Buying or leasing a new car comes with certain benefits. Chief amongst them are the factory warranty and the fact that you can get repairs handled by the dealership. However, if that dealership fails to deliver, you can find yourself in one heck of a pickle. Worse, if you’ve financed or you’re on a lease, you’re on the hook for payments. David Kaplan from North Carolina has been going through just such a trial, and after six long months, he’s more frustrated than ever.
Speaking to The Autopian, he outlined his tale of woe, which he says all began when he leased a new Alfa Romeo Tonale. He should have been enjoying a glorious time with his new Italian SUV. Instead, it’s been stuck in dealer limbo for over six months now, and he says he’s been stuck paying the bills.
David’s story begins in August last year when he visited Leith Alfa Romeo in Raleigh, North Carolina. He liked the Tonale, but he had some concerns upfront about service. “The dealership in Raleigh, NC was about 100 miles from my house,” he explains. “They agreed to provide a loaner if the car required service overnight, [since] there was no comfortable place to sleep in their showroom.” With his concerns assuaged, the lease went ahead, and he took delivery of the vehicle.
A few months later, trouble struck as he was driving on I-40 in heavy traffic. “A small traffic cone appeared in my lane, I couldn’t avoid it,” he says. The car was still driveable after the incident, but it had sustained some cosmetic damage to the grille and bumper. “I called the dealer to arrange repair and reminded them of their commitment to provide a loaner and they agreed,” he says.
Sadly, things started to go sideways from there. Upon dropping the vehicle off and making a prepayment for repairs, he was told there was no loaner and he’d be on his own. “They sent me by Lyft to the airport so I could rent a car,” he explains. He ended up paying $75 for a rental out of his own pocket to get home.
That would be frustrating enough on its own, but things only got worse. Weeks went by, then months. “The car is still not fixed,” says David. “It is still, I’ve been told, at the dealership awaiting I don’t know what.” All the while, David has kept having to pay his lease month after month—all for a car he doesn’t have, and isn’t able to drive. He’s been lucky enough to have a Volkswagen on hand to get around in the meantime, but his frustration continues to mount.
David made multiple attempts to get to the bottom of the issue as the months ticked by. “First I was told that the parts were back-ordered, then I was told that they were available but were in Italy and would be sent by boat to the US,” he says. “When the parts arrived, they were put on the car but then painting was needed.” Next, he was told that the painting had failed and needed to be redone, then he was told the sensors needed calibration, and the saga kept on going. “I was [then] told that one of the sensors was defective and that it was back ordered; they didn’t know when it would be available.” He notes that he was told it was the adaptive cruise control sensor that was at fault, and he’d had no problems with it when he dropped off the car.
It remains a mystery to David why the vehicle wasn’t repaired in a quick and timely fashion. An insurance estimate made after the incident indicated it was expected the vehicle would take one day to repair. It listed a replacement bumper assembly, park sensor, and distance sensor, with costs expected to be approximately $3,000 including labor. Not cheap, but not surprising—modern bumpers can be expensive to replace.
Regardless, David isn’t hanging out for his Tonale anymore. He’s faced a brick wall at the dealership, and he says Alfa Romeo Customer Care hasn’t come to his aid after five or six phone calls, either.
“I went to Raleigh today to talk with the general manager at the Alfa store,” he says. “Nice guy who was completely sympathetic with my problem, and to declare absolutely that he can do nothing to help me.” He was directed to speak with Alfa Romeo corporate, though he says the general manager would not provide any contact details or help towards that end.
The Autopian contacted the dealership in question regarding the matter, and received the following statement.
Due to the nature of the damage the vehicle sustained when the driver hit a road hazard, the repair requires a full recalibration of the various driver assistance systems. Leith continues to work closely with the manufacturer and their engineering team to find a resolution for this complex recalibration. We remain committed to completing this repair for the customer.
Alfa Romeo’s US arm has also been contacted for comment on the matter.
At this point, David is looking for pretty much any way out of this ugly situation. “They have refused to buy it back, swap it with a new one on their lot, get me out of the lease, or reimburse me for the over $5,000 in costs during the six month period,” he says. He’s since engaged legal representation to serve a letter to the dealership, demanding a buyback and a refund for months of lease payments.
It’s a sad story because David actually quite liked the vehicle up until that point. “I really enjoyed the car,” he says. “But I cannot say anything good about the experience.” In any case, he’s wary about even getting the vehicle back at this point. “[That] would leave me in a position to deal with their ‘Customer Service’ for the remainder of the lease,” he muses.
The situation remains at an impasse. His original lease was for 39 months, leaving him with over two and a half years remaining on the contract. He’s at the point of contemplating whether to stop paying the lease, even at a hit to his credit rating, since he simply doesn’t have the use of the vehicle that he’s paying for. He’s also considered legal action but suspects that fees and the time involved would make it a pointless endeavor.
David’s story is a simple one. He paid for a car, and he expected to have one. Instead, he’s out of pocket with years of payments ahead of him if he can’t find a solution. There are supposed to be mechanisms to help customers stuck in quagmires like these, both corporate and legal. David’s at the point where he’s running out of levers to pull.
Fundamentally, it’s not supposed to be like this. Accidents happen, and cars get damaged. Automakers are expected to keep parts on hand to fix them and help keep them on the road. Dealerships in turn are there to handle customer service and repairs. Somewhere in that chain, something went wrong, and that needs to be made right.
