i went to pick up my new civic about a month ago, and requested the front license plate bracket not be screwed into the bumper. when i went to pick up the car, and before i signed any paperwork, they had messed up and drilled the plate. they told me they would order a new bumper from honda, which would come presprayed TW, and install it for free.

a week later, i return again to get the car. bumper is fixed, and all looked ok, i signed the paperwork. i picked up the car at night. the next day at home in the sunlight, i noticed the paint was darker and yellower in color then the rest of the car. when i called them, they said due to different batches of paint at honda, the paint wouldn't match up perfectly, and that they could respray it at the shop to match it up. again, no charge due to their mistake.

when i drove to the dealership for the 3rd time to get my car (100 mile round trip), the paint was closer, but still not perfect. i expressed my thoughts about their repair job, but they told me that was all the time and money they could put into fixing it.

that was 4 days ago. today, i was switching out the bulbs in the headlamps and saw the VIN sticker on the bumper. meaning the original bumper is still on the car and they have been lying. they simply fixed the hole in the original and resprayed it.

so if a dealership sells you a car under false pretense (selling a brand new car with a repaired bumper instead of a new one like they said they would), is it fraud? i signed the paper work about 2 weeks ago, but do i have the option to tell them i want to return the f-ing car? i didn't spend $18000 on a new car to get one with a repaired bumper.

any thoughts on what you would do?

 

Since they lied to you I would take it back and tell them what you discovered. Go straight to the Service Director or maybe even the General Manager of the dealership and let him/her know the situation.

 

Too bad you didn't know that NO body parts, except Honda accessory parts, can be ordered pre painted from the factory.

They lied to you from the very start just to get you to take delivery of the car.

1. Order new bumper
2. Have it painted and installed by an independent auto body shop
3. Present them with the bill with a letter of threat to report them to the BBB and small claims court.

In the future, and this is for anyone, get promises made by dealer employees in writing. If they can't or won't put it in writing they are LYING!!!!!

 

cant you order parts already painted? example s2000 hardtop and lip kits?

 

lips come prepainted, so do hardtops.

 

my grill came prepainted.

 

No hard body parts come pre-painted. ie. hoods, fenders, bumpers.

Only, lips and other accessories come pre-painted.

 

but why would you want an unoriginal front bumper anyways with no original vin sticker? it'd just hurt you're resell value in the future

 

You don't read very much, do you?

I said no body parts except accessory parts. Example: Hard Tops, Under spoilers, deck lid spoilers.

What is a lip kit? Honda doesnt make or sell lip kits, unless you are referring to the under spoiler kits.

 

thanks for the advice/comments. i'm heading up to the dealer tomorrow, and i guess we'll see what happens.

 

that sucks dude... well keep us updated about this... hope the stealer, oopsss i meant the dealer do the right thing this time... good luck..

 

well, i put in the call to the owner of the dealership, who said virtually nothing except asking my phone number. he returned my call later that afternoon and said i could bring the car up and return it at my convenience. so yesterday i took it up, they returned my money down, and said i wouldn't be responsible for any further fees or payments. when i questioned them about how the financing contract was cancelled, they didn't have anything to say. i pressed them on it, because i don't want this in any way to look like i backed out of the deal and i certainly don't want this to negatively effect my credit. still, they didn't answer my questions.

so i left there with no sorrys, no we f-ed up, no explinations, nothing. just one or two word answers.

after 4 trips to the dealership, putting 400 miles on two different cars, a few tanks of gas, and 14 wasted hours of my time, i ended up with no honda. and because of the crap treatment i got when i brought the car back, i'm left with no choice but to contact HOA and honda finance to make sure this won't come back to harm me in any way. even though i have owned 5 hondas in the past, if my calls to HOA and honda finance don't go well this week, and i don't get the answers i'm looking for, i'll never own another honda again. no one should be treated like they did something wrong when a dealership engages in this sort of behavior.

