warranty service
- Thread starter lewk
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I had a terrific experience with Bobby Rahal Honda for warranty work. They bend over backwards to satisfy the customer. They wanted to keep my car a couple of extra days to make sure it was repaired correctly and gave me a new Civic with 900 miles on it to drive. And this was with the first vehicle I purchased from them. They have will definately have my future Honda business.
I can't say that I've ever had a bad warranty repair experience. Our Cherokee never had to have any warranty repairs. My 1995 Dakota had several, but the dealership was exceptional. The service manager even loaned me his personal pickup so I could haul some stuff while mine was being repaired. My Subaru has only gone in once for a very minor dash rattle (Subaru paid for a rental car).
My sister got lousy service from one hyundai dealer... was throwing an "o2 lean" code. They threw about 3 new o2 sensors at the thing, all on hyundai's dime. Last one was outside the 60k (2nd owner) warranty but within the 1 yr/12k warranty on the previous parts and work.
Second dealer she explained what the first dealer did, they looked harder, found a cracked manifold/precat unit, and replaced it under the longer federal emissions warranty.
Never cost her a cent... just a little aggravation.
Second dealer she explained what the first dealer did, they looked harder, found a cracked manifold/precat unit, and replaced it under the longer federal emissions warranty.
Never cost her a cent... just a little aggravation.
I bought a 2001 catera for my wife back in 2001.
I researched and found warranty direct
http://www.warrantydirect.com/
I bought the best coverage, bumper to bumper no deductible 7 year, 100,000 miles plus all emissions coverage.
The entire coverage cost $1,275.00.
Well, 3 weeks ago we took her car to the caddy dealer here in Vegas for the moment of truth, using the warranty for the first time!
It turned out to be a great experience, they fixed the cooling system and fixed the electrical for the outside mirrors. Cadillac charged and they paid labor at a rate of $110.00 per hour. the bill warranty direct paid was almomt $900.00 BUT the caddy shop made me pay the $45.00 garage supply fee which we all know is the biggest bunch of bullsh#t!! It's like me charging a patient an extra fee in my working days for the water, cups, and mouthwash and towelettes.
That aside I had a great experience with warranty direct and highly recommend them! Check out their website!
I researched and found warranty direct
http://www.warrantydirect.com/
I bought the best coverage, bumper to bumper no deductible 7 year, 100,000 miles plus all emissions coverage.
The entire coverage cost $1,275.00.
Well, 3 weeks ago we took her car to the caddy dealer here in Vegas for the moment of truth, using the warranty for the first time!
It turned out to be a great experience, they fixed the cooling system and fixed the electrical for the outside mirrors. Cadillac charged and they paid labor at a rate of $110.00 per hour. the bill warranty direct paid was almomt $900.00 BUT the caddy shop made me pay the $45.00 garage supply fee which we all know is the biggest bunch of bullsh#t!! It's like me charging a patient an extra fee in my working days for the water, cups, and mouthwash and towelettes.
That aside I had a great experience with warranty direct and highly recommend them! Check out their website!
I'm sure that the writer at the service desk has his pay (bonus) tied directly to how much money he saves the dealer/manufacturer. Think of him as a reverse salesman. You usually need to go at these people armed to the teeth just to get them to do their darned job. Most of these people try to get you to feel sorry for them but I treat them like a wolf in sheeps' clothing. A lot of money is at stake in every department in these dealerships and most treat the customer as dirt. Where did all the love go that they had when you were shopping for a new ride? As far as extended warranties go, I almost bought one a long time ago, but said to myself on the way home "what pile of junk am I considering that needs an extra warranty?" These are huge wastes of money - buy a vehicle with a low frequency of repair.
I would avoid Nissan when it comes to warranty repair. Nissan has a reputation to avoid warranty repairs at all cost. Nissan dealer in Memphis would not fix an obvious headgasket leak and I had a UOA to back it up. We brought car there first time for no start issue with 20k miles, they said the plugs were bad (platinum plugs). another 15k miles, same issue and overflow bottle was 1 quart low. I did a UOA with obvious coolant leak. I brought it in telling them about the loss of coolant with UOA. They said "pressure tested fine" and slapped on new platinum plugs. Then one month later, the check engine light on, they caved and changed the headgasket. However, they never changed the oil out when it was the repair order. My supertech filter was still on there.
