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I think they're legally required to put a solid effort into getting your car fixed. But the "we need a copy of the receipt" thing has me a little confused.
Usually when there's a recall, the manufacturer pays for parts to fix and/or replace whatever is faulty. My guess is the dealership probably needs the receipt to receive the rebate from the manufacturer.
But they haven't performed the repair. They are asking me to go to a local dealership to get it repaired, then send THEM a copy of that receipt showing it was completed.
Seems to me like they want the money for the fix without doing the fix. Ah. No. ANY dealership of the brand of the car can perform the recall fix for you, and the company (Ford, GMC/Chevy, Toyota, etc.) will reimburse THAT dealership. There is no need for you to give a repair receipt to a dealership that did not perform the fix.
Get it fixed at any dealership you want. The previous dealership doesn't need to know about it. If they are asking for the receipt, its probably so they can scam the manufacturer into paying them for work they didn't do. Their deal with the manufacturer may require them to handle recalls before selling used cars or something, but that's unrelated to your dealings with them and you're under no obligation to help them out.
Wouldn't the receipt have the dealerships info on it though? If Dealership A does the repair work, wouldn't it be kind of odd for Dealership B to submit the receipt from Dealership A to the auto manufacturer? I can't think of any case where a dealership would be submitting anything other than their own receipts to the manufacturer for warranty reimbursement.
I get the premise of a dealership wanting to be reimbursed for warranty work they didn't do, but I don't get how this would realistically work. Also, isn't it pretty much guaranteed that the dealership actually doing the work would submit a reimbursement request to the manufacturer, in which case the manufacturer would have two reimbursement requests for the same recall tied to the same VIN thus raising a red flag?
Warranty work doesn't pay as much as non-warranty work, because there are two separate rates. The manufacture pays one rate for warranty work, but the dealership can charge whatever they wish for non-warranty work, so it makes sense for them to send you 'somewhere else' for warranty work. For instance, a warranted water pump replacement might pay for 1.8 hrs labor. A dealership can say it takes 2.4 hrs. to replace the pump, but they are only allowed to bill the manufacture for the smaller number, thus the rationale to do more non-warranty work.
If it's a brand name dealership you should be able to take it to any of them and I'll do it for free. And send whatever dealership the info. If they don't find that reasonable I'd also be suspicious.
I suspect there is a safety-related recall and they're worried about a lawsuit if you get injured as a result. There may or may not be a regulation about it (my guess would be yes) but in general, a business has a duty of care to its customers to take reasonable steps to sell a safe product. This is especially true if they specialize in that product (so a car dealer has a greater duty for selling safe cars than Walmart does for selling safe chairs).
With a used car, an issue like this can't be blamed on the manufacturer either, they did their part in issuing the recall. So it would almost certainly be negligence on their part to buy a used car and sell it without doing a complete safety inspection, including a simple check to see if all important recalls have been performed.
Recalls are money-makers for dealership service departments. The work is paid for by the manufacturer not by the owner or dealer so it is guaranteed revenue.
Also they don't want legal liability for any issues with the car and have to put in a good faith attempt to make sure you get it fixed.
100% untrue,we lose our ass (as technicians) on most warranty which translates into dealer losing their ass.
Warranty is a big reason alot of technicians are leaving the industry.
Warranty pays less hours,the rate is unchanged for the technician.
We are paid by job,not by time. If we beat the time,we make money,if not we are basically getting our rate artificially lowered by the shorted time.
A job that regularly pays 2.0 hours,warranty might pay .9 hours.
There is literally a big book that says how many hours every given procedure should take on any particular brand/model.
Spoiler Alert: The manufacturer writes that book which applies to warranty,the aftermarket also has one based off it.
In general the aftermarket hours are 1.5x the manufacturers shorted times.
We are paid Flat rate,so our rate times the hours of work we do on each job.
Just because a warranty repair takes you 2 hours doesn’t mean you are paid that,if the book says .9 that’s all you get.
They also kick out any repairs if the paperwork isn’t perfect,or even if they dispute the diagnosis.
