I have heard or read this somewhere and I wanted to see if I could get some verification.

If a person has an ongoing problem with a car and a dealership just patches up the problem (by lubricating, in this particular case) while the warranty is still in effect, wouldn't the issue still be covered even after the expiration of the warranty? The customer has complained about the problem two or three times while the warranty was still in effect. Now the warranty has expired and the dealer is recommending replacement of the part at the expense of the owner.

Any help will be much appreciated!

Michael

 

With stealerships, the squeaky wheel always gets the grease. What they need to argue is that they never fixed it right in the first place. They keep records of every time that car has been in for any type of service, so they will see what the owner had complained about, and how it was or wasn't resolved. Tell the person to keep at it, call service every day. I believe there is even a number for ford service where you can complain to ford itself about what a dealership is doing or not doing, but getting that number is hard, if I can find it, i will give it to you for them.

 

Most repairs have their own warranty outside of the OEM warranty. Say you brought your car in and they replaced a clutch at 35K miles and your warranty expires at 36K. The clutch carries its own 12K 12 month warranty so in essence you have up to 47K or 12 months warranty (whichever comes first).

If the failed part was "serviced" find out what kind of warranty teh "service" entitles the owner to. Go by that warranty.

 

You would be best served by speaking to an attorney about this. We covered a great deal about warranties last semester, but I am still hesitant to go giving advice online about such matters, as I haven't yet even applied for law school, and small things differ from state to state. To keep it simple though, a failure to solve the problem would likely be some sort of a contractual breach, but also I am unsure as to the standard of care expected from a dealership for warranty service (less than ordinary, ordinary, or extraordinary). I could ask someone, but attorneys are generally hesitant to give advice between states, due to liability issues.

By the way, I am dying to see the Galaxy in your signature. Any pics?

 

Thanks for the advice. Here is a photo of the Galaxy.

 

That's a gorgeous car.

 

Howz about giving us the exact details of what you are talking about?

 

Haha... yeah graduate from law school first... then talk...

Anyway, the truth is that this area of law has is shades of grey. Your best bet is to take to a dealer who is "good" about warranty service. Lets face it, you not going to file a suit about a $500 part. Anyway, the advice mentioned above is good, each part replaced carries its own warranty, but you are entitled to have your warrantied problem "fixed".. if it keeps occurring.... then its not "fixed" and then need to determine what the real cause of the issue here. Basically your going to have to play hard ball and speak to whoever is in charge and threaten action if they dont stop putting band aids on your problem, but your best bet is going to be to file complaints with the BBB and go to other dealers until your problem is fixed.

 

Thanks to all of you for your responses. This is actually my sister-in-law's car and is actually a GM product. I didn't want to join a GM group and I knew that you guys would have some good responses that would apply for any car issue.

Two years ago, while the car was still under warranty, she had complained about a noise when she turned the steering wheel. They lubricated the steering shaft which helped for a little while, but the noise came back. Then she went back again to complain about the noise and they lubricated it again. She took it to them yesterday (car now out of warranty), and they said it needed to be replaced at her expense (I think around $250).

After getting some ideas from you guys, I talked to my sister-in-law. She talked to the dealership and they agreed to replace the part with no charge to her.

 

Sometimes I just stand in the yard and stare at it! Unfortunately the front fender is removed on the other side. This stupid girl with no drivers license or insurance turned in front of me and I ran into her, damaging the front right fender. Then she filed bankrupcy. I only had liability insurance so I'm just waiting to save up the money to fix it myself.