Question on Auto Lease Warranty (1 Viewer)

[Pamela]

I leased a car in April of 2001. I was told by my salesman (who is no longer there) I had a standard 3 year/36,000 mile warranty. My lease contract states, "standard manufacturer warranty."

I took my car in for servicing and a major repair this weekend and was informed by the service department that my warranty is up in October. That's 6 months before my lease is up!

I informed them that it had not been 3 years, nor am I over 35,000 miles. I was told that is was indeed up in October. The guy said, "You have to be careful about warranties. They can be misleading." I was also told that the warranty started the day the car was delivered on the lot, not the day I took delivery of it. I was furious, to say the least.

The next day I went up to pick up my loaner car and I ambled into the showroom pretending to be interested in their cars. I asked a salesman about the terms of their leases and their warranties. I was told a lease warranty was the same as a new car warranty: 3 years/36,000 miles from the day it is the car was delivered to the customer. I then asked him why my 2001 warranty was not being honored in that manner. After stuttering and stammering for a while, he couldn't come up with an answer (although he did let me know he could get me out of my lease and into a new one ) . I think not.

Long story short, the salesman could give me an explaination on my warranty, and the salesmanager was no help, as well. They only said their could be extenuating circumstances (like what, I asked?). I was told to call the Service Manager for help. WTF does the Service Manager have to do with the original terms of my lease?!?!?!?!?

Has anyone ever heard of this happening before? What are my rights? I contacted the corporate office on this situation.

 

[Kirk Gunn]

That really sucks. The only thing I can imagine is that they technically "sold" your car to someone else before you received it and perhaps that started the warranty countdown ? The previous purchaser probably cancelled the order.

Either way, the sales or service manager should have enough clout with the manufacturer to extend it appropriately. What month should it expire ?

Raise h-ll !!!!!

 

[James Edward]

I have leased 4 cars- all warranties began when the car was picked up by me. This sounds fishy to me. Never heard of such a thing.

Was this a brand new car you leased? Or was it a demo that already had some miles on it? And don't be shy- why don't you state the model and manufacturer; there are several HTF members that work at dealerships and may be able to offer you some insight and assistance.

Something's not right with this...

 

[Pamela]

Something's not right with this...

That's for sure.

Corporate Saturn did not get back to me today. I'll give them until tomorrow. They were really good about helping me this past May, when the dealership was dragging their feet about replacing my faulty steering column. Once I got corporate involved, it was fixed ASAP. I just got my car back tonight, after 4 days in the shop. The rack and pinion gear needed replaced.

I just ran a Carfax report and it said it was origianlly leased as a commercial lease vehicle.??????

 

[Kirk Gunn]

Wow - what a flim-flam. Does the CarFax date correpsond to the Oct warranty expiration ?

Review all your original paperwork, it should mention some verbiage on "new sale/lease" vs "used sale", "pre-owned" or something like that. This will help with your negotiations with Corporate. The dealership probably did want to take the hit on a cancelled sale/lease, so just kept it hanging around until you re-leased it from them.

I would only deal with Corporate from now on unless they can demonstrate the dealer is honest. That is total BS, having to run a Carfax report on a "new car".....

 

[brentl]

If the dealership leased you a NEW vehicle you should have FULL warranty.

If the vehicle was sold, to you, as a demo, purchase return ETC I'd think that you're screwed.

Can you find anything on the lease that says anything but new???

Brent

 

[Lee L]

Anyone saying the warrantee starts when the dealer takes the car into inventory is lying, plain and simple. The warrantee starts when the customer takes delivery of the vehicle. I agree they might have screwed you by titling the car for some commercial fleet customer that changed their mind, then sold/leased the vehicle to you.

If I were you I would be calling my local TV station consumer reporter and my states Attorney General.

 

[Pamela]

Review all your original paperwork, it should mention some verbiage on "new sale/lease" vs "used sale", "pre-owned" or something like that

I read over the lease again last night and could not find any mention of new vs. used (preowned). I will look through the paperwork again tonight.

Saturn still hasn't replied, although I did get a lovely email from them announcing their new 7-passenger vehicle!

 

[Kirk Gunn]

I'm sure it's warranty coverrage expires upon delivery !

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I work for a Toyota dealership in the service department.

For our purposes, the warranty