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Forum Thread
Engine mysteriously died in a new car - how can I turn it to my advantage?
May 14, 2013 at
08:36 PM
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Brief version, without any names:
Six weeks ago, I bought a brand new car, with warranty and all that other good stuff. Two days ago, as I was driving on a highway, the coolant light came on, followed by an engine light, followed by my car dying just a minute later.
After it got towed to the dealership, they said the cause was a leaking radiator hose. (Keep in mind, the car is 6 weeks old and has only 850 miles on it!) After they replaced it, it kept acting up, so they decided to hold it a bit longer. (They got me a rental car in the meantime.)
When I called them earlier today to see if they had any updates, I was told this: "Oh, hi there. Uh, we don't really know what's wrong with your car, so we decided to replace the whole engine!
We'll get a brand new one tomorrow and it'll be good to go by Thursday! "
When I asked what exactly was wrong, they just kept repeating the same thing. I don't know a whole lot about cars, but a friend told me that getting a replacement engine pretty much destroys the car's resale value because people will wonder what else might be wrong with it. Is that correct? Logically, it would seem that, for example, a 10-year-old car with a 1-year-old engine is better than a 10-year-old car with a 10-year-old engine, but consumer psychology is a strange animal.
Personally, I plan on driving the car for 10 years and 120,000 miles (it's got an extended warranty) before I trade it in, so the resale value isn't a big deal for me. That said, is there any way I can spin this to get some major freebies (e.g., get the car company to shave off a few grand off my loan balance) or something along those lines? Right now, they're just paying for my rental car and nothing else. Given the sheer immensity of this colossal fark-up, though, it seems to me that they owe me a lot more than that.
Got any comments, advice or suggestions?
Thanks!
Six weeks ago, I bought a brand new car, with warranty and all that other good stuff. Two days ago, as I was driving on a highway, the coolant light came on, followed by an engine light, followed by my car dying just a minute later.
After it got towed to the dealership, they said the cause was a leaking radiator hose. (Keep in mind, the car is 6 weeks old and has only 850 miles on it!) After they replaced it, it kept acting up, so they decided to hold it a bit longer. (They got me a rental car in the meantime.)
When I called them earlier today to see if they had any updates, I was told this: "Oh, hi there. Uh, we don't really know what's wrong with your car, so we decided to replace the whole engine!
We'll get a brand new one tomorrow and it'll be good to go by Thursday! "When I asked what exactly was wrong, they just kept repeating the same thing. I don't know a whole lot about cars, but a friend told me that getting a replacement engine pretty much destroys the car's resale value because people will wonder what else might be wrong with it. Is that correct? Logically, it would seem that, for example, a 10-year-old car with a 1-year-old engine is better than a 10-year-old car with a 10-year-old engine, but consumer psychology is a strange animal.
Personally, I plan on driving the car for 10 years and 120,000 miles (it's got an extended warranty) before I trade it in, so the resale value isn't a big deal for me. That said, is there any way I can spin this to get some major freebies (e.g., get the car company to shave off a few grand off my loan balance) or something along those lines? Right now, they're just paying for my rental car and nothing else. Given the sheer immensity of this colossal fark-up, though, it seems to me that they owe me a lot more than that.
Got any comments, advice or suggestions?
Thanks!
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Point is the coolant light and CEL did come on and he didn't stop to check it the hell out. If coolant and CEL indicators aren't enough for you to stop driving your brand new car, you probably shouldn't be driving. Buy a bicycle.
Anyway, it's good that the OP is able to get a new engine for nothing.
Point is the coolant light and CEL did come on and he didn't stop to check it the hell out. If coolant and CEL indicators aren't enough for you to stop driving your brand new car, you probably shouldn't be driving. Buy a bicycle.
on a side note...they call them idiot lights for a reason, no?
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Anyway, it's good that the OP is able to get a new engine for nothing.
on a side note...they call them idiot lights for a reason, no?
