It seems some automotive dealerships in U.S. have sold “hundreds” of recalled vehicles without actually fixing them, according to a recent ABC News investigation.
By law, vehicle dealers must repair new vehicles with recalls at or before the time of sale. Though it is not mandatory for a salesperson to disclose the vehicle it is illegal to sell a vehicle without completing mandatory recall repairs.
The news program went undercover at Hawthorne Chevrolet, in New Jersey, and used a hidden camera to capture a salesperson who willingly sold them a recalled vehicle that had not been fixed.
They purchased a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado with recall #14192, a serious mandatory recall that states that the vehicle is at risk of rolling away while in neutral. It also says that if the vehicle’s transfer case switches to neutral while being driven the vehicle could lose power, increasing the risk of a crash.
The news team simply ran the vehicles VIN to find the recall and then visually inspected it to ensure it had been repaired. To their surprise, none of the repair work had been completed.
That particular recall was launched in June 2014 and the recall rate currently stands at 86 per cent, meaning 402,000 of the 467,000 recalled vehicles have been fixed. That same recall also concerns ’14 and ’15 Sierras, and certain ’15 Silverados, Tahoes, Suburbans, Yukons and Yukon XLs.
“General Motors instructs its dealers to complete all open recalls on new and used vehicles prior to sale and delivery to customers,” GM said in a statement to the news program. “GM has systems and reports available to dealers to allow them to check the status of open recalls on GM vehicles for both new and used car inventories.”
However, it’s not just GM dealers that have been caught. The news program says it’s confirmed that several hundred vehicles have been sold from a wide variety of OEM’s. In total, over 100 dealerships have sold vehicles without recall work, and most of the sales occurred just in the second half of 2014.
Comments
This is off the charts, and I don’t even care what the stealerships do; the real question is this: What DO the engineers do at the various proving grounds? Pick their noses? The cars and trucks don’t seem to be tested until turned loose on the public.
This is why GM should leave the high tech stuff to the big boys, just more to go wrong, and they lack the know how and the commitment to quality to make it work safely and reliably. New GM = Old GM.
And just who are the big boys you speak of? please enlighten us who you speak of because last time I checked almost every OEm has had many recalls and this has to do with the dealerships not fixing open recalls. So once again how is this GMs fault they don’t own the dealerships.
With the dealerships(stealerships) the way they are sometimes, I think it should be a given that the phrase: Let the buyer beware always be observed and do your homework then demand that part of the deal before any sale that outstanding recalls be completed before one takes delivery of said vehicle thought of being purchased. That should apply to both new and used providing they are within the allotted time frame IMO. Also, kudos to a news organization actually doing their jobs for a change instead of sucking up or ignoring things.
GM may not own the Dealerships, but they have Strict and Implicit Contracts with them and my thoughts is…..Close the Violators down and get this do nothing Congress and Senate to pay attention to the Country because a Sales person who is not obligated to Disclose these Major Improprieties is Unacceptable as well!!!
Stop sales on safety items that affect steering, engine power or things like airbags should have the repair done before it can be sold. The issue is manufacturers order a stop sale but have no fix designed yet alone produced and shipped to dealers. How many businesses would survive if their supplier said “ok, you can’t sell anything for the next 4 months until we design a fix that works and get pieces built”? At one point there were stop sales on the Silverado, Cruze, Lamdas like Traverse, Sonic, and Malibu all in the same period. How do dealerships keep salespeople, managers, accounting departments, detailing departments employed if they can’t sell anything for months?
The other problem specifically with GM is that Mary is going after every little thing and making them a stop sale instead of many of them being technical service bulletins like in the past. Does covering a thick steel cable used on the Lamda’s seat belt with a shrink rubber to protect it from salt and moisture need to be a stop sale when it takes years to wear through the material covering the cable before it can even get moisture to start corroding? It should have been a TSB done when a customer brings the vehicle in for an oil change or a letter sent out to arrange a repair at customers convenience. Instead there was a stop sale for 3 mths.
Again there are safety items that should be a stop sale, but many items that should also be TSBs also. Put yourself in a salespersons shoes; could you feed your family if you couldn’t sell anything for the next 4 mths?
