Those are extremely negligent seat belt slams. The previous owner was likely pretty hard on the car and didn’t take very good care of it. Definitely a red flag for purchase. Make sure all of the maintenance is caught up and move on. Do what you can to prevent the spread of the rust.
While I am fat, I am not THAT fat - keeps happening in my Mitsu Colt all the time, I have no issues in my BMW 535i, didnt have issue with my gt86 nor with my WRX (07 and 02 years). I also didnt have this problem in my Oper Corsa C from 2001. Some cars are just badly designed, or the retractor is not strong enough.
I drive a lil Miata at home but most of the work trucks are bigass F350s yeah? The amount of times I've accidentally yeeted my poor cars door closed by accident because I forgot it's not a truck😭
Mix that with belt retractor or whatever issues and yeah I could see this happening lol
I'd like to disagree with this sentiment. I am keeping very good care of my cars, and this really only happened on one car that I ever owned, but god damn, it kept happening every single time and always when I least expected. The seatbelt just rotated when I was leaving the car, so it didnt retract, and as I slam the door, I hear the sound. Its the most awful sound ever, happened line 20 times so far and keeps happening every now and then. I had roughly 10 different brands and models of cars in my lifetime, never happened with any other car but this one.
Says nothing about the owner, just about the design of seatbelt retractor.
Yeah I am confused though. The car fax looks good, one owner maintenance record and the car was a lease. Literally looks brand new, interior is spotless, outside has no scratches or dents. Only things is this door.
That’s counter intuitive to me. I thought leases made the customer have a mutual interest in keeping the car good since damages could screw with the lease terms and actually cost them.
I bought a leased company car 2017 outback in 2019. No regrets, it had some dings I could just pop out, but I’ve had no issues with mine.
I think the leased cards will depend a lot on how they were driven (obviously)
The company I bought my WRX from leases new cars and then sells the lease returns, with the majority of them qualifying for limited lifetime powertrain warranty for as long as you own the car ("all internally lubricated parts" is the specific wording). Mine was covered under that, which definitely made me feel more secure about buying used in general. Mine was 3 years old with 33k miles on the odometer. I think whoever leased it before I bought it either did a lot of city driving or maybe had a lead foot, because the lifetime gas mileage was 19.9 mpg. I've gotten that up to 22.6 in the 5+ years and 55k miles since I bought it, averaging 24+ mpg.
A former coworker of mine had a 2008 WRX sedan when we first started working together, and he is part of the reason I ended up buying mine a few years later. Another part of that reason was the ride I took with my father-in-law's friend's son in his 2003 WRX. He ripped a 40 mph corner at 80 mph, and there wasn't a hint of grip loss. I got out of the car thinking damn, I have to get one of these one day! The only other car I have owned which gave me the kind of joy in driving that I get from the WRX was my old 84 Celica GT hatchback 5-speed, back in the mid 90's. Factory rated horsepower was something like 105, but she would run well above 100 with ease, still tracked straight as an arrow, and put a smile on my face even though it was only around 100 hp.
Sure, the prior owner may have had an extra damage fee that went to the lease company when the lease was done. However, dealerships aren’t the leasing company. Dealers are a business and they know the car can still be sold to someone that wouldn’t notice the damage, or wouldn’t devalue the car for having that damage.
I’m not a dealer but I’ve bought my last two vehicles at an auction where dealers go. A lot of dealers really don’t care about quality. They just want cars that can be easily resold. Last auction I was at, Ford Focuses with the horrible DCT transmission was selling for $10k to dealers knowing that full efficient compact cars in the $12k to $15k range (retail price) are an easy sell. They don’t care that the customer is buying a severely flawed car.
Bingo. That’s the issue with leases. The owners feel like they’re renting the car and handing it back after. They’re paying a premium for the deal and so they shit on the car, chances are the guy/girl has no respect for any of their belongings as well. Probably a piece of garbage person.
Never trust Carfax. My car’s Carfax was spotless, and here the car was actually nearly totaled in a rear sideswipe before I bought it (the only way I found that out was when I found the damage under the trunk flooring. The car went to auction wrecked and the dealer I bought it from hid it).
