For your warranty repairs, has your dealer been helpful?

If the warranty sways me toward Hyundai, my nightmare would be that
the dealer tells me "there is no fix for that problem" or "Hyuandai's
just do that". I think someone posted here that he got those kind of
responses.

It will help me to know your assessment of the customer service offered
by your Hyundai dealer in the event you had a problem(s), if the
warranty covered it, including use of a loaner car, and if the problem
was satisfactorily fixed the first time you brought it in and within
reasonable timeframes.
Thx.

 

I had my driver side side airbag (it's in the driver's seat) on my
2002 Hyundai Sonata deploy spontaneously on my way to work yesterday.
I called up the dealer, they asked me to bring it in right away. They
took it in for warranty repairs, and gave me a 2004 Sonata loaner
while they do the fix.

I think Hyundai dealers are very responsive to warranty issues -
that's been my experience.

 

Are you talking about me? I was the one who wrote about
the bad experice in Hyundai service center.
This will be my last post anyway.
I'm planning to go to another service center(which is
reasonably far) to get my car fixed. Of course, I don't
know what the problem is, because the previous service
center did not check it. Or I didn't let them check it,
because they told me they can't fix the problem; and they
told me this before Mechanics looked at my car(reason?
ENGINE light wasn't on).
I do like the service center that I'm going to. Hopefully
the car will be fixed. Though, I don't care anymore.

 

So you are still considering a Hyundai? I'm kind of pleased since I am too.
I can tell you my experience with Hyundai's service. It was the best.

When I bought the Pony in 1984, Hyundai was a new company in North America.
They had all the pride, friendliness, accessories, and comfort level of
visiting the dealership that Saturn strives for now. They treated me like a
valued customer the whole time until they closed down about 14 years later,
and then we followed the service manager to the Dodge dealership he moved
to, and had our servicing done there.

I am not getting this kind of good service or eagerness to please from my
Toyota dealership. Their attitude is that the Toyota Corolla can do no
wrong; they brushed off my concerns for a long time and I had to make
repeated trips there. "If you can't duplicate it for us we can't fix it",
and "It's normal" are their mottos. I know it doesn't happen with every new
car, but I expected Toyota to take more care with their customers if
something went wrong, since they have such a fantastic reputation. Not! I
learned the dealership is not the company, it's just a bunch of people, some
of them not even well trained. If this happens to you with Hyundai it is not
unique to them.

With the Hyundai Pony, I bought it after test driving many cars and feeling
it was my car. I never thought once that I made a mistake, and I never
looked at new cars again for many years. There were no mysterious problems
when it was new, just regular maintenance and repairs over the years. When
something was wrong I took it in the same day. They always treated me with
such courtesy and the car ran beautifully after they were through with it.
They also used to vacuum and wash it free as part of the service.

I remember when my Pony had a recall because some of them had a potential
problem. It never happened in mine and I wasn't going to take it in but they
called me and insisted I take it in to replace some wire, under warranty.

I can tell you what happened when my daughter bought her brand new Honda
Civic in 1999. They had scratched the paint when doing the detailing, and
when she took it back to have it fixed they used some caustic liquid and
rubbed it in hard, assuring her that it would fix the scratch, but instead
they scratched a bigger area. And they wouldn't admit it, or fix it any
further until she complained in two letters and then took it to another
dealer. Also - her air conditioner leaked water into the front seat when
the car was a few months old. Hondas are supposed to be perfect too, aren't
they?

There is no particular reason to blame Honda, Toyota, or Hyundai overall for
individual experiences with service departments. I tell you these things
only so you will stop thinking only Hyundai is a risk.

Here are some samples of other car problems which I got just by looking
them up in google. Please read them as they are quite enlightening (you can
find the originals in the google search engine).

.......I will go to arbitration in early July and I have requested Lexus to
replace
my vehicle since they obviously cannot repair this serious problem. ...

