Tracy Mazerolle was excited to get her new bright orange Subaru. But her excitement quickly turned to disappointment after driving her brand new vehicle off the lot and soon discovering a defect.
Mazerolle said she’s owned Subaru vehicles in the past and wanted an upgrade.
“I was very, very happy with that Forester. So, I knew the next vehicle was probably going to be a Subaru,” said Mazerolle.
The Middletown resident spent $31,000 on a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek.
“Before I made my first payment on it, I noticed some chips on the rear passenger side door,” said Mazerolle.
Mazerolle didn’t think much of it, until she started noticing more paint chips.
“I’ve never seen this before on anyone’s vehicle before and I figured this has to be a defect in the paint,” she said.
Local
Mazerolle returned the car to the dealership and a sales associate told her about the paint protection on her warranty with Subaru of America.
They advised her to contact the company. She did so right away.
“They asked me to bring it back to my dealership and have the body shop specialist take some photos and submit it for the claim with Subaru of America,” said Mazerolle.
Mazerolle said Subaru of America denied her claim stating the chipping is the result of outside debris and offered to pay the comprehensive deductible on her car insurance.
“I was not willing to do that. That’s not what that coverage is for,” said Mazerolle.
A Subaru representative instructed her to take the vehicle to an authorized Subaru body shop of her choice.
“The specialist there confirmed to me, it is bad paint. It’s a manufacturer defect and he said he seen that before,” said Mazerolle.
Mazerolle said the tech told her it would take tens of thousands of dollars to repair it. If not, the car would start to rust over time.
“I never expected to run into this with a brand new vehicle,” added Mazerolle.
Having exhausted all of her options, Mazerolle called NBC Connecticut Responds in hopes of not losing the $31,000 she paid for the vehicle.
We reached out to Subaru of America on Mazerolle’s behalf.
The end result - a brand new 2018 Subaru Crosstrek!
Subaru of America told us in a statement:
“We are pleased that we were able to find a solution for the customer in this situation. While we believe that the paint issues were caused by outside influences such as road debris, we wanted to make sure the customer was satisfied with their new Subaru vehicle.”
So, rather than trying to fix the paint problem, Mazerolle got a new car.
“NBC’s involvement definitely made a big difference. It made them realize I wasn’t going to give up on this issue. So, it was very helpful to have the Responds team respond,” Mazerolle said.