Image credits: David Kaplan, Alfa Romeo, Google Street View
Perhaps Alfa never expected anyone to buy a Tonale and is still dubious of his existence.
per comments from the factory:
“We a no figure somebody a gonna buy one!”
Why would you ever take a car to a dealership for bodywork?
My local dealer’s body shop is an authorized repair location for my insurance, which means I take it there and they handle everything. No screwing around with estimates.
Also they do really good work and have bent over backward to accommodate me when some additional damage was found that caused a repair to go over the expected time frame. I happen to really like my dealer’s body shop.
Glad to hear that, but in my experience that’s an exception, not the rule.
First off I have to say that David sounds like a bit of an idiot. Let’s start with this:
“A small traffic cone appeared in my lane, I couldn’t avoid it,”
I’m sorry but I’m just not buying it. What I suspect really happened was he wasn’t paying attention and either didn’t notice the cone at all or noticed it when it was too late. If something is in the lane, you can always go around it or stop and go around it once there is space to do so.
Second…
“Upon dropping the vehicle off and making a prepayment for repairs, he was told there was no loaner and he’d be on his own”
Okay… now I’m thinking he’s an idiot. if they reneged on offering the loaner, then why couldn’t he just take his keys back and cancel the service? Why reward them for lying?
And for non-warranty stuff, he could have taken his vehicle to a local independent body shop. Why didn’t he do that? The only reason to go to the dealer is for the loaner. But if they’re not gonna provide what they promised, then what’s the point of using them and not an independent shop that is likely to be cheaper?
Third… why did he let his perfectly drivable vehicle just sit at the dealer due to a parts backorder? Why couldn’t he take back his vehicle (saving money on the rental) and have them call him when the parts came in?
Yeah this dealer sucks… but seriously… is this guy really that stupid? Does he not know how to look out for himself?
Not if he was on the highway. I had to straddle one of those massive ratchet strap buckles the semi flatbed trailers use that was in the middle of the lane and it caused some minor damage under the car. Guy in front of me didn’t move or brake and when I saw it, all I could do was move slightly sideways to clear the oil pan and hope it cleared completely. Couldn’t do more than that as there was a car in the next lane and a debris-strewn guardrail on the left. Had there been room to brake to a stop (braking distance when following another car is a lot longer than having to stop short for something static), I’d have been hammered from behind for sure.
No idea why he thought he’d get a loaner for crash damage, especially when one wasn’t needed as the car was drivable.
Going to a bodyshop is only going to make the wait longer. Where would the parts come from? Dealer. Who’s going to be recalibrating the sensors? Dealer. Still has to go there, anyway, plus some dealers have their own shops. Maybe he also doesn’t have any local body shops he’d trust. Near Boston, there’s a city that’s practically 3/4 body shops and used car lots and more than a few of them are sketchy fronts for something else. Perhaps he’s in an area like that or just figures the dealer would be more trustworthy/capable than the shops he doesn’t know.
“Going to a bodyshop is only going to make the wait longer. Where would the parts come from? Dealer. Who’s going to be recalibrating the sensors? ”
Yeah but that doesn’t really matter as I imagine the independent body shop is likely to be closer to home And I’m sure plenty of independent shops can calibrate the sensors.
” or just figures the dealer would be more trustworthy/capable”
Okay now you’re just reinforcing the idea that he’s, at best, uninformed. Or at worst, stupid…
I didn’t say he wasn’t stupid! I think he thought he was getting a loaner and went there, then sunk cost fallacy hit him as he already drove the 100 miles, so he left it (while I was at one time also subject to the same problem, working on boats and old cars has thoroughly cleansed me of the sunk cost fallacy).
It seems I’m wrong about the sensors. I only know from people who have cars with the things that have told me the body shops get the dealers to do that part of the work. IDK if that’s just a weird thing around here or what the deal is, but several people here are telling me the body shops can do it, so that point doesn’t stand. I think, anyway, that crediting him with thinking that deep into it was my first mistake. He definitely seems like he’s not the brightest black hole, but I still feel the dealer’s actions are unprofessional. Then again, we’re only hearing his side and it does seem something is missing here.
Calibrating the sensors isn’t rocket science. I’ve seen a few DIY youtube videos on how to do it
“but I still feel the dealer’s actions are unprofessional”
Completely agree. The dealer is taking advantage of him being uninformed/stupid.
“and it does seem something is missing here.”
I agree there too. This story reminds me of stories I’ve heard from people who act blameless, but then when you dig into it a bit and ask some pointed questions, it becomes obvious that they are the authors of their own misfortune.
I’m not going to argue most of these points because you are right. But this one makes sense to me. The story mentions he has a VW on hand that he is driving in the meantime. He likely doesn’t want to go all the way back out there, pick up the car, then drive it all the way back to drop it off again when the parts get in, just to still need to go back out one more time to pick it up.
One time a board with nails appeared in my lane and I couldn’t avoid it. Bumper to bumper traffic, nowhere to swerve to because cars in both lanes (left and right) beside me. Unable to stop because people follow too closely and there wasn’t time. I ended up with two flat tires. All I was doing was driving. No texting, eating, talking to passengers, or other distractions. Anyway, my point is that sometimes things happen and it doesn’t make us idiots.