.... renowned for their reliability. Although, the Lexus problem sounds
like a rarity, considering the dealer wasn't familiar with it...

.......Help! Did I buy a lemon or what? Am I to understand that a
transmission could
fail on a 1989 Mercedes Benz 190E 2.6 with 68,900. original miles? ...

.... know as little as I about the car, I will be ecstatic when I solve the
problem, as
I will eventually, and can finally rid myself of the Mercedes brand forever.
....

.......I have a 90 BMW 535 whose doors refuse to lock. I can no longer lock
any of the
four doors on the car. ... Can anyone shed some light on this problem?....

......BMW Gurus, I could need some quick help with this one, here is the
story Customer
called me said he came out of the bank and his 318i wouldn't restart.....

.... Took car to Acura dealer to fix airconditioner problem. ... Can anyone
professional
mechanic or not solve this bizzare problem not even Acura can solve. ...

.... well. I have an extended service waranty which might cover the problem
which my Acura Dealer implied is a common problem.....

Re: 2000 Cadillac Problem (Noise)
.... is notorious for this type of problem? Seems too soon to have that kind
of issue ......

Re: Cadillac Problem using oil? Please Help
.... I would have preferred they not use any, but a quart between changes was
not bad. Roy Wow. I had no idea this was "normal" with the Cadillac's. ...

Re: C280 Gas Gauge broken?
Bill The problem is the fuel level sensors, I just had them replaced
on my 1999 C230 Kompressor Sport. It was under warranty...

'98 Accord: problem with wheel bearing at 1300 mi.
.... The dealer checked with Hondas "tech line" and they hadn't heard of this
problem
before. So all you Accord owners shouldn't worry, but if you do start
hearing ...

........No justice found on my 94 Accord lemon hearing!
Hi everybody, This is another follow-up on my 94 Accord lemon. I have
received a lot of inquiry on the outcome of the hearing. The ...

98 Camry Lemon of the Year Award
Please warn anyone thinking of buying a camry that this might happen: In my
case
they have replaced the following and I have lost use of the 98 camry for
over ...

Our '95 Mazda Protege is a lemon. We bought it new last fall, and since
then have had the radio replaced twice, a crank angle sensor ...

Re: Saturn Jerk
.... oil for 9,000 miles and now they won't -> honor my warranty ... SL2 with
a 24 month/24,000
mile warranty, which means ... say that there was), that the dealer should
be ...

......I had an S1 Bentley which broke a half shaft. Thought I'd ask about it
so
phoned them up. They said it often happened....

...... some time ago telling the the tale of the Rolls Royce that broke
down -

[snip]
Yes this has happened on more than one occasion, However they won't own up
because RR say they don't break down...

Re: Purchasing an XK8
.... brake discs became mis-shapped and were replaced under warranty. ...
After arguements
with Jaguar they replaced the mirror ... that some of the above problems
were due ...

.... of lubrication I was later told (duly fixed under warranty) but then ...
I? There were
heaps of other problems that I ... was the apathy I received from Jaguar and
the ...

.... lock. The Lotus Serviceman refused to cover that under warranty for
he blamed the malfunction to the newly-installed speakers. My ...

.... if yours is out of warranty ask the dealer if they will do it under
warranty anyhow
since it is a common fault. If this fails then talk to Lotus, they seem to
....

.... occur at about 30K miles, the transmissions were usually replaced under
warranty
by the dealers. While sending a letter of complaint to Land Rover at
Solihull ...

.....Does anyone know about the ford focus fire investigation ... just had my
2001 zx3 catch
fire on thursday ... the transmission lurching, followed by the engine
trying to ...

........DaimlerChrysler fails to recall fire-prone minivan
.... Of the 25 engine fires reported to NHTSA, at least 10 of the ... I count
my blessings
every day," said Peter Kidd, whose Dodge Caravan caught fire as he ...

