Truth or fiction?

[guitarfish]

A friend of mine took his Buick to the dealer for diagnosis, they determined UIM, LIM, and head gaskets were all leaking. He is under the impression that if he took the car to another GM dealership to trade it in, that all they'd have to do is punch in the VIN number, and they'd see the car was diagnosed with these problems.

I feel that would be a violation of privacy, for starters. Anyone know for sure?

As it is, he traded the car at a neighboring dealer a few days later, without issue.

[richtazz]

Usually, the only time the VIN/repair info gets out is if the work is performed. Most dealers will not go through the trouble of keying the info on a quote. That keeps their liability down if they are overdiagnosing it (meaning the only real problem is the LIM and not the head gaskets, but they're trying to soak you for more money) Also, it's usually only if it's a GM bulletin/warranty claim, or if the dealer uses Car-Fax.