Purchased a new car from Mission Chevrolet, El Paso, TX, with cash and a trade-in early on a Wednesday afternoon, was told it would be made ready and available for delivery the following day. A ferocious hail storm occurred that evening. The next day, when I came to pick up the car, my salesman, Moises, told me the car was not ready because a tailgate latch was not working properly and needed to be replaced. Although this latch worked fine when I test-drove the car, I took his word on it. He said the car would be ready later that evening or early on Friday instead. He said he would call. Disappointed, I asked Moises if the car had been damaged by hail. He said no, the car had been indoors in a service bay during the storm.

Moises called me Friday at 1:00 PM to come take delivery. The car was very badly hail-damaged, not just a few dings, but battered as if a hammer had been taken to it. I clearly did not want a car this damaged. I was led into a room with Mission Chevrolet employees Mike Kamal and John Demorris, thinking that they were going to apologize and explain how they would repair the car. Instead I was told that I had to accept the car and have it repaired on my own since “by Texas law it was mine when I signed the papers.” I was sympathetic to their plight but believed that they were responsible while the car was in their possession. I offered to swap for another car or order a new one or have it repaired in their body shop before I picked it up, but they were unyielding. I refused to take delivery of the car. The General Manager chased me down as I was leaving, telling me the damage was my responsibility and that I must take the car and have it repaired as I saw fit. Of course I disagreed. He said the car was mine and could “sit on his lot forever for all he cares.”

As I reconstruct the situation some things are clear: Moises did lie to me. I suspect he was told to do this so that Mission Chevrolet would have enough time to cash my check before I discovered the damage. By calling me Friday afternoon, I was left with little time to respond before the weekend. Furthermore, I learned that I am not eligible for GM's 60-Day return policy because a $500 reduction I was offered during price negotiations wound up being a waiver of GM's offer.

While I was sympathetic to the dealership—their inventory had really gotten beaten up—I was still astounded by how cavalierly they dismissed me and how unwilling they were to seek any other solution, even though I had continued to commiserate with them over the damage to their inventory and had demonstrated that I was willing to work with them toward a reasonable solution. This whole episode looks like a conspiracy to defraud me. Perhaps they have broken the law, perhaps not, but with behavior like this do you really think it’s safe to buy a vehicle from these people?