Yes, exactly. Sometimes things do just appear in the road that you can’t avoid even if you’re paying attention. If you’re behind someone and they don’t notice, you might not either, happens all the time to even the best and most attentive drivers. I kinda get the dealership thing too, he reasonably expected to get decent service from them and thought he’d probably get a loaner too. Sucks it didn’t work out that way, but these aren’t situations most of us deal with everyday, so I can’t fault him for that. Would a Dodge dealership work on one of these since they sell the Hornet? Maybe better luck with those idiots?
The other day while driving one of the temporary diamond road construction signs got caught by the wind and blew across the median into traffic, hitting a truck. Dude driving the truck never could’ve avoided that. I myself have scuffed the side of my car after a semi-truck with severe buffeting issues going the opposite direction blew some temporary traffic posts over right as it was passing me. There was a wall of temporary concrete barriers mere inches from my passenger side door, so I couldn’t have avoided it. Sometimes there’s stuff on the road that just hits your car and there’s no way to prevent that from happening.
When I had cosmetic damage from a dumbass rear ending my GR86 in traffic, the auto body place did a thorough assessment and ordered the parts, then told me they’d call me when they arrived and they’d do the job. It was in the first year the relatively low-volume car was being sold, so they expected it might take a while to get the bumper cover or anything else. The dealer should have done the same here, though I don’t know what they’re doing with the paint and the sensor. Paint needs to be redone, OK, have it done—it’s maybe another couple days’ job. Sensors need calibration, calibrate them! They’re a damn dealer, that’s their racket and the excuse they use to squeeze out independent shops, so do it. For the bad sensors, they should have ordered them ahead of time even if they weren’t known to be bad (there should be some way to diagnose them, anyway). If they didn’t end up using them, surely they (or someone else who would call one of the few Alfa dealers looking for them) would need something as fragile and exposed to damage in common minor crashes and parking dust ups as those sensors at some point. This kind of dealer crap is why so many European makes (reportedly) left the market decades ago.
There are several things I’m not clear on. The mention of an insurance estimate has me wondering why it’s at the dealership instead of a body shop the insurance likes closer to home. It also has me wondering about him paying upfront and out of pocket and wondering why the insurance company isn’t leaning on the dealership.
That said, this 100% sounds like the dealership is a problem, even if it’s not the only problem. I’ll never trust a dealership without everything in writing, and I probably won’t trust them with it in writing, because they still try to renege. If they said they were going to provide a loaner, it is INCREDIBLY shitty to wait until he shows up and prepays for his repair to tell him there’s no loaner.
Also, why would they make him prepay? They have the car. That’s plenty of collateral for this repair. I’ve never had to pay for a car repair or even tint up front. They give you an estimate, then they do the job, then you come in and inspect, then you pay. I’m not saying this is necessarily shady, but it doesn’t give me the warm and fuzzies.
I hope they buy it back and repay the lease payments. And I hope David can find something with a better support network that he enjoys driving.
My guess is he is out-of-pocketing it to avoid having the claim on his record and, with the deductible, it probably makes the most sense. The car would have to go to the dealer for that sensor BS and they’d be the ones getting the parts, so it makes sense to bring it there (plus he thought he’d get a loaner, though I’m not sure why as it was crash damage, not a warranty issue, but maybe he just assumed it was for anything?). Some dealers also have their own bodyshops*, so perhaps that’s the case here and, if not, they have shops they’re affiliated with. Prepayment is really sketchy and would have me walking. As you state, why would they need that when they have the car. That’s not a normal thing to require and this is from a premium brand?!
*Friends of the family who owned a MB dealership had a very high end paint shop they got through some kind of thing with MB I don’t remember the details of, but it was like a heated clean room and was somewhat renown. The New Kid Wahlberg had a conversion van (green on green!) he’d send there to get repaired after he’d reportedly sideswipe multiple cars for fun and buy the people new replacements. While the sideswiping stuff looked to be true, I have my doubts about the intentionality of it, but anyway, I got to check it out and this was the early ’90s so it had dual NES players in it and the rear bench seats folded flat with the biggest subwoofer I’d seen underneath. Good thing the seats weren’t cloth as I didn’t think twice about sitting in them until they showed me how the seats folded into a giant party bed. It didn’t smell funky, though, maybe that was his brother.
I’ve done repairs out of pocket and never involved insurance, so I sort of figured that getting the insurance estimate meant an insurance claim. I guess you could still back out at that point, but I don’t know if the adjuster taking a look means you’d still show something on the record.
As to taking a car to the dealer for sensor stuff, that’s not true. A bodyshop that’s willing and able to take the work should be able to install the sensors and calibrate them. My Niro was in a shop attached to a Honda dealer and a CDJR dealer and they were able to install and calibrate those sensors with no issues.
As to the question of the dealer having an attached shop, sure, I assume it does if they’re doing this work. But he said that he had concerns about the dealer being so far when he bought the car. Which makes me suspect there would be a reputable shop nearby.
As for the loaner assumption, he said he called ahead to verify he would get a loaner, so that is 100% on the dealer unless there is some info missing (if he told them it was just for a recall or something and sprung the repairs on arrival–seems unlikely, though).
I’m gonna be interested to hear more about this story if the dealer or Alfa respond. There are a lot of weird things going on.
Also, that’s a great story!
Yeah, you’re right, I’m a dumbass—of course if he had an adjuster look at it he must have involved insurance. Forgot all about that part. Maybe one could decline them doing at that point figuring they’d eat the cost, but that wouldn’t make sense as he’s already reported to the insurance company and I don’t think they’ll just forget it.