And for you guys calling them stealerships, find a different dealer if your’s is like that. Not all dealerships are the same. Profit is not a dirty word, after all you wouldn’t have a job if your employer didn’t make a profit off the backs of others would you. Many of you on here are mechanics, contractors, work in construction, HVAC, are lawyers, accountants, computer technicians etc and I have seen many a more thieves gouging customers and doing extremely shawdy work in those industries but I bet you would defend your profession wouldn’t you.
Go ahead and roast me for this post but I am sick and tired of people coming on forums and roasting an industry they have never been in to know what truly goes on or were in the industry 20 yrs ago and are just as clueless as to what goes on today. Then they have a couple bad experiences and lump all dealerships into the same stereotype.
And this is another reason why the dealership model is ineffectual and needs to be eliminated.
That means you and everything you hold dear, dpach.
If you are so bold as to get rid of the dealership system, I can’t wait to hear your very thorough description of a manufacturer/dealership system that would be better in regards to:
– Manufacturer to dealership policies and procedures in regards to sales including the interest free floor plan period for inventory from interest commencement dates and the affects stop sales have on them and interest paid.
– stop sales orders and payment structure for all sales related employee’s income
– reimbursement procedures and policies in relation to non-protected dealer incentives on sold factory orders being being held on a stop sale and customer reimbursement for time without their factory ordered vehicle.
– stop sales orders completion of the repair on high volumes of vehicles tying up service hours to the point service has to turn customer pay repairs away as well as salary compensation for lost income to service advisors and technicians who are being paid at warranty rate instead of book rate.
– distribution of replacement parts for stop sale warranty in an effective manner in relation to interest free period termination dates as to prevent unnecessary interest paid by dealerships.
– negotiations gaining additions suppliers for immediate production of replacement parts and quality control implementation for new suppliers.
If you are prepared to bash and abolish a system, be prepared to present your alternatives please.
I will await your detailed plan.
What part of any of that is tied to the salesperson on the floor? In fact, what part of the above could ONLY be accomplished under the dealership model and not through the store model? I really like to know that. Inform me what part is dealt with by the salesperson on the floor? That’s not ignorance, I want you to tell me what salesperson in the grey cubical is calling the shots on replacement parts and employee management?
It’s the on the floor salesperson that is under the crosshair and fit for elimination, as they offer no value added service to the car buying process; they’re an obstacle. They’re not there to manage parts flow and govern warranty or recall work. They’re there to pull in as much money in needless markup, and in this case, profit driven salespeople acting outside the concerns of safety and recall notices posted by the manufacturer.
Gotta push those quarterly unit sales, right? Who doesn’t want to be on top of the white-board sales chart? Think of the fat balding management people you could impress with your “convincing” blog posts! You gotta look like a go-getter!
This isn’t about the parts counter, or how HR hires and fires people, who cuts the cheques, or who manages they whole operation; in a store model they would be unaffected. It’s about greedy salespeople who act only the value of an undeserved commissional pay who should be stripped of their money and position, and left to die of social and consumer indifference.
You never said salesperson; you said dealership model. Don’t be backtracking now; stand behind what you said.
So in this statement you target salespeople who you clearly have a huge disrespect for. Mighty big of you. Sounds like you want to turn buying a car into something like buying a computer where you walk into a big box store, get some product knowledge deprived teenager pushing you towards something because it is cheaper or there is a spiff on a certain product; not because they sat down with you and you spouse, discussed your needs and wants, how you were going to use something, and then matched up the best product to that. Then they spend an hour going through the product before you take it home to make sure you know how everything works. Then when you come back in a week because you can’t figure something out they put a smile on their face and go over it again. Then in their down time time they spend hours watching product training programs online plus various hours training. People just love spending $1500 on a computer with a knowledgeless teenager; just imagine how they would love handing over $50,000 to one who knows nothing about what they just sold you because its not worth the hours of training for a minimum wage job.
Sounds like you to turn a car sales position into a minimum wage job likely because you think it would save you the consumer money. Well at minimum wage all you will get is a teenager to deal with. Think that will save you money? The manager still sets pricing? But can’t they go to one pricing like big box stores? People don’t trade used tv’s and computers in at Best Buy do they? That is why Toyota’s one pricing a few years ago didn’t work; because it pitted dealerships against each other based on who overpaid for used cars.