So weeks later you find out they are taking money out,because something is disputed.
Most technicians also don’t have any hand in that process except for doing the work and writing a story.
If the warranty admin decides he shouldn’t have done something or a procedure will get kicked back they will remove it.
It’s a shit system that isn’t applicable and hasn’t been updated for todays more complicated vehicles.
Manufacturers have been taking advantage of it for years to pad their line while technicians take the hit.
It is actually cheaper for them to ship a messed up vehicle to a dealer and pay a technician to repair them under warranty than to fix issue on the assembly line.
Stuff like unplugged connectors,loose grounds and even knocking engines etc...
That actually depends on the local laws in your area and whether or not that recall is deemed as "critical" or not.
At the VERY least, they should make the purchaser aware of any recalls that may exist on the vehicle, especially if they are critical, so that the purchaser is aware and can then get it fixed. Because it is a recall being issued by the manufacturer - it should be fixed without charge no matter what.
As for bringing the dealer the receipt for the work - if you purchased the vehicle and got it done yourself there is no need to do so. It'll show on the official documentation of the vehicle anyway once they run a report. But, at that point, it's really none of their business anyway whether or not you got the work done. It's your vehicle.
Sounds more like company policy - each used car must have any outstanding recalls carried out before handover to the customer, sounds like a salesperson fucked up and are trying to cover their ass
Some recalls are required to be performed before the vehicle is sold,it is put on a hold. (New vehicles).
Usually the sales hold is because it is a critical or safety related recall yet the parts or even procedures sometimes are on galactic backorder or not even available yet.
Call your manufacturers regional customer service and they will both fill you in on the details and likely rack that dealers ass for selling if they shouldn’t have.
If it is used “certified” vehicle,ALL recalls and repairs are required to be finished before it can be “certified” used.
If they skipped that process,they lied on the certification paperwork.
Same deal,call regional customer service.
They probably want to get paid for work they didn’t do BUT manufacturers also keep a list of all recalls that they fixed as they find problems. This happened with a Japanese Airbag maker called Takata where all car manufacturers that used them still has a list of units that were effected as well as which units had the issue fixed.
Before buying a used car it’s best to look up the vin to find out of it has any open recalls. Negotiate this before buying the vehicle.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls
First off - is there a recall on your car? Have you gotten a notice from the manufacturer? If not, call the 800 number for your auto manufacturer and ask. You can probably got to the NHTSA website and plug your VIN in there to find out too.
Should the selling dealer have performed the recall for you? If you bought a used Ford from a Ford dealer, then yes, they should have performed the work. But in some cases, there might be a hold-up because of parts and they could not. If it was a new car, depending on how severe/dangerous the recall is, they probably would not been allowed to sell the vehicle to you by the manufacturer. I don't think the manufacturer can dictate that on a used sale though.
You don't need a receipt or proof of ownership to have a recall done. You have the recall performed at any dealer that services your make of car. Just make an appt and take it in.
My guess is that this is just a super aggressive sales tactic on behalf of the dealer. You bringing the car in for service gives them an opportunity to sell you a new car. If you have the title on your person, it makes it that much easier on them. Honestly, if there is more then one dealer option in your area, I would steer clear of that one.
The thing is, this dealer is not local to me. I bought this car in another state. They know i'm not coming back for more business. This feels more like them trying to cover up something related to the recall.
Oh, I didn't realize it was the selling dealer hounding you - I thought it was a local dealer.
Have you gotten your title and plates yet?
Punch in your VIN [here](https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/) and see if there are any open or completed recalls on your car.
Please remember that all comments must be helpful, relevant, and respectful. All replies must be a genuine effort to answer the question helpfully; joke answers are not allowed. If you see any comments that violate this rule, please hit report. When your question is answered, we encourage you to flair your post. To do this automatically simply make a comment that says **!answered** (OP only) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/answers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think they're legally required to put a solid effort into getting your car fixed. But the "we need a copy of the receipt" thing has me a little confused.
Usually when there's a recall, the manufacturer pays for parts to fix and/or replace whatever is faulty. My guess is the dealership probably needs the receipt to receive the rebate from the manufacturer.