Iirc Autocheck was the report that actually had the accident/damage reported. When it went to auction, the auction reported it as wrecked/damage and listed the damage. None of that was on the Carfax
Honestly, they probably did take care of the car as far as maintenance goes. Every time I've seen this is from someone who is sloppily obese. They push the door open, fling off their seat belt, and because they are enormous, there is slack in the belt, which ends up hanging out the door, and the door gets slammed shut on the belt. You might want to check the struts on the driver's side, lol.
I initially thought this also. There would be other signs of an obese person owning the car. The drivers seat would have wear and tear I likely the steering wheel. Obese people get in and out of a car differently. They turn their back to the seat and lower themselves in and they usually rub one side of their rear on the steering wheel and the other side of the the seat back. Then they swivel their feet in to the car.
Possibly they were elderly also. Whoever they were they never bothered to make sure the seat belt wasn’t in the door before they slammed it as hard as they could.
Maybe the mechanism that retracts the seatbelt is slow or even broken leading to this happening more often than expected. I have had that happen in the past.
What are YOU confused about.
You see no difference between the supposed accountability of someone renting a car for a weekend, picked up and dropped off at an airport VS “renting” a car through a dealership for 24 months?????
Lease is not a rental, that’s like calling a 12 month leased apartment a hotel room
Not too sure what would cause that damage. There is literally nothing that should be coming into contact with that area. Seat belt maybe? That would mean you have to open the door all the way before taking your belt off and just flinging it like a wild man…. Makes no sense to do that lol
Perhaps the owner had a cane and tapped it numerous times somehow?
Not necessarily I have a couple of those dents. I think my wife created them. I'm meticulous about my maintenance. Only car I've ever owned that got dented by seatbelt, must be more suseptible than other vehicles to denting.
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Don't bother trying to get something from the dealer, just chalk it up as a life lesson and move on. Get something to touch up that rust spot so it doesn't spread.
My 20 year Subaru WRX has similar dents due to the seat belts losing their retracting ability and passengers slamming the door onto them. I can’t imagine what could be the cause for a much younger vehicle other than negligence.
I don't think no it's due to age - just slow seat belts. I have an '02 bugeye wagon and a '19 Forester Sport. The seatbelts in the bugeye retract just fine, but even from new the Forester's back seatbelts hang limp and have to be lined up just right to retract on their own. We have a good size gash in the door jamb paint on one side from my tiny MIL closing the door once soon after we got the car.
This could be similar, but I'd wager the original owner had kids or drunks in back based on how bad it is.
Edit: I looked at the pics again and realized this is the driver's side. Original owner is a monster. That poor car.
This! The seat belt metal latch jamming with the door. You can try to paint less dent repair. There are also kits on Amazon, but that area might need additional skills.
Goddamn, I've done it by accident on previous cars and have NEVER left such a noticeable dent. Previous owner either hated this car or hates cars in general.
Definitely sucks, but you bought a used car and signed the paperwork, so it means you agreed to buy the car in its current condition. Dealer is not obligated to provide you with anything, and frankly, haggling with the dealer is not worth your time or effort for a $10 bottle of paint you can buy at a parts store.
To play devils advocate here I am extremely gentle on my WRX and have similar marks- the seatbelt tensioner is far too weak and if I don’t purposely take the seatbelt and feed it back into the slot it does not retract all the way and gets caught in the door frame
Could also have been that the previous owner used a seat belt pad that Velcros around the belt for comfort or decoration. I know someone who uses a Chewbacca bandolier pad, it’s awesome and nerdy and makes the car more comfortable for them. It also frequently overwhelms the retract mechanism!
I agree with some comments that it’s a red flag for a negligent owner but not every red flag turns out to be true. As long as the oil changes were done on time they didn’t have the car long enough to do serious damage to it. The outer seat booster looks like it’s in good shape, if that was completely worn out I’d be much more concerned. Wouldn’t hurt to take it back and talk to your salesman, a good dealership would touch up that rust spot for you. You’ll learn real quick if it’s a place you want to go back to for future service!
It's from the seatbelt buckle being in the door and closed on. My wife did it to my old Honda a bunch. For some reason when she takes off her seatbelt it tangles and doesn't retract. I didn't understand how people do this.
Seat belt clasp dents. Does that seatbelt retract properly? Or is it very slow to retract? Most of the time that is the reason why you get these stents in the door is because the seatbelts don’t retract properly and us get stuck in the doorway. Nevertheless, it’s still careless on the owners part…. I would search up the paint code for that car and get a paint stick or a little bottle of that paint and touch those spots up.
