The Crooked Chevrolet Dealer Story
1988
A true story about a crooked Chevrolet Dealer and a crooked Insurance Company
Written in 1995 and Re-written 02/04/2016
Howard Yasgar
In 1984, I had purchased a new Corvette.
It was Silver car with a silver interior, a special four speed overdrive transmission, and a Bose radio system.
1984 was a transitional year for the Corvette, so the car had a lot of new technology
Around 1988, the transmission started making a loud whining noise.
Because the car was out of warranty I had decided to rebuild the transmission myself.
I had a local gas station remove the transmission, and I rolled the car across the street from the gas station and into the storage yard of a building that I owned.
The yard had a six foot concrete wall and a very high locked gate.
On top of the concrete wall was razor sharp concertina wire running along its entire length.
The gate also had razor sharp concertina wire on it.
Just opening the gate was dangerous as the concertina wire was like thousands of razor blades.
I thought the car would be safe there for a few days.
After we repaired the transmission, I left the car in the secure yard for a couple more days.
On the morning that I went to get the car, I found that someone had broken into the yard.
Not only that, but they had smashed the Corvette’s front windshield, then they reached in and opened the Corvette’s door.
Then using a big screwdriver or tire iron, they had attempted to take the cars dashboard apart, they were trying to remove the Bose radio.
It was a heartbreaking scene with all the broken glass in the car, and the damage to the dash board from their attempt to take the radio out.
The car was fully insured by Liberty Mutual, so I called them to report the incident.
They said they would have their insurance adjuster stop by.
But in the meantime I should have the windshield fixed so there would not be any possible water damage should it rain.
We pushed the car inside the building and I called a glass company.
The glass company came and vacuumed out all the glass and replaced the windshield.
Once the car had no glass remaining on the seats I had time to sit down and survey all the damage.
While they had attempted to remove the radio, I noticed that they had scratched a piece of plastic on it.
As promised the insurance adjuster came by and wrote up the damage.
He spoke enough English to instruct me to bring the car to a specific Chevrolet dealer. I won’t mention their name because they are still in business in Miami.
I did exactly as I was instructed.
After two weeks the Chevrolet dealer called to say the car was ready to be picked up.
I went there, and sat in the car.
It appeared they had replaced the all the plastic parts on the dashboard, and everything looked excellent but I noticed the small scratch was still in the plastic of the Bose radio.
So I assumed that they had not replaced the radio.
When I got back to my office, I looked at the Chevrolet dealers invoice to the insurance company
among the many items it said one new Bose radio $1300.00.
Well in 1988, $1300.00 was a lot of money, so it kind of bothered me that the Chevrolet agency was lying to the insurance Company.
So I called my insurance agency and I told them the Chevrolet dealer was lying, and they hadn’t replaced the Bose radio.
The woman at the insurance company said that wasn’t possible because their representative had approved it, and he said it was new.
So as far as the insurance company was concerned, the radio was new, and they would pay the $1300.00.
I suggested to her, that possibly the insurance adjuster was in collusion with the Chevrolet dealer.
She said no, not possible, and her company had total confidence in him.
I could see I was getting nowhere.
I called the Chevrolet dealer and asked for the Service Manager.
He wasn’t available so I left a short message regarding the radio having not being replaced.
The next day he returned my call, and said that he had checked with his service people and they had indeed replaced the Bose radio with a new one.
It was an obvious lie, so I asked the service manager where the old radio was.
He said it went out with the trash.
I replied that no one ever put a Bose Corvette radio in the trash.
Now I was getting pretty upset with how bold the Chevrolet people were at lying.
It just happened that my next call was to my real estate attorney Roy Lustig.
In the course of conversation I told him about how the Chevrolet agency was charging the insurance company for a new Bose radio.
My attorney Roy, being a Corvette aficionado himself, said that the problem could easily be resolved as all Corvette parts have a serial number.
All I had to do was find what the serial number was on the original radio and verify that the one in the car was either the same or if it was different.
His idea was a good one, but I certainly didn’t want the expense of removing the radio to prove the Chevrolet dealer was lying.
I was just mad that the Chevrolet agency and the adjuster were in collusion and screwing the insurance company, who didn’t seem to mind being screwed.
But, I had to at least give it one more try, so I called and spoke to a senior manager at the Chevrolet agency.
I lied, and I told him that I had checked the Serial numbers and the radio had never been changed.
After that conversation, I knew why that guy was a senior manager.
It was because he was the biggest liar of all.
He called me back and said, “Yes you are right, the original radio had been sent out for repairs and reinstalled.
He said that the $1300.00 charge to the insurance company was a typographical error and it would be changed immediately.
I’m sure the insurance company is still waiting for the correction to appear, but it’s only been 27 years, and I’m still waiting for my copy of the corrected invoice.
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