.... Recently, the jeep stopped engaging in 2WD so he had to put it in 4WD to
make it
to the dealership. ... He has had problems with this vehicle since the
beginning. ...

.... have a 99 Grand Am GT TRADE IT WHILE YOU STILL CAN and tell everybody
about the problems
and safety concerns of this car.And if someone from pontiac reads this ...

.... Are all Altima's lemons, or just this particular one. Please reply with
suggestions
for dealing with Nissan Consumer Affairs to resolve these problems. ...

......Rotten Smell: Summary
.... He said that Toyota was painfully aware of the problem, but their
engineers ... lingering
problems with the car is an intermittent strong sulphur odor (hydrogen ...

 

Very nice research, and you are right on the dot.Every brand, no matter
how prestigious, can have issues. Recently, my wife and I had to trade a
Mercedes ML320 which had been plagued by oil leaks for 2 years. After
several trips to the dealer and repeated reassurances that alles is im
ordnung, we got completely fed up with the thing. My garage floor is all
stained from the leaks. In the meantime, my SF has slept outside in CT
through some serious weather, done more miles, and I had nothing more
than oil changes.

Actually, last year they wrote extending the warranty to 72 months
instead of 60 because they had done a mistake in declaring the HP on
their literature. This seems the only thing they can't get right, see my
thread on the wrong tire pressure recently. Anyway, nice to have 72,000
miles or 72 months warranty bumper to bumper.

Bottom line is you need a bit of luck when buying ANY vehicle; you
might, as we did, get a much better experience from a car that costs
almost half of the other. My SF runs beautifully, has done very well in
some serious snow storm last year with totally unplowed roads, and has
not had any problem yet.

For oil changes and the like I go to Jiffy Lube, but when I have been to
the dealer they have been very polite and efficient. No loaners though,
I did not expect them either to tell you the truth, but they drive me to
work and pick me up, which is what I need.

 

yes... you are THAT importan

-
SFarri

 

Let me tell you about my experience with Valley Stream Hyundai in NY. I own
a 2002 Sonata as well as a 2001 Sonata. The 2002 engine started hesitating
and finally stalled out.(engine light on). I had to be towed to the dealer.
My dealer's first words are "It will cost $80 to diagnose. Unfortunately,
they try to blame everything from faulty gas to "you need our 30,000 mile
overhaul" to fix the problem. To make a long story shorter, they kept the
car 2 weeks. After a lot of arguing with them, they finally found a faulty
engine component (under warranty). They still charged me for a new
battery(prorated) and $30 to check the brake system which was also making
noises. One week later, the symptoms reappeared. I was able to leave it
overnight at the dealer. Monday morning they called to tell me again about
the $80 diagnostic charge. I told them in no uncertain terms to just fix the
car properly. They called later to tell me about their 30,000 mile service
(hundreds of dollars) and how this wiuld fix the problem. Again, all
components included in their service was done 2 weeks before when they were
trying to fix the car the first time. Talk about money hungry and
ineptitude. I wish they would just check their records. It turned out to be
a loose connection with the fuel injector.
Would I buy another Hyundai? Not from this dealer.

 

I have an '02 XG350 purchased in March '02 from Glendale Hyundai in
California, and the dealer has been great (so far). About 15 months into it,
the car wouldn't start and had to be towed from work to the dealer (turned
out to be a defective battery). The only hassle was waiting 90 minutes for
Hyundai's subcontractor to tow it to the dealer (in retrospect I would have
been better off with the Auto Club - which I kept because of my wife's car).
Still, the dealer replaced the battery quickly and at no charge. Other work
done has been an oxygen sensor replaced last week, the inside dome light
replaced a few months ago, and the air bag warning light has gone off twice,
resulting in rerouting of the wires under the seat. This may very well be a
design flaw. It has helped that the service writer at my dealership seems to
work for the customer. This may not be the case everywhere.