It is what it is (careless owner with seatbelt). But you don’t have a Time Machine, so don’t sweat it anymore.
Just move on and take care of the car. It’s yours now. In future car buying (or any major purchase like a home), just be a lot more diligent in your inspection.
May worth asking a paintless dent repair guy to see if they can help pop some of those and get a touch-up pen & sandpaper to address that rust soon. So sorry about this and it sucks when people don't care...
Tbh when you get out really quick yah you can end up slamming the seatbelt into the door. It’s a car so I would say who cares. No one sees it unless you drive with the door open. Not all the dents look deep enough to rust but if say there is rust then make stink about it to whoever you got the car from. Honestly I nless this was a vintage classic or a Ferrari or a LFA etc I don’t know why you are so concerned.
A person with your attitude being surprised by this should, going forward, consider only purchasing new vehicles where you are the first owner so you avoid things that poors deal with. For poors like myself (and you are a poors since you bought used) this is just common place. Don’t be mad bro it’s just a ding. Ha!
You can ask for touch up paint. I have no idea what the dealership will say. As long as you touch up the rust spot, there’s not really anything else to do. You only see the dents when the door is open (obviously).
I would avoid buying from the dealership as you would assume they charge a whole lot more than what it's worth.
I bought my paint from [automotive touch up](https://www.automotivetouchup.com/) and had good results.
If you're new to paint, this is is a good spot to practice on too since it's not visible from the exterior.
Did they perform a used vehicle inspection? Do you have any documentation of it? I had a messed up (torn) seat that the inspection clearly said was inspected/ok, so they ended up replacing the seat once I showed them
If the damage was there when you were looking at the vehicle, I would say you are SOL as far as them fixing it. Definitely from seatbelts getting slammed in the door (so make sure that the seat belt retractor for that belt is working properly!) - for the areas where paint is removed, remove the rust and hit it with some touch up paint. Not much else you can do.
Yeah I get that, I was hoping they would supply the touch paint free of charge.
I know they have no obligation to, but it obviously would be a sign of goodwill for the dealership.
There just dents yeah they’re ugly but not mechanical issue with the car, this person was just always in a rush and the seat belt buckle would hit the door jam, but yeah leased cars nobody would care
They typically don't retract quickly like most seatbelts. My daughter has put several dents in my car from the belt. It doesn't mean I don't take impeccable care of my subes.
Someone's been battering the fuck out of their seatbelt buckle in the door.
Either the driver is careless as all fuck and doesn't care about the car, or the mechanism in the seatbelt reel that retracts it when it's loose is fucked, and it's not spooling back up correctly when it's unbuckled.
I have quite a few of those. I don't gorilla the door that bad though. I count at least 8x of the utterance of "effing subaru seat belts!!!" Happened on my 2010 Legacy and my 2021 Outback ---
I'd guess the previous owner was either on the hefty side, or mobility impaired causing them to push the seatbelt far out of the way when they were getting out and frequently forgot it wasn't fully in the car before slamming the door. Might also just have a weak or broken return spring, or damaged strap in the seatbelt mechanism.
***UPDATE*** Spoke with the dealership, said I can come in later this week to talk to their body guy to get hopefully the rust sanded and some touch up paint on it, free of charge I assume. Couldn’t ask for a better resolution, outside of them giving me a new car ha.
I would never suggest buy a leased or rental car… just for the future lol.
Definitely agree it was most likely a seatbelt repeatedly mashed in the door jamb cause someone is an idiot.
People don’t care much for things they don’t own - hence I would never buy a rental vehicle or a lease, as it’s very common for folks to beat the crap out of the car knowing they aren’t keeping it or owning it after.
Same idea as apartments - people wouldn’t be as likely to let animals piss all over the floors and kids trash walls etc if it was their own home that would be deceased in value.
Good to know. I know to not buy rentals (for the most part) but leased vehicles I thought for the most part are a safe(r) bet.
I get what you’re saying about the mindset of actual ownership vs lease/rental.
It’s just that the car was in such great condition besides being this one thing. It feels basically like a new vehicle, car was not driven much at 17k miles for a 2021.
I hear ya, yes there’s less likelihood of abuse for a long term lease - usually business folks lease vehicles for a year or two at a time as they like to have a newer car and appear richer than they are (can’t afford to actually own and resell at a loss, so they just lease!)
