are service writers under any obligation to tell you something is under warranty?

[CarLuver]

my nephew has a 2017 Civic. the A/C went out . he took it to the dealer to have it check it. they said it was the condenser and its going to cost $1k to fix it. he called me up and i did a search and found out that its under an warranty extension. So i told him about it and he presented it to the service writer. According to him the guy just acted stupid and said yeah its covered.

this is twice i have experience this at a honda dealer. so are they under any obligation to tell customers something i under warranty?

 

[JavierH19]

Nope. Just as how cops are not legally obligated to protect and serve when something happens. They can just ignore it too.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

my nephew has a 2017 Civic. the A/C went out . he took it to the dealer to have it check it. they said it was the condenser and its going to cost $1k to fix it. he called me up and i did a search and found out that its under an warranty extension. So i told him about it and he presented it to the service writer. According to him the guy just acted stupid and said yeah its covered.

this is twice i have experience this at a honda dealer. so are they under any obligation to tell customers something i under warranty?

That always makes me feel worse about this seemingly , all about me, greed driven society / generation. Used to be more people would be ashamed or raised of too moral a fibre to flat out lie to a customer. The amount of emails, cell phone texts and land line scams going on today is disgusting.

 

[bdcardinal]

Legally? I don't think so.
Morally/ethically/being a good person? absolutely

FWIW so many times people call in for a part at the same time as I am looking it up I will run their VIN in OASIS to check for open recalls. Takes an extra couple of seconds and people are so happy to find out that whatever they are looking for is covered.

 

[dkryan]

my nephew has a 2017 Civic. the A/C went out . he took it to the dealer to have it check it. they said it was the condenser and its going to cost $1k to fix it. he called me up and i did a search and found out that its under an warranty extension. So i told him about it and he presented it to the service writer. According to him the guy just acted stupid and said yeah its covered.

this is twice i have experience this at a honda dealer. so are they under any obligation to tell customers something i under warranty?

Just add this to the very long list of reasons to avoid the dealer.

However, being under warranty, I understand the dealer has to do the work. Or do they? What does Honda say about an independent shop doing the work now that the Rhodes Scholar of a service writer has listed the problem on a dealership estimate form?

If possible, I’d take it to a different dealer to have the work done. If this dealer is trying to lift $1k from your nephew’s pocket, how can those mechanics be trusted to perform the job correctly?

 

[bdcardinal]

Just add this to the very long list of reasons to avoid the dealer.

However, being under warranty, I understand the dealer has to do the work. Or do they? What does Honda say about an independent shop doing the work now that the Rhodes Scholar of a service writer has listed the problem on a dealership estimate form?

If possible, I’d take it to a different dealer to have the work done. If this dealer is trying to lift $1k from your nephew’s pocket, how can those mechanics be trusted to perform the job correctly?

At least with Ford, if a repair is done by an IRF that should have been covered under a warranty of some sort, the customer can submit for a refund.

 

[Skippy722]

I had to remind my dealership that my truck was still in fact under the 3 year/36k warranty when it needed a new gas tank. They just saw the model year and didn’t even bother to look, so I’m convinced that’s all they do. They won’t dig deeper unless they have to or you press them about it.

 

[IndyIan]

Its not really a scam, but given any excuse not to check if something is covered under warranty, they won't, as warranty work pays less than a customer will.
I had salesmen play dumb on factory incentives too, he would've just pocketed $8k if someone didn't call him on it. I went to a different dealer and bought there.

 

[eljefino]

There's always the possibility of double dipping as well.

 

[Brian123]

Yes, in 2 instances, if they are your friend or if you have some dirt on them!

 

[SeaJay]

We have had indy mechanics tell us that the repair we took our car in for should be under warranty and that we should go to a dealer.

 

[oldhp]

A good honest Service writer SHOULD look up your VIN and see what, if any, recalls, ext warranty exist. Because that would make me come back to him if I need something else.

 

[I<3oil]

Its not really a scam, but given any excuse not to check if something is covered under warranty, they won't, as warranty work pays less than a customer will.
I had salesmen play dumb on factory incentives too, he would've just pocketed $8k if someone didn't call him on it. I went to a different dealer and bought there.

Yup

 

[2heeldrive]

Are those guys on commission?

 

[IndyIan]

Are those guys on commission?

I think most are, just like salesmen.

 

[andrew_j]

Who knows. Honest mistake all the way to dealership fraud.

If you got charged the car maker usually has method of reimbursement for those repairs .

 

[Pew]

Nope. The service writer that scheduled me water pump replacement on the focus didn't mention to me that it was under warranty. A second service writer called me a day later and told me it was covered. The first service writer was also the one to tell me I needed new brakes at 30k, when they lasted until 130k.

They're just salesman, paid off commission.

 

[Fla]

my nephew has a 2017 Civic. the A/C went out . he took it to the dealer to have it check it. they said it was the condenser and its going to cost $1k to fix it. he called me up and i did a search and found out that its under an warranty extension. So i told him about it and he presented it to the service writer. According to him the guy just acted stupid and said yeah its covered.

this is twice i have experience this at a honda dealer. so are they under any obligation to tell customers something i under warranty?

The manufactures only pay the stealerships a FRACTION of what the Stealerships would charge a customer for the same repair. So the Stealerships has $EVERY$ reason not to tell you that a repair is covered under warranty.

 

[Egg_Head]

While my BMW was covered under extended warranty I had developed a decent relationship with my service writer and would work with him on nearly every visit. When the extended warranty was about to expire he offered to proactively replace the expansion tank, valve cover and valley pan gaskets (known failure points) on my 540. No skin off his nose as BMWNA covered it.

 

[MCompact]

When I worked a BMW we would always tell the customer if an issue was covered by warranty. If the car was out of warranty we would see I'd goodwill coverage could be obtained from BMW. When I had my MS3 my Mazda dealer treated me the same way. That said, I have a friend with an F-150 who was told flat out by a factory rep that his engine would not be covered under warranty because "you never changed the oil." As it turned out, the dealer records showed that the oil had been changed more frequently than called for.