Replaced my beater, wish I had it back

[RPM217]

AAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!

Thursday got in the new Subie, drove down to AC, no problems, most of the way @ 80mph. Car got about 23.5 mpg's, and it only has 600 miles on the odometer. Friday, get in the car at 10:20am, and at 10:25 am the check engine light comes on. I'm livid, call the dealer service department from the cell (hands free of course), and let the manager know that I'll be there around 1pm, and I wanted a limo waiting at my ready. This marks 2 weeks of ownership, over a 3 weekend period, and I haven't had the car for one of those weekends. I called Subaru of NA, and was told that a supervisor would call me back within 1/2 hour, I called him after an hour, left a voice mail for him, and never heard back. When I got home there was a message by the service manager that the same code had been tripped and an additional one as well. Now we have 3x to the dealer with the same problem, one more they owe me a new car under the NYS Lemon Law. I like the car, just hate having to deal with the inept people taking care of it. The General Manager saw me, and his response to me was "We didn't build the car, Subaru did, we're just trying to fix it!" I think that's the last time I'll ever buy a car from them again, and I will write a letter!!!

 

[gheba_nsx]

Seriously, I would start asking them money:

- 50$/hr for all the time you spent driving from/to the dealership, waiting time there and phoning to them

- $$$ for the phone calls


I did this for a 20" Monitor several years ago. They did not pay the 150$ I asked them but they gave me a 100$ coupon instead that I used to buy a hard disk...

 

[steveny]

I had a similar problem with a new vehicle a few years ago. I endured several frustrating trips to the dealer for the check engine light. The dealer replaced all the O2 sensors, the exhaust, converters, three computers, etc. The dealer finally had a specialist come from the factory to inspect the car. It took him a total of 20 minutes to see the air intake chamber that had been installed at the factory was deformed. The deformity allowed too much air to enter the mixture and caused the check engine light to come on.
Now the question is, if you share this story with the Subaru dealer will they listen?

 

[LeftLane]

My experience with a brand new, off the showroom floor Volvo S80 T6 - buy car, drive home, return to dealer for electric gremlins. Over next 9 weeks, have car for exactly 20 days. Eventually trade for another car since dealer wanted to try to fix things ad infinitum instead of replacing the car.

BTW, if the dealer gives you a loaner car, that time does not count against them for lemon law purposes. Also, the problems must affect the safety of the vehicle. It is virtually impossible to make a claim under the lemon law.

Brian2by2 said:

"Now, I look through all my papers and find out a few other things

A) the truck never had floormats, and when I requested a set, they gave me dirty, unmatching floormats out of a Trail Blazer.

B) They charged me for Lo-Jack...still don't have it on my truck, almost 3 months later!!

C) They charged me $1800 for extended warranty, which I clearly waivered!!

D) they sold me a truck that doesn't meet my spec's, which I made known to them.

I took it back 2 weeks later and wanted to trade it for a Blazer Xtreme (same price) and they wouldn't do it!! They wanted to give me $11,000 trade for it! I had financed $18000!!!! They wanted me to take a $7000 hit because of THEIR mistake!!!

I do believe the right time to "look through the papers" is before you sign on the dotted line. How in the world would you let them charge you for items that were obviously not on the truck? How could you not check to make sure this truck has a tow package, if that's needed for your job? Did you even look at the truck before driving off the lot? They may be unethical, but you sound like the biggest sucker consumer I've heard about. Have fun suing them for a product that you signed a contract for and accepted as is - you'll be throwing good money after bad.

BTW - respond to BrianK so the issue of the sub can be resolved.

 

[steveny]

BTW, if the dealer gives you a loaner car, that time does not count against them for lemon law purposes.

Please explain this in more detail. It may be the reason why I was not given a loaner on my third trip back for the same problem.

 

[Brian2by2]

I do believe the right time to "look through the papers" is before you sign on the dotted line. How in the world would you let them charge you for items that were obviously not on the truck? How could you not check to make sure this truck has a tow package, if that's needed for your job? Did you even look at the truck before driving off the lot? They may be unethical, but you sound like the biggest sucker consumer I've heard about. Have fun suing them for a product that you signed a contract for and accepted as is - you'll be throwing good money after bad.

They gave me a sheet with three options listed in three seperate columns and the monthly payment for each. I selected the basic option (which is all i needed), checked it, and signed where there was an X:_______ They only had an X:________ on the last, most expensive option. I have the paperwork to prove that in court.

 

[steveny]

They only had an X:________

Any of these get a N/A written in by me.

 

[LeftLane]

Here is part of the legislation in Texas explaining the lemon law as it relates to loaner cars:

"the vehicle is out of service for repair for a cumulative total of 30 or more days in the 24 months or 24,000 miles, whichever occurs first, and at least two repair attempts were made in the first 12 months or 12,000 miles immediately following the date of original delivery to an owner and a nonconformity still exists that substantially impairs the vehicle's use or market value. The initial 12-month period or 12,000 mile limit, the subsequent 12-month period or 12,000 mile limit, and the 30-day period shall be extended by any period of time during which repair services are not available to the owner because of a war, invasion, strike or fire, flood, or other natural disaster. During any period of time that the manufacturer or distributor lends a comparable motor vehicle to the owner during the time the vehicle is being repaired by a franchised dealer, the 30-day period provided for in this subsection is tolled."

