My $1,900 Test Drive

[whysoserious]

The 20" wheel package costs $1295 retail. If you divide that by 4 = $323.75 plus say the tire really cost $398 tirerack = $721.75 + tax (This will be the replacement cost) plus labor.

This actually doesn't reflect the actual cost of the wheels. The 20" wheel package is an upgrade from the stock 18" wheels. When you pay the $1295 retail that cost represents the difference between the price of the whole 20" wheel and tire set and the price of the whole 18" wheel and tire set. Someone mentioned earlier that the price on fordparts.com was something around 1K, that sounds correct, these wheels aren't cheap when purchased individually.

JR

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[HobokenStang]

The 20" wheel package costs $1295 retail. If you divide that by 4 = $323.75 plus say the tire really cost $398 tirerack = $721.75 + tax (This will be the replacement cost) plus labor.

They are basically charging you for the whole set of wheels. They are a bunch of crooks.

So either
Option 1: Pay whatever they want ($1800) but you keep the other 3 wheels
Option 2: You tell them that you will only pay as above ($721.75 + labor) since that's the true cost
Option 3: take them to small claims court and pay say worst case a court fee of $50-75 (More than $1500 but less than $5000) and most likely the judge will side with you (if he is not one of those crooked judges) and pay the dealer option 2.

If you take them to court you'll most likely pay only the replacement cost of $721.75 plus labor. So it is likely the dealer agrees to this before court (if they reason and are not a bunch of cronies).

Good luck!

Well, the package costs $1,295 on top of the standard wheels for the car, so it's really more.

 

[RisingForce]

The 20" wheel package costs $1295 retail. If you divide that by 4 = $323.75 plus say the tire really cost $398 tirerack = $721.75 + tax (This will be the replacement cost) plus labor.

They are basically charging you for the whole set of wheels. They are a bunch of crooks.

So either
Option 1: Pay whatever they want ($1800) but you keep the other 3 wheels
Option 2: You tell them that you will only pay as above ($721.75 + labor) since that's the true cost
Option 3: take them to small claims court and pay say worst case a court fee of $50-75 (More than $1500 but less than $5000) and most likely the judge will side with you (if he is not one of those crooked judges) and pay the dealer option 2.

If you take them to court you'll most likely pay only the replacement cost of $721.75 plus labor. So it is likely the dealer agrees to this before court (if they reason and are not a bunch of cronies).

Good luck!

You're way way off with your calculations.

As mentioned above you didn't take in consideration that this was just an upgrade charge from 18"s and not cost to upgrade from a mustang sitting on blocks :lol:

 

[Fenderaddict2]

Every time a car is test driven, there is a chance of damage. Yes they should ask that you pay for it, but they should be calm, and offer you their cost to fix it. It's good business and it's fair.

 

[akwal07]

Those tires cost like 140 each Lmao I've bought them. The rim is at most 250 If it's available elsewhere not from Ford and you could replace it yourself

 

[e30og]

Longtime lurker, new poster here. Not sure what sub-forum this is appropriate for, so I figured I'd start here.

Yesterday afternoon, I stopped by a north Jersey Ford dealer (name being withheld for now) to test drive the new 2015 Mustang Ecoboost. Nice car, just a little wanting for power.

On my way back into the dealer lot, I nicked the edge of the curb, which left a ~ 1/2 inch scratch on the edge of the rim, and on the tire. The sales manager then promptly informed me I would be required to pay to replace both the tire and rim, and associated labor costs, which came to the tidy sum of $1,892! ($1,200 for a single 20" rim, $400 for the Pirelli summer tire, then the rest in labor).

Frankly, I'm not entirely sure what recourse I have in this situation. I held off on filing an insurance claim for the moment, since I would still need to pay the deductible (which is rather high, due to my older 2006 GT), and it would show up on the 2015's Carfax as an accident. The dealer also doesn't want to file an insurance claim for the same reason (high deductible + unwanted accident report). The dealer claims, since I was behind the wheel, I was liable, and they would sue me in small claims court if I don't pay.

