Re: Car problem rant

patbz · ‎03-10-2010

I haven't had anything other than routine maintenance on my last two cars (total 350000 miles driven). Only twice on any cars in last 30 years have I had serious issues that were outside the norm and here's how I dealt with them. First was a Honda that the back window shattered while DH was alone in country road. Turned out to be wires in window defroster were a defect across the model country side (my insurance told me after they couldn't replace window after one month of me driving a rental. I called the veep of U.S. Honda and threatened to go to the media--window replaced next day (think they took it out of a new car on lot). 2nd time my Saturn AC broke down second time during warranty period (we lived in Mojave) I called owner of dealership and he called Corporate; and I extracted promise that they would give me a new car replacement if that didn't fix it and they threw in two new tires for free! Yes, you can complain and get action but go to a decision maker.

september · ‎03-09-2010

@Blingqueen023 wrote:
Doesn't anybody take out extended warranties anymore? Heck, my new Camry is warranted for just about life with no deductible and covers everything on the car. It's well worth the money spent when purchasing a vehicle. Just to replace a strut is 1500 dollars and when I needed one on one of my Camry's at 90,000 miles it was covered 100 percent.

@Blingqueen023. I haven't taken out extended warranties in the past. Overall,I've had very good luck with all my cars, usually passing them on to my kids or other younger family members when I was ready to buy something new. Some of those vehicles were in use for 20 years

However, after hearing the service manager admit that they don't make cars the way they used to....I'll consider it next time I buy a new car.

september · ‎03-09-2010

@Zhills wrote:
@september wrote:
@Zhills. Maybe you should give me an estimate as to what this might cost so I can be prepared!

I may take it up with the manufacturer over the warranty issue. For the first year I owned this vehicle, I alternated using this one with another car I owned (driving that one most of the time) until I got a good offer on that one. So in my mind, I'm driving a 2 year old car. Too soon to be having problems like this.

Don't know what you drive buy my rails and motor are one unit in the Lincoln. My seat moves everytime you get out of the car or into the car.

If it makes a noise it should not be a fuse.

My part was over $500. Hope that is not the case with you. Warranty should cover it. It is something that just doesn't break! None in stock anywhere!

@Zhills. Thanks. I had that number rolling around in my head already! Don't want to spend that much, but I want to be prepared.

september · ‎03-09-2010

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences with annoying and unexpected car problems. I feel a bit more prepared for how to deal with this, and what actions I might take regarding how the manufacturer should cover this.

Lipstickdiva · ‎03-10-2010

@september, I can so sympathize with you. My car is such a piece of junk I'd like to drive it right through the windows of the Chevy headquarters and tell them to keep it.

My car is a 2011 with not even 40,000 miles on it. I bought it brand new. Of course not a darn thing went wrong with it while it was under warranty. But now because of the year, it's out of warranty and every other month, something costly goes wrong.

I've had to have the starter replaced which cost me in excess of $500.00. At that point the car had under 30,000 miles on it. My water pump went over the summer. That cost me over $900.00. In July my steering gear went bad, that was $1,200.00. When I asked what would cause that the service manager said they just wear out. I said they wear out when the car has less than 35,000 miles? He seemed surprised but of course wanted the $1,200.00. Last week I realized my heat wasn't working properly. Yep. Blower motor was bad.

I'm quite certain there is an electric issue with the car because my intermittent wipers don't always work and the radio controls on my steering wheel don't always work.

Oh and all 4 of my tires had to be resealed because they were leaking. Now my tire pressure monitoring system doesn't work. I'm sure the dealership broke something resealing my tires but I'm so over this car, I don't want to bother with it.

Lipstickdiva · ‎03-10-2010

@Blingqueen023 wrote:
Doesn't anybody take out extended warranties anymore? Heck, my new Camry is warranted for just about life with no deductible and covers everything on the car. It's well worth the money spent when purchasing a vehicle. Just to replace a strut is 1500 dollars and when I needed one on one of my Camry's at 90,000 miles it was covered 100 percent.

I did not and I certainly should have.

If they wouldn't make such junk, we wouldn't need extended warranties.

On the flip side, my DH took out the extended warranty on his car and never used it. Now that is up and was basically a waste of over $2,000.00. You just never know.

tennpal15 · ‎03-09-2010

If it's not covered under warranty, I would take it to a reputable auto repair shop.

Dealerships are notorious for over-priced repairs.

Silver Lining · ‎04-16-2010

@september, any progress with your car? I'm interested. Update if you have a chance.

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@Lipstickdiva wrote:
@september, I can so sympathize with you. My car is such a piece of junk I'd like to drive it right through the windows of the Chevy headquarters and tell them to keep it.

My car is a 2011 with not even 40,000 miles on it. I bought it brand new. Of course not a darn thing went wrong with it while it was under warranty. But now because of the year, it's out of warranty and every other month, something costly goes wrong.

I've had to have the starter replaced which cost me in excess of $500.00. At that point the car had under 30,000 miles on it. My water pump went over the summer. That cost me over $900.00. In July my steering gear went bad, that was $1,200.00. When I asked what would cause that the service manager said they just wear out. I said they wear out when the car has less than 35,000 miles? He seemed surprised but of course wanted the $1,200.00. Last week I realized my heat wasn't working properly. Yep. Blower motor was bad.

I'm quite certain there is an electric issue with the car because my intermittent wipers don't always work and the radio controls on my steering wheel don't always work.

Oh and all 4 of my tires had to be resealed because they were leaking. Now my tire pressure monitoring system doesn't work. I'm sure the dealership broke something resealing my tires but I'm so over this car, I don't want to bother with it.

I had similar (though not that numerous) issues with my previous car. I had it for almost 16 years. It had approx 85,000 mi on it at the end - very low for 16 years. I always kept the routine maintenance up. But the actual, physical body of the car started going - gears wear out, metal gets fatigued, etc. I needed a new radiator - it disintegrated! Also, 90% of my driving was short stop-n-go - very bad for engines.

Cars are made these days so that if the mechanics don’t go bad, it will still literally start to fall apart based on physical age/years, not just mileage. My car didn’t have major power train failures, it just kind of fell apart.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

september · ‎03-09-2010

@tennpal15 wrote:
If it's not covered under warranty, I would take it to a reputable auto repair shop.

Dealerships are notorious for over-priced repairs.

It may be....not sure if I can get it covered yet.