My Car Warranty Gone Awry

Part 1: Not Covered

Ok. So my car had a warranty claim that happened in May that kept me occupied and, in part, away from blogging.  So here’s that story…

So I’m walking out of the store and headed to my car, which I parked backwards in the angled parking spot so it was easier to get out. I think that is the reason I noticed the damage on the passanger fender above the headlight. At first I thought it was some dirt or something. No such luck. It appeared that the paint of my car had a perfectly straight split in the paint right along the seam and it was starting to rust. Since I bougth the car brand new and it was now only a year and half old, I was starting to get a bit miffed.  Well at least it will be covered under warranty…

So I call up the dealer and explain the damage to them. The guy is being loud, obnoxious and a bit rude.  Maybe it’s just his personality so I let it slide and set up an appointment to have it looked at for that Sunday. But I’m starting to get an uneasy feeling about this.

I start to think back on all the times I’ve brought the car in for oil changes and about how their service had been. The work they did was always fine but they tried to push some pretty absurd additional services. Such as when I brought my car in for the oil change at 15,000 miles. They tried to give me a BS line about how my trans fluid looked dirty and I should do a trans service on it. And how my rear differential fluid also looked dirty and I should service that as well. For those that don’t know, those two services should not be done until after 100,000 miles at least.  Ok, so now I’m on a slow boil.

So now it’s the Saturday before I’m to bring my car in and I’m fully stewed and ready for war. I run a few errands and wait for Sunday.

So Sunday comes and I drive to the dealer. When I get there they tell me only 2 people can look at my car since it is paint damage. Ok fine. So in walks kid all of about 12 years old to come assess my car. Mommy must have just dropped him off from junior high. Ok so I’m exagerating but he must have been all of 19. And he does walk in with this swagger like he’s the shiznit and he puts on his best, “I’m the mechanic and I have knowledge that is beyond you” attitude. Then the little punk starts to mouth off on how it looks like the car has been hit. And look at how the damaged fender is bent above the headlight and the other side is not. My @## it is! I basically tell him he’s full of it in a polite way. And off he goes to do the oil change and take the pics of my car.

So they bring the car back to me. Now they tell me I have a huge nail in the sidewall on tire below the paint damage and they can’t repair that. Do I want to do that now?  #@*& NO! I tell them I’ll do it later. Mostly because I know they are full of crap. And when I ask what the results of the pics are they tell me they will know in a few days. The dealer rep has to look at them and decide. Fine. So I pull out and check my tire for this nail. Guess what. No nail in the passanger side where the paint damage is. There is a nail in the drivers side tred though. What’s the difference between tred and sidewall? A nail in the tred can be fixed for $2 whereas the sidewall requires a brand new tire.

So I drive home stewing and steaming. Stupid SOB dealerships. I pull into my driveway, get out and start to walk around to the passanger side to look at the damage. HOLY BLOODY MOTHER OF %@!* #@&* !!! My passanger fender where the paint damage is, is now bent up and I can tell the difference all the way from the drivers side of the car!!

to be continued…