I’ve seen too many body shops to assume there’s a reputable shop nearby, but I’m sure there’s something and maybe he figured the dealer was the best bet, especially as he thought he was getting the loaner. Everyone I know who’s had to have the dumb sensors calibrated around here has gone through a shop, but the shop had to have that work done by the dealer. I don’t know if doing that work requires a general procedure/tools or they’re OEM and model specific, but if it’s the latter, it would make sense that a shop wouldn’t have anything for something as uncommon as an Alfa.
I know the dealer told him they’d give a loaner, but without some kind of penalty, it’s easy enough for them to shrug and say the person on the phone was mistaken (and probably was) and that’s only for service per the agreement. At that point, he could have bailed, but then again, he already drove 100 miles. IDK, that part I reluctantly side with the dealer on.
I agree that we’re only hearing his side and it seems like there’s something missing.
NC has pretty dramatic insurance increases for filing a claim (I had $2000 in damage to my Ram truck from sideswiping a concrete pole I didn’t see, and the insurance surcharges for 3 years have been more expensive than if I had just paid it out of pocket) but if you pay out of pocket then you don’t get the surcharge.
I’ve never done it, but do you know if bringing the adjuster in will increase your rates, or does it only kick in if you have them pay. I’ve generally had a pretty good idea beforehand whether I wanted to get insurance involved.
I always just go to the body shop and have them do an estimate. Even with the Ram there wasn’t an adjuster, they did everything in house (the are the preferred local shop for my insurance company.) The incident with the Ram was the first I’ve ever made a claim on my own insurance for damage to my own vehicle I’ve caused. It’s really hard to get information on this even from your own insurance company. I think it also depends on if the accident is reported to the police.
I can say that some guy ran in to the back of my BMW, and wanted to pay me out of pocket, but also ran it by his insurance, who told him his rates would increase dramatically if he had them pay (this wasn’t his first accident.) I naturally wanted them to pay since I’d get more money that way (he wanted me to take it to his preferred shop, who wouldn’t tell me what that were charging the guy.) We eventually reached a reasonable price which was less than what my shop wanted, but still let me find the parts and replace them myself while being compensated for my time.
A shop estimate, absolutely. It’s the part about an insurance estimate that has me wondering if the rates will go up anyway.
Also, I’d really struggle to accept the situation you described. I’d probably insist on involving insurance if the guy didn’t want to pay what my preferred shop wants.
My ’86 got rear ended by a moron (who already had a replaced front bumper cover) who wanted to pay out of pocket because his rates were already so high and I was amenable at first (therapy works, people! If you can find a good therapist that isn’t just a drug dealer) because he was in his early 20s and someone gave me a chance when I was a teenager (and I paid them in cash immediately for the scratch on the rear bumper of their Stirling—yes, I hit probably the last operable Stirling!). But after my first text conversation, I realized he was a degenerate loser and I would never see the money or it would be a fight for every dollar at a minimum. Now, as much as I’d like to give a decent person a chance for a legitimate error—especially with insurance being so outrageous—I don’t think I’d trust anyone to do so.
It’s such a shady business. Someone rear ended me years ago. She was in a PT Cruiser and I was in my ’91 Suburban, her car was totaled but all I had was another scratch on the massive metal bumper lol. Anyway, cops and insurance determined that I was not at fault in any way. I didn’t need any repairs and didn’t request any, but my (now former) insurance company still wanted to raise my rates.
I’ve reported incidents in the past like that. Once, an idiot in a Chrysler Concord rear ended my ’90 Legacy. Not even a scuff of paint on my car, but he needed at least a headlight unit and bumper cover. When I saw my car had no damage, I calmed down and told him to forget about it if he didn’t want to deal with insurance for his own fault. Then, we’re driving along and he’s behind me and I think, what if he reports this as me backing into him or who knows? (Someone in a Wrangler once played a scam on my mother saying she damaged his Jeep when she never got near him then she got home from a surgery and found the insurance company had settled with this guy and she had no idea there was even a report.) He had no front plate, so I pulled over so I could get behind him and get it just so I could tell my agent—though not filing a report—in case it popped it later. As soon as I pulled over, he swerved into a labyrinthian subdivision like he was in a car chase, so I figured I must have scared the shit out of him in our confrontation and wasn’t going to say anything. Reported it anyway, but I never got a surcharge or anything from it.
I got rear ended in a somewhat similar way (guy had almost rear ended me in stop-and-go traffic a few minutes before, along with one or two other people), but the car was slightly damaged. Since I was not at fault, I got no surcharge, even adding a trailer to my policy just the other day.
I’ve wondered what it’s like to have an Alpha Romeo. Thanks for enlightening me!
It’s even worse to have an Alfa Romeo!
DUDE, Where’s my car?!
Nelson, let me order
Chinese Foooood. May I help you?
Yeah. I’d like to place an order.
What you like?
Yeah, I’d like three
orders of garlic chicken.
And then?
And then three orders of white rice.
And then?
And then…,hey you guys want soup?
Sure.
Yeah, Three orders of wantan soup.
And then?
Oh, ah, some fortune cookies too.
And then?
Uh…That’s it. I think that’s about it.
And then?
No. That’s it.
And then?
No ‘and then’. I…,
I…, that’s all I want.