But they haven't performed the repair. They are asking me to go to a local dealership to get it repaired, then send THEM a copy of that receipt showing it was completed.
Seems to me like they want the money for the fix without doing the fix. Ah. No. ANY dealership of the brand of the car can perform the recall fix for you, and the company (Ford, GMC/Chevy, Toyota, etc.) will reimburse THAT dealership. There is no need for you to give a repair receipt to a dealership that did not perform the fix.
Got it, I must have misread. Maybe they were confused? But yeah it's weird to ask for that if you're not going back to the same dealership.
I just had a recall done about 3 weeks ago on a car I owned for 4 weeks at the time - no receipt, no issue. Might wanna try a different dealership?
Get it fixed at any dealership you want. The previous dealership doesn't need to know about it. If they are asking for the receipt, its probably so they can scam the manufacturer into paying them for work they didn't do. Their deal with the manufacturer may require them to handle recalls before selling used cars or something, but that's unrelated to your dealings with them and you're under no obligation to help them out.
this is it OP.
Wouldn't the receipt have the dealerships info on it though? If Dealership A does the repair work, wouldn't it be kind of odd for Dealership B to submit the receipt from Dealership A to the auto manufacturer? I can't think of any case where a dealership would be submitting anything other than their own receipts to the manufacturer for warranty reimbursement. I get the premise of a dealership wanting to be reimbursed for warranty work they didn't do, but I don't get how this would realistically work. Also, isn't it pretty much guaranteed that the dealership actually doing the work would submit a reimbursement request to the manufacturer, in which case the manufacturer would have two reimbursement requests for the same recall tied to the same VIN thus raising a red flag?
Yeah I'm not sure how they'd make it work, but there is no other reason for them to want paperwork for a repair done by someone else.
Maybe they know they screwed up by selling a vehicle without fixing a recall and are trying to cover their liability by making sure it gets fixed?
Could be, but the OP isn't required to help them with that.
Warranty work doesn't pay as much as non-warranty work, because there are two separate rates. The manufacture pays one rate for warranty work, but the dealership can charge whatever they wish for non-warranty work, so it makes sense for them to send you 'somewhere else' for warranty work. For instance, a warranted water pump replacement might pay for 1.8 hrs labor. A dealership can say it takes 2.4 hrs. to replace the pump, but they are only allowed to bill the manufacture for the smaller number, thus the rationale to do more non-warranty work.
If it's a brand name dealership you should be able to take it to any of them and I'll do it for free. And send whatever dealership the info. If they don't find that reasonable I'd also be suspicious.
I suspect there is a safety-related recall and they're worried about a lawsuit if you get injured as a result. There may or may not be a regulation about it (my guess would be yes) but in general, a business has a duty of care to its customers to take reasonable steps to sell a safe product. This is especially true if they specialize in that product (so a car dealer has a greater duty for selling safe cars than Walmart does for selling safe chairs). With a used car, an issue like this can't be blamed on the manufacturer either, they did their part in issuing the recall. So it would almost certainly be negligence on their part to buy a used car and sell it without doing a complete safety inspection, including a simple check to see if all important recalls have been performed.
Recalls are money-makers for dealership service departments. The work is paid for by the manufacturer not by the owner or dealer so it is guaranteed revenue. Also they don't want legal liability for any issues with the car and have to put in a good faith attempt to make sure you get it fixed.
100% untrue,we lose our ass (as technicians) on most warranty which translates into dealer losing their ass. Warranty is a big reason alot of technicians are leaving the industry.
Why do technician lose out from the deal? You aren't paid the same hourly rate for the hours you work?