Since I had the same concerns as you when I bought my car, I made sure to
upgrade the basic warranty to the 10 year bumper to bumper (4B), which
includes a rental car for up to 4 days per incident. I got it for an
additional $940.00, and it was part of the sales price that I financed
(dealers will try to charge as much as they can for the 4B upgrade). I
didn't need it for any of the other work done, but this week I needed a
rental car when I had the second airbag warning problem (the dealer was
backed up for the day). I was in and out of Enterprise Car Rental and back
to the dealer in 15 minutes.

If you're interested in a Hyundai, test drive a car at different dealerships
in your area to get a sense of each dealership. That's what I did. It now
seems easier to find a Hyundai at a car rental company (Enterprise carries
Sonatas and Accents). You could rent one for the weekend to so how it really
feels. That wasn't an option when I was looking. At the time I also did a
lot of research online (MSN CarPoint, this group and the Hyundai Connection
were most helpful). Consumer Reports at the time had little info on the
XG350 and was of no use. Even though they now rate the Sonata and Sante Fe
highly and the XG350 fairly well, it seems as if they do so grudgingly.
FWIW, at the time my wife had major reservations about the Hyundai purchase,
but now thinks we did good - although she still wants a Corvette...

Good luck...

 

Even if there wasnt, there is. The people in the business dont want to work
with Hyundai.
They want to work at Honda, but they couldnt keep up the pace and the
scratched a fender once...so they now work in Hyundai...
And they treat your car like a kid dying of cancer. They dont care about
its diet, they dont care about its looks, they dont think it will grow up
into a mature old car...

Also the design is good generally, but it save just a few cents, Hyundai
make major stuffups. Like non-removable trim ... like the cheap paint (thin
paint, cheap polishing procedure, etc) ...

I know, I own one - unfortunately.

 

I have a Hyundai accent 2001 the hood hinge broke no abuse just
broke . It took 8 weeks and 3 phone calls to get it fixed under
warranty at Savage Hyundai in Pa. I would never purchase a
car from them again.

 

**Howdy, I used to own a Santa Fe. Because of the hideous Hyundai
dealership in Ann Arbor MI., I got rid of it. I've dealt with 3
Hyundai dealerships. One in Ann Arbor (beyond awful when it comes to
any warranty work), Torrington, Conn. (pretty good), and Livonia, MI
(kinda good).

Ann Arbor practically refuses to honor most warranty work unless you
start a big argument to the point of yelling. No lie! Any problem you
called up for would take them weeks and I mean weeks! to see your car.
My boss's wife (has an Elantra), called for a brake problem and they
told her 3 weeks. Since I live near AA, I'm just not going to deal
with that crap. I dealt with them once and never again. I had a piece
of moulding pop off. They accused me of getting into a car accident
and all sorts of utter bullpoop. I tossed a hissy and the part got
ordered. It took a month to come in but it's not weird for some
Hyundai parts to take quite some time to arrive. To top it off, their
bodyshop (or at least the company they use) called me at work and said
they needed my car for a few days because they couldn't match the
paint so they were going to paint all of the lower trim on the Santa
Fe to make it match. Absolutely unbelievable! I told them to stuff it.
I don't know if they have a loaner car policy. I left with the
unfinished moulding stuck to the side of the car.

For the Torrington dealership, I used to say: This is wrong. They'd
take it in within a week and I'd get it back fixed. No problems and no
warranty issues. If it's a bad problem, they would take it in within a
day or two. Once when I was back home vacationing in CT, the Santa
Fe's coil pack crapped out. The packs were backordered, out of stock
and I had to leave within a week. They called a bunch of warehouses.
When they struck out there, they started calling other dealerships and
they found a dealership in East Hartford (?) who had one. They sent a
driver to pick it up and my car was repaired the next morning. Oh, and
they also had their bodyshop people paint that new piece of moulding.
They did a spectacular job of matching the paint and it took barely a
day. (I have to add an aside here: My family owns this dealership.
But! they treat regular customers better than family trust me on
this and don't let it color your view of the review. They figure I can
wait which I usually can). As for loaner cars, I've gotten them and
I've seen other customers get them but everyone knows each other in
this town so I don't know what their official policy is on loaners. I
think it's more of an informal dealership.