And then?
And then, and then, and then I’m, then
nothing else coz I’m done ordering. OK?
And then?
No. No. See, all I want is the three
orders of the garlic chicken and
the three orders of the white rice
And then?
And the soup dude.
Oh, and the wantan soup.
And then?
And the cookies fortune.
And the fortune cookies, yes. So it’s
just the, it’s the, the chicken…
the rice, the soup and the
fortune cookies and that’s it.
And then?
And then you can put it in a
brown paper bag and come put in
my hand coz I’m ready to eat.
And then?
Hey! I refuse to play your
chinese food mind games.
And then?
No, No ‘and then’!
And then?
No ‘and then’!
And then?
No ‘and then’!
And then?
No ‘and then’!
And then?
No ‘and then’!
And then?
No, no ‘and then’!
And then?
You’re really starting
to piss me off lady!
And then?
And then, I’m gonna come in there…
…and I’m gonna put my foot in your
ass if you say ‘and then’ again!
And then? And then? And
then? And then? And then?
I had to add this since that scene is so fucking hilarious! Seriously though, this is so damn ridiculous and I really feel sorry for this guy. This is fresh hell and never should have happened- everything should have been taken care of like it was supposed to. I’m glad he used lawyers to try to get some movement and if I was him I would push it further for the principle of the matter, especially since they won’t do anything. He hasn’t even been able to enjoy his car and hasn’t gotten anything out of it being he leased it.
Also, just FUCK SENSORS…I was complaining about sensors 20 years ago, and now it’s unbelievable how stupid and expensive they’ve become; and putting this fancy unnecessary junk in the bumper…whoever started that is a dumbass fuckface douchenozzle
Expecting the dealer to provide a rental car for an accident is quite foolish and unrealistic, that would be your insurance’s responsibility, but the length of time for the repair highlights many of the problems with purchasing a first year car (parts supplied are often not readily available), a vehicle produced overseas (parts often take a long time to ship if they do reach back order status), a company with a poor record for customer care (poor organizational structure and a lack of will to make things happen). The dealership may also be at fault but there isn’t enough info hear to know what they may have done wrong, they could also be stuck in the middle with a parent company, Stellantis, that just doesn’t function that well. I feel for the guy cause I also would love to own an Alfa (Giulia though please) but I’m not willing to take these risks. He did and he drew the short end of the stick.
Agreed, I would only expect a dealer to provide a loaner if I was having warranty repairs or service done on the vehicle. For a loaner after an accident, that is usually 100% between you and your insurance company and what your coverage entails. That being said, it seems this particular dealer has handled about every other part of this as poorly as possible.
I am somewhat conflicted about how to feel about this. On one hand, it sucks that it is taking this long for his car to get repaired. Six months is unreasonable and unacceptable. Alfa should do better for their customer.
However, if the car is drivable, I don’t see why the vehicle has to sit at the dealership until parts are available. The article mentions this was cosmetic damage to the grill and bumper and the vehicle was fully functional when he dropped it off. It sounds like the car is still safe to drive and that driving it will not cause additional damage. It would be annoying to make additional trips to the dealership since he lives far away, but that is a hazard associated with owning a vehicle that can’t be repaired locally (also, is there any reason he couldn’t take it to a local body shop?).
I also don’t understand why he thinks he is owed a loaner car. He specifically states
“they agreed to provide a loaner if the car required service overnight.” The word “service” is important here. I don’t think a reasonable person would interpret “service” to include collision repair. I suspect he also didn’t get this in writing. If he did, I presume it would include specific instances when he was owned a loaner car.
Again, it is shitty that Alfa is taking so long to fix his car, but it seems like his other complaints are without merit.
Wow, there are a lot of dealer sympathizers in here, no idea why this is a thing.
Sure, dude could have used his comprehensive insurance to get a rental, but that aside, nothing excuses sitting on a customer car for MONTHS. Especially when it is a cosmetic part. They could have just told him that they don’t have the parts, zip tie the broken part back together as a temp repair and told him to come in when they have what they need.
Also, why don’t they have the parts? If they don’t who else would? This isn’t a 3rd party facility, it’s the dealer. This just further diminishes the value of even having the current dealer model.
Again, so many here are saying that dude is some sort of screw up. He might not be someone who knows much about repairs or that Stellantis has a middling reliability record (but again, this was a body repair not a mechanical failure). Most people are under the impression that when they lease a car, they will be taken care of as one of the benefits of leasing. Most people would reasonably assume that the dealer would have parts for the car they just sold/leased.
Finally, dude is paying for a lease and is being deprived of the ability to use his car because of Alfa’s failures to provide timely service. If you rented a car for a week and the Hertz said they need to fix a tire for two days and gave you nothing in response, you’d be pissed as you’re paying for a service and not getting all of it. Once a reasonable amount of time had passed, the dealer could have just taken a demonstrator car offline, pulled the bumper and thrown it on the customers car; use the incoming parts on the demo and keep everyone happy. They could have done SOMETHING. We all know that a dealer will not part with a penny after the transaction, but they could have found a way to keep this guy happy. They just played babe in the woods. It is not the customer’s fault and anyone who wants to blame the owner, I hope that you end up in his shoes one day. The lack of empathy stinks like the comment section of The Drive.
