Shame on me! I know I know

I know Ill receive some ribbing from this post and I prob deserve that. here we go:
Drove 7 hrs from nys to ohio to buy a cpo 18 tundra platinum. Prior to making trip i noted a black scuff mark on drivers side rear of truck in dealerships (toyota of boardman) showroom pic. Made note to self to look for this upon pick up truck and carfax report mentioned nothing of accidents.Day i pick up truck was raining very hard so i did not eval truck as thorough as i should but i did look for scuff and wasnt there. Did point out to dealership that rear drivers side sonar had cracked plastic but was told no biggie because sonar did work.
A week after getting truck home i noticed a crease in rear quarter panel of truck drivers side. Uh oh! Right where that scuff mark was. Ok. No biggie. I have friend who does paintless dent removal so i took it to him. He showed me that the dent wasnt the only issue and pointed out the excessive structural damage present as the bumper was basically pinned tight against this quarter panel. Then all kinds of visible offset damage was noticed.
So at present time, Boardman of Toyota has denied any cover up of this damage. Even though they fully acknowledge looking at pic of showroom where scuff is present. Ive entered a claim with toyota that was later closed (without my being able to counter it) by saying that dealership denied any known structural damage. Ive since entered a new one and demanded to speak with toyota to share my story along with pics of it. My local dealer just looked over truck and noted extensive damage to underside at that location. So lets dispense with the “you idiot! Didnt you notice this prior to sale?!? No I didnt but i should have. My bad. I feel like an idiot believe me.
Any one here have any suggestions on how i should proceed here? Im most upset that dealership covered this up AND that they designated truck as a CPO since this is a pretty thorough inspection is it not?
i tried talking to Boardman about this initially and I got the “well it wasnt there when we inspected truck” So this essentially suggests it happened under my ownership and over one weeks time? No way, I mean, it had to be another vehicle that crashed into this or possibly a deer but im quite certain they tried a camouflaging job of it since showroom pic was taken.

 

Dude, tough lesson learned. But don't blame yourself completely for someone else being dishonest. While I am not certain of the next best steps I think your best leverage is that the vehicle is CPO. Thus the dealer is on the hook for a damage free vehicle if your pictures can prove something existed before you took ownership. What I will say is to stay on top of the complaints with Toyota and keep pushing. I had a friend who did this and was finally assigned a third party mediator to resolve a massive repair cost. Good Luck and I hope it gets better from here.

 

You're not alone. I had a similar thing happened to me. Service records was immaculate with clean carfax. As weeks go by as I start upgrading parts noticed something odd. New bumper skin, fender flares won't line up, mud coming out of the tail gate. Seat trails dirty, but carpet does not have a spec of dirt. Passenger side was caked with red Georgia clay underneath. It was also during the peak of the pandemic.

I feel for you.

 

Thank you immensely sean for your kind words and good advice! Its very helpful and I will push diligently until a satisfactory resolution is provided.

 

I got the same treatment on a brand new truck, didn't have a carfax, but did come up in Toyota's maintenance records, they refused to disclose any information.. I had to eat it, cuz I didn't realize it after a few years of ownership when I sorta discovered the site... Have had electrical gremlins and driver door alignment issues, and rear driver side door issues... Dealerships are shaddy AF, according to what I learned in Cali; less than "$500" they don't have to tell you, but the dealership owned a body shop on the lot..... soooo yeah.

 

Do you have the picture of the scuff mark from their website? That’ll be your only proof of a pre-existing condition. Whoever you asked at the dealership when you picked it up will deny everything.

It sucks that Toyota didn’t contact you first, but they don’t have any proof you didn’t have an accident. I’m not saying your are lying, but they might think you had a wreck in the way home and are trying to get a free fix since your inspection at the dealer was good. Toyota should at least contact you if you opened a complaint.

 

any warranty for when you can bring back the truck if not happy ? 7 days ?

 

Not to my knowledge. So far toyota has advanced this to next level. Fingers crossed

 

I dont because I deleted it after pick up but i know i can buy an app for cell phone that pulls back all pics taken for several months. The dealership has pic and acknowledged scuff but prob deep 6’d it after case began.

 

I would check the paperwork that you signed, I believe that I had 48 hours to return my used Tundra if I wasn't satisfied. At the very least, leave them some shitty reviews so others will be warned. Sorry youre going through this. Dealers can be pretty dishonest.

 

Try the wayback site.

https://archive.org/web/

 

Sorry this happened! I would keep pushing and I wouldn’t give up. I would demand they take the truck back, personally.
As for, CPO. I think it’s a joke. They take vehicles in that look like they meet the criteria and they don’t bother with that extensive inspection. Basically, IMO, it’s total BS and only worth the extra warranty. I had a similar experience with a 2007 and got nowhere with the dealer or Toyota. I hope your experience is different from mine. Good luck! Keep us updated.

