So i brought my 3 month old 2007 honda pilot to my car dealer for a punctured radiator (one in a million shot by a lone pebble)… 2hrs later dealer calls and reveals that they have dinged the pilot. They will need to change 2 door on passenger side and now by some miracle of the warranty gods the radiator is now covered. should i also be worried about reduced value?
The value will be reduced by the damage, just as it would have been if you had dinged the doors, but it only matters if you plan to sell it next month. Someone may crash into it six months from now and total it. There’s no way to tell.
You’re not the first person to whom this has happened. Let the dealer fix it, but make sure they do it right. It should look perfect when they are done, and it should not cost you one red cent. Since they were so careless the least they can do is comp you the radiator.
Warranty will not cover a rock damaged radiator. It sounds like they’re covering the radiator as a means of pacification.
I would be wondering just how hard that vehicle was hit if both doors are having to be replaced rather than repairing them.
“Ding” might not be a strong enough word.
Damage usually causes a reduced value and if new doors are installed and painted to a perfect match then I might say that the free radiator would compensate for it.
There are 2 possible areas of concern.
One would be underneath the doors underneath and on the edge of the floor pan. Make sure there is no damage
there.
Try to find out if the vehicle was hit hard enough to scoot it sideways. This could put spots in the tires and/or tweak a suspension component.
Look at the tire tread closely and note when you get it back if the vehicle has any vibration, pulling, or wandering while traveling down the road; road crown excepted of course.
thanks for the input!
just wondering if they are talking new door skins or complete new doors. New skins mean most likely only cosmetic sheet metal damage was done. New doors could be a indication that it took a good wallop and possible structural damage. ask if there was any floor pan or B pillar damage.
americar
I would be wondering just how hard that vehicle was hit if both doors are having to be replaced rather than repairing them.
Exactly…DING…A ding is usually something I don’t even worry about…Sounds like someone slammed the car with another car.
I’d RUSH down there right now to see how much damage was actually done.
As for value…If the car is put back together correctly (which it sounds like they are going to do), then I wouldn’t worry about it.
Have you seen the Pilot since the accident? Go take a look at it before the repairs are started and take a list of the excellent suggestions about damage to look for. Get a report of the accident and damage in writing. Was this in the lot or did they have it out on the road?
Have a digital camera handy too, I will get couple of pictures from that “ding” for future reference.
sounds like someone backed into the side of your car. Two ways to repair, paintless dent removal (but if there is too much stretched metal, they can’t get the skin tight) or std dent removal and repaint. they use small pins to pull out the dents and then a very minimal amount of filler to cover the holes from repair pins, but this will be an easy repair. They could put on new skins too, but then you have a tricky repair with a lot of fitting and cutting around the entire door…then resealing the edges all the way around…Done when the dents have streched the metal too much to repair paintless or normally. Depending on the car popularity and age, they may find used doors off of same color and optioned vechicle. I had a right door replaced on my 2002 Highlander with an exact match from a 2003 model, A little paint blending and no need to take door apart to remove or to replace internal door components. and it was genuine Toyota parts. It turned out great, but my car had a lot of similar models in scrap yards so it was easyto find the match.