yep you have a problem. I see what the others think...you will have to excuse us as we are a defensive bunch! sounds like you will have a long battle. some points you may want to consider:
1. dealers swap cars around a lot and your dealer may have gotten this innocently and it wasn't revealed to them that it was a hail damage car.
2. if that was the case and they were honest, they should offer you some kind of money back if you still like the car.
3. if they KNEW it was damaged and they passed it off as a clean car the Better business bureau and the district attorney need to take a look at their business practices.

buying a hail car is no big deal IF YOU KNOW ABOUT IT and get a good deal on it but it sounds like you paid a full retail pop to me. Mine was a jan 08 build, I bought it in jan 09 less than 400 miles of just dealer demo drives, and I started at 42k as an offer and went DOWN from there (i negotiated a SCREAMIN deal) and as soon as I file for my hybrid rebate and my sales tax back thanks to prezdent osamma I will be in my car 32K.
good luck

 

I knew I could count on you to defend me, Jet1!

What took you so long?

 

Buttercup,

I just read your first reply to me above (missed it the last time and only read your second post to me when I first responded). This seems reasoned and you don't seem like a bad guy. But then you went on to bash me in your next post and that was what I read when I went back at you. Sorry if I offended you.

Also, I am sick of threads here bashing GM hybrids, especially when it has nothing to do the vehicle itself. Anyways, that's my explanation and I apologized (kind of, the apology is only if I offended you)

Jet1 is right we are a defensive bunch.

Welcome aboard!

PS. Yes, I know your real alias - that was my last shot!

 

Wow, you did get an unbelievable deal Jet1, I thought I did good, the MSRP was $54900 or so, and they dropped like $12000. You mean to tell me this is what others are paying for 2010s? And returning to the topic, they did have the vehicle at that lot for at least 12 or 14 months and they did get hail last summer, the general manager said the only damage had been to smaller vehicles (which now I know is BS).

I spoke to a lawyer who is interested in taking the case, I guess he is counting on the triple damages and fees, I will be taking some pics of the dents surrounded by markers and getting repair quotes.

Do you guys think this will actually make it to court? It was never my intention but I just hate being deceived.

 

Most cases settle, and this one seems pretty clear that they did wrong.

This one may have been innocent, but there are some real scum-bags left out there. For example, I went up to a Chevy dealer in Orange County last year (a good 1.5 hour drive that day) with my wife to check out an STS they had for sale under market price. I discussed it at length on the phone, and everything said "clean title" (ads, phone converstation, papers they faxed me). I get there, and there is a sticker in the back window saying "lemon buyback". It was half-covered by one of those "dealer add-on" lists where they had $200 pin-striping added. He spent a lot of time trying to say it did not matter and it was just returned for a different color. All, as we know, total lies. Finally, he had to admit it was a branded title, so we left.
I forwarded the ad and papers to the DA up there, but I figure he probably suckered someone into it shortly after we left.
There is a reason that car dealers have a scummy reputation (remember True Lies?). Some may be ok, but most are not looking out for you, that is your job.

 

You may be better off taking it to Small Claims court yourself unless the lawyer is willing to take it on a contingency fee agreement (i.e. he only gets paid if you recover damages). That will tell you how intererested he really is in taking the case.

 

Now this discussion is headed exactly where I intended, thanks for your opinion, good tips. I agree, some dealers are real scumbags and I am also considering filing the case (small claims) myself and seeing where this goes, unfortunately small claims cannot exceed $10,000 USD.

I think I have enough evidence to at least make the dealer sweat.

Also, if someone who wants to buy a new car and they google Payne Weslaco Motors and see any of my posts and decide to buy elsewhere, that alone is fair payback.

 

There is a dollar amount under which pre-sale repairs do not need to be reported to the retail buyer. This may vary by state. You better check it out to determine if the dealer's cost to repair may have been under the amount they needed to report.

When there is damage in transit, dents, paint scratch, etc. it does not have to be reported to the buyer if it is less than the state allowed disclosure level. You would have to prove that their cost to repair the damage was higher than the disclosure amount.

 

Very true Red, I believe it is $500 dollars in Texas, however, I have a quote to repair (Paintless dent repair) that lists 8 hours labor at $75 which amount to $600 plus tax. This guys really do take their time on each little dent, also, the roof lining has to be taken off. Apparently it is a pretty simple repair though.

Oh, and I did have the original dent repaired for $60.00 so I think this puts me above the mentioned limit. Thanks

 

Don't confuse what it would cost you to have it repaired with the dealer's cost to have it repaired. If the dealership charges $27 an hour for internal body work and it takes 8 hours, thats $216 - far under the Texas $500 limit.

They would not have to do their computation at retail prices. Of course, it should have been repaired before they sold it to you. Sounds like there is still damage.

You might ask them to fix it and give you an extended service contract on the vehicle, just to keep you happy.