(hope you don't mind listening to Jimmy Buffet Music 24/7)
There's not a single person in this trolling ass thread that has EVER pulled over within 60 seconds of the CEL light coming on....nor does that light mean that you "immediately" HAVE to.
http://www.consumerrep
http://motorist.org/articles/check-engine-light
OP was not in the wrong in his actions, so get over it. Additionally, I do not fault him for feeling like he should be compensated in some manner for his inconvenience. Not saying that the dealership owes him a free Corvette or anything, but compensation should be fair. Nearly every one of you have spouted off at some point about "my time is more valuable than that to me", or "time is money", yet when it comes to other people, their downtime doesn't matter? That seems hypocritical.
I understand this sort of thing happens occasionally, and I don't think the dealer should be bent over a barrel for it. But since the dealer was the one who sold OP the vehicle, and act as the face of the auto manufacturer, they accept the responsibility that comes along with that...good and bad. As such, a customer who's brand new car just broke down should be fairly compensated for their inconvenience... not as a matter of law, but simply as a matter of good customer service.
And so this post doesn't get too serious for the Lounge, I'll end with...
(hope you don't mind listening to Jimmy Buffet Music 24/7)
Though, the week isn't over. I'll probably be working til 9:30 or 10 tonight, then back at it at 6am tomorrow. blah.
There's not a single person in this trolling ass thread that has EVER pulled over within 60 seconds of the CEL light coming on....nor does that light mean that you "immediately" HAVE to.
http://www.consumerrep
http://motorist.org/articles/check-engine-light
OP was not in the wrong in his actions, so get over it. Additionally, I do not fault him for feeling like he should be compensated in some manner for his inconvenience. Not saying that the dealership owes him a free Corvette or anything, but compensation should be fair. Nearly every one of you have spouted off at some point about "my time is more valuable than that to me", or "time is money", yet when it comes to other people, their downtime doesn't matter? That seems hypocritical.
I understand this sort of thing happens occasionally, and I don't think the dealer should be bent over a barrel for it. But since the dealer was the one who sold OP the vehicle, and act as the face of the auto manufacturer, they accept the responsibility that comes along with that...good and bad. As such, a customer who's brand new car just broke down should be fairly compensated for their inconvenience... not as a matter of law, but simply as a matter of good customer service.
Out of curiosity: Also, what more does the dealer owe him? Far as I can tell, he's getting:
1. Free rental car while they're working on his
2. A brand new frigan engine
Sure, it sucks that he's stuck without his car, but he has a car, provided by the dealer and getting a new engine installed free of charge. Seems like they're taking care of them fine considering it's a Kia dealership. What more is he entitled to?
Point is the coolant light and CEL did come on and he didn't stop to check it the hell out. If coolant and CEL indicators aren't enough for you to stop driving your brand new car, you probably shouldn't be driving. Buy a bicycle.
Anyways if you buy a new car have you ever thought a new car buyer could happen to be a *gasp* new car driver as well??? Dumb f*ck not everyone knows what a coolant light means or CEL if you are brand new to driving. Let's say this is your first car, just got your license the other day, yada yada. You buy a brand new car. Drive around for a while and some lights pop up. Since this is your first new car and the fact that the car is *new*, you'd probably think those lights aren't serious. Ever thought that it can be part of the learning curve/process?? Of course not. Not with a crack head brain like yours. So he's dumb. But he could be new too. That's understandable. If it isn't then you got problems. The point is. It's a new car. And he drove it around with some lights for a small miniscule amount of time. That does not make it his fault AUTOMATICALLY.
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Yes, I have a Code Reader in my vehicle, and when on a trip, if the CEL comes on, I will pull over and read the code; pull out my laptop, tape into a diagnostic program and determine what the code is telling me for my vehicle and what the fix is. This tells me whether I'm okay to continue driving or whether I need to head somewhere to get my vehicle looked at immediately.
Alright, not everyone has at their disposal what I do on my laptop, nor my husband to call and say this is what I have going on; and discussing it with him as well.
Buy OP certainly didn't clarify his statements in his original post very well - I think many of us feel he fried that engine; by not pulling over the moment the coolant light came on.