My '07 Toyota Corolla (daily banger) died on me last Friday afternoon on the way home from work. I got it off the road and bummed a ride home. Saturday morning, had it towed to the dealer which fortunately has it's service department open on weekends. Two hours later they call and tell me the car is ready to be picked up. It was the ECM, which they had in stock, and replaced the defective one.

Now, here is the kicker. When I went to pick it up I was informed that they noticed the belt was squealing a little (which I was intending to have checked out later, as I figured it was the tensioner pulley). They told that they went ahead and replaced the whole tensioner assembly and put on a new belt.

It was all under warranty (barely, as I have 35K miles on it), and no charge......but why on earth can I get service like that on a $14K car? Chrysler, nor GM, has ever provided that kind of service....EVER....in my 40+ years of buying cars.

 

Because goin over and above the call of service ..... is not the American way !!!
The corporate big wigs wouldn't be able to afford family vacations to Europe aboard their corporate jets otherwise !

 

I had a Dodge dealer do something similar to my 2000 Stratus ES when the battery died, also on a Saturday. With just a few hundred miles left on my warranty I had to call Chrysler Roadside Assistance and they had a flat bed there in 20 minutes. I rode with them to the dealer and within an our I was out and on my way with a fresh battery. But they also noticed that fog light bulb was burned out and replaced it, also under warranty. Now, it was just a simple fog light bulb, but I was surprised that A) they even checked other stuff on the car and B) they'd cover a bulb under warranty!

On the flip side, I had a friend with a Honda Accord that was having automatic trans problems and it made more trips to the dealer as they struggled to solve the issue than it did almost anywhere else. Finally, one time after it was really acting up the dealer called to say they had good news and bad news. Good news was they figured they finally had a definitive fix for it. Bad news was the car was now out of warranty and it was going to cost about $2800 to fix. I was there when my buddy got the call - I thought he was actually going to go through the phone and strangle the guy! Seriously, with all the documentation surrounding attempted repairs they were not going to warranty the problem. He ended up having to fight with the district manager (or whatever the position is you deal with when things escalate like this) before they finally gave in. That's just inexcusable.

There's good and bad everywhere.

 

Agree with Mike-In-Orange.

It's more the dealer's sevice dept and tech than anything else. Attitude is everything.

 

Merry Christmas Dan. Think of it as a Christmas Miracle.

 

It seems that when it comes to Honda, their weakest link is their atomatics.
I've known several people who have had problems with theirs, but usually long after it was out of warranty. Only thing I was told to do by a good friend who's a Honda mechanic was to keep changing the tranny fluid often. Which is really simple to do since the drain plug is right next to the oil pan plug.

 

Google Honda Accord+automatic transmission+lawsuit.

They really pulled a fast one after losing this suit and really treated owners shoddily. I am one of them and will not do business with them again for this reason.

My daughters new VW is my case in point. Comparing the Fit and her Rabbit is apples and oranges. Superior in all respects. Including build quality and fit/finish.

If you can't buy American-at least try to buy Euro.

 

Particularly true when considering the Japanese gov't recently excluded sales of American made vehicles from Japan's version of "cash-for-clunkers".

So much for free trade.

 

Protectionist? Certainly! Smart?? Hell yes!! Unfortunately the UK doesn't have a car industry worth speaking of so we don;t have that option, that being said a bit of extra off that new Aston Martin I fancy.... (in fairness though AM is no longer English, nor are Mini, Bently or Rolls)

 

I don't normally read this section but this thread really rang with me. I totally agree it depends on the dealer and the mechanic. I flashed back to 1969 and I had just returned from Vietnam and my new bride and I had bought a new to us 1968 Camero and we were on our way to Mather AFB in Sacramento and were on Interstate 80 and the water pump went out. The car had 24058 miles on it. It was out of warranty by 58 miles. We really had litttle money but they didn't know that. They fixed it under warranty. To this day, I still own and drive a Chevy and oh yes I am married to the same lady.

PS I am sure my short haircut in those days gave us away as a military couple.