I recently took my hhr in to the dealer to get the oil changed and while i was there i asked them about the etching of the paint on the rear rocker panel and on the rear door gravel guard. After 2 body shop opinions i was told that it could be repaired and it will be ONCE under my warranty, but that it will return yearly. I have mud flaps on the car since i bought it. I don't want running boards but was told that because of poor design i will need to get them eventually. I also was told by one of the body shops that this problem occured on the GM Envoy and Blazer and the remedy was GM offered FREE running boards to any owner who had this vehicle. Because this is a new model this problem has not showed up until now. Has anyone had similar problems and what did the dealer or GM do about it? Should i offer to split the difference or should i make them pay for it?

 

There's been many discussion here about this. Do a search for sand blasting, running boards, etc.....

You find more than you wanted to know!

 

Do a quick search and you will find you are not alone.

 

MUCH, MUCH MORE!! And then some.

 

What they said up there^^^

This issue is not just a can of worms...it's a 55 gallon drum of them...and then some.

 

I have the same problem My car goes in on monday the 9th I have to pay for the boards but Gm is paying to install & paint them I tried everything I could to have them pay for everything but no luck I even asked the dealer but still no luck.

 

Actually I think , but really, its more like the HHR full of worms and it's not about to stop anytime soon. Yes there is something wrong with the design/paint , yet let's see who's ready to give up their ride because of this problem .I DON'T THINK SO. I know the problem, I got the dealer to install flaps before I signed the dotted line because I saw/heard of the small (at that time) problem. And I have really seen NO HELP AT ALL with them, compared to others that have none at all.

 

With only 1100 miles I have no visible paint damage-- yet. But I am going to take the issue up with my dealer pretty soon and probe them as far as a response. I have no qualms about taking it all the way up the dealer regional chain of command and Chevrolet customer care, and if necessary the BBB (only because some have posted BBB actually did help them negotiate w/ chevy). I'm tight enough with my hard earned money that if it was coal it'd be diamonds soon enough, so I won't pony up my own ca$h for boards until I've exhausted all possibilities with Chevrolet.

 

Good luck...been there and done that. You might get lucky and have them take care of it...but it's highly doubtful I believe. They may split some of the cost with you...but probably not all. Only angle I can see working is the fact that GM has been aware of this problem from the get go...and it obviously wasn't passed on to the sales personnel. Apparently many of them don't care about the issue as I'm sure they don't make much selling HHR's.

 

What everyone else said. GM offered a cheap one time fix................my dealer treated me 500% better.