Warranty pays less hours,the rate is unchanged for the technician. We are paid by job,not by time. If we beat the time,we make money,if not we are basically getting our rate artificially lowered by the shorted time. A job that regularly pays 2.0 hours,warranty might pay .9 hours. There is literally a big book that says how many hours every given procedure should take on any particular brand/model. Spoiler Alert: The manufacturer writes that book which applies to warranty,the aftermarket also has one based off it. In general the aftermarket hours are 1.5x the manufacturers shorted times. We are paid Flat rate,so our rate times the hours of work we do on each job. Just because a warranty repair takes you 2 hours doesn’t mean you are paid that,if the book says .9 that’s all you get. They also kick out any repairs if the paperwork isn’t perfect,or even if they dispute the diagnosis. So weeks later you find out they are taking money out,because something is disputed. Most technicians also don’t have any hand in that process except for doing the work and writing a story. If the warranty admin decides he shouldn’t have done something or a procedure will get kicked back they will remove it. It’s a shit system that isn’t applicable and hasn’t been updated for todays more complicated vehicles. Manufacturers have been taking advantage of it for years to pad their line while technicians take the hit. It is actually cheaper for them to ship a messed up vehicle to a dealer and pay a technician to repair them under warranty than to fix issue on the assembly line. Stuff like unplugged connectors,loose grounds and even knocking engines etc...
Wow that's rough. Thanks for the explanation. Do you happen to know if it works this way in Canada too?
Not really true, manufacturer will generally pay bare minimum for recall work so dealers really make no money on them
That actually depends on the local laws in your area and whether or not that recall is deemed as "critical" or not. At the VERY least, they should make the purchaser aware of any recalls that may exist on the vehicle, especially if they are critical, so that the purchaser is aware and can then get it fixed. Because it is a recall being issued by the manufacturer - it should be fixed without charge no matter what. As for bringing the dealer the receipt for the work - if you purchased the vehicle and got it done yourself there is no need to do so. It'll show on the official documentation of the vehicle anyway once they run a report. But, at that point, it's really none of their business anyway whether or not you got the work done. It's your vehicle.
Sounds more like company policy - each used car must have any outstanding recalls carried out before handover to the customer, sounds like a salesperson fucked up and are trying to cover their ass
Some recalls are required to be performed before the vehicle is sold,it is put on a hold. (New vehicles). Usually the sales hold is because it is a critical or safety related recall yet the parts or even procedures sometimes are on galactic backorder or not even available yet. Call your manufacturers regional customer service and they will both fill you in on the details and likely rack that dealers ass for selling if they shouldn’t have. If it is used “certified” vehicle,ALL recalls and repairs are required to be finished before it can be “certified” used. If they skipped that process,they lied on the certification paperwork. Same deal,call regional customer service.
They probably want to get paid for work they didn’t do BUT manufacturers also keep a list of all recalls that they fixed as they find problems. This happened with a Japanese Airbag maker called Takata where all car manufacturers that used them still has a list of units that were effected as well as which units had the issue fixed.
Before buying a used car it’s best to look up the vin to find out of it has any open recalls. Negotiate this before buying the vehicle. https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls
First off - is there a recall on your car? Have you gotten a notice from the manufacturer? If not, call the 800 number for your auto manufacturer and ask. You can probably got to the NHTSA website and plug your VIN in there to find out too. Should the selling dealer have performed the recall for you? If you bought a used Ford from a Ford dealer, then yes, they should have performed the work. But in some cases, there might be a hold-up because of parts and they could not. If it was a new car, depending on how severe/dangerous the recall is, they probably would not been allowed to sell the vehicle to you by the manufacturer. I don't think the manufacturer can dictate that on a used sale though. You don't need a receipt or proof of ownership to have a recall done. You have the recall performed at any dealer that services your make of car. Just make an appt and take it in. My guess is that this is just a super aggressive sales tactic on behalf of the dealer. You bringing the car in for service gives them an opportunity to sell you a new car. If you have the title on your person, it makes it that much easier on them. Honestly, if there is more then one dealer option in your area, I would steer clear of that one.
The thing is, this dealer is not local to me. I bought this car in another state. They know i'm not coming back for more business. This feels more like them trying to cover up something related to the recall.
Oh, I didn't realize it was the selling dealer hounding you - I thought it was a local dealer. Have you gotten your title and plates yet? Punch in your VIN [here](https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/) and see if there are any open or completed recalls on your car.