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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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/fed the troll again.
(hope you don't mind listening to Jimmy Buffet Music 24/7)
My point isn't that it is entirely the OP's fault. I just have issues with his whiny little entitlement class attitude in expecting to profit from a defect and to blame everything on a dealer who seems to be handling the problem very satisfactorily and in a timely manner.
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Most manufacturers seem to offer PDFs of the diagrams and such, though.
In this case however, the low coolant light was the light that came on first. Sorry, but that is just as serious as a low oil light. Most of the time it is probably just due to a slow coolant leak and the coolant level is just low enough to trip the light. But if a hose suddenly blew and coolant was leaking out quickly there is likely to be severe engine damage in a short amount of time, especially with aluminum heads and engine blocks. That is why you pull over immediately to check it out.
And I'm not even saying that I would definitely have pulled over immediately in the OP's situation. But if I had continued and the engine fried I wouldn't be trying to plead my case that the dealer should take it up the ass and give me more than a new engine in return for my stupidity. I would expect the warranty to cover the engine but I wouldn't be out there making myself look like an ass by expecting a reward.
A dog shouldn't expect a steak because the carpet he pissed on earlier still stinks later when he wants to take a nap on it.
I'm sure he learned his lesson (thus why i say learning curve) and if it ever happens again, it definitely will be less then 30 seconds to pull over if not right away given traffic situations!
Most manufacturers seem to offer PDFs of the diagrams and such, though.
My point isn't that it is entirely the OP's fault. I just have issues with his whiny little entitlement class attitude in expecting to profit from a defect and to blame everything on a dealer who seems to be handling the problem very satisfactorily and in a timely manner.
"So you continued driving after the coolant light came on, then continued driving after the engine light also came on until the car died? And now you feel entitled to some sort of reward because you damaged the engine beyond repair? "
...there's nothing in the above showing how you felt regarding his attitude or how you felt how the dealer was doing a good job. What anyone will take out of the quotes above is that you felt it was the OP's fault and that he shouldn't reap or expect to reap any rewards because it was simply his fault.
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I'm sure he learned his lesson (thus why i say learning curve) and if it ever happens again, it definitely will be less then 30 seconds to pull over if not right away given traffic situations!
If everyone was simply sympathizing with him and tossing him a biscuit and scratching his ears he would probably just keep pissing on the carpet.....
Wait, what was this thread about again?