Got a call from the shop today

[Fastbird]

Intermintent Misfire from the #3 coil. When the shop called my warranty provider, they strangely said that the coils aren't covered.......

Strange I say because I distinctly remember seeing in the warranty pamphlet under the "high-tech" section (which I DID pay for), Ignition coil. Time to make a phone call myself.

Even if the warranty company doesn't cover it, there's still the matter that this is most likely directly stemming from the terrible valve cover oil leak on the driver side when we first looked at the car. That may be enough for me to get the selling dealer to cover it.

Either way, this is rather annoying considering we bought the car on December 17th and stopped driving it on the 23rd because of it going into limp mode when warm. Now it's been in the shop since last thursday.

Argh.

 

[brentalan]

Well, if that's all it is, then you should be back on the road soon

:wave

Good luck with the insurance!

 

[Fastbird]

Well, after calling the warranty company, the following happened.

I ask them why the Ignition Coil isn't covered?? The lady said that it's not on the contract. I brought up the fact that the pamphlet that I have (which influenced my decision to purchase their warranty) plain as day says "ignition coil" among other things. After going back and forth for a few minutes, she gets a supervisor to dig up said pamphlet. Lo and behold, she comes back and tells me they're going to authorize the fix and pay for it!! :eek2:

I win. Only costing me $100 for the deductible.

 

[UBAP/89LSC]

I work for BMW and do the warranty administration(do all coding for repairs )and research whats covered and whats not.Our CPO(certified pre-owned)
warranty covers coils w/out question.
:L

 

[eL eS]

I had a third party extended that did as well.

 

[Fastbird]

Ok, this has just gotten ridiculous.

First, I go to pick up the car. Get to the dealership and find out that the warranty company (Automotive Select, NOT RECOMMENDED) hasn't paid out the claim for a couple of reasons being: They're disputing the price of the coil and the diagnostic/labor time.

So I called them, and aparrently they're getting coil prices of aproxximately $58 from www.alldata.com and www.fordpartscheap.com. I checked and verified this, but the dealership said those aren't the right parts and the one that they put on is $130.

The labor thing is a play on words. They've got a big book with published labor times, and came up with .8 hours labor and .5 hours diagnostic time for a coil. Sadly, my phone died as I was about to ask whether or not that was on a specific motor or a generic listing. Then the guy at the warranty company tried to tell me that the contract states "will pay or reimburse you to repair or replace any parts covered by a covered breakdown." So this guy tries to tell me that repair or replace means labor only. I nearly hit the roof. I mean I almost exploded on this character. I not so tactfully told him that repair and/or replacing a part entails diagnosing what the problem is in the first place!!!!

So, I'm left with no car, and an impending battle. Of the $330 charges, aparrently the warranty company is only going to cover $96. Which I REALLY don't understand because $58 for the coil, and 1.3 hours of labor @ $85 an hour is NOT $96. This is going to be fun.

The worst part is that the person the car was bought for wants nothing to do with it at this point. She said why don't we just take it back.

Argh.

 

[eL eS]

I'd have to ask the dealer if the 130 was for 1 or 2 coils. 58 dollars is the proper price. My warranty required that i pay the diag fee but only if they shop could not find a problem. These warranty companies already have your money so they are hard as hell to work with.

You might have to file a complaint with BBB and maye your states insurance comission or AG.

If the car has under 75k miles as the shop to submit for an After Warranty Adjustment if that fails then sadly taking it back might be the path of least resistance.

 

[lsbit]

Yea...I put a $55 coil in mine and it is working fine.

It could be worse. Our Intrigue is at the dealership for the 3rd time in less than 2 weeks for electrical problems. I thought it was fixed the 1st time, so I tore apart my LS to do the driver's side seals and found a cracked VC which I finally had time to complete today. My wife has been without car and I have been driving my '95 Mustang. I am glad I haven't sold it yet! My wife and 2 yr old son were stranded last time, and my wife was by herself when it stranded her on Christmas Eve. Also, like most GM vehicles, the car is almost worth nothing even though it is a 2000 with 80k miles on it.

That probably doesn't make you feel any better, but misery loves company.

 

[Fastbird]

I'd have to ask the dealer if the 130 was for 1 or 2 coils. 58 dollars is the proper price. My warranty required that i pay the diag fee but only if they shop could not find a problem. These warranty companies already have your money so they are hard as hell to work with.

You might have to file a complaint with BBB and maye your states insurance comission or AG.

If the car has under 75k miles as the shop to submit for an After Warranty Adjustment if that fails then sadly taking it back might be the path of least resistance.

According to the dealer, the part number being used by the warranty company is the wrong part number and isn't being used anymore. Strangely enough, I've found coil packs at www.alldata.com, www.fordpartscheap.com, www.partsamerica.com and all come up relatively similar and at about $58 each.

At this point I'm thinking that the issue lies partly with the warranty company and partly with the dealership. I could easily envision the dealership making a "hard sell" on a more expensive part. I.E. saying the other wasn't being used anymore and installing the more expensive version.

I think I'm going to go and foot the $330 bill today (for one freakin coil pack) and get my car back, and then have the insurance company pay me directly.

 

[Fastbird]

Ok, so I just got off the phone with the warranty company (again) and I've had it. According to them, they're only responsible for paying for labor and parts, NOT diagnosis!!!! WTF do they think part of the labor is?!?!? I was explicitly told that the consumer is responsible for paying for diagnosis.

So, after paying $1650 for this POS warranty, I'm at the point where I'm going to tell them NOT to pay a penny on the claim, and I'll go back to my selling dealer and get every penny back, and if they try to pro-rate it, we're going to court. This is ridiculous.

 

[lsbit]

Wow...Sorry to hear that. Our GMC dealer just called a few minutes ago and said our battery is all they could find wrong (3 weeks old) in that Intrigue. I swapped for a replacement and now they are not finding anything wrong.

I love car problems, and I am sure you do too. Good luck with everything.

 

[Fastbird]

We have the car back now. $327.05 later, out of my pocket. Unfortunately the dealer I bought the car off of is out of town until Wednesday next week, and I can't just call the warranty company to cancel the warranty or it would already be done.

So now I'm on the hunt for a set of service manuals. I'll be MUCH more comfortable after I get a set of those.

 

[andrewusmc]

I just went through this. So, I wound up doing it myself. It is really easy to do. I have the factory manual on CD I bought off ebay for 7 bucks. I live right near you in Marlton if you ever need a hand turning wrenches.

 

[fishbone1]

I must have been lucky with our dealer. We bought our car with just over 60,000 miles on it and we didn't purchase an extended warranty. 3 days after we purchased it it started running rough. Sometimes it wouldn't start. We took it back to the dealership and they gave us a loaner car and repaired ours(no charge). One week later it died again. Again they took it back and gave us a loaner car. They fixed it the second time(again no charge). We have had no more problems till last week. When I found 2 out of the 4 spark plugs were covered in oil on the drivers side. I guess it may have helped that my wife knew the car salesman though. She sold his house for him and helped him find another one. But I would like to think that it is just a good dealership.