This was found here:

http://www.lemonlawamerica.com/

 

[RPM217]

Still don't have it back yet

The NY Lemon Law is different, and the loaner has no effect on my rights under the law. I've already decided that if they call me to tell me that the car is ready today, I will NOT pick it up!!! I am going to insist that I receive the 7 year 100,000 mile Subaru manufacturer's extended warranty (Gold Plan) with $0 deductible, and a letter from the manufacturer that whatever "fix" they have intitiated is in full compliance with EPA regs, etc. blah, blah. I have to protect myself. If I return the "loaner" and pick up my car before "receiving" these "items" I lose my leverage, so until I have them in writing, I guess I'm driving a Taurus (yuch!). I do wish I had my old "beater" back, it never gave me these problems. In the 19 days of ownership, I've had the car for 5 days, the dealer for 14, this sucks!!!!

 

[huckster]

With all the cars ive owned, i feel like ive actually been pretty lucky.

HOWEVER, I too had a volvo (s60). Supposedly this didnt have all the problems the s-80 did. I bought it because of the navi and integrated phone---at the time this combo was hard to find. Within 8 months the phone started screwing up. Frequently. I spend 6plus hours a day running around on the phone, so this is a major problem for me.

Heres the punch line. After three trips to the dealer they cant get it right. They blame the provider. The cell provider blames volvo. A different volvo dealer tells me "oh yeah, this is a really common complaint. These phones dont work very well. We recommend against that option".

Guess what! The emergency/sos feature is tied to that phone! I go into the dealer, push the button, and nothing happens. Their response, "hhumm. That is a problem". BUT they still do nothing.

I traded it in.

The other bad experience was GM 00 escalade. 200miles/new never titled. Alignment never stayed. I since wondered if maybe accident? At trade in the same cadillac dealer had the lowest bid of any. In 2002 they bid 17500$ on the escalade with 39kmiles. They kept saying that they had too many escalades. Didnt much like their own product, did they?

Ive heard a lot of other gm stories, so im thinking my experience wasnt isolated. By the way, volvo does provide loaners, whereas cadillac did not.

 

[steveny]

The other bad experience was GM 00 escalade. 200miles/new never titled. Alignment never stayed. I since wondered if maybe accident? At trade in the same cadillac dealer had the lowest bid of any. In 2002 they bid 17500$ on the escalade with 39kmiles. They kept saying that they had too many escalades. Didnt much like their own product, did they?

Ive heard a lot of other gm stories, so im thinking my experience wasnt isolated. By the way, volvo does provide loaners, whereas cadillac did not.

I had the same experience with a 2002 Dodge ram pick up. The dealer aligned it 4 times and it still pulled. The service manager said there was no problem with the truck and nothing to fix. I could not get them to fix the problem so I got rid of the truck. I told the buyer about the problem and showed the buyer the paper work from the service department. The person who bought my truck was also looking at buying a new truck at the same dealer where I bought my truck. One of the salesman told my buyer my truck had a permanent problem and could not be aligned properly. ERRRR. I phoned the dealer and let them know they had 24 hours to set my buyer straight or they would hear from my attorney, and would have to fix my truck. My buyer did come back and buy my truck but for $1,000 less than we had originally agreed upon.

The part of the whole experience that pisses me off the most was when I called Dodge corporate headquarters. I was so upset I told the representative that I would most likely never buy another Dodge product again. He said "well we have nothing further to talk about then" and hung up the phone.

I had a Cadillac too. Don't you find it odd that such a pricey car and no loaner for service. HEY GM, Ford, Dodge want to know why you are being out sold by all the foreign manufactures....SERVICE....DEPENDABILITY.....
My BMW is out of warranty and I STILL get a FREE loaner car. That is why I will buy another BMW, and not a Dodge or Cadillac.

 

[RPM217]

almost over, I hope

Just got off of the phone with the service manager, he feels that they finally have it right. It appears as though there was a manufacturing defect, and the wires were crossed from the front and back oxygen sensors, with the left and right sensors. They (Subaru of NA) has agreed to put a 7 year 100,000 mile extended warranty, with $0 deductible (transferable on resale) on the car for no cost to me (they are sold as a very profitable option for $2,460). After all the aggravation, it's the least that they can/should do. I hope to pick up the car tomorrow, and never have to return to the dealer again!!! Hopefully, this will be my last posting to this thread!

 

[RPM217]

a whole week and no light!!!

Well, I've had the car back since last Thursday, put on 300+miles and the check engine light hasn't re-appeared. Maybe they finally got it right. The car is a "pleasant" drive, not exciting or beautiful, but right now, I'll settle for uneventful!!! Hopefully the end of this thread, once and for all!!