Who do you think tells a salesperson to sell that car to keep his job? The manager. Who holds the manager responsible for moving inventory? The dealership owner who is the one paying the wholesale floor plan interest. Who holds the dealership responsible to move their alloted orders; the manufacturer who sets the wholesale floor plan program who in term is accountable to the manufacturer’s management and corporate yuppies.
So you may ask why we just can’t go to a system where you order your car online and just pick it up at a dealership? Like an online order system. Well, it is a proven fact that 98% of customers want to drive the exact vehicle they are buying before they buy it. Can’t do that online.
So you want to change the salespeople, you have to start with the system which starts at the top. So start explaining your system; or have you not thought that far ahead.
I am not saying there aren’t bad salespeople out there as I know there are and plenty of them. But you as a consumer have the right to find another dealership and salesperson to deal with.
By the way, you know what business I am in, what occupation are you in?
That’s MY LOCAL DEALER. Just had my 2014 Silverado service done there. Did not purchase from them but my sister and brother did. Wow! Can’t trust anybody.
This is totally unbelievable , it must be giving Ms Barra conniptions !!
Where can i get a list of the dealerships who have done this? I can not trust the dealership to even do an oil change let alone something serious if they are the ones doing this shameful non-work. I own an 08 corvette and i havent been able to even find a chevy dealership that uses the proper method of lifting said vehicle properly. That is 4 dealerships in three states. Theyy have all lied to me about this lifting situation. The last one told me they dont sell corvettes so dont know the lifting procedure. I know for a fact they sell vettes because i almost bouht one from them last fall. If the people who work at these dealerships dont have enough gumption to learn the vehicles they sell they do not deserve a paycheck to feed their families. I also have a jeep rubicon sold to me by one of these same dealerships that had a bad radiator and was cought by another dealership on the first oil change. The dealership that sold me the jeep still has not told me about the recall and says there wasnt one to begin with except i saw the recall paperwork from the dealership that replaced the radiator without cost to me.
AGAIN, PLEASE DOES SOMEONE KNOW WHERE I CAN GET A LIST OF THESE NON COMPLIANT DEALERSHIPS SO I CAN GO TO ONE THAT CARES AND ARENT RIPPING ME OFF. ICE HAD ENOUGH OF THAT.
DPACH, YOU ARE AN ————–.
fill in the blank. You have said some stupid things so i will only mention one. The one where you said if they cant sell anything for 4 months how are they to survive. I DO NOT WANT TO PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM A CO. THAT SELLS VEHICLES THAT ARE BROKEN WHEN I GET THEM. FIRST OFF IT COULD COST PEOPLE THEIR LIVES AND IF NOT SERIOUS WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO PUT UP WITH A BROKEN VEHICLE OFF THE LOT. IF I WANTED BROKEN I WOULD BUY USED. “”USE YOUR BRAIN AND NOT JUST YOUR MOUTH BEFORE YOU SPEAK OR ARE YOU PUT HERE TO BLOG GARBAGE BY THE VERY SAME COMPANIES THAT ARE RIPPING THE CONSUMER OFF. WE AS AMERICANS ALREADY TAKE ENOUGH GARBAGE FROM A PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS WHO DO NOT WANT TO DO THEIR JOBS. Get the picture??, probably not……….
Howard, I have learned never to argue with an idiot as they bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience.
One thing I will say is that in my original post I did state that recalls including safety ones like loss of power or airbag issues should be done before selling. I was stating that a lot of the stop sales could have been TSBs because many of the are not safety issues. If you don’t want to buy from a manufacturer who has broken vehicles right off the lot, I guess you are riding a bicycle then because every manufacturer has had stop sale notices this year which means they are new vehicles broken on the lot.
Ever heard of a new home buyer or someone who had a custom home built and never had one wrong thing for the contactor to fix (and many being electrical which can kill)? Yeah, me neither. Being naive in the real world must suck.
It’s pretty difficult for a large corporation to keep up with each individual store for everything that happens on a day to day basis. I’m sure there are Walmarts that go against the company, there are fast food places that do. The point is, that there will still be someone that goes against the company to make a sale or break some policy. I agree that stop sales affect dealers in a negative way, but I also don’t think Mary and GM is completely wrong in issuing stop sales. If there’s a stop sale and there are dealers that care to follow, you can fix every car before they’re sold and not have to worry about TSBs.
