Advice Needed

[loc]

So I took my car in this morning to the dealer for 60K service. I called them around 3ish to check the progress they told me the service was complete but unfortunately one of the techs hit a car in their parking lot after a test drive. They told me over the phone they take care of it asap through their bodyshop. I drove to the dealership to check out the damage myself, it's not too bad just about a 6"x4" area on the front bumper where the paint fell off, no cracks or dents. Question is should I be paying them for the service. My car was in their hands and their totally responsible. I talked with the service manager and they said that they would take care of the bumper and I would need to pay for the service. The bill was over $900, I told em knock it down 50% and I'd walk. All he could bring it down to was $720. I know $900 is outrageous but I was due I had the plugs done, trans/diff, coolant, brake service, drive belt, cleared some codes for low idle. I'm pickin the car up Thursday. Should I push to get this bill lowered even more and how should I go about it.

 

 

 

 

 

So I picked up the yesterday afternoon. I did end up paying $740ish. Whatever I got my car back with a freshly painted front bumper, it looks good. Somethin else though.

 

I'll start from the beginning. The day before Thanksgiving I took the car for an oil change, I do these probably every 2500 miles with Mobil 1. I went topped off the gas and dumped a bottle of injector fluid in the tank which I have always done since I bought the car new in 2006. I believe it was STP. I started the car and when I was getting ready to pull out of the gas station the car started to shake hard and the CEL came on but I was able to punch it and pull out, I turned off into a parking lot and the car died while it was in motion. I tried to start it back up, the battery was fine but it wouldn't fire up. Tried this 3 or 4 times. I ended up calling my Dad to come and jump me it took 3 or 4 times to get started. I had him follow me home with the CEL light on and car wanting to die everytime I was stopped. I called the dealer and being the holiday they couldn't get me in til' the following week. I ended up disconnecting the battery and clearing the code.

 

I brought the car in the that following Monday, since I disconnected the battery they could not find any codes. So a few weeks pass with no problems. Then last week I'm at the bank drive-thru, I put the car into drive to pull away the car shuts off, I started it right back up with no CEL.

 

So when I brought the car in the other day I was at the bay door waiting for them to open it up still in drive that second it took to pull in the car it almost died with CEL coming on for a split second then going off. So I explained all this to the service manager. They did the work and later called me that day saying they found no codes but ended up resetting the ecu and that should clear up any problems.

 

Back to today I'm leaving the gym, I'm cruising, I punched it to about 60 and the CEL flashes for about 15 seconds and shuts off. I drive straight to the dealer and they find no codes. So whatever I'm driving back home hit the gas pretty hard again now the CEL is on along with all the other flashing lights. I went to a mechanic shop and they had a P0301 misfire code #1. I had them clear it for now.

 

Could this be something major, now I'm kinda scared that the car is going to die out on me at anytime. Any advice/input is much appreciated.

[Scotty]

You still should be paying for the service. The car was in their possession and they are paying to fix the damage they did. 60K service should only be around $600.

 

Did you get a rental car out of it?

[AZP Installs]

I would also make sure they warranty the bumper paint. Painting of bumpers is VERY tricky. If they don't put enough elastisizer in there the paint will orange peel quickly.

 

Personally, I would have pushed for:

Rental

Fix the problem

AND the service for free.

 

I would ask to speak to the owner of the dealership and tell them that their techs were so careless with your pride and joy, how could you be certain that they didn't mess up the rest of the service. Like overtorquing of the wheels, cross threading of the plugs etc. etc.

 

On a side note, if this happened at my place of business, the customer would not be paying for the damage or the service, that's the proper way to do business.

 

-mike

[loc]

I did get a rental. Forester

 

I really thought they would comp the service. The service dept. is great compared to the others in the area. I'll need to talk to somebody with a little more power.

[loc]

bump