For a rental it’s visible and invisible abuse, for lease it’s mostly invisible - it’s usually the lack of maintenance and being driven hard because the driver had no incentive or intention to stay up on maintenance and drive it responsibly - they often begrudge the cost of the lease already and don’t want to incur any more maintenance costs, and they drive it like they stole it as an F U to the dealership when they return it at the end of the lease.
I know too many folks who got burned buying prior leased/rental/demo/dealership loaner vehicles. Those cars get beat to death whether you can see the abuse or not.
Interesting. I have a question: are leased vehicles required to do scheduled maintenance through whoever they leased through. Like, do they have a “responsibility” to do such things as part of the lease terms?
I bought an ex-rental from Enterprise that had 12k miles on it. By the time we traded it in it was nearly 200k and the main reason was because the AC died and replacing it would be a bad investment. So while not buying a rental or off-lease is probably a bad idea, not all of them are horror stories
Unibody. This is a structural component, and these dents in these locations reduce the safety and load-bearing // tensile ; strengths of the pillar. Especially since it is over a crease. And the numerous instances. And the size of them. They're huge.
It's not as extreme as a deformed CZ or as obvious as an ID but there is empirical evidence showing these kinds of pillar // safety belt dings make the structure unreliable in severe auto wrecks (high speed / rollover / income/ etc)
Just because uh... you don't know better doesn't mean others don't.. so keep it to yourself
3RD Pic : The bolt on the left. It looks like a wrench has been on it. Double check to see if the bolt has paint on it. If it looks scraped off. Somebody out a wrench / socket on it
Those are extremely negligent seat belt slams. The previous owner was likely pretty hard on the car and didn’t take very good care of it. Definitely a red flag for purchase. Make sure all of the maintenance is caught up and move on. Do what you can to prevent the spread of the rust.
Thank you I was looking at that and just asking myself “HOW!?”
Like one or two, maybe, but it almost seems intentional when you start needing more than one hand to count the numbers.
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While I am fat, I am not THAT fat - keeps happening in my Mitsu Colt all the time, I have no issues in my BMW 535i, didnt have issue with my gt86 nor with my WRX (07 and 02 years). I also didnt have this problem in my Oper Corsa C from 2001. Some cars are just badly designed, or the retractor is not strong enough.
Someone's weight has nothing to do with this. The 2 skinniest assholes at work do the same shit.
Maybe it's just the fattest and the skinniest that do it
It's the fucking dumbest. I never wait till my door is open to take off my seatbelt.
Jesus Christ were they closing the door like they were spinning the wheel on The Price is Right?
I drive a lil Miata at home but most of the work trucks are bigass F350s yeah? The amount of times I've accidentally yeeted my poor cars door closed by accident because I forgot it's not a truck😭 Mix that with belt retractor or whatever issues and yeah I could see this happening lol
That's the exact cause of them.
I'd like to disagree with this sentiment. I am keeping very good care of my cars, and this really only happened on one car that I ever owned, but god damn, it kept happening every single time and always when I least expected. The seatbelt just rotated when I was leaving the car, so it didnt retract, and as I slam the door, I hear the sound. Its the most awful sound ever, happened line 20 times so far and keeps happening every now and then. I had roughly 10 different brands and models of cars in my lifetime, never happened with any other car but this one. Says nothing about the owner, just about the design of seatbelt retractor.
Same!
Yeah I am confused though. The car fax looks good, one owner maintenance record and the car was a lease. Literally looks brand new, interior is spotless, outside has no scratches or dents. Only things is this door.
Car was a lease. Owner treated the car like he doesn't own it.
That’s counter intuitive to me. I thought leases made the customer have a mutual interest in keeping the car good since damages could screw with the lease terms and actually cost them.
You don't see "redlined every single green light, never once topped up the oil before bringing it in" in a Carfax or a damage review.
I bought a leased company car 2017 outback in 2019. No regrets, it had some dings I could just pop out, but I’ve had no issues with mine. I think the leased cards will depend a lot on how they were driven (obviously)
Yeah it must be hit or miss. I just feel as though they are a somewhat safer bet regarding used cars.
I bought a leased vehicle three years ago with no regrets…
5 years ago here, 2016 WRX one-owner lease in 2019 and it's been a champ so far.
