I know that everybody on here rants and raves if anyone says anything bad about a dealer, but this is a particular situation and its a question to the group.
A little background, when I moved to San Antonio, I would take my Sonata to the Red Mccombs Hyundai dealer for recalls and oil changes and never had one problem with the dealer. They were very good and did a fair job at a fair price. Anything I couldn't take care of myself, went to my indy mechanic.
So I traded the Sonata in for a Ford Escape using Carvana. At the pick up of the Ford, the Carvana employee noted a tear in the leather Shifter boot around the shift lever, and said "I put in a ticket with the warranty company, they will call you to get it taken care of zero deductible.".
I said no problem. Just for the record, I did not buy warranty coverage from Carvana, they gave me a 90 day 5000 mile warranty included in the price of the car.
So the warranty is with a company called Silverrock. They sent me an automated email the next day suggesting that I take it to a body shop two hours from my house for repair. I called them and said nope not happening, I want to take it to the Red Mccombs Ford Dealer in San Antonio. Silverrock said no problem take it there.
Trip 1 to the Dealer: I call and say I'll bring it by on Friday around lunch to get an estimate to replace the shift boot. They say no problem come by at 11:30. I arrive at 11:30, service writer says I can't give you an estimate, a tech needs to look at the car not me. I say its a leather shift boot. He says no, you need to bring it in first thing Monday morning at 7am and leave it for half a day to get an estimate. I say fine, and my wife gives me a ride to the dealer Monday morning.
Trip 2 to the Dealer: I drop the car off, ask the service writer if he has every worked with Silverrock warranty company? He says yeah we have no problem, I will call you with what they say. Dealer calls me on lunch, says warranty company denied work, tells me to call them and ask why.
I call Silver rock, they say they are denying coverage because its cosmetic issue and the warranty covers mechanical issues only. I call dealer and I say I'll come pick it up, let me call my car dealer and get the warranty thing straightened out. I take an Uber to the dealer after work. Service writer says I can't take the car unless I pay $69.95 diagnostic fee, and that he is doing me a favor it should be $129.99. $69.95 to look at a shift boot? Yes, and I pay that and take the car. By the way, the quote that ford wrote up was $680 for a new shifter and console piece, service writer says they don't sell the trim or leather separate. I find this suspect, I looked up the parts on the ford website and the trim piece with leather boot attached is $100 from ford. I didn't tell them that though.
Trip 3 to the dealer. I called Carvana in the morning, told them the situation, a rep called me back and said they will over ride the warranty company and take care of it. Ford dealer calls me Friday afternoon says the warranty approved the work. He says I need to bring the car to them before he will order the part, and that I need to leave the car at the dealer until the work is completed. He sets the appointment for Monday, and I ask three questions.
1.) How long will it take to get the part ordered, and why do I need to leave my car there if the part is not ready? (He says, I don't know, its our policy).
2.) Since this is nearly a $700 job, and you don't know how long it will take, will the dealer provide me a loaner car? (He says, let me check with manager, don't know)
3.) Can I get my $69.95 refunded that I paid for you to look at a rip in a shift boot? (Uh, my manager will need to approve, don't know)
Trip 4 to the dealer. There is a female service advisor, the original guy was off today. I explain the whole story again. She spends five minutes on the computer and says we don't need to keep the car, I have ordered the part it will be here in one week. I will call you when its here and we can put it in. I ask her about the $69.95 and she says I will have better luck getting the warranty company to reimburse me for that. She also said we don't have loaner cars, and wouldn't have authorized one anyways, that would have needed to go through a car rental company.
Trip 5 will be in a week or so after the part comes in.
This is the dumbest chain of events I have ever seen, I just had to laugh on my way out. Once this ordeal is finished, I probably won't walk back in that dealer.
A little background, when I moved to San Antonio, I would take my Sonata to the Red Mccombs Hyundai dealer for recalls and oil changes and never had one problem with the dealer. They were very good and did a fair job at a fair price. Anything I couldn't take care of myself, went to my indy mechanic.
So I traded the Sonata in for a Ford Escape using Carvana. At the pick up of the Ford, the Carvana employee noted a tear in the leather Shifter boot around the shift lever, and said "I put in a ticket with the warranty company, they will call you to get it taken care of zero deductible.".
I said no problem. Just for the record, I did not buy warranty coverage from Carvana, they gave me a 90 day 5000 mile warranty included in the price of the car.
So the warranty is with a company called Silverrock. They sent me an automated email the next day suggesting that I take it to a body shop two hours from my house for repair. I called them and said nope not happening, I want to take it to the Red Mccombs Ford Dealer in San Antonio. Silverrock said no problem take it there.
Trip 1 to the Dealer: I call and say I'll bring it by on Friday around lunch to get an estimate to replace the shift boot. They say no problem come by at 11:30. I arrive at 11:30, service writer says I can't give you an estimate, a tech needs to look at the car not me. I say its a leather shift boot. He says no, you need to bring it in first thing Monday morning at 7am and leave it for half a day to get an estimate. I say fine, and my wife gives me a ride to the dealer Monday morning.
Trip 2 to the Dealer: I drop the car off, ask the service writer if he has every worked with Silverrock warranty company? He says yeah we have no problem, I will call you with what they say. Dealer calls me on lunch, says warranty company denied work, tells me to call them and ask why.
I call Silver rock, they say they are denying coverage because its cosmetic issue and the warranty covers mechanical issues only. I call dealer and I say I'll come pick it up, let me call my car dealer and get the warranty thing straightened out. I take an Uber to the dealer after work. Service writer says I can't take the car unless I pay $69.95 diagnostic fee, and that he is doing me a favor it should be $129.99. $69.95 to look at a shift boot? Yes, and I pay that and take the car. By the way, the quote that ford wrote up was $680 for a new shifter and console piece, service writer says they don't sell the trim or leather separate. I find this suspect, I looked up the parts on the ford website and the trim piece with leather boot attached is $100 from ford. I didn't tell them that though.
Trip 3 to the dealer. I called Carvana in the morning, told them the situation, a rep called me back and said they will over ride the warranty company and take care of it. Ford dealer calls me Friday afternoon says the warranty approved the work. He says I need to bring the car to them before he will order the part, and that I need to leave the car at the dealer until the work is completed. He sets the appointment for Monday, and I ask three questions.
1.) How long will it take to get the part ordered, and why do I need to leave my car there if the part is not ready? (He says, I don't know, its our policy).
2.) Since this is nearly a $700 job, and you don't know how long it will take, will the dealer provide me a loaner car? (He says, let me check with manager, don't know)
3.) Can I get my $69.95 refunded that I paid for you to look at a rip in a shift boot? (Uh, my manager will need to approve, don't know)
Trip 4 to the dealer. There is a female service advisor, the original guy was off today. I explain the whole story again. She spends five minutes on the computer and says we don't need to keep the car, I have ordered the part it will be here in one week. I will call you when its here and we can put it in. I ask her about the $69.95 and she says I will have better luck getting the warranty company to reimburse me for that. She also said we don't have loaner cars, and wouldn't have authorized one anyways, that would have needed to go through a car rental company.
Trip 5 will be in a week or so after the part comes in.
This is the dumbest chain of events I have ever seen, I just had to laugh on my way out. Once this ordeal is finished, I probably won't walk back in that dealer.