Look, it sucks all around, but I don’t blame the dealer, I blame the manufacturer. The dealer doesn’t have the parts, not because they failed to order them, but because the manufacturer isn’t providing them. The body shop can’t repair the damage without the parts. The failed paint job, for sure the body shop’s fault, so maybe they owe something there. Take parts off another car? LOL, no dealer would do this to repair a customer’s car; who’s going to compensate them for taking a loaner out of service?
I think the best thing the dealer could have done is to say, “here’s your car back, good luck.”
You tell the customer you’ll contact them when you have the parts for them to come in as any place with sense would do. Car was perfectly drivable, so there was no reason to have it sit there, especially when he wasn’t going to have a rental (IDK why he thought he’d be getting a loaner). Why the dealer would even want it there taking up space and being a potential liability in the first place is something I don’t understand. The dealer’s actions make no sense beyond sheer incompetence.
I agree. Guy had a weird expectation for the loaner, which is a mix up that’s on him, but the rest of this is firmly on the dealer and absolutely inexcusable and handled ass backwards every step of the way and now they’re apparently holding the car hostage.
I’m curious why so many comments are ok that there was no loaner available. No one is arguing that a typical body repair would deserve a loaner. HOWEVER, the dealer agreed to this term at time of purchase and reupped that agreement over the phone before the visit, and STILL RENEGED! Why is that the vehicle owners fault? It was a deliberately added condition for purchase and the dealer agreed to the term, then immediately failed to fulfill.
Because there’s no penalty clause in the contract if they can’t provide a loaner. They promise one, they can’t give you one, what’s his recourse? Nothing.
On a contract you don’t want it to just say what the other party needs to do, you also need it to say what happens if the other party can’t do what they said they would do.
I’m surprise his lawyer didn’t include that $75 car rental in the demand.
I understand your point. I don’t see how its a response to what I said. I asked why so many are ok that the dealer reneged and blame the owner. Unless you are saying we are ok with the dealer not doing their part because the owner didn’t do a good enough job writing in a penalty above and beyond a general breach of contract.
Its not ok but the dealer is going to do everything they can to worm their way out of any promise they made, so that’s kind of expected.
I think we agree then. I fully expect dealers to screw everyone they can everywhere they can. I’ve been on the back end of some of that, working for a company that acted as a vendor through dealers, and dealers used us to hide just how much they are screwing consumers.
“They agreed to provide a loaner if the car required service overnight”
The word “service” seems to be a lot of the problem here. The dealer might have agreed to provide a loaner for service appointments that require the vehicle to stay overnight, but I don’t think “service” necessarily implies repair of collision damage. He should have clarified the terms of the agreement to provide a loaner at the time of purchase if that was important to him.
He might have “reminded them of their commitment to provide a loaner and they agreed” but it sounds like it was never clear in what circumstances he was due a loaner (if he even was due a loaner by their contract; it sounds like this was more a verbal agreement than anything formalized). I doubt whoever scheduled the appointment for the repairs has the authorization to provide a loaner or is aware of the dealer’s supposed “commitment.”
I wouldn’t regard collision repair as ‘service’. Of course, exactly what was offered should have been in writing. My grandfather bought a Lexus from a used car dealer in Gainesville, FL, and part of the sales agreement was the dealer would pick up the car from his home and transport it to the nearest Lexus dealer (Ocala at the time) for any service work.
New Alpha spends months at dealership is supposed to be news?
Can’t believe I am siding with a dealer, and a typically known to be horrible Alfa one. But it’s 1000% the persons problem and hell they created for themselves. No dealer in the world will give you a loaner for accident damage repair, thats the insurance companies problem and of course it’s an Alfa so the parts ain’t gonna be available anytime soon. Surely next we will hear what a crappy job they did on the repairs….
Unless the vehicle was undriveable/unsafe there’s usually little reason if any to have left it at the body shop until they were ready to do the repairs, unless insurance would cover the rental for all that time. Cosmetic damage is just that: cosmetic. Drive the car until the body shop is ready to do the repairs.
My wife just had a minor encounter with a parking lot rock in her new Lucid. Of course there are only 2 certified repair shops that can even order the parts in our area and neither are very convenient. However, I’m not dumb enough to leave it with them while they wait for the parts. I took it to them to verify the adjuster’s estimates and for them to order the parts. I had to leave a deposit for them to order the parts, but once everything arrives it should take them just a couple of days (fortunately no sensors involved). When I was initially asked to leave it with them I verified what was needed from me so that it wouldn’t sit there for who knows how long.
My Alfa dealer provides me with loaners for service and warranty work. I would not expect that they provide me with one for accident repair, for which the brand and dealership bare absolutely no responsibility in. Also why doesn’t the Tonale owner’s auto insurance cover rental reimbursement for accident repair? Unless he opted out of that coverage, which again, should not be the fault of the dealership. An accident has nothing to do with routine service or warranty work specific to a make/model.
That said, I can understand the frustrating wait for Alfa parts. My Quad was waiting on a new engine ECU in May, had to be brought in from Italy. My dealer provided me with a loaner, which he said Alfa reimburses the dealer at a rate of about $55/day. I had the loaner for 2 weeks, so Alfa reimbursed the dealer $770. It seems to me, that someone in Stellantis parts logistics should realize that paying for UPS world wide express for a direct express shipment from Italy for $100-$150 (or maybe even less at large corporate account rates!) would have resulted in the ECU landing at my dealer much quicker at lower total overall cost and less inconvenience to me.
