I bought this car new in 2011 and have kept up with routine maintenance and repairs. It has a 10-year 100k powertrain warranty and I brought it to the dealership last month for a full multi-point inspection because it was nearing 95k miles.
The dealership said everything looked good, except for my tires which I had replaced by Costco the following week. They did mention a recall they addressed that extended my warranty on my engine to 120k miles.
However, after driving it for a month now I started noticing a rattling noise and on Friday my check oil light came on. It was late and I parked on a slope so Saturday morning I moved it into the street where it was level and checked the oil. The dipstick was completely bone dry and I was still 1k+ miles away from needing another oil change. I've never had my car burn through oil between changes, there was no sign of oil leaking on my driveway, and no signs of smoke when driving it. Just the rattling sound.
I immediately called the dealership and left a message explaining the situation. I was asked to bring it in, so I added ~3 quarts to make sure it could make it on the highway to the dealership. I explained the situation and told the service assistant that it appeared to me that they didn't put any oil back in my car after my inspection last month. She refused to believe that and they brought the car in to inspect for leaks. They stated they couldn't find any evidence of leaks, but insisted they put oil in. They printed a detail of these statements and told me to come back in 500 miles for a consumption test and topped off an additional 1/2 quart of oil.
Well today I was driving home from my son's daycare (15 minute drive) and otherwise hadn't driven the car since dropping him off at daycare in the morning and the car completely popped, began smoking and caught fire. We're safe and ultimately fine, the fire department responded quickly.
I immediately called my insurance company to begin the process of getting it towed, getting a rental, and filed a claim.
I haven't called the dealership yet, as it was close to 8pm after all was done tonight. I'm not sure how to approach them with this considering I was just there complaining that the engine was making noises 2 days prior and they sent me away.
I also just paid this car off last month and the titled arrived in the mail today. If the car is totaled, which it most definitely will be, it isn't worth more than $6-7k.
Feels like I'm in a horrible position and I hate to place blame on the dealership but I feel they this was avoidable and I tried my best to resolve and prevent this.
How do I go about contacting the dealership about this? Besides the totaled value if the vehicle from the insurance company am I entitled to anything from the dealership since it's under warranty?
Thanks for any advice, I've never paid off a vehicle before and I've never had a totaled vehicle before either. I was prepared to drive this car for the next 10 years and am not looking forward to having a car payment again.
Submitted August 22, 2017 at 02:20AM by mediocrates_reborn http://ift.tt/2vYSn2i
