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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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I'd say they are doing all right in replacing it up front without hassling you. Which is what most dealerships do in cases like this (hassle you). They normally just cobble a fix, give it back, it works for a short time and you bring it back. Over and over until they wear you out so you don't come back.
Doesn't that strike you just a little odd that they wouldn't disclose all the information to their customer and make up some tale about a mysterious engine glitch that may never be completely investigated?
Sounds to me like they didn't connect the coolant line to the engine at the factory, then failed to check it before shipping the car out, and then the dealership was too cheap and/or lazy to do a thorough check on an allegedly brand new car. Now that they've realized it, they're trying to cover their ass by playing dumb...
I think you know very little about cars. Have you considered that the dealer knows exactly what is wrong with the car but doesn't want to explain it to a novice that has no hope of understanding? I can't imagine why they would need to change the whole engine unless the problem was something catastrophic in nature, like a blown head gasket.
I think you know very little about cars. Have you considered that the dealer knows exactly what is wrong with the car but doesn't want to explain it to a novice that has no hope of understanding? I can't imagine why they would need to change the whole engine unless the problem was something catastrophic in nature, like a blown head gasket.
That the coolant line, if it was completely or partially disconnected, would be leaking fluid all over the place! You'd be killing cats from miles around leaving all that antifreeze on the ground for them to drink.
So, what was really wrong? I'm betting they forgot to put the clamp on the end of the hose and that as things got warm (the cooling system is a pressurized system) the pressure of the coolant as well as the heat of the coolant, warmed the radiator hose up enough to let it slip off while you were driving down the road. 1st the loss of pressure could have tripped a sensor that then tripped your check engine light...