You’re spot-on about the loaner; it’s not a failure of the car, isn’t covered by Alfa Romeo’s warranty, so loaner is owed.
In the insurance company’s eyes the repairs would take a day or so, since it’s apparently largely cosmetic. If they offered a rental it would have probably been for maybe 2-3 days, possibly longer based on parts availability. The issues with workmanship and/or subsequent parts failures – either from misdiagnostic or improper treatment during the painting (likely) – would be on the shop doing the work.
If it had been my car and if the damage was indeed cosmetic, I’d have let the body shop do the estimate, take the car back, and wait until they were able to do the repairs. Then arrange the rental ahead of time billed to the insurance company, then get the car to the body shop. Rental company picks me up from the body shop, repairs commence (hopefully as planned). Body shop finishes repairs, I return rental to rental company, they drop me off at body shop to pick up repaired car, ta-da done.
It may have been an agreement when the car was leased. A GMC/Buick dealer that I have leased from in the past gives free loaners if you use their body shop as a matter of policy, and it’s spelled out in documents that they give you when you lease or buy a vehicle. It’s usually been a Terrain or Enclave that they then sell at the dealership at a discount, but still with a new car warranty after it gets 5 or 6,000 miles on it.
Should say “so no loaner is owed. Not sure where the word went.
I mean this sucks ass all around but I’m struggling to find a ton of sympathy. He leased an Alfa, and a first model year PHEV one at that. If he did any research he’d be well aware of the risks that come along with owning the least reliable products from arguably the least reliable manufacturer in Stellantis…not to mention Alfa barely has a dealership network and the closest one to him is 100 miles away?
Did he think they were going to send an Uber black to come pick him up and whisk him back and forth? It’s a damn Alfa, not a Rolls. Also, “I’m just going to stop making payments, that’ll show them!” is such a petulant attitude that’s only going to harm the customer.
Alfa doesn’t give a shit if you stop paying (or does a bank own this car? I’m not too familiar with leasing), but the credit bureaus sure do and you signed a damn contract. You have to live with the consequences. That’s how being an adult works. You can’t just throw a tantrum and pretend it doesn’t exist.
This also isn’t warranty work. If it was warranty work he might have a case…but he wrecked his car. He can deny responsibility for it all he wants, and maybe it wasn’t his fault at all, but the car didn’t do anything wrong. Am I missing something here? I fucking loathe car dealerships, and I agree that this sucks, but I’m struggling to see how David is a victim here.
What was the reliability issue though? The damage was cosmetic. If you read it again, the dealer claims the cruise control system broke, but it wasn’t broken in the crash. So it would have been the dealer who broke it during repairs, if it even is broken.
The way a lease typically works is that the manufacturer has an affiliated financial services company that purchases the vehicle and your rental (lease) contract is between you and them. The contract specifies the acceptable methods of service (generally at a dealership) and repair (OEM parts), as well as costs for damage on return. The dealer has no more interest in the car than any other car they’ve sold. The manufacturer’s finance arm has an interest in getting things taken care of, but the contract generally puts the actual responsibility on the person leasing the car.
Eh, dealers, there is no penalty for frauds.
How about DOT?
Why let the car sit at the dealer when it is perfectly drivable? I work for a Chevy dealer and we send customers on their way, with their vehicle, all the time when parts are backordered. Then we call when the parts are in and schedule an appointment.
I’m not usually one to defend dealers, but I’m sure when they agreed to the loaner for overnight service they meant for repairs that were Alfas fault, not the dude crashing his car.
Also cones don’t just appear out of nowhere.
So this guy damaged his car, and expects the dealership to put him into a loaner for damage he caused? Why? Dealers don’t hand out loaners for cars in accidents. That’s why you pay your insurance company another $30 every six months to have a rental car.
This isn’t like a alternator went out, and is being covered under warranty and the part is on backorder.
Sounds like the damage was not such that it made the vehicle undriveable – So why leave it there waiting for parts? He should have taken the car in for his survey/estimate – then taken it home and brought it in again for the repair.
Dealers don’t give loaners out without an appt – and they don’t give them for months at a time due to crash damage – only a day or two for maintenance appointments.
His car insurance should have covered the rental – if he had that line in his policy. If he didn’t have that line in his policy – He’s self-insured.
It’s not a lemon and it’s not the manufacturer/dealers fault he crashed his car.
Sounds like a narcissistic whiner to me.
Unfortunately supply chains still aren’t quite back to normal, and getting collision repair parts can be much slower than it used to be. Buying an uncommon car doesn’t help the matter.
It was rumoured that Stellantis did not want Alfa Romeo when it bought the Fiat group.
Not even Italians know how to make them work– the story of a bumper sensor wrecking the cruise control is typical — they probably share a bus connection because it looked like the right place to put the wire…
Leave it to Stellantis to make Fisker look like a well-oiled model of efficiency in comparison (I mean, they didn’t have parts available, either, but they took them off the CEO’s company car when a customer needed repairs, so, hey, they at least tried to find a creative solution)
How is this the dealership’s fault? He had a crash. It’s taking time to get parts to fix his vehicle from the crash. That sucks, but it’s reality. I think Mr. Kaplan needs to be yelling at his insurance company, who really should be stepping up to provide him with alternative transportation (assuming his policy covers it) while his car is being repaired, and should be hounding the shop fixing his car to get the parts in stock and get the car returned. Also curious why this is being fixed at the dealership, rather than at a autobody shop closer to home.