I'm debating whether it's worth a protracted legal battle (along with widespread naming and shaming of this dealer), which I have no idea my odds of winning, or simply settling for a more reasonable amount.

Does anyone have any experience in this situation? I find it hard to believe I'm the first person to nick a rim on a test drive.

Tell them to cut that $1,900 down to a third because the tire is perfectly fine and the rim would be waaaay cheaper than retail for the dealer to replace. If they dont, you file a claim through your insurance. No it wont show up as an accident, its just a strike against you and a small one at that. Your bargaining chip is not using insurance, so dont accept those terms. That is bullshit

Your in a crappy situation so just play what you have and pay your dues. Could have been a lot worse.

Remember, with a small 1/2" scratch that didnt touch balance and a scuff mark on the tire, they will probably sell it as is

 

[blitzburgh]

No accountability. Probably raised with "Timeouts"
You hit the curb. Pay for it. /thread

 

[akwal07]

No accountability. Probably raised with "Timeouts"
You hit the curb. Pay for it. /thread

The problem is that he should pay for it but how much....heck people say they can live with panel gaps but are crying about a repaired rim

 

[Patrick S]

No accountability. Probably raised with "Timeouts"
You hit the curb. Pay for it. /thread

/thread.

 

[blitzburgh]

I don't know how much. And I would try to negotiate that. However my first thought after I hit the curb wouldn't be should I out them and shame them? I would be thinking I'm a #$%# idiot and this is going to cost me. Just how I was raised I guess.

 

[Trackaholic]

Can they re-mount the tire "inside out" so the scratch isn't visible? I'm assuming here that the tire damage was merely cosmetic. If the tire is pinched then a new tire is probably warranted, but for a scratch I would not think a completely new tire is needed.

If this were me, I'd be OK paying the invoice price if the wheel and another $50 to remount the tire (if possible).

-T

 

[e30og]

I don't know how much. And I would try to negotiate that. However my first thought after I hit the curb wouldn't be should I out them and shame them? I would be thinking I'm a #$%# idiot and this is going to cost me. Just how I was raised I guess.

they are being assholes by trying to charge him for a much higher amount than the damage is AND trying not to use insurance, which is his right. They dont want the insurance to ding the car's record, which is also their fault for trying to extract so much out of him. I promise they wont even fix it

 

[STAMPEDE]

I'm guessing the dealership's cost is no where's near $1900.00, at the very least it should be all cost or fully insured.

I did not read the entire thread and providing the OP was not driving very aggressively, then the dealership should eat it; especially if they want him as a future customer. It's called GOOD WILL!

 

[Celestias]

They could easily recover the cost of 1900 by pushing $3600 dollars of extended ford service warranties on someone like they tried to do for me. Not that this is any kind of rationalization for them doing that.

 

[valentinoamoro]

^^ I dont trust what is considered collision damage. Carfax ended up marking 'accident' for something like this in my car done by a VALET (screw valets) - I had to call them to update and they were nice enough to mark it as 'minor accident'.

Anyway, as many have said, OP is at fault and should NOT pay for repair of the wheel. It is not fair to the next buyer. Neither should dealer insurance pay for it.

What OP should do is pay invoice price for a new wheel (worst case MSRP as dealer is not obligated to sell for invoice) + dealer market price for wheel swap - this can be had through dealer records if this goes to small claims court or by calling other Ford dealers to get a decent understanding of pricing.

There is no legal reason for the dealer to provide a discount or invoice as the OP is not doing business with the dealer. There is also no reason for OP to accept the ridiculous price he was quoted. Side note, I think this is unlikely to go to small claims due to losses on cost (as far as costs to litigate go) if the OP is willing to replace at market price, which OP seems to be willing to do. Judge will probably argue for dealer to accept and make each party pay their own costs, which in the case of the dealer will be higher than OP as dealer pays employees.

And there will be no naming or shaming here, what the dealer is doing here is pretty normal (sadly).

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