I am a technician AT a dealership (Acura). My opinion is that it differs from dealer to dealer and even differs depending on the service writer and technician. Our dealership seems pretty solid, being a luxury brand they try to provide the customer with a level of service above that of your typical Chevy, Honda, Hyundai, etc. dealership.
That being said, there are technicans in our shop who I consider "hacks" and would not recommend them to work on anybodys car.
As with any service industry, the level of satisfaction will vary from place to place and even day to day.
The one good thing about dealers is the use of OE parts, which arguably fit and work better than aftermarket parts. Also, working on one make of car you see recurring problems that may be identified and fixed with less hassle than taking it to the local garage.
One bad thing about dealers is the outrageous labor rate, currently at 139 dollars per hour at our shop. A 4 wheel brake job goes for 600 dollars plus tax.
I could probably write a book about this subject, but hopefully this little bit helps.
That being said, there are technicans in our shop who I consider "hacks" and would not recommend them to work on anybodys car.
As with any service industry, the level of satisfaction will vary from place to place and even day to day.
The one good thing about dealers is the use of OE parts, which arguably fit and work better than aftermarket parts. Also, working on one make of car you see recurring problems that may be identified and fixed with less hassle than taking it to the local garage.
One bad thing about dealers is the outrageous labor rate, currently at 139 dollars per hour at our shop. A 4 wheel brake job goes for 600 dollars plus tax.
I could probably write a book about this subject, but hopefully this little bit helps.
"One bad thing about dealers is the outrageous labor rate, currently at 139 dollars per hour at our shop."
Just curious, do they tack on the dreaded shop supply fee on top of this outrageous hourly fee?
The lexus dealership here in vegas doesn't charge that much!
Just curious, do they tack on the dreaded shop supply fee on top of this outrageous hourly fee?
The lexus dealership here in vegas doesn't charge that much!
I've had great experiences with the manufacturer warranties for all the brands I've owned: GM, Dodge, Ford, Isuzu, Jeep and Nissan. Nissan even covered a transaxle that was a few K miles out of warranty! If you are calm, cool and realistic with your dealer in regards to an issue, they will take care of you. I bought an aftermarket extended warranty (thru the selling dealership) for my ford windstar. It's thru intersate: http://www.inds.com/ They've covered a few things for me thus far. No fuss, no muss.
G/luck
Joel
G/luck
Joel
while it isnt a automobile, it did cost $4600 out the door and did need warranty work.
my pops bought a new yamaha raptor 4 wheeler. at the same day and the same dealer i bought a new banshee 4 wheeler. my banshee had been 100% ok so far, so this amusingly long story is going to be about my dads raptor.
when the first scheduled maintence interval of 10 hours came up we went to remove the drain plug and change the oil, the plug was on there tighter than you can imagine. the bolt head stripped. we even used a 6 point socket on it. it was just umimaginably tight. this is annoying because drainplugs dont need to be tight, espically ones like this which use an o-ring for a seal. these type of plugs can be finger tight and still wont leak.
we brought it to the dealer where we bought it from and they told us that sence we were the ones who broke it we are responsible for the cost to remove it and the cost of a new bolt. they also implied that we dont know how to maintain equipment and that we probably stripped it out using an adjustable wrench or some pliers.
i asked to speak to the owner of the store and explained to him that we were just being good customers and following the maintence schedule the way the owners manual says to. he said it didnt matter and had a really bad attitude. he tried to tell us that only a dealer can change the oil and perform maintence if we wanted to maintain the warranty.
we took the 4 wheeler home and i called up yamaha corporate and spoke to customer relations dept. i told them the story and how the dealer was a jerk and tried to screw us. they called the dealer and ordered them to fix the 4 wheeler and on top of that gave us a free 10 hour check up ($250 normally) which consists of valve adjustment, cable lube, brake adjustment, clutch adjustment, and whatever else they do.
meanwhile i had managed to get the drainplug lose by using a big pipe wrench on it. we went back to the dealer and got a new drainplug free thanks to yamaha corporate.
we decided not to take the 4 wheeler in for the 10 hour checkup and valve adjustment. i had a feeling that given the situation the dealer probably wouldnt do a very good job of adjusting the valves and lubing the cables. and to top it off i was a bit scared they might pour sand in the engine, or take the 4 wheeler out behind the store and do burnouts for 10 minutes at a time or something stupid like that just to get revenge on us because we tattled to yamaha corporate and got them in trouble.
