Last April I discovered water standing in my trunk and the jack almost totally rusted out. Not certain, but probably caused when I was rear-ended in late 2014. There was no visible damage, so no info was exchanged with the other driver, and I forgot about it until the leak was discovered. Long story short, I took it to the dealer ten times and was assured each time that they had fixed the leak, but the next time it rained, it still leaked. They charged me $500 to fix it on the first visit, and charged nothing for the nine times I took it back. They have now told me that they can’t do any more with it and that I should start from scratch with a collision shop. I said that since I had paid $500 to stop the leak and my car had spent almost as much time in the shop as in my driveway for the past eight months, I should be due a settlement since it still leaks and I have nothing to show for my expense and inconvenience. I’m supposed to get a call from my service rep’s supervisor tomorrow, and I plan to say that I think they should apply at least part of the $500 to pay for whatever the collision shop does. My insurance agent says I should also receive a free diagnostic inspection before the new work is started. Except for obviously being in over their heads with this problem, this dealership has treated me well and I want to maintain good relations with them, but can’t settle for the idea of paying for something I didn’t receive. Any opinions?
A 2008 GM convertible with leaking problems?
Convertibles leak by their nature.
And it was hit in the rear?
Good luck on that one!
Tester
First of all why take an 8 year old car to the dealer. They made 10 tries so I don’t think they owe you anything. The repair will be on your collision insurance because you did not get the other persons insurance info. A body shop is the place to go.
It seems to me like they should offer you some kind of re-fund since they couldn’t stop the leak. But I have no idea whether or not they have any actual obligations to do that. It depends on the nature of your written agreement with them. If it says “our experts will use best practice”, that would imply they are not guaranteeing they’ll be able to fix it, just that the will do their professional best. And it depends on the conversations you’ve had with the management there and the staff. We’re assuming here you are accurately representing the situation, but we aren’t hearing the other side’s point of view, so nobody here can say for sure. In any event don’t expect a complete refund, they spent a lot of time on this it appears.
I think what I’d do in this situation is put a lawn sprinkler on top of the car and crawl in the truck with a good flashlight, and see if I can spot where the leak is getting in. If you can’t fit, see if one of the neighborhood kids will do it, for a fee of course. Make sure there is somebody to let whoever gets in, out of course.
Get underneath and check to make sure all the grommet/hole plugs are in place behind the rear bumper and under the tail lights and trunk. I had a similar issue and after pulling the tail lights and re-sealing finally discovered a hole plug out of place from the guys that put the trailer hitch on. Or open the trunk and pull all the mats etc. out of the way and use a hose on it to see where the water pours in.
@Bing, was it water splashing from below causing the leak in your case?
I don’t think it was from splashing. The grommet was behind the bumper so I think the water ran down the trunk channel and down between the bumper cover and the body and seeped into the hole. When I had the tail lights off and put a hose on the trunk channel, it came in so fast that it was pretty obvious where the leak was. I had thought it was the seams behind the tail lights and re-sealed those with seam sealer but that wasn’t it. Once the water came in with the hose it was just a matter of crawling underneath for a closer look.