Warranty horror stories.

[Chris142]

Here's mine.

Bought my jeep brand new June 02. It had a 3/36 basic warranty and 8/80 emissions warranty.

At 35990 miles it threw a code for the TPS as well as running bad. Called the dealer and made an appointment.

I told them it was just under the 36000 miles and would be over by the time I got there. The guy on the phone took all that info and didn't seem concerned about the milage.

When I dropped it off they called a few hours later and denied the warranty because it had 36014 miles on it.

I then asked about the 8/80 emissions warranty thinking that a CEL and a bad TPS would be covered.

They denied that too.

 

[KGMtech]

This is not nice, but I bet it's very common. I try to have my car serviced at the dealer while it has the warranty, maybe this helps? However after the warranty is done, I DIY or go elsewhere.

 

[dishdude]

That's awfully odd, the 36,000 miles starts at the mileage when delivered. So if it had 30 miles from PDI, test drives, adding fuel, etc. your warranty would run until 36,030.

 

[JunkdrawerDog]

My worst was a '98 Subaru Legacy. It wasn't a single occurrence, but the fact that it had to go in for warranty and recalls over and over again. And they still wouldn't address the piston slap, warped rotors and peeling paint.

 

[CKN]

I have found by many manufacturers that sunroofs are not covered under the factory warranty. There are stipulations with "bumper to bumper" coverage-it's not a thing in many instances.

 

[JunkdrawerDog]

Sometimes, I think those bumper to bumper warranties only cover the two bumpers.

 

[Klutch9]

Sometimes, I think those bumper to bumper warranties only cover the two bumpers.

*bumpers not incuded.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I once had a Ford Taurus that was out warranty but still covered by the emissions warranty. The hood latch didn’t work and I could not get the hood to open. I told the service writer that I wanted it fixed under the emissions warranty. He called the shop manager and they guy asked what’s up. I said I wanted the latched fixed under the emissions warranty. He asked why is that. I told him they can’t possibly work on my underhood emissions issues unless they could open the hood. He grabbed a can of cleaning foam and spray lube, hit the hood with a well placed blow of his fist, foamed it, then lubed it. No charge.

 

[Chris142]

That's awfully odd, the 36,000 miles starts at the mileage when delivered. So if it had 30 miles from PDI, test drives, adding fuel, etc. your warranty would run until 36,030.

When I first saw the jeep it was still on the upper deck of the car hauler. It had 2.7 miles on it when I drove it off the lot.

 

[AZjeff]

Here's mine.

Bought my jeep brand new June 02. It had a 3/36 basic warranty and 8/80 emissions warranty.

At 35990 miles it threw a code for the TPS as well as running bad. Called the dealer and made an appointment.

I told them it was just under the 36000 miles and would be over by the time I got there. The guy on the phone took all that info and didn't seem concerned about the milage.

When I dropped it off they called a few hours later and denied the warranty because it had 36014 miles on it.

I then asked about the 8/80 emissions warranty thinking that a CEL and a bad TPS would be covered.

They denied that too.

Totally agree it should have been covered and they were scum about it but a TPS isn't really much of a horror. A Mopar part today is $85 msrp.

 

[Drifter]

That is just wrong. In hindsight you should have sent it on a flatbed to the dealer. Note to self.

 

[mr_boring]

2012 F150, Ford CPO with the 100k powertrain warranty. 96k and change, goes into limp mode and the dash lights up like a Christmas tree. Next day its at the dealership. 3 days later, "hey Boring, your truck is ready"

Fairly short list of work done on the invoice. But it runs good on the way home so YAY! I don't remember what it said, but it 'definitely supposedly' had been opened up and something replaced.

About 6 weeks later at 99,600 it does it again. Out of curiosity before I go be-bopping back up to the dealership I crawl up underneath it. I see no sign that a bolt had ever had a wrench on it. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't.