 

that sucks are you gonna end up getting another honda some where else.

as far as the license palte frame holes it was most likely all ready installed before you even thought of buying that car. at my dealer where i work the cars are PDI as soon as they come in. as part of the procedure we install the plate frames etc.

sorry you had a bad experence but not all dealer are like that.

 

^ not sure. i may, but for now i'm just going to save some cash and keep driving my beater subaru through the winter. plus, this whole deal has left a bitter taste in my mouth, and i really don't feel like working with car dealerships right now. i may take a job come summer which will be super close to my house - i could bike to work and not have to worry about mpg...

if that happens, i may just splurge on a sti...

as far as the plate - i ordered the car specifically because every car at the dealership and every one they could dealer trade was already drilled. so i ordered it and waited about a month and a half. the plate was drilled by the detail guy about 30 minutes before i went to pick it up.

 

shady dealership.

 

i would try this but it comes down to them vs him... the customer always has the upper hand in the argument so it might work...
very well said...


now my comment to the OP:
dealerships DON'T have to report damages to you on the car ur purchasing unless it's over a certain amount... i can't remember the exact $ amount of damage the car has to have for them to inform the customer but there is an amount...

technically they could fix your bumper with epoxy, some body filler and respray it and you will never know the difference...

colors may be off for several reasons but mainly this:
- bumpers for the most part are made of ABS Plastic, the car is mainly aluminum/steel which it is almost impossible to match the two since paint shows up different on the two materials... this is the main reason why people see bumpers that look discolored... there is a fix for it but dealerships will not go through that process to fix it...

 

If your location is correct then you live in Wisconsin right? Your vehicle requires a front plate by STATE LAW, so the dealership did nothing wrong here. You waste there time by "fixing" something they are required to do.

 

it actually could have been a different bumper... i believe by law repair shops have to put the vin number back on the body parts if changed out... its so that if ur car was ever stolen then it has ur cars vin on it..and the paint being off is also common since it was the bumper is originally black and is plastic, the color will be kinda off..

 

This can't be true because tampering with a VIN tag on a body part of a vehicle is illegal.

 

they are NOT required to put the tag on the front of his car... it is the drivers responsibility to make sure they are in order with the law... not the dealership...

besides some have made a bracket for the front bumper that does not require drilling holes... maybe that's what he would want to do instead...
nope not required... the quote below is correct...

 

I see your point, but they probably did it because its a potential liability situation if they don't.

 

Why did the dealer drill holes in the first place? when I had my 07 SI the front license plate was held on by brackets.

If a customer asks for no holes the dealership should listen and not drill holes. If they repaint because of it then they should get it right. If they dont then he should not have kept the car since they did not do what he wanted. People dont listen and things like this happen. Granted the OP might have been a little **** about things but if he waited so that the holes dont get drilled then he is correct in what he did. I hate when you pay for **** and people dont do things right nor do they listen to what you say. Ive gone for oil changes and brought my own oil only to get it returned with all the oil still in the bottle. Which is exactly the reason why I started doing everyhting myself.

 

Not True, Honda here in Canada Sells the Aero Lip kit which came factory on the Civic Reverb, not sure if that was available in the USA, but they do sell that lip kit at most all dealerships.

 

I have an 06 ex sedan and a 08 si sedan, both have brackets that hold the mount for the plate. I have seen the oem part numbers at the hondapartsstore.com. I write down the number and get it cheaper at Bernardi.com (you must use dashes). I've accicentally ordered screws and gaskets that were already included (with item I was buying) and Erik at Bernadri has e-mailed me and allowed me to delete those un-necessary items.

 

Re: Drilling the bumper for the front plate...
If the bracket is similar to the one on my RSX, I can understand why some dealerships may think it is necessary. The stock bracket sags and the plate mount does not hug the bumper. Fortunately mine wasn't drilled.

To address the original question regarding fraud, unless it was in writing any claims or promises are worthless. At least you were able to return the car, 317. Maybe not what you wanted, but you won't have to look at that front bumper everytime you go to your car.

I'm curious as to which dealer in WI you bought from. PM me with the name if you want.