Kudos to Honda

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: Brett Miller
I didn't intend to stir up a hornet's nest here. The bottom line is they didn't have to give me a dime and I'm happy with what I received.


I would be too. That is fairly generous of them to cover 50% of the cost of repairing a five year old car with over 60K on the odo. A lot of companies would probably just ignore the complaint.

As others pointed out, Honda has not always been consistent with this kind of thing. It seems with some bigger issues that are part of a pattern of failures (like Odyssey transmissions), they try to just pretend that nothing is wrong for as long as they can.

Honda was fairly good about dealing with the junk CVT in my dad's '04 Civic Hybrid, though a lot of the credit has to go to the dealer. Honda just covered the cost of replacing the transmission; it was the dealer who stepped up and gave my dad a nice loaner and tried to make things go as smooth as possible.

 

[OVERKILL]

A friend (female) of a buddy of mine (who just bought the F-250) has a brand new FIT. Has 15,000Km on it. One of the belts in the tire broke. The local Honda dealer (which has a bad rep anyways; they were caught "disposing" of used motor oil in the woods behind their dealership) told her she would have to buy a new tire.... For THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!

When she suggested they replace it, he started telling her "belts don't just break, it was obviously driver error". And when she suggested buying a less expensive tire, he went on about how the replacement was OEM, and subsequently a superior tire. Which is why it commanded the price it did.

My buddy got involved, was rather outraged at the experience with the dealer, took the car to a local tire place, who said they could EASILY warranty the tire through the manufacturer, as there were no markings on the tire or rim indicating any sort of driver err to have created the condition........

 

[brianl703]

The tire brochure that came with my Saab 93 is pretty clear that you can get the tires replaced under warranty at any Pirelli tire dealer.

An honest dealer will tell you the same.

As far as disposing of used oil in the woods, that's just plain stupid---even if you don't care about the environment that's fuel for a waste oil heater.

 

[Dave Hess]

Brianl703,

That headlight problem on the 2001 Civic reminds me of my old 5.0 Mustang that had headlight problems (and fixed under warranty). I was once racing a 911 Turbo and my headlights went out while I was over 120 miles per hour.

The instrument panel on my mom's 2001 Civic died last year and I called the dealer about fixing it, they wanted over $800 for a new one. Luckily my mom is 65 years old and only drives 5K miles per year. I just told her to put $30 every week so she doesn't accidently run out of gas. Her trans hasn't had any problems, but I've done about 5 drain/refills as a precaution.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Brianl703,

That headlight problem on the 2001 Civic reminds me of my old 5.0 Mustang that had headlight problems (and fixed under warranty). I was once racing a 911 Turbo and my headlights went out while I was over 120 miles per hour.

The instrument panel on my mom's 2001 Civic died last year and I called the dealer about fixing it, they wanted over $800 for a new one. Luckily my mom is 65 years old and only drives 5K miles per year. I just told her to put $30 every week so she doesn't accidently run out of gas. Her trans hasn't had any problems, but I've done about 5 drain/refills as a precaution.




GT with the Foglight switch issue I take it?

 

[Audi Junkie]

Honda boned me pretty hard when I complained about the paint chips on my hood. 20k miles and 20k stone chips, all super-tiny. So, instead of it taking a bigger sized stone to chip the hood, like a pea, it appears grains of sand are sufficient to chip it.

Honda national service goon told me the local rep refuses to even look at my car, citing it was not their fault, rather "outside influence". I insisted that it was not a single impact chip I was complaining about, rather suggesting the impact resistance in general was not adequate and asked for information on the testing protocol concerning paint chipping. I was told that's "propritary" and was showed the door. My carbon fibre replacement hood looks perfect still, zero chips. Honda's rep took a big ding on that one with me.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: brianl703
Of course you don't. So I'll explain it:

Watch your tone. It looks awfully silly to weigh a long-out-of-warranty used car against an entire company's reputation and in the same breath try to lecture anyone about being perceptive.

 

[JeepZJ4.0]

I'm expecting another one from Acura. I'm VERY disappointed in the service of my dealer. I've thought often of getting rid of the car because they haven't fixed the rattles... which shouldn't exist on my Acura!!! My 2000 Grand Cherokee had 120K miles and had just developed a rattle and it was due to a loose window regulator clip!!!

 

[crinkles]

Is the CR-V any good off road?

 

[SD26]

Originally Posted By: Brett Miller
I didn't intend to stir up a hornet's nest here. The bottom line is they didn't have to give me a dime and I'm happy with what I received.


But why didn't you ask if Nissan or Toyota would do it? By asking if Ford or Chevy would do it, you loaded the question completely.

I had a serpentine belt and a failed idler replaced on my big E350 diesel in 2003 at no cost. It had over 190k on the clock, and it was a 1996 model vehicle.

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d
It looks awfully silly to weigh a long-out-of-warranty used car against an entire company's reputation


The original post that started this thread was about a used car long out of warranty.

So as I understand how you think it works:

A used car long out of warranty with a customer experience that can be used to bolster an entire company's reputation is relevant....