 

Id like to say that they $%#!! With the wrong guy because i can and will outlast them in terms of not letting this issue go. I will crucify them on a daily basis with reviews left on their fb page and when the remove me, ill find another way. In the end, they will regret not doing the right thing but I fully expect to live with the damage present or repaired on my penny.

 

Lessons learned indeed. Im ready for a long drawn out battle and in the past Ive done with these kinds of issues my remaining persistent.

 

If your phone is Android get either Diskdigger or Undeleter.

If it’s an iPhone, you’ll probably have to get a pro to get the pics.

 

I would do everything you cam to try and recover those pictures, it may be possible if they are on the cloud if you have an Apple phone or computer.

If you can then I would back them up on a couple of devices and then show them you have proof that the dent/damage was there BEFORE you bought it, and then let them know you will be taking them to small claims court if they do not pay to have it repaired.

My suggestion to you is to use someone else to call them and express interest in that same truck and ask if it is still available, as most dealerships will lie to get the person into the stealership, and if they tell the person they do have that have the person request information including photos of the vehicle etc. Make sure they are someone who can fake that they are genuinely interested in the vehicle.

If you are not comfortable with the last suggestion I would call once again and let them know you will be in touch with your lawyer, who will subpoena those pictures and any video camera footage they have of the dealership lot while that vehicle was there. If that gets you no where then I highly suggest you kick them in the balls and give them REALLY BAD reviews, factual of course, but negative reviews on EVERY site you can. Google, dealer rater, yelp etc, sometimes dealerships will respond to this. Include ANY other things that didn't go well in the deal, no matter how minor. They made you wait to long, the sales person was clueless, etc.

Good luck.. Keep us updated if you can!

-T

 

Thank you very kindly for taking this time on my issue! Yes I'll certainly exhaust every reasonable , meaningful and truthful option I have and will keep this updated as it goes.

 

Tonight I spoke with a toyota rep from “headquarters” and she indicated that they have contacted dealership today and are without a reply yet. This rep was friendly and appeared (on the surface) to be honest about how this case could go and said it may come down to a “he said, she said” deal. In this case I reminded her that this was not as such and that I could prove a “i saw and they covered up” case. She agreed that this was good info and that it was documented. What bothered me the most was that she never asked me for my pics or video of the damage. Which gives this case TEETH. I have since sent her the evidence but the fact that they were prepared to go at this with merely a contrived “image” of damage as based on description left me very unconfident. I will certainly update as I go and am considering a custom TShirt that ill sell at cost that says BOARDMAN TOYOTA: BEST COVER UP DEALER IN OHIO. Of course Ill mail them a half dozen at my cost

 

Agreed, I would name bomb everyone you worked with and get friends and family to leave daily reviews

 

Thanks for the support pal!!

 

This.

If there's a line item on the CPO check list that says "Free of body panel damage" (seems like there should be), and you can document that the damage was on the vehicle in dealerships pics, i.e. damage didn't happen on your watch, then you have a very strong case imo. Unfortunately, the bottom line is that it will depend on the ethics of the dealer when they are confronted with undeniable evidence. Being out-of-state isn't going to help you. It's unlikely Toyota corporate will help you with a used vehicle, but you can try to represent your case with evidence.

I've never felt that CPO certification was worth a dam anyway. It just means that the dealer's tech did a superficial inspection, and determined the vehicle was in good enough shape that a lot of money wouldn't be necessary for repairs to sell it, and unlikely a lot of money would be required in making future repairs on the dealer's dime.

 

I absolutely love your comment and your way of thinking. I will see if i can pull up an official cpo checklist. My local dealer has been very accommodating thus far and has written up a report of damage from my appt yesterday. They also took several pics of damage. This is exactly the kind of info i was hoping for my friend! Thank you kindly.

 

BINGO!!! Thank you John Lakeman! The cpo 160 pt check DOES include structural damage assessment!!!

 

Actually, your best complaint is in "Exterior Condition and Appearance" if I understand your damage to be in a body panel: "Body is free of all dents"?

 

Not to be the delightful fly in the ointment but I'm seeing "Certified Toyota: FA-Q" which is quite rude and should be dealt with in ever increasing severity.

 

Just to add that it is quite possible that the damage happened after the CPO inspection, but while the truck was still on the dealer lot. I'd spend the time and money to recover the pics with the scuff mark.

 

Google search your vin. Sometimes some of the car ad sites will have the pictures still.

 

both!! Ill send pics to thread.

 

These are pics of external damage to drivers side on this “CPO” truck sold by BOARDMAN TOYOTA in Ohio.
Underneath of vehicle also has very notable structural damage as well

 

Start off by writing the review that they deserve in multiple places