The blog says that 1) he arranged repair with the dealer, 2) they promised a loaner, and 3) he pre-paid for the repair.
Assuming that those facts are true, it is on the dealer to both provide the loaner and to get the repair done in a timely manner (not give BS like a “bad paint job”, which can be re-done in a day if they really wanted to).
That said, it was also pretty stupid of the guy to pre-pay for something at a dealer. No way in heck I’d pay a penny to one until work was completed to my satisfaction.
Yeah, I know Autopian likes to crap on Alfa, but this article has scummy dealer written all over it. I’ll add that the dealer stated there was a fault with the cruise control sensor and it needed replacing, but the owner had had no problems with it.
Leith was a pretty good local dealership group (as far as car dealers go) but they were recently bought by a larger dealership network. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a result of large corporate dealer enshitification.
That is happening all over the US (maybe worldwide). And if the dealer has a decent reputation, the private equity buyers usually keep the name. One here locally even contracts with the former owner to do advertisements even though she sold the store in 2017.
The more I think about this, it feels like something fishy is going on. I wonder if the guy doesn’t have rental coverage on his insurance, so rather than taking it to a body shop he said I’ll see if the dealer can handle it, then I can press them for the rental car they promised me.
Very much a spirit of the agreement vs letter of the agreement type argument, but the dealership should have told him to take his collision repair to a body shop vs trying to do it themselves.
I work in parts at a dealer, people constantly call us after getting in a accident and want us to do it, so it stays off the carfax. We almost always tell them to go to a body shop unless it’s something very minor like a mirror cover or tail light.
Strange that people would take their car to a dealer to avoid a Carfax record. Almost all dealers around me report to Carfax, and provide free reports on the used cars they’re selling. It’s the small independent shops that do things that sometimes do not get recorded.
Right? Look for the mom and pop shop that has “cash” rates available. They aren’t gonna report a thing to anyone, including the US Govt tax man.
His problems started with the first link in the chain: Alfa Romeo. I personally know four people who purchased or leased Alfas in the last 10 years. Suffice to say, none are still driving Alfas.
I love Alfa and I will love to the last my key to repair. Period
I love so many Alfa designs and how they run – for the 15 minutes they run right. If you have the time, patience, tools and parts, they’re lovely cars, but definitely hobby cars, at least over here in America. Maybe, close to the Italian motherland, they do better.
Alfa is nothing if you have lovely Renault Dauphine, I carry screwdriver in my packet all the time.
Ordered a Giulia in 2017, loved it despite many problems. Bought a ’23 Stelvio Quad off the lot last fall, and it is an amazing vehicle. I never thought the dynamics of an SUV could be this good. I really mean it when I tell people that the Stelvio Quad is an All-Weather Supercar. What other vehicle under $100k has the Stelvio Quad’s combination of pedigree, styling, performance and still is hugely practical?
I still have the Giulia too!
My friends’ experiences do not match yours. A combination of constant small problems (and one large problem) including electrical glitches, brake issues, misfires and stalling, fuel leaks and an engine fire, plus piss-poor dealership support soured them on Alfa forever. They had three Giulias and one Stelvio between them.
I did not say I had a problem free experience with our Giulia, I said, I remained with the brand despite the multitude of problems. But I had a great dealer too for the Giulia, who picked up our car in a covered trailer and dropped off a loaner for service and warranty work. And I lived 160 miles from that dealer. A good dealer can make up for some poor reliability experiences, depending on how they handle customer service and accommodate the issue. My wife and I are very busy professionals, so having that commitment to so service/warranty work with pickup/dropoff service at our home or office was incredible value to us. I can’t buy my personal time that would have been lost back in those cases.
Probably the most annoying period of ownership with the Giulia was the summer of 2020, when it spent the better part of two months at the dealer going through all sorts of issues with the evaporative emissions system. On top of that, the Giulia had some electrical issues, failed sunroof, failed radiator (end tank leaking – manufacturing defect from supplier Mahle), and a probably at least half a dozen other things sorted under the original warranty.
Even my new Quad hasn’t been problem free. As I noted in another comment I just had to wait a couple of weeks for a new engine ECU. The Quad uses two engine ECUs, one for each bank of the V6, and there was some sort of sync issue between the two ECUs that would result in engine occasionally running very rough until shutdown/restart reset. So far that is the only issue I’ve encountered over 9 months of ownership.
Alfa’s aren’t for everyone, they’re an acquired taste that requires you prioritize the vehicle experience when everything is working properly (which is still most of the time), rather than constantly bitching about the headaches.
Definitely Alfa and Ferrari not for dome peoples. Viva Italia. Viva Lancia Stratos.
Sounds just like my experience with BMW with my 325is. One year of ownership and the damn car spent 4 and a half months of it in the shop getting issues fixed. Two weeks after delivery it had to go in for service BC of warped rotors. Of course the dealer didn’t have any in stock. Nor did BMW anywhere in North America. It took six weeks to get the parts from the motherland. They kindly provided me with a Lada loaner at ten bucks a day. The instrument cluster shorted out and had to be replaced, the driveshaft was out of balance and destroyed the differential. The list was long and frustrating. The Lada was far more reliable. Traded the POS on a Mercedes 190e. It was better, but the dealer was worse.