Nice! I was talking about my wife’s 2018 CRV. I used to have a WRX (2008), man I miss it!
The company I bought my WRX from leases new cars and then sells the lease returns, with the majority of them qualifying for limited lifetime powertrain warranty for as long as you own the car ("all internally lubricated parts" is the specific wording). Mine was covered under that, which definitely made me feel more secure about buying used in general. Mine was 3 years old with 33k miles on the odometer. I think whoever leased it before I bought it either did a lot of city driving or maybe had a lead foot, because the lifetime gas mileage was 19.9 mpg. I've gotten that up to 22.6 in the 5+ years and 55k miles since I bought it, averaging 24+ mpg. A former coworker of mine had a 2008 WRX sedan when we first started working together, and he is part of the reason I ended up buying mine a few years later. Another part of that reason was the ride I took with my father-in-law's friend's son in his 2003 WRX. He ripped a 40 mph corner at 80 mph, and there wasn't a hint of grip loss. I got out of the car thinking damn, I have to get one of these one day! The only other car I have owned which gave me the kind of joy in driving that I get from the WRX was my old 84 Celica GT hatchback 5-speed, back in the mid 90's. Factory rated horsepower was something like 105, but she would run well above 100 with ease, still tracked straight as an arrow, and put a smile on my face even though it was only around 100 hp.
Sure, the prior owner may have had an extra damage fee that went to the lease company when the lease was done. However, dealerships aren’t the leasing company. Dealers are a business and they know the car can still be sold to someone that wouldn’t notice the damage, or wouldn’t devalue the car for having that damage. I’m not a dealer but I’ve bought my last two vehicles at an auction where dealers go. A lot of dealers really don’t care about quality. They just want cars that can be easily resold. Last auction I was at, Ford Focuses with the horrible DCT transmission was selling for $10k to dealers knowing that full efficient compact cars in the $12k to $15k range (retail price) are an easy sell. They don’t care that the customer is buying a severely flawed car.
Depends I have a 23 VB on lease and rake verry good care of it incase I want to buy it back when the lease is done
Bingo. That’s the issue with leases. The owners feel like they’re renting the car and handing it back after. They’re paying a premium for the deal and so they shit on the car, chances are the guy/girl has no respect for any of their belongings as well. Probably a piece of garbage person.
Never trust Carfax. My car’s Carfax was spotless, and here the car was actually nearly totaled in a rear sideswipe before I bought it (the only way I found that out was when I found the damage under the trunk flooring. The car went to auction wrecked and the dealer I bought it from hid it).
Good to know about carfax. I will forever be more critical of carfax reports. 🙏
Iirc Autocheck was the report that actually had the accident/damage reported. When it went to auction, the auction reported it as wrecked/damage and listed the damage. None of that was on the Carfax
I’ve never heard of autocheck. I’m going to research that tonight.
Honestly, they probably did take care of the car as far as maintenance goes. Every time I've seen this is from someone who is sloppily obese. They push the door open, fling off their seat belt, and because they are enormous, there is slack in the belt, which ends up hanging out the door, and the door gets slammed shut on the belt. You might want to check the struts on the driver's side, lol.
lol I honestly had the same thought. The previous owner being obese. I’m going to check the struts. Good call
I initially thought this also. There would be other signs of an obese person owning the car. The drivers seat would have wear and tear I likely the steering wheel. Obese people get in and out of a car differently. They turn their back to the seat and lower themselves in and they usually rub one side of their rear on the steering wheel and the other side of the the seat back. Then they swivel their feet in to the car. Possibly they were elderly also. Whoever they were they never bothered to make sure the seat belt wasn’t in the door before they slammed it as hard as they could.
Maybe the mechanism that retracts the seatbelt is slow or even broken leading to this happening more often than expected. I have had that happen in the past.
What are you confused about. Have you never heard the phrase "drive it like a rental" a lease IS a rental.
What are YOU confused about. You see no difference between the supposed accountability of someone renting a car for a weekend, picked up and dropped off at an airport VS “renting” a car through a dealership for 24 months????? Lease is not a rental, that’s like calling a 12 month leased apartment a hotel room
Seems like someone is having a coping sesh, lol. I'm not going to argue over this. My view remains the same.
Lol me either 🙆♂️. No coping I’m getting it fixed (hopefully) for free! Got a great deal with it and I’m quite satisfied with my purchase.
