Membership pays! (long)

[charlie]

My $10.00 membership fee saved me big time!

Every one here recommended Terry for doing mod's and tuning on my 99 "L"
So Friday I went to Buy a TA rear end support cover from Terry, and to ask him about doing some warranty work on the truck. (I bought a 3rd party warranty from the dealer where I bought the truck).
When I get there I buy the cover and ask Terry about doing some warranty work. He takes one look at the truck and said that the warranty inspector would deny the claim because of the mod's, even if they where on the truck when I bought it. He also said that if he had the truck tore down and they deny-ed the claim, that I would be out the money for the tear down and re-assembly. ( Honesty, I like and admire that!). As I was leaving I called the dealer I bought the truck from, and told them I wanted my money back for the worthless warranty they sold me. They said to bring the truck to them and they would honor the warranty. ( yeah right)
I took the truck to them and the service manager said to pull it right on in and they would take care of it. At this point I ask him about the warranty inspector and the mods on the truck. The service manager said he did not know what the warranty inspector would say until the truck was tore down. ( Just like Terry said they would do ). I told the service manager to hold on a min. and I went to talk to the sales, and service manager. I told them the situation, and they went to speak to some one and returned saying that they where sorry for selling me the warranty and that they should not have. And that I would receive my refund in 4 to 6 weeks. What kind of crap it this? Do they just systematically sell the warranty's hoping nothing brakes down? Knowing that the warranty is no good.

Any way I owe Terry a big thanks for saving my checking account. And I will be sending every one I can to Terry.

Charlie

[dboat]

they sell the warranty hoping no one ever uses it, or the vehicle changes hands before you use it, or they will blame the warranty inspector and not own up to the worthlessness of the warranty.. unless you bought a Ford warranty, even then, mods can cause you problems.

at least thats my theory.

Dana

[L8 APEX]

Warranties are gravy money for dealers. For regular vehicles it normally works. It is not all the saleman's fault IMO. He is just selling another car in his mind. I would not expect them to see how a Lightning with aftermarket parts, traction bars, and half a dozen performance vendor stickers under the 4" cowl hood would affect a warranty claim. Warranties are only good for bone stock vehicles. I can't even get my diesel fixed under warranty. They say my 4 gauge pod and aftermarket muffler we the reason they could not fix it.

[charlie]

Warranties are gravy money for dealers. For regular vehicles it normally works. It is not all the saleman's fault IMO. He is just selling another car in his mind. I would not expect them to see how a Lightning with aftermarket parts, traction bars, and half a dozen performance vendor stickers under the 4" cowl hood would affect a warranty claim. Warranties are only good for bone stock vehicles. I can't even get my diesel fixed under warranty. They say my 4 gauge pod and aftermarket muffler we the reason they could not fix it.

No matter what the reasoning is for the dealer, or how retarded I am for buying the warranty. I just wanted to point out that it's hard to find a shop where honesty and integrity is still alive and well. And you sir have both!

Charlie

[03LightningRocks]

Cool...I get to do a reality check for everyone. Warranties are NOT worthless to the average car buyer. To expect a company to honor a warranty after you have changed the design of the item under warranty is naive at best.

Nothing is under warranty after you have modified the original design...Not TV's, refrigerators, air conditioners, stereo's, vacuum cleaners or even dust rags. NOTHING!!! Why on earth should the car dealer be responsible for a vehicle after you redesign it?

The dealer did nothing wrong...you should have read the conditions of the warranty before buying it. Funny thing that they are even willing to give you your money back after YOU broke the terms of the agreement.


Ninja Edit.........I just read the remaining posts and saw that Terry put a reasonable light on things before I did.:tu:

[charlie]

Cool...I get to do a reality check for everyone. Warranties are NOT worthless to the average car buyer. To expect a company to honor a warranty after you have changed the design of the item under warranty is naive at best.

Nothing is under warranty after you have modified the original design...Not TV's, refrigerators, air conditioners, stereo's, vacuum cleaners or even dust rags. NOTHING!!! Why on earth should the car dealer be responsible for a vehicle after you redesign it?

The dealer did nothing wrong...you should have read the conditions of the warranty before buying it. Funny thing that they are even willing to give you your money back after YOU broke the terms of the agreement.


hummm Let me re-state. I did not mod the truck, there fore I did not break anything. The truck had the mod's when I bought it. It was that way when they sold me the warranty. The sales man knew it was that way. He pointed the mods out to me! That why I thought the warranty was OK. I never bought one before and I never will again, because I did read the conditions (after the fact). And as far as them refunding my money. They, (the dealer) are the one's that said they should have not even offered me the warranty. Besides you can cancel a warranty like that at any time. My brother canceled one.

Charlie

Edit: come to think of it... Even the finance person was there when the last owner showed up and was pointing out even more mod's . And the finance person was the one selling the warranty policy.

[03LightningRocks]

Charlie,

No need to get defensive. My post was directed at the masses, not you personally. It was meant for general information.

To address your situation directly, if the dealer sold you the truck with mods already on it and put a dealer warranty on it. They can be held liable for warranty work under the standard terms of the dealer warranty for a used car. That is unless they sold it "As Is...no warranty".


You posted "let me restate"...I did not see in your post that you already stated you bought the truck with the mods already on it. That does make your situation a very different animal.

[charlie]

Sorry I did not mean to sound upset. Well not at you anyway.

Charlie

[03LightningRocks]

Sitting here thinking about this situation, they would have to honor the warranty if you did not add to the truck after they sold you the warranty.

You actually just let them off the hook by getting your money back on the warranty.

[charlie]

Yeah I know I'm retarded.

But I did not want to take the chance on the warranty getting voided. After that I would not even get my money back. Thats what I was thinking any way.

I'll just use the money I get back to fix it my self.

Charlie

[03LightningRocks]

Your not retarded. Just a little misguided ;) . Wait untill they prorate the refund on the warranty they claim they never should have sold you. That will piss ya off if the rest of this hasn't already. My stance with them would be "alrighty then, if you sold me the warranty when you shouldn't have, I want a full refund on the whole damned warranty". I would also look for some kind of compensation for the fact that they sold me a vehicle under false pretenses(sp?).

IMHO...they focked this up, but good. At least make the SOB's honor any warranty they put on the vehicle from the dealership as the terms and conditions for sellng you the vehicle.

[charlie]

I bought the truck about 3 weeks ago. And they said I will be getting a full refund. ( We will see). As far as the rest. Just another learning experience. Kinda like the military. I would not change it, but I'll never do it again. But I am in the process of writing a letter to them. I know nothing will come of this. But it makes me feel better.
Besides, I only payed 10k for the truck with 88k miles on it. even if I spend 2 to 3 k getting it fixed, I'll still be ahead. (please do not argue this point) I like living in my own little world.... LOL

Thanks
Charlie

[03LightningRocks]

I bought the truck about 3 weeks ago. And they said I will be getting a full refund. ( We will see). As far as the rest. Just another learning experance. Kinda like the military. I would not change it, but I'll never do it again. But I am in the process of writing a letter to them. I know nothing will come of this. But it makes me feel better.

Thanks
Charlie


3 Weeks!!!!!!! Holy smoley man, you have them by their nuts!!!!!!!!!!

Did they have some kind of dealer warranty on the vehicle or did the window have an, "As Is- No Warranty", sticker on it?