Never had any major issues with this car or my previous Genesis, until a very major issue. We brought it in over 5 months ago due to a weird sound on startup and after turning off. They diagnosed it and tried a small replacement and it still didn’t work. That’s where things got interesting…
-Rebuilt engine replacing headers and some of the valve stems and it would not start
-Did a total rebuild whatever that means and it had serious timing issues causing some damage
-Replaced the damaged parts and rebuilt and had timing issues
-After 3 engine rebuilds and coming up on 3 months I was concerned and escalated to the Warranty department at Hyundai Motor America
-They got a crate engine approved which took 4 weeks
-Installed everything and missing some parts so another 2 weeks
-Attempted to start and valve stems bent and are ordering replacements
So now we are over 5 months of it not being on. 9 Loaner vehicles with 12 different sets of plates as the tags have worn out. 15+ Trips to the dealership 50+ Calls to dealership or HMA Warranty. Everyone is super apologetic, but this week I escalated again saying I had no confidence that if and when they had it repaired it would function anywhere similar or for as long as before the malfunction. We drive low mileage keep the vehicle in pristine condition.
The Executive I spoke with at HMA Warranty agreed we may need to look at other options and would need to engage that team and see what they are.
What am I likely to get as “other options” I’m assuming a buyout for fair market value or a similar vehicle? What should I ask for?
I just feel like we won’t find a similar vehicle or get enough money to buy something similar quality. As many know with Hyundai’s there’s heavy depreciation for the first 3 years then very level, so we had just eaten all that depreciation and would lose the 6 years of warranty covered low depreciation time we were planning on. Just never run into anything like this before and as it’s more then 2 years old it wouldn’t qualify under Texas’ Lemon Law so just trying to prepare and plan.
Thanks in advance for any help or advice you can give!!
I suppose I’d want the private party sale value of the car as it was in working order 5 months ago. In cash, preferably. That may be difficult to get, even with a lawyer. That’s a really bad position you’re in, and I sympathize. I think I’d want out at this point, rather than the car repaired, as you seem to prefer.
I don’t quite understand the depreciation aspect. I understand depreciation, but the car is 5 years old, so all I’d expect was that 5 year old depreciated car value. I’m sure you’d rather have your purchased new 5 year old car than a random 5 year old car (as would I in your situation) but I don’t think you’ll get any traction in that aspect. May not be exactly what you meant in that regard.
Is there another Hyundai dealership that you could take it to for the work? It kinda sounds like maybe the dealership you’re using isn’t very good at repair work.
The Genesis was a pretty bloody good car, it’d be unusual for 2 engines to die that fast without mechanic incompetence being involved.
It sounds like whoever’s working on the car isn’t very competent
I’m not trying to insult any dealership mechanics . . . I was one for many years . . . but they’re often young guys fresh out of trade school who don’t have a lot of experience or diagnostic skills
I find it hard to believe that a “crate engine” was installed, and somehow the timing was disturbed, resulting in bent valves, etc. This engine uses a timing chain, not a belt, and would therefore come fully assembled with the timing chain in place. This would be true, whether the “crate engine” was new, remanufactured, or even just a “pull” from a junkyard.
Wow, what a story! It seems like you have two options
Let them keep working the problem while you continue to drive their loaner car(s). Ask that they not bother you until they’ve fixed the problem and verified the fix works (and perfectly) by having one of their staff use the car as their daily driver for a couple of weeks.
Ask them to allow you to exchange your car for another similar new car (or at most 6 months old demonstrator) on their lot , gratis.
Me, I’d probably choose the first option. Eventually they’ll get it right.
Yeah, I got the vintage of the OP’s vehicle wrong. OP bought 5 months ago, but it was used. I expect OP already understands any sort of exchange-sol’n to this problem would have to be a similar-valued vehicle.