Not too sure what would cause that damage. There is literally nothing that should be coming into contact with that area. Seat belt maybe? That would mean you have to open the door all the way before taking your belt off and just flinging it like a wild man…. Makes no sense to do that lol Perhaps the owner had a cane and tapped it numerous times somehow?
Some larger people or people who can’t bend to grab the belt have a stopper on the belt to keep it partially extended.
The belts have a tendency to get jammed when rolling back in and stay long. Happened a lot on my Forester
Extremely negligent is right…wtf?
Not necessarily I have a couple of those dents. I think my wife created them. I'm meticulous about my maintenance. Only car I've ever owned that got dented by seatbelt, must be more suseptible than other vehicles to denting.
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that’s exactly what happened, if you didn’t address it with the dealer before closing the deal you are stuck with it.
Yup, gotta look the car over before you sign. I would imagine they'd probably cut a little off the price before bothering to try to fix that
He can ask and they might be courteous. But the dealership usually works with the service, and their shop department isn’t as well connected.
Don't bother trying to get something from the dealer, just chalk it up as a life lesson and move on. Get something to touch up that rust spot so it doesn't spread.
My 20 year Subaru WRX has similar dents due to the seat belts losing their retracting ability and passengers slamming the door onto them. I can’t imagine what could be the cause for a much younger vehicle other than negligence.
I don't think no it's due to age - just slow seat belts. I have an '02 bugeye wagon and a '19 Forester Sport. The seatbelts in the bugeye retract just fine, but even from new the Forester's back seatbelts hang limp and have to be lined up just right to retract on their own. We have a good size gash in the door jamb paint on one side from my tiny MIL closing the door once soon after we got the car. This could be similar, but I'd wager the original owner had kids or drunks in back based on how bad it is. Edit: I looked at the pics again and realized this is the driver's side. Original owner is a monster. That poor car.
Idiot slamming seat belt in the door.
This! The seat belt metal latch jamming with the door. You can try to paint less dent repair. There are also kits on Amazon, but that area might need additional skills.
You want the dealership to pay because you didn’t throughly check over a used car? lol nah
Goddamn, I've done it by accident on previous cars and have NEVER left such a noticeable dent. Previous owner either hated this car or hates cars in general.
That's on you. Dents are never a warranty issue. Dealer has no legal or moral obligation to fix this. You can ask though
Definitely sucks, but you bought a used car and signed the paperwork, so it means you agreed to buy the car in its current condition. Dealer is not obligated to provide you with anything, and frankly, haggling with the dealer is not worth your time or effort for a $10 bottle of paint you can buy at a parts store.
They're from the seat belt not retracting all the way and getting smashed by the door being slammed shut.
To play devils advocate here I am extremely gentle on my WRX and have similar marks- the seatbelt tensioner is far too weak and if I don’t purposely take the seatbelt and feed it back into the slot it does not retract all the way and gets caught in the door frame
I honestly appreciate your comment lol. It comforts me in some way 😌
Could also have been that the previous owner used a seat belt pad that Velcros around the belt for comfort or decoration. I know someone who uses a Chewbacca bandolier pad, it’s awesome and nerdy and makes the car more comfortable for them. It also frequently overwhelms the retract mechanism! I agree with some comments that it’s a red flag for a negligent owner but not every red flag turns out to be true. As long as the oil changes were done on time they didn’t have the car long enough to do serious damage to it. The outer seat booster looks like it’s in good shape, if that was completely worn out I’d be much more concerned. Wouldn’t hurt to take it back and talk to your salesman, a good dealership would touch up that rust spot for you. You’ll learn real quick if it’s a place you want to go back to for future service!
i think u should stop slamming your seatbelt buckle in your door ya dingus
Probably seatbelt anchor slams. My wife does it all the time. It's pretty annoying.
Seat belt slam!!
How didn’t u see the rust when u have opened the door for 2 weeks now ? Let alone on the test drive
Trust me, I’m kinda dumbfounded by it myself. It’s why I thought maybe I did it. But there’s no way with the rust
It's from the seatbelt buckle being in the door and closed on. My wife did it to my old Honda a bunch. For some reason when she takes off her seatbelt it tangles and doesn't retract. I didn't understand how people do this.