This doesn’t just go for dealerships, if there’s a store or something that’s representing the company in a negative way, then I think the company needs to know about it. These dealerships will probably be watched a little more closely by the companies in question. The dealerships in question in this ABC case will probably also improve on their own now.
I’m not sure about leaving the high tech stuff to the “big boys”, for one I don’t know who the “big boys” are. Secondly other manufacturers have issues on new cars and they have to recall them. Thirdly, manufacturers share at least some of the same parts suppliers, just look at how many cars were affected by faulty Takata airbags. Parts suppliers are a huge issue. The other issues occur during assembly. You see GM in the news more frequently than others, the only reason I can think of, is that they caught something by testing, or some kind of inspection, and they want to fix it ASAP. I’m sure Mary and some at GM know what needs work as far as assembly and parts suppliers go, and improvements don’t just happen overnight.
So what do y’all think of the legislation Sen. Blumenthal (CT) and Rep. Markey (MA) have introduced that would require DMVs to notify owners of recalls at registration renewal time and to put a check in title transfers until the work is done? Here’s a recap from Blumenthal’s website earlier this month:
“Unrepaired safety defects endanger everyone on America’s roadways. Important recall notices can get bogged down with legalese, and busy consumers can miss a lifesaving update,” said Senator Blumenthal. “This legislation provides a common-sense avenue to ensure every driver is reminded and encouraged to make the necessary repairs and keep unsafe cars off the roads.”
“This legislation represents the three R’s of automotive safety: recall, repair, register,” said Senator Markey, a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. “We need to inform all vehicle owners of open safety recalls and ensure repairs get made quickly so our roads are kept safe. The RECALL Act will help prevent any more avoidable deaths from unrepaired recalls. I thank Senator Blumenthal for his partnership on this legislation and look forward to continuing to work with Chairman Thune and our colleagues to enact strong auto safety legislation to protect American families.”
Putting the issue of pummeling new car dealers aside for a moment, there are millions of vehicles sold every year through private sales and through non-franchised use car dealers. This would help to plug that loophole too.
Believe it or not everyday car and truck owners aren’t all honest and forthcoming. The odometer rollback laws in effect nowadays weren’t all enacted to just nail franchised new car dealers and the recall issue is begging for legislation that gets everyone into the act.
Interesting read. We don’t have that legislation here in Canada but I like the theory behind it. It would have to be written very carefully with many various scenarios in mind, but it would really help cut down on recalls that are never done.
There are a lot of people who buy a brand new vehicle and are never or seldom back in a dealership for maintenance or warranty. If these people move or change their email addresses, the manufacturer now has no way of letting them know there is even a recall on their vehicle. We saw this on a few vehicles this past year when someone would walk in upset because they found out their vehicle had a recall from a friend who had theirs done. But this person had moved provinces, changed email addresses and phone numbers, never contacted GM with their new info and had never been in to a GM dealership in their new city. So he understood when we asked him how exactly GM was supposed to notify him.
You hit the nail on the head about private sales too. We just turned down a customer who had purchased a vehicle 6 mths ago privately only to find out from us that it was a previous total loss vehicle that had been fixed and recertified, and was never told. He wanted to trade it in on a newer vehicle but being a previous TL, we can’t certify it as a GM certified used vehicle, sell any type of warranty or even stand behind it. He had his lawyer call the seller he purchased it from and within 4 days had his money back and car returned and this was 6 mths after the purchase. The same situation could occur for recalls and open campaigns too.
There’s a bigger issue that’s staring us all right in the face. That is: How is it that GM can allow Gray Chevrolet (pictured above) to operate a Chevrolet dealership without having one on their lot?
There really shouldn’t be a big suprise that this is happening . Along with the honest dealerships there are going to be the ones that are only concerned with moving sheetmetal and making a buck . If this was done intentionally the dealership should be fined . They are selling a dangerous product that could kill depending on whatever the recall was . And that goes to towards cars sold by the public . If you sell a car that hasn’t had a recall fixed and it could potentially hurt someone it should be against the law . There is no excuse for this when all recalls are fixed for free . Its just that there are alot of untrustworthy people in this world that dont care about anyone but themselves .
Simply run a v I s. Before inspection and the stop gap is the service advisor .sales are so hard to come by salesman and manager have pressure to write deals ..
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