I aquired my 2002 4.6is back in December of last year. I bought it from a dealer in Oklahoma online, sight unseen (I live in North Carolina). The dealer described it as extremely nice with no accident damage, no apparent bodywork or any paint issues... and no dings anywhere; It was a nice vehicle.

He further indicated that he had purchased it from someone that he personally knew whom had bought it brand new and leased it through his business. The "dealer" bought it from this original owner though his dealership and had been using it as his personal/business vehicle, so virtually, it was considered a "one owner" vehicle... PERFECT! that was exactly what I had been looking for!

I had several conversations with the dealer guy and the CARFAX showed no issues, which agreed with what he was telling me. At the very last, as the X was being loaded on the transporter, he briefly mentioned that there had been some minor hail damage on the roof, but that it was hardly noticible and wasn't even worth repairing; the rest of the car looks so unbelievabley nice as it had been well taken care of.... He said that I would be very pleased.

Based on our conversations, I felt like I was getting something nice dispite having some "very minor, not even noticible hail damage on top..." I accepted this as being the only minor imperfection... after all, no used car is really perfect. I bought the car and had it delivered to me.

When the X arrived, it appeared to be decent from the parking lot (at night), but I was later disappointed to find evidence of paint overspray everywhere and a couple of places where there the paint had even sagged and ran... (looked like a poor Macco job). I had it wet-sanded and buffed. While it looked much better, the overspray on the trim and rubber pieces was really beginning to annoy me + somewhere along the way it had PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) accomplished and that job was also not done very well; It's BLACK and you can still see every ripple.... no dings, my ass!

Enough is enough!
Finally, the condition of the paint got the best of me and I decided to take it to a respected bodyshop to correct the issues; We found even more problems with the paint.. OK, let's correct the problems and have it done right!

Today they started disassembling the vehicle and guess what?!? It has been hit in the back and in the front, plus the hail damage is far worse than even I expected. When the front bumper cover came off, the bumper bar was pushed back 4 inches, indicating a significant hit and.... AND there is 20 mils of paint on parts of the roof to hide the hail damage (factory is 2-4mils)! This didn't work because my roof still looks like a golf ball with all the divits.... it really needs a roof skin (another $1700), but we're going to let that slide due to the cost... the bodyshop can repair it for far less. The hood is a different story; it has so many divots that it would cost more to repair it than to buy a new one!

If the dealer knew the vehicle like he claimed, he obviously knew of the damage and of the poor finish quality, yet failed to share that information with me.

To correct everything properly with replacement parts; hood, bumper, bumper bar, trim... labor, the repair bill is rapidly approaching $10k! Yes, it will be nearly perfect when it's done... yet after the repairs, I will have nearly $25,000 in a car that is (maybe) worth $17,000!

Overall, I have been happy with everything else on the truck and since December, I have brought it up to my mechanical standard... $2500 on valley pan, valve covers, timing cover, full filter service, new fluids... blah, blah, blah... it runs and drives great!

Now the question;
Do I fix it and chalk it up as a bad experience ....or ask that the dealer pay for the differance in repair cost vs. fair market value? I am not sure what his legal responsibility is ...or if there is some sort of protection from these crooks at all. Maybe it is time to contact my attorney.... What would you do???

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