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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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By the way, here's a new update for the Kia Saga. (Reposted from my facebook.)
I don't get angry often, but when I do, it's blinding RAGE. My curiosity was killing me, so I called Kia's customer affairs to see if they had some information about the mysterious glitch that destroyed my engine. The dealership manager had claimed they didn't know what happened, that they sent the engine to Kia's research center and that "these things happen."
Lo and behold - 5 minutes after I called Kia, they called the dealership and found out it was actually a "coolant line not secured during manufacturing" that killed the engine. Something that should have been caught at the factory or at the dealership before they sold it in one of the hottest cities in America. This whole time, it was a concealed defect, followed by a half-assed cover-up attempt. That son of a bitch lied straight to my face...
Called the customer affairs again, demanded a brand new car or all my money back. They transferred it over to their regional HQ. Should hear back from them soon.
I can understand and maybe even forgive a lot of things, but lying to your customer?! Those bastards are going to pay...
But really this must be the longest post in the Lounge that has managed to stay on topic at least 80% of the time!
Good luck with your car OP!
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Obligatory comment about how foreign cars are supposedly soo reliable.
And if you are the type of person who needs 1000 gagues to look at while you drive, just use the torque app and a bluetooth obdii adapter.
And if you are the type of person who needs 1000 gagues to look at while you drive, just use the torque app and a bluetooth obdii adapter.
And if you are the type of person who needs 1000 gagues to look at while you drive, just use the torque app and a bluetooth obdii adapter.
I have considered the bluetooth stuff just for kicks, but since that's all it would be, I can't justify the cost right now.
My car doesn't have one either and it's not considered a cheap car. It has the gauges that are necessary. If it needs to warn me about something else I have dash warnings and a little LCD that will spit out exactly what the issue for me.
By the way, here's a new update for the Kia Saga. (Reposted from my facebook.)
I don't get angry often, but when I do, it's blinding RAGE. My curiosity was killing me, so I called Kia's customer affairs to see if they had some information about the mysterious glitch that destroyed my engine. The dealership manager had claimed they didn't know what happened, that they sent the engine to Kia's research center and that "these things happen."
Lo and behold - 5 minutes after I called Kia, they called the dealership and found out it was actually a "coolant line not secured during manufacturing" that killed the engine. Something that should have been caught at the factory or at the dealership before they sold it in one of the hottest cities in America. This whole time, it was a concealed defect, followed by a half-assed cover-up attempt. That son of a bitch lied straight to my face...
Called the customer affairs again, demanded a brand new car or all my money back. They transferred it over to their regional HQ. Should hear back from them soon.
I can understand and maybe even forgive a lot of things, but lying to your customer?! Those bastards are going to pay...
Id push for a new car, you probably can get it if you push hard enough.
Surprised the idiot light didn't come on. Even if the car does not have a temp gauge they usually have a high temp light.
IE you can see the blue light indicates a cold engine. But in return just the essentials, tach and speedometer.
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