so we just picked up a new drain plug for free and we did the valve adjustment, cable lubing, etc, by ourselves. in the owners manual it does say the owner can do this work and still maintain the warranty. and the manual shows you how to do all this work.
we feel better in the end knowing it was done properly.
we wont be going back to that dealer any longer.
overall i would say yamaha is a good company. in the future i plain on buying a 2nd 4 wheeler for myself and ill probably go with yamaha again. they make really high quality 4 wheelers just like honda or suzuki or any other brand.
but any company no matter what they sell, be it yamaha, or gm or subaru or even purolator is ONLY as good as the dealers which sell and maintain their products.
so we had a bad dealer. sence our negative expierence i have heard from others who own 4 wheelers that the dealer we went to is to be avoided at all costs. apparently they like to screw just about everyone they can. cant blame yamaha for that. yamaha stepped up to the plate and did what it took to make the situation right.
like i said i know this isnt an automobile but its basically the same thing. alltogether between my 4 wheeler and my dads we spend over 10,000 at that praticular dealer in 1 single day. i still cant believe they initally wouldnt give us a new drain plug, which cost $7.50. it took an act of yamaha corporate to get them to do anything.
my pops bought a new yamaha raptor 4 wheeler. at the same day and the same dealer i bought a new banshee 4 wheeler. my banshee had been 100% ok so far, so this amusingly long story is going to be about my dads raptor.
when the first scheduled maintence interval of 10 hours came up we went to remove the drain plug and change the oil, the plug was on there tighter than you can imagine. the bolt head stripped. we even used a 6 point socket on it. it was just umimaginably tight. this is annoying because drainplugs dont need to be tight, espically ones like this which use an o-ring for a seal. these type of plugs can be finger tight and still wont leak.
we brought it to the dealer where we bought it from and they told us that sence we were the ones who broke it we are responsible for the cost to remove it and the cost of a new bolt. they also implied that we dont know how to maintain equipment and that we probably stripped it out using an adjustable wrench or some pliers.
i asked to speak to the owner of the store and explained to him that we were just being good customers and following the maintence schedule the way the owners manual says to. he said it didnt matter and had a really bad attitude. he tried to tell us that only a dealer can change the oil and perform maintence if we wanted to maintain the warranty.
we took the 4 wheeler home and i called up yamaha corporate and spoke to customer relations dept. i told them the story and how the dealer was a jerk and tried to screw us. they called the dealer and ordered them to fix the 4 wheeler and on top of that gave us a free 10 hour check up ($250 normally) which consists of valve adjustment, cable lube, brake adjustment, clutch adjustment, and whatever else they do.
meanwhile i had managed to get the drainplug lose by using a big pipe wrench on it. we went back to the dealer and got a new drainplug free thanks to yamaha corporate.
we decided not to take the 4 wheeler in for the 10 hour checkup and valve adjustment. i had a feeling that given the situation the dealer probably wouldnt do a very good job of adjusting the valves and lubing the cables. and to top it off i was a bit scared they might pour sand in the engine, or take the 4 wheeler out behind the store and do burnouts for 10 minutes at a time or something stupid like that just to get revenge on us because we tattled to yamaha corporate and got them in trouble.
so we just picked up a new drain plug for free and we did the valve adjustment, cable lubing, etc, by ourselves. in the owners manual it does say the owner can do this work and still maintain the warranty. and the manual shows you how to do all this work.
we feel better in the end knowing it was done properly.
we wont be going back to that dealer any longer.
overall i would say yamaha is a good company. in the future i plain on buying a 2nd 4 wheeler for myself and ill probably go with yamaha again. they make really high quality 4 wheelers just like honda or suzuki or any other brand.
but any company no matter what they sell, be it yamaha, or gm or subaru or even purolator is ONLY as good as the dealers which sell and maintain their products.
so we had a bad dealer. sence our negative expierence i have heard from others who own 4 wheelers that the dealer we went to is to be avoided at all costs. apparently they like to screw just about everyone they can. cant blame yamaha for that. yamaha stepped up to the plate and did what it took to make the situation right.
like i said i know this isnt an automobile but its basically the same thing. alltogether between my 4 wheeler and my dads we spend over 10,000 at that praticular dealer in 1 single day. i still cant believe they initally wouldnt give us a new drain plug, which cost $7.50. it took an act of yamaha corporate to get them to do anything.
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