect to you

 

Hehe, to sum that up:

You're a dumbass. no disrespect.

 

Maybe if it was six weeks for a rattle, but my car was un-drivable.....some dumbass hit me, knocked out the whole axle, struts, and two wheels. Belive me, if my car was in for a small rattle for over a week i would get rid of that.

 

Good one. Nice Cardomain page by the way. A stock tC thats original.

 

ChefRaekwon,
Calm down. Theres no need to bash anyone on the website. The guy is asking a question and venting frustration and he doesn't need someone calling him an idiot.

 

Many Many Many Lemon law attorney's get paid if you win.

I'd seek one out.

Google : Lemon Law

To whatshizface who said he never owned a car that didn't rattle, somewhat, somewhere. That sucks. I've owned several cars that were rattle and problem free. Most of them being Nissans. I also have a Mazda PR5 and it's rattlefree, been rattle free and never a problem - Solid. S14, rattle free. 300Z, Rattle Free. Even the 4x4's I've owned were rattle free.

Now what kind of rattling cars are you buying???

Back to the topic, this guy is having a serious problem. I hate to see this. I say, start filing a lemon claim. Get ALL your paperwork together, documentations, everything. Ask the dealer if they are willing to buy it back, or swap. If they SWAP, you will be a Priority Customer, bumping someone off the line. In CA, they replace or pay, I believe, fair market value.... unless you were wise enough to include GAP insurance. This will get all your $ back to you.

Good Luck and keep us updated.

Now, the 6 week in the shop guy. Was your tC NOT totalled? 6 Weeks is an INSANE amount of time to be without. I'd be ____ed and deal with this legally.
Every day out of your hands is another day YOU pay to keep it. Lease/Loan/Insurance.
What was the $ amount of the damage? If it's $7-$11K that should total it.

 

Get use to it, for service, and bodywork....you are the proud owner of a tC!

 

Is your xA better?

This is toyota by the way... reputable service and warranty... more than can said about places like Carmax or whatnot

 

have them repaint the whole car...if they just paint it in certain spots, it will never look the same cause u will see new paint in some areas that wont exactly match the rest of the car. Im still waiting to enforce the lemon law for my tC, my car has been in the whop 6 times 5 of those times were transmission related but for some reason my parents dont want to go trhough the trouble of bringing toyota to court just yet they told me to wait and see if the tranny problem happends again. But I had a similar problem like urself and they had someone repaint an area in my engine bay that they scratched up. looks great and all but u can tell its been repainted cause it has a clearcoat on it and shines unlike the rest of the enginebay. im not complainging about that but since they wouldnt fix the scratches on the outside of the car i have to deal with it. If i woere u id have them paint it now while they know about it cause the longer u wait they they will claim that the scratches were ur fault which is what they told me. GET IT FIXED NOW MAN

 

yep. much..and i don't drive it!

 

hey guys....believe me I am ____ed as hell, but the damage total was only 4 thousand dollars, so no total. It is just taking forever for the dealer to get the parts for the car.

 

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice. They did set me up with a rental car for the days my car was in the shop. I picked up my car last Thursday morning and when i saw the stratches and chips, I immediately called them and took my car back to the dealership that afternoon. I showed the two assistant managers there and they even took pictures of all the stratches and chips for documentation. I will take my car back in to the shop for repaint within the next two weeks, I'm waiting for another part for my car, so they recommended that when that part comes in I do the repaint at the same time. Thanks again for the advice and I will keep you guys updated.

 

My xA has rattle. They fixed it once, then it came back... Now, I keep getting this run-around excuse about it might take up to a week to diagnose it. I'm here like "DUDE! THE RATTLE IS RIGHT THERE *POINTS TO DOOR PANEL* THIS SILVER PIECE KEEPS GETTING LOSE..." "ehhh, you'll have to drop it off and wait until it's fixed..." "...just change my oil!"

I got my car back...the oil tech drove my car to the front...why couldn't a porter do it?! The side of my car, engine bay, steering wheel, door panel, and shift **** had oily hand prints on them. I was ____ed. The oil tech was kind of eccentric and I didn't have the time to complain so blah...

My mom had her old 4Runner's hood repainted...twice. Within the warranty period, her red hood was fading. They repainted it and she noticed overspray. She made them repaint the hood all over again. I think it took a week and a half...

 

http://caag.state.ca.us/consumers/general/lemon.htm

In California the Lemon law is 30 days in the shop, or having to bring in the car more than 4 times to fix the same problem.

If your car falls into the lemon laws you have the choice for the dealer to either give you a new car, or give you back the purchase price, PLUS tax, license, registration, PLUS any interest you paid on your loan.

The dealer may deduct a percentage off the price for usage prior to the first time you brought in the car.