$10,000 Engine?

Or, as you pointed out in your first post, 60 months-this is an important clause, as many people have cars that are over 60 months old, but still under 50K mileage. My 2001 Elantra is just coming up to

OR 60 MONTHS, AFTER THAT, REPLACE IT EVEY 30,000 MILES (48,000) OR 24

I got caught with that time business on my 2001 Elantra, the door locks were (still are) acting up, still under the 50K mileage, but over the 5 year warranty clause, by about two weeks. The dealer refused the free service. Next car will be another make from another dealer. BTW I had all the specified services, all changes etc., done by the same dealer on time.

I don't have a Santa Fe and I don't know what the maintenance requirements are for one so I can't comment on the above scenario.

Matt

Afraid that any court will stand behind. First, the manual state that it must be CHANGED at 30K, not just cheked, then again CHANGED it at 60K, 90K you miss any, you are out of luck, period, that's the law, and yes, it's fair, you do your part, they do their part.

Let me change the example! I have my transmission fluid changed at 25,000 miles instead of 30,000 and it goes out at 58,000. Since I didn't have it changed at 30,000, is the warranty voided? Or is it voided because 33,000 miles were traveled without changing it?

What if I had it changed at 30,100 miles, would that void it? 29,900?

What if the first 3,500 miles following an oil change is all highway mileage and then the next 3,500 are city driving and I change the oil at 7001. Does that void the warranty? Get real!!!!

Jim

Now that would piss me off. Wear items are mileage related but things like door locks (in my case a heated seat in a GM car) are a different category. Two week over for a dealer serviced car usually falls into the gray area and a good dealer will try to help. Evidently yours does not want repeat business.

Where do you draw the line if not at the time specified? If two weeks over is OK, how about 1 month? If 1 month is OK, how about 6 months? If 6 months, how about 1 year?

Matt

Matt,

You make many valid legal points. However we vote with our pocket books. If the manufacturer appears to the average consumer to be unreasonable, the manufacturer will undoubtedly lose at the next election. To paraphrase what I said before: Hyundai may well be legally right -- but dead right the next time around.

Dealers do it often. I've had a few little things done at NC by the dealer that were just over the line. So do the manufacturers make allowances if contacted. In a cases like the doorlocks, the dealer should have at least made an effort to keep a long time customer that has all his service done there.

Legally, they were 100% correct to deny free service. Businesswise, it was a dumb move. Giving the customer 30 minutes of time by a tech can make the difference between a sale and no sale.

As for the new engine, that line is much harder than a door lock line.

Personal experience. I had some service done on my AC after the normal period. I bought two more cars from him. Bought another car and had a time/mileage incident and the dealer was no help. I bought the next car elsewhere.

I'm not talking about legality. I'm talking about practicality. Where does the dealer draw the line? If he repairs your car for free when it is two weeks out of warranty, how does he turn me down when I'm 1 month out? After all, I'm only two weeks later than you who was only two weeks later than the warranty expiration.

Matt

What constitutes "just over the line?"

Matt

Yup, he's got a tough decision to make and I'm not going to say where he should draw the line. He'll have to decide how badly he wants to retain customers. But it's clear to me what side of the line 2 weeks falls.

This all brings to mind a maybe unrelated incident I experienced maybe 20 years ago. The dealer was Story Oldsmobile in Lansing, Michigan. At the time they were the largest Oldsmobile dealer in the world -- bar none.

Well, I took my Olds in for some maintenance and tried to set up an appointment. Oop, forgot to say their arrogance was also the biggest in the world : ) I was told they did maintenance on a first-come-first-served basis. Okay with me. But you had to leave your car there and they couldn't tell you an approximate performance time. It could have set in their lot for a few hours or several days.

Told them that was a stupid way to handle maintenance and customer service. They could have cared less.

Their business plummeted long before Oldsmobile went out of business. Actually, Olds changed the way they handled employee vehicle purchases which killed their golden goose.

I saw an ad recently which said "Customer Service is not just a department name at ..." (don't recall the company name)

Lot of truth in that statement.

In this case with the AC, an entire winter. The one year expired in October but they fixed it in the following spring. It was strictly the dealer's discretion to keep a customer happy and it paid off in selling more cars.

The way I understand it is that dealers who might have difficulty substantiating a warranty claim to corporate are reluctant to approve a repair. If the claim is clear cut, they are more then happy to approve the repair as they are paid full rate by the mfgr. Repair and service work, in and out of warranty, generates far more profit for a dealer then does car sales.

Each dealership will play the percentages in its own way when it comes down to customer service verses maintaining a relationship with corporate.

For me, who I buy from is a more important consideration the bottom line price.

I may be wrong, but if you are not required to have warranty work done at the place of purchase, why not try some other dealers? Maybe one will opt for your side of the fine line.

L.

Wow, that's a lot of discussion. I haven't had time to look at everything yet but answers to at least one question is that the engine had about

I'm not sure if she declined a coolant change at the dealership. I do know that she did get some service work done at a small shop that she used for some bodywork she had done so not all service was through the dealership.

To the point many people are making about the customer-relations effects this could have; I drive a Subaru that I'm extremely happy with. With all the good press about improvements in Hyundai's initial quality, Hyundai's great design plus the owner experiences of some other friends I've been considering a Santa Fe for my next car. I can say that how they deal with this issue will definitely weigh heavily in giving the Santa Fe (really Hyundai) a try.

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Well, that's certainly every buyer's privilege, but before I made any final decisions, I'd make sure I understood the specifics about this deal. At this point you really don't know enough about the situation to answer any of the questions that have been asked here, so that leaves you ill-equipped to make a decision about Hyundai customer service. There are lots of reasons why engines fail. Some of them are the responsibility of the owner and some are not. Impossible for anyone to cast a reflection on Hyundai at this point, whether that be favorable or unfavorable.

Keep the group posted on things you discover.

Yes, modern engines seldom fail without some cause. Sure, manufacturing and design defects do occur (sludge in Toyota engines for example), but they are quite rate today. Most engine failures I see, and I see very few, are due to abuse by the owner. It would be good to know the entire story here. I'd love to hear the dealer's point of view.

Matt

In-laws 2002(3) Lincoln Town Car. Threw a rod through the bottom of the engine. Car has 56,000 on it. Ford said it was out of warranty. After lots of wailing and crying they agreed to pay for 1/2 the cost of an engine from the junk yard. The labor and other half my father-in-law paid. I'm assuming that is Lincolns call, not Ford's.

It would be good to know the entire

First, there's a little misinformation in the posts above. For 2004 models, the required maintenance interval for the coolant was 2 years/30,000 miles. But that's not even necessarily important here. What is important is the reason why the engine failed, and whose responsibility that problem is. Did it overheat? Throw a rod? All this is important in determining the potential causes of failure.

For Hyundai to deny warranty coverage due to lack of maintenance, Hyundai must be able to show within reason that the failure to perform the specified maintenance actually caused the failure. In this case, how did the engine fail? If it's coolant related, did the dealer take a coolant sample and test the coolant? Coolant test strips which test for both pH and temperature protection are very common. If Hyundai has no evidence that there was a problem with the coolant, then there is no basis upon which to deny coverage on that point.

There's significant information missing here, including the number of miles on the engine and some other things. Bottom line, if the OP feels the dealer isn't giving a fair shake, there should be immediate contact with Hyundai customer assistance (800-633-5151).

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