Hi how are you guys? My name is Mike and I recently purchased a 2020 Hyundai elantra on on Sept 29, 2019. I came across a huge problem with the car less than 3 months of owning the car, I took the car to the dealership on dec 23rd, 2019 via tow. I waited about 2 weeks for a reply on whats happening with the car, and come to find out there was metal in the oil compartment which caused the engine to lock/damage the engine. So the dealership is having the engine replaced completely by warranty. What is worrying me is that, why would a brand new car require such a big job just three months of owning the car. I took the car to the dealership for oil changes and maintenance, so I can’t really pin point issues unless they did something wrong causing it to lock however I don’t know.
At this point, I don’t know if I even want this car considering that something like this happened so early on. Like I’m new at owning a new car, so I don’t know if I did anything wrong. I am curious, is this normal? What am I to do in this situation?
The vehicle will be returned with the warranty still intact . Just relax and drive it and trade just before the warranty expires . Things happen that defy explanation .
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So the warranty isn’t taken away after using it the first time, thank god. I just don’t want any future issues because of the fact the engine was replaced. I don’t want to keep going to the dealership for issues arising from the engine replacement. I’ll see how it goes and follow your advice.
This is a classical case of “infant mortality.” There was an error in the engine’s assembly, there was a bad part that made it into the engine and the engine failed VERY early as a result. It is a quality control issue in the manufacturing process that Hyundai is now addressing by changing your engine. The car will be as new when you get it back ad fully warrantied.
As @VOLVO_V70 points out, if you are not comfortable with this car, sell or trade it before it is out of warranty.
I had a friend that experienced a similar problem with their Kia Optima. The car now had over 100,000 miles with no further incidents.
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When you pickup the repaired vehicle just ask them to explain how the replacement engine is warrantied and if they can furnish some written document .
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I will be doing that, I also am going to update you guys just in case as to what will transpire. Would this be considered a lemon at this point considering what happened? I mean I don’t know if this will affect the the car’s value.
I’m sorry guys if I’m asking so many questions, as I stated before I am new at owning a new car. So I kind of don’t know what to expect. I was honestly inclined to asking them to switch my car to a different car all together because maybe it’s bad juju. lol
This is a single incident. Too early to tell if the car is a lemon. My hunch is that it is not and will serve well after this is resolved by the carmaker.
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Not at all. Those are excellent questions. As posted above this is most likely sample defect due to a materials or manufacturing problem somewhere along the assembly line. As long as they are accepting responsibility taking care of the situation, and giving you a similar loaner vehicle in the meantime gratis, at this point not there’s not much to complain about. An engine replacement is a complex procedure and there’s lots of ways problems can crop up. What you got going for you is that this is a brand new car , a 2020, they are currently assembling new ones, so Hyundai is totally up to speed on everything about this design. That should greatly up the odds of a successful engine replacement. I expect after you get your car back you’ll be good to go.
Hey bro,
Giving an update in regards to the issue. I am getting my car back over the weekend, it was a build up of metal in the oil compartment causing the engine to lock says the mechanic at the dealer. However they did not supply me with a loaner car because I didn’t have a credit card. I only have a debit card, so they told me I don’t qualify for a loaner. They did state that they would pay for a rental after they got the diagnostic, but to get that diagnostic took almost 2 weeks. -_- Just a lot of BS to be honest.
Last time I am buying a Hyundai to be honest. Worst experience of my life.
It makes sense that they want some form of security in exchange for the loaner. The dealership has to protect themselves so you don’t just take off w/the loaner and never bring it back. But since they are holding your own car at the shop, nearly a brand new car, hard to understand why they wouldn’t accept that as security that you’d return the loaner. Maybe the issue isn’t so much about your returning it, but how they’d insure payment for the repair if get damaged while you are using it.
I questioned that to myself in all honesty. Thank you because I thought I was wrong on it but now…
Most car rental companies require thar the driver is 25 years of age and submit a credit card even when the car dealer or manufacture is paying for the rental car. I have seen many times where the dealer’s customer was denied a rental car because of age or credit card.
We can rule out age as I am 28, the credit card I can understand but a debit card is kind of the same in terms of security. Considering your info is all there. However if that’s the dealers policy, then that’s the policy that I have to abide by.
It is not the dealers policy, it is the rental car companies policy. Most car dealers don’t have a fleet of loan cars, they rely on rental car companies.
At the Dodge dealer I worked at they had an office for Enterprise rental car agents on the property. They rent out a couple of dozen cars each day, a Dodge or Hyundai dealer can’t afford to have a 100 loan cars in its inventory.
I wouldn’t go quite that far. There’s probably some work-a-rounds available.