Hello. My situation is the following. I have a 2011 ford fiesta the engine overheated three months ago it’s been at a dealership not getting repaired. I have both a full coverage insurance and warranty but none want to cover the damage. The radiator has a hole and engine is overheated the warranty said it’s a physical damage so they can’t cover it and my full coverage insurance said they can only cover the radiator because it is negligence on my part for the engine. The total repair costs are almost 9000 dollars and I only owe 1,200 on the car. What do I do? Should I just buy a used engine?
Is the engine damaged from the overheating? Or is it just the radiator is damaged?
The engine isnt.it will crank but won’t star tonly the radiator
Ok. What is the diagnosis for the engine? Does your shop say it needs to be replaced, that fixing it is impossible/not feasible?
They said it has to be replaced
vehicle has subframe damage and hole in radiator lost all coolant engine has no compression
It has about 56,000
It sounds like you need a new engine and radiator. A new aftermarket radiator is fairly inexpensive. You don’t have a lot of extra cooling system requirements right, like heavy use of AC, pulling a trailer, driving in Death Valley uphill in August? Right?
I’m not able to comment on the insurance issues, but $9,000 seems sort of steep for a used engine for this car. Have you tried shopping the job around to some inde shops? Get some recommendations from friends, co-workers etc who they use to fix their cars.
I found some used engines that were below $3000 with warranty and radiators I just wasn’t sure if that was a good idea since it’s my first car
You want to be confident that the shop you choose is capable of finishing the job and delivering you a car with a good engine. That’s what is most important. That’s the reason for asking for shop recommendations from people you know. Make sure the shop owner knows who it was that recommended you to them. That gives you some leverage, since the shop owner wants to keep all the existing customers happy.
Whether it makes sense economically is the next thing to look at. Pencil it out, comparing keeping this car and fixing it, vs selling it or disposing of it, and buying a replacement.
A 2011 with subframe damage and a hole in the radiator?
Did you get in an accident? Did you then drive the vehicle with the coolant having hemorrhaged out? How long did you drive it this way?
Unless you can tell us the whole story it’s going to be hard for us to help. If my understanding is correct, than you need to have a full evaluation from an independent, and possibly a body shop, as to what the total extent of the damages are and what it’ll cost to put the car back in shape.
We’re not here to judge, just to help, but we can do so much better if we know he whole story.
My vote is with mountainbike.
From my experience the factory warranty (3 yr/36,000 mile) will cover a damaged engine due to a failed radiator but not from a damaged radiator. An aftermarket extended warranty will never cover a damaged engine due to a failed radiator as they will send an inspector to inspect the vehicle to determine the cause. They will blame the vehicle operator for not turning off the engine before damage occurred.
If this was caused by road debris your insurance company might cover this damage. If not ask the repair shop for a price foe a used engine. Last week I installed a used engine in a Lexus RX300, the price of the engine from Like Quality (LKQ) was $2200 including mark up, plus labor and additional parts.
As Mountainbike said, we can’t help until you tell us what happened. Subframe damage either means you hit something or something hit you. How long did you keep driving after the crash?
It’s a new enough vehicle to repair in my eyes.
With the little that you owe, you might go talk to your banker and see if they can write you a new loan using that car as collateral. See how much they could offer on it.
They may offer to write you a new loan with the $1200 you owe, and loan up to $5000 for the repairs. If you could find a used motor and radiator for $3000 it would leave you with $2000 to spend on the labor and misc charges (oil, antifreeze, gaskets, etc…).
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Get it towed from the dealer. If they don’t get to fix it they might charge for storage if it’s been there for three months.
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Ask around for recommendations from family, friends, co-workers, etc… Ask everyone you see in the next few days and write down the names of their repair shops.
If you here a name again keep score. After asking 50 people choose the shop with the most recommendations. Keep the list though.
Yosemite