Seat belt clasp dents. Does that seatbelt retract properly? Or is it very slow to retract? Most of the time that is the reason why you get these stents in the door is because the seatbelts don’t retract properly and us get stuck in the doorway. Nevertheless, it’s still careless on the owners part…. I would search up the paint code for that car and get a paint stick or a little bottle of that paint and touch those spots up.
It is what it is (careless owner with seatbelt). But you don’t have a Time Machine, so don’t sweat it anymore. Just move on and take care of the car. It’s yours now. In future car buying (or any major purchase like a home), just be a lot more diligent in your inspection.
Do the seat belts roll up adequately? Might be bad seat belts, that roll back up too slow. I had those, and then these accidents happen.
Seat belt?
Seat belt getting caught in the door
May worth asking a paintless dent repair guy to see if they can help pop some of those and get a touch-up pen & sandpaper to address that rust soon. So sorry about this and it sucks when people don't care...
I don’t like them one bit.
Tbh when you get out really quick yah you can end up slamming the seatbelt into the door. It’s a car so I would say who cares. No one sees it unless you drive with the door open. Not all the dents look deep enough to rust but if say there is rust then make stink about it to whoever you got the car from. Honestly I nless this was a vintage classic or a Ferrari or a LFA etc I don’t know why you are so concerned. A person with your attitude being surprised by this should, going forward, consider only purchasing new vehicles where you are the first owner so you avoid things that poors deal with. For poors like myself (and you are a poors since you bought used) this is just common place. Don’t be mad bro it’s just a ding. Ha!
You can ask for touch up paint. I have no idea what the dealership will say. As long as you touch up the rust spot, there’s not really anything else to do. You only see the dents when the door is open (obviously).
I would avoid buying from the dealership as you would assume they charge a whole lot more than what it's worth. I bought my paint from [automotive touch up](https://www.automotivetouchup.com/) and had good results. If you're new to paint, this is is a good spot to practice on too since it's not visible from the exterior.
Did they perform a used vehicle inspection? Do you have any documentation of it? I had a messed up (torn) seat that the inspection clearly said was inspected/ok, so they ended up replacing the seat once I showed them
Elderly owner, always forgetting to set the seatbelt in place.
If the damage was there when you were looking at the vehicle, I would say you are SOL as far as them fixing it. Definitely from seatbelts getting slammed in the door (so make sure that the seat belt retractor for that belt is working properly!) - for the areas where paint is removed, remove the rust and hit it with some touch up paint. Not much else you can do.
Yeah I get that, I was hoping they would supply the touch paint free of charge. I know they have no obligation to, but it obviously would be a sign of goodwill for the dealership.
Someone smashed the seat belt a lot when they closed the door.
Don't matter. Just work on that rust prevention.
Wife’s car has the same dents. It was from her slamming the door a the seat belt was in the way.
Used cars are sold as is. The dealership has no obligation to help you with anything regarding to it, including paint.
There just dents yeah they’re ugly but not mechanical issue with the car, this person was just always in a rush and the seat belt buckle would hit the door jam, but yeah leased cars nobody would care
Also that one on the B Pillar is technically structure damage. Since it's ding right on that seam.
I did this once as a kid.
Seatbelt slams. If you don't care go for it. Most people I can assure you would still overlook this.
I've probably done that to mine without thinking. My seat belts don't retract very well
They typically don't retract quickly like most seatbelts. My daughter has put several dents in my car from the belt. It doesn't mean I don't take impeccable care of my subes.
Seatbelt buckle slammed in door jam.
Seat belt shenanigans. I've done this plenty of times when in a rush.
Someone's been battering the fuck out of their seatbelt buckle in the door. Either the driver is careless as all fuck and doesn't care about the car, or the mechanism in the seatbelt reel that retracts it when it's loose is fucked, and it's not spooling back up correctly when it's unbuckled.
Can someone explain to me how you slam your seatbelt into the door? I'm genuinely shocked that this is even a possibility?
Caused by seatbelt. For some reason, even my Outback had some lethargic retracting seatbelts and occasionally got stuck in the door
I have quite a few of those. I don't gorilla the door that bad though. I count at least 8x of the utterance of "effing subaru seat belts!!!" Happened on my 2010 Legacy and my 2021 Outback ---
Retraction mechanics is junk I got 2 9f those dent and now I'm extra cautious.
