I got my new 2011 WRX.. wtf they drilled my bumper?!?

[Clovis]

I'll start with the good.

I got my new car tonight - I loved the service and my sales guy was great - he gave me what I would consider to be a phenomenal deal. I was so impressed with my sales guy I said no to a last minute offer for the same car (same features and options indentical save for color), but in black from another dealer for $450 less. I also left my sales guy a personal thank you note with a large cash tip inside.

I'm a sales guy myself but car sales is HARD, I would rank it up there with door to door sales in terms of difficulty. By comparison I work behind a comfy desk in a nice building and sell mortgages over the phone for one of the "big 4" banks.

So I got home tonight - set up my home link, bluetooth ect and then proceeded to de-badge the car of the dealer logo and license plate frame. Nothing against them, I just prefer a clean looking car. I live in Colorado which requires a front and rear plate but I haven't had a front plate on any of my cars in the last 10 years - never had a problem or even mentioned by a cop.

As I take off the front license plate I saw that as they prepped the car for my arrival (ie, this wasn't there yesterday) they DRILLED two screw holes into my bumpers. The bumpers even have a sticker that says "DO NOT DRILL" and there are two holes to installed from the factory for the plate.

So now I have these two freak'n holes on my front bumper which will either need to be fixed/replaced or I'll simply have to get a front license plate. It looks like the bumper is a single peice so my guess is deal with it or replace it.

I'm going to call them tomorrow of course and see what they'll do but now I'm rather pissed that I can't have my "clean" look because they just had to put their dealer license plate holder and paper logo tag there.

Has anyone else had this problem or experience?

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-Clovis

[Monk_Knight]

That's annoying for sure... but I don't know how much you can really blame them. After all it's the law to have a front plate, I'm sure they assumed that you were going to put one on and it wouldn't be any big deal. Though it is odd that they didn't use the factory mounts.

With the personal note and tip that you left your salesman though, I'd bet he'd be willing to at least try to make it right.

[Chader]

You could put on a "plate delete".

[elblako91]

TAKE IT BACK! they should not have drilled the holes there especially if there is a note from the factory that says not to do it. Plus I see the factory existing holes where they could have attached the plates. As you mentioned you left a tip to the salesman so I'm pretty sure he would be on your side and try to make things right. The worse thing they could tell you is no.

[mista jc]

During the last few minutes of the transaction, my salesman made me sign a waiver, especially in CA. It read, I understand that the dealership has drilled and placed a front license plate holder both front and back. This is required by law and I understand the dealer is not responsible for any tickets I may receive.

The salesman said, this is just in case you take off your front plate, get a ticket as you leave the lot, then come back here trying to make the dealership pay for the ticket.

But yeah.. I'd me bad about two holes on my fresh 11' if I had one also.

[Clovis]

I spoke with the sales manager that I worked with yesterday.

He told me they did it because the law requires a front plate, however he told me the two holes were already there as "pilot" holes. The plastic frame holes are for a license plate holder upgrade.

In other words, they didn't actually drill anything but the screw pulled some of the plastic out.

I inserted two of the black screws they had it attached with and that pretty much covers it up.

I'm just curious, because I kind of decided to do this last minute but has anyone else tipped their sales rep for buying a car? I'm talking a small thank you note with $80 inside. He told me he was already making the minimum on the deal, $150.

-Clovis

[Sasquatch]

I'm just curious, because I kind of decided to do this last minute but has anyone else tipped their sales rep for buying a car? I'm talking a small thank you note with $80 inside. He told me he was already making the minimum on the deal, $150.

-Clovis

Only $150? Don't beleive it. Please don't start a trend.

[economatic]

Only $150? Don't beleive it. Please don't start a trend.

I've head that before. The manager at the Nissan dealership where I bought a Frontier told me they were losing money on the deal. Funny, doesn't sound like a viable business model to me.

Your call about giving him some extra cash. I don't think I would as he was being disingenuous with his $150 comment. However, I will say I often kick in some extra cash when I get good deals on services and if he delivered then by all means do it.

[Merk247]

i work at a dealer and they always make money on the deal no matter how good they make it sound they dont do anything for nothing.also i have to drill holes in new car front bumpers to attach the plate brackets. there are "pilot dimples" in the bumper but def no holes.

[Clovis]

Well I like to tip for good service and I felt like my sales guy helped out. He had nothing to do with the holes, in fact it was his day off that we actually bought the car. I just told the manager we'd come in that night if our sales guy would get full credit.

The holes look better now that I've put screws in, but still... I guess it's either keep them plugged or use a front license plate (which is really just a big target for laser/radar guns anyways).

-Clovis

[kbrownmann]

i work at a dealer and they always make money on the deal no matter how good they make it sound they dont do anything for nothing.also i have to drill holes in new car front bumpers to attach the plate brackets. there are "pilot dimples" in the bumper but def no holes.

yeah they make more money than the difference between invoice and sales price. There are dealer fees, holdback, warranties, ect. they make money on every new car they sell. the only time they might lose money is if they have a used car for several months that they know they wont be able to sell

[LetsWRCinmyWRX]

You could put on a "plate delete".

+1
DEF recommend looking for a plate delete...Subimods? Perrin? I got one from Autotrim design for my 03.

[Clovis]

I think that's the best bet. I also looked at the metal plates that say simply "WRX" as well.

Thanks guys!!

-Clovis

[mangostick]

Well I like to tip for good service and I felt like my sales guy helped out. He had nothing to do with the holes, in fact it was his day off that we actually bought the car. I just told the manager we'd come in that night if our sales guy would get full credit.

The holes look better now that I've put screws in, but still... I guess it's either keep them plugged or use a front license plate (which is really just a big target for laser/radar guns anyways).

-Clovis

go to the hardware store and get some button head allen bolts to put in the holes. They have a smooth rounded appearance and usually you can get then in black. That way you have a much cleaner look vs hex head or cross tip screws.

sucks about the holes, but they do that in a lot of states because state law and front plate regs. Not much you can do. I know here in Va and when I was in Ny front plates are mandatory.. running without one carries a healthy fine in both states let alone harassment from the fuzz. Having quite a few friends in law enforcement, they also add that it gives them a reason to look harder for other things you might have goin on.

[irish44j]

my plates won't attach to the factory holes on the square plate molded into the bumper. THey're too wide. I have a second set of holes that line up with the plates.