Expert: Charlie Barone - 11/1/2009

Question
I am hoping you can give me some advice.  I took my Lexus IS250 into a body shop for replacement of the rear bumper (recommended by my ins company) and all of a sudden I noticed the trim on my windshield pops off.  I brought the car into my lexus dealer and they say that the windshield has been replaced with after market glass - Pilkington.  The Lexus dealer says they won't fix the issue because it's not original glass and that they don't use Pilkington.  I have never had the car serviced anywhere except at 1 Lexus dealer and this bodyshop.  Do I have any recourse?  Any way I can track down the glass in my car to find out where it came from?

Answer
Your car obviously has pre-delivery damage which was not disclosed to you prior to your purchase. Many states have laws regarding the threshold (either an amount or percentage of the value) of repair costs that must be disclosed to a buyer of a new car. I would contact a lawyer with a specialty in lemon law claims, as they are the typical ones who take these cases. In most states there is no cost to you and the attorney can subpoena the records of your car in order to find out who replaced this glass.