Pretty sure they cleared the codes and reset the tables and that was about it. I take it back up there, knowing I'm going to trade it in. They are all "golly Boring, what's the odds it failed yada yada yada"

I go scrounge up a salesman. They lowball the ever loving goodnight out of me on the trade because "well it's got issues" - My response - "no feces, Sherlock. Why do you think I'm here? You are fixing it under warranty AGAIN" I went all the way Karen. Got a ride to the Ford dealership south of town (I'm on the north end dealership) and pick out one. Drove it back up there and backed it up to about 18" from the big front door, walk in, and go even more Karen. What's crazy is that I REALLY wanted this HEAVILY discounted MY18 (the 19's had been out a while) that the north dealership had on the lot. SCAB, not a SCREW - which was why no takers I suppose. After about 45 minutes of me venting I asked them if I was going to have to bother towing my trade to the south dealership and buying the one I was test driving.

I got the 18, walked out the door with it for 24% off MSRP (personal best) plus about what I thought the trade was worth. It paid to Karen on that day. Joke was on me though, it was a lemon with intermittent cam phaser issues - I don't hold that against them. Every manufacturer makes lemons.

Went back a week later and crawled up under the 2012 I traded in. Same old dirt on the same old bolts.

I just bought a Ranger at this same dealership. I hate them, but it was a good deal and they gave me 1500 over KBB on my 2018 (yeah, I bought 2 2018 f150's) trade. it'll be a cold day before I ever buy anything used from them. Only about 13% off MSRP on this one, but times have changed.

My trade was throwing several codes. I cleared them in the parking lot. If you go up to a dealership, go about an hour before they close. Odds are they won't go though it (trade) with a fine toothed comb.

 

[wwillson]

My 2021 Duramax has a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. Awesome right? Wrong. I had to have two injectors replaced at 51,000 miles. The injectors are part of the powertrain right? Read the fine print very carefully. "Any pressurized fuel system component has a 36,000 warranty." The only part of the fuel system that isn't pressurized is the fuel tank. I paid the $1,800 bill and walked out irritated.

 

[Nick1994]

Mine could have been.

I bought my 2015 Genesis 5.0L in 12/2019 at 53k miles. Didn’t buy the extended warranty. I had the option of adding it on later out of pocket instead of wrapping it into the full car purchase price.

Technically it should have been under powertrain warranty as the 2nd owner of a Hyundai gets 5year/60k powertrain (original owner gets 10year/100k). The transmission felt like it was shifting roughly at lower speeds in February so I took it to a different dealer by my work and they were really rude, and only offered a software update at my out of pocket expense for a few hundred $$. I left and lived with it for a little bit and in May at 60k miles I went to my selling dealer and paid the $3,300 for the best extended (manufacturer) warranty they had until like 132k miles.

The kicker was, the car was originally sold in 4/2015, so the warranty should have gone to 4/2020 or 60k miles. But for some reason, it sat at a dealer lot from 9/2014 until it was sold, and in 11/2014 it randomly started its’ warranty for no obvious reason. Which means it expired 11/2019. I tried to argue it, but they wouldn’t budge.

Turns out the issue was just a bad transmission mount which I had fixed the next winter. That warranty paid out about $11k in repairs until I sold it 8/2021 at 80k miles.

 

[dishdude]

The kicker was, the car was originally sold in 4/2015, so the warranty should have gone to 4/2020 or 60k miles. But for some reason, it sat at a dealer lot from 9/2014 until it was sold, and in 11/2014 it randomly started its’ warranty for no obvious reason. Which means it expired 11/2019. I tried to argue it, but they wouldn’t budge.

It was probably a service loaner or a demo for management.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Anything Toyota is a disaster. Getting them to cover it is one thing but they are so picky too it’s just awful and always makes me feel bad. They are very nit picky and don’t want to pay for anything. They always find a way to say it’s the customers fault. The only thing they don’t hassle us on is oil pans and Tundra engines lol. And also they don’t do anything for us techs as they won’t pay warranty diagnosis so you have to diagnose for free. It’s incredibly frustrating as a flat rate technician. They won’t turn loose of even a tenth of an hour for the tech to diagnose it.!