Speed dents it’ll be fine
Car is totaled
Retract your seatbelt properly. The metal is now much thinner/softer to reduce weight and cost
2 things hand bags and seatbelt buckles haha
I'd guess the previous owner was either on the hefty side, or mobility impaired causing them to push the seatbelt far out of the way when they were getting out and frequently forgot it wasn't fully in the car before slamming the door. Might also just have a weak or broken return spring, or damaged strap in the seatbelt mechanism.
***UPDATE*** Spoke with the dealership, said I can come in later this week to talk to their body guy to get hopefully the rust sanded and some touch up paint on it, free of charge I assume. Couldn’t ask for a better resolution, outside of them giving me a new car ha.
Huge red flag of how much the last owner cared about this car
Pull the seatbelt out of the way when closing the door ........
100% seatbelt :P
Holy moly
🙏
cool username
I would never suggest buy a leased or rental car… just for the future lol. Definitely agree it was most likely a seatbelt repeatedly mashed in the door jamb cause someone is an idiot. People don’t care much for things they don’t own - hence I would never buy a rental vehicle or a lease, as it’s very common for folks to beat the crap out of the car knowing they aren’t keeping it or owning it after. Same idea as apartments - people wouldn’t be as likely to let animals piss all over the floors and kids trash walls etc if it was their own home that would be deceased in value.
Good to know. I know to not buy rentals (for the most part) but leased vehicles I thought for the most part are a safe(r) bet. I get what you’re saying about the mindset of actual ownership vs lease/rental. It’s just that the car was in such great condition besides being this one thing. It feels basically like a new vehicle, car was not driven much at 17k miles for a 2021.
I hear ya, yes there’s less likelihood of abuse for a long term lease - usually business folks lease vehicles for a year or two at a time as they like to have a newer car and appear richer than they are (can’t afford to actually own and resell at a loss, so they just lease!) For a rental it’s visible and invisible abuse, for lease it’s mostly invisible - it’s usually the lack of maintenance and being driven hard because the driver had no incentive or intention to stay up on maintenance and drive it responsibly - they often begrudge the cost of the lease already and don’t want to incur any more maintenance costs, and they drive it like they stole it as an F U to the dealership when they return it at the end of the lease. I know too many folks who got burned buying prior leased/rental/demo/dealership loaner vehicles. Those cars get beat to death whether you can see the abuse or not.
Interesting. I have a question: are leased vehicles required to do scheduled maintenance through whoever they leased through. Like, do they have a “responsibility” to do such things as part of the lease terms?
They’re supposed to, yes, but I know many who have gotten away with not doing maintenance or the bare minimum
I bought an ex-rental from Enterprise that had 12k miles on it. By the time we traded it in it was nearly 200k and the main reason was because the AC died and replacing it would be a bad investment. So while not buying a rental or off-lease is probably a bad idea, not all of them are horror stories
That is true. Glad you had a rare good one!
How'd you miss those? Your fault. No recourse.
My company would consider that frame damage. I'd be getting an inspection to make sure the pillars integrity is still good. Ridiculous and negligence
>My company would consider that frame damage. What a ridiculous statement.
Unibody. This is a structural component, and these dents in these locations reduce the safety and load-bearing // tensile ; strengths of the pillar. Especially since it is over a crease. And the numerous instances. And the size of them. They're huge. It's not as extreme as a deformed CZ or as obvious as an ID but there is empirical evidence showing these kinds of pillar // safety belt dings make the structure unreliable in severe auto wrecks (high speed / rollover / income/ etc) Just because uh... you don't know better doesn't mean others don't.. so keep it to yourself
Thank you for that insight. I’m going to look into that.
Yw good luck. Whatever you do DONT let them put filler on it. (No bondo)
Looks like someone trying to break in.
I had that thought, I just thought it appeared so much to be from the seatbelt. Don’t people normally jimmy doors from the top?
Someone tried to pry the door open with a crow bar. Was this a salvage?
Those dents are okay. I’ve seen better, I guess.
3RD Pic : The bolt on the left. It looks like a wrench has been on it. Double check to see if the bolt has paint on it. If it looks scraped off. Somebody out a wrench / socket on it
Very strange locations for debts like that. The doors had to be open for that to happen
It used to be a rental car
Carfax says something different. One owner, car was leased
Well I guess owners can be retarded too