Livonia would take your car in at the drop of a hat if you called that
day, but they would overrepair the car. If they unscrew something,
they would order a new screw and just about everything else they
touched. And then you're stuck if items are out of stock. And the car
went from rarely having problems to one problem after the other. It
just made me suspicious of that dealership. I would drive to Livonia
from AA and after a rash of these *problems* with my Santa Fe, I just
couldn't keep making the trips. The loaner policy is you pay $25 a day
for a car. Boo to that I would still recommend them because they do
take your car in very quickly and it is repaired (eventually).
There were never any warranty issues and I never paid for anything.

Sadly, I bought a Jetta which is like going from the reliability
frying pan straight into the fire I'll say this, if I move back to
CT, I'm getting a Santa Fe again. It's an excellent vehicle. Even if I
moved to any city with a good dealership, I would definitely get a
Hyundai again.

kaboomie

 

Kaboomie,
You've had so much hassle and problems with that car and dealerships.
Why in the world would you get another Hyundai? Maybe I'm spoiled or
perhaps just lucky, but not once in 3 yrs has my Accord required a
repair other than scheduled maintenance, and same goes for previous
Accord having owned it for 3 yrs (with exception of gas gauge that
needed adjusting). Do you get a family discount on Hyandai's? And if
yes, if you could just extend that to me, Ijust might get that Sonata or
XG350.
Robin

 

Do you think that in only 2 yrs of owning this car, you should be having
any of these problems? One common repair I'm noticing on this NG is a
battery that dies early.

 

**Hi Robin. I said that I'd only get another Hyundai if I lived closer
to better dealerships. Right now, I don't, but I really do like the
Santa Fe a lot. It's so spectacular in crappy weather. My Santa Fe was
one of the first ones built and I expected problems. Sure my SF had
problems, but a good dealership can erase any negatives that come with
that. A bad one can make it feel much worse. I did get a bit of a
discount on the SF but nothing spectacular. Anyone could of gotten the
same price with a bit of haggling and waving the invoice printout from
edmunds.com which I suggest you take a look at. Sadly, I can't get
a discount for anyone. I'd have a lot more friends if I could

kaboomie

 

Hey Kaboomie, I know this is OT for this newsgroup, but please describe the
problems you've had with the Jetta----what year, TDI or gas, etc.

I was considering the Jetta before I got my '04 Sonata GLS---

 

My workmate bought a VW Passat and the trannie went out after just a
few thousands miles. He moved to another part of the country shortly
after that so I don't know how his Passat worked out long term.

Old_Timer

 

Hyundai's are GREAT...we have a 2001 Elantra GLS, 2003 Elantra GT (5 door),
and a 2004 XG350L (super car). Check with other Hyundai owners on how the
dealership is...mine is great (Jonesboro, AR). Yes, the cars have had a few
problems, as most cars do now and then. But everything is covered under
warranty and loaners are free.

 

**Hi Ferdy. I've had 2 Jettas, both 2003s. Yea, I know. Wacky. The
first Jetta was a 2003 GLS 2.0l automatic (gas). That Jetta rolled off
the lot new with sticky brakes, unaligned headlights and unbalanced
wheels. I got the headlights fixed (and a broken inside light the
mechanic discovered) and the VW dealership said they couldn't feel
anything else wrong with the car. I went back again and insisted on
going on the test drive with the mechanic. I was forceful and he
admitted to feeling something wrong with the brakes.