...but a used car long out of warranty with a customer experience that shows negatively against that entire company's reputation is irrelevant.

Quote:
and in the same breath try to lecture anyone about being perceptive.


Try being consistent.

Quote:
Watch your tone.


I don't suffer fools gladly.

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette

That headlight problem on the 2001 Civic reminds me of my old 5.0 Mustang that had headlight problems (and fixed under warranty).


My 1988 GT had that problem when it was about 15 years old. It was the foglight problem, where the foglights were powered off the low beam circuit and they consumed more current than the wiring could handle so the thermal breaker in the headlight switch would trip.

I fixed it by installing a headlight harness in that puts the headlights, high and low beams, on relays. The harness cost about $50. It probably would have cost as much to make one.

Many vehicles since then use relays in the headlight circuit, and other places in the car too. The 1988 Mustang doesn't have many relays at all.

I can only guess that the increased use of relays is to prevent these types of problems. It's a lot easier to design a headlight switch to control the small current of a relay coil than to control a large headlight current. The relay itself is an off-the-shelf component; the headlight switch never is and almost always is specific to the model and has to be designed for that model.

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: SD26

I had a serpentine belt and a failed idler replaced on my big E350 diesel in 2003 at no cost. It had over 190k on the clock, and it was a 1996 model vehicle.


I had every wiring harness under the hood of my 1996 Ford Contour replaced at no cost, when the car had 95,000 miles on it.

The harnesses themselves were about $600 in parts and it's about 10 hours in labor to change them (if not more than that).

At $75/hour, that's an $1350 repair Ford performed for free.

This is because Yazaki, who made the harnesses for Ford, screwed up and used the wrong insulation (they used PVC) for under hood applications, so it started deteriorating. It couldn't handle the heat.

 

[milwaukee]

Honda is the most overrated car company in the world IMO. Boring cars with a rabid advocacy group, owners.

 

[SD26]

Originally Posted By: milwaukee
Honda is the most overrated car company in the world IMO. Boring cars with a rabid advocacy group, owners.

I will agree.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
..Honda national service goon told me the local rep refuses to even look at my car, citing it was not their fault, rather "outside influence".


Out of curiosity, did you try calling the AHM's 800#? American Honda Motors is just like the rest with hit/miss dealerships, service writers, reps, etc.. but from what I've read, starting the ball rolling by calling Honda directly is what gets you places.

Joel

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: milwaukee
Honda is the most overrated car company in the world IMO. Boring cars with a rabid advocacy group, owners.


Have you owned Honda products?

The advocacy group thing sure seems to be true. I didn't think we'd ever own (lease) one until we picked up our Odyssey. After having clocked lots-o miles in Ford, Chrysler and GM minivans, none of them can come close to matching the Odyssey in terms of comfort, power, layout, storage, looks... the list goes on. They might need Velcro to hold the transaxles in place (for ease of 'access'), but it's worth the risk.

Joel

 

[SD26]

I have owned one. It was fine. For it's age and mileage, I expected better results given the "advocacy" group.

I can buy less expensive used cars and get similar if not better results. I could have worst too, but that hasn't been my personal experience.

 

[BrianWC]

Originally Posted By: crinkles
Is the CR-V any good off road?


For SERIOUS off-roading? No. It doesn't have low-range gearing, it's just a viscous clutch AWD. But it's a great foul-weather car. I've taken mine down some decent sand and clay trails. As long as I stayed out of the BIG ruts I was fine.

 

[BrianWC]

regarding Honda, the key to getting good service on issues like this is to go beyond the dealer. Once you voice it to a regional service rep, chances are you're going to get some sort of relief. But you CAN'T rely on the dealer. I paid $1,200 for a replacement a/c compressor on my CR-V at 50k miles only to have it go out again at about 75k miles. The dealer had lied to me and told me the $1,200 was covering a complete a/c system replacement when all the did was swap out the compressor and add more freon. Well, the rest of the system was still gunked up. So when I returned and complained, having knowledge of the fact that Honda had replaced these things for other CR-V drivers for free out of warranty, I was able to swing getting a new system and extending the warranty for another 3 years for $100. But this was only after the dealer called Honda. Of course, it would have been NICE of them to give me back my $1,200 for the first repair.... But other CR-V drivers have had the a/c system replaced free MANY miles passed their warranty.

As for SAAB and GM, that's NOT a good comparison. GM did a recall on the SAAB direct ignition cassettes only after legal action by people having their car's DI cassette erupt in a cloud of thick black smoke while driving down the highway. GM even continued to deny there was a problem in the recall letter they sent to owners.

And with the sludger engine 8 yr warranty, you have to prove with pretty concrete written documentation that you always observed the manufacturer's oil change interval and only used the manufacturer-recommended oil. Now, this is a great deal for the person who keeps meticulous receipts and has a 7 yr old 9-5 with 250k miles. But for the person with a 4 yr old car with 70k miles and one lost receipt, it's too bad, so sad. Of course, engines cost a tad more than a/c clutches....