He greased the glide pins (?) and some other brake components. He
balanced the back tires but did such a lousy job that I had it re-done
at Torrington Hyundai back in CT. Now, these were fairly niggly
problems, except for the brakes. And the brakes were better but not
where I felt they should be. I only had the car for 9000 miles. Oh,
and just before I turned in that Jetta, the radio mysteriously went
dead a few times and only a few seconds each time. The bolstering on
the driver's seat where you get in the car frayed drastically at 1600
miles. The car just seemed like it was put together a little
haphazardly but still a very solid car compared to others in its
genre. The gas mileage was mediocre around the city but great on the
highway and it handled okay. Was very good in snow.

I traded that one in for a 2003 Jetta GLS 1.8T manual. Nothing like
learning how to drive stick on a little car with a monster engine. I
bought it on Halloween and it has 2K miles on it. So far, no major
problems. :::knock on wood::: One thing that bothers me is that the
synchros in the manual transmission are slow. It occasionally has had
problems where it won't go into 1st or reverse. But now that I'm used
to driving manual and the quirks of the car, it happens only very
rarely. Unlike the 1st Jetta (one of the 1st in the 2003 run), this
mid- to late-run Jetta seems more sturdy than the 1st. The brakes are
great, the interior beautiful and it had no problems off the lot. The
seat bolstering is fine. (Both interiors are/were leather). Handles
great, it has the sport suspension and some fat 17s. I haven't driven
it in significant snow yet though. Next winter, I might get 16-inch
steelies with snows on them.

Am I expecting eventual problems? Yes Some weaknesses: sensors
(MAF, O2, etc), the electrical system, back brakes (early
replacement), bulbs, among other things. Then again, perhaps,
everything will be okay. These seem to be some of the consistent
problems that I've read about on some of the VW forums that I
participate in. On the flip side, the engines themselves have been
described as bulletproof (esp. the TDI) though surrounded by some weak
peripherals. The transmissions go untouched for 100K.

Is this car fun? Damn fun! I love it. Though I'm not as confident with
my shifting yet, I've been told by a couple of long-time stick drivers
that I shift just fine. The interior is just so solid and
nice-looking. It was quite comfortable on a 700-mile trip from MI to
CT. Oh and remarkably, the 180hp 1.8T gets much better gas mileage
than the 115hp 2.0l ever got especially around town. I still can't
believe it. However, my cousin's TDI still kicks my ass mileage-wise.

Any other questions from anyone, feel free to ask

kaboomie

 

As I mentioned in my first post Robin, if you're having ANY doubts, you
shouldn't go with Hyundai. As for me, while I'd obviously rather not have
these problems, so far I consider them minor inconveniences (thus far), that
are outweighed by the pleasure I get from the car. I test drove an Accord,
Sentra, Infinity G20(?), and an Acura RL (the midlevel one), and I truly
enjoyed, and enjoy the XG350 the most (and my previous car was an Acura
Legend). Again, you should take a few test drives on any car you're
interested - Hyundai or not. If you don't love/enjoy it, don't bother.

A friend who works in the auto publicity trade - and who likes Hyundai -
says that the reason Hyundai gets high customer satisfaction is due to
costs. When someone is saving thousands of dollars over a comparable car,
they're probably more a little willing to let the small things slide than if
they were to pay a lot of dough and expect a problem-free experience and not
get it. Like the body shop owner last year who loved my Hyundai as he also
complained about the problems he was having with his top of the line
Infiniti..

OTOH, ask me again in a few years. If I'm having spending more time in a
rental than my 350, I may have a different answer.
-Good luck,

 

And I'm taking that advice seriously, Briggs. I also liked your advice
to rent a car I'm interested in for a weekend. I'm going to do that.
The reason I was considering getting a Sonata LX over another Accord EXL
was to save money and they seemed close in comparison looks wise,
actually I think the Sonata is more attractive. But now that I've
become aware of the XG350, I'm tempted to look at it - which defeats the
purpose of getting the Sonata over another Accord EXL V6. The Xg350 is
about the same price as the Accord.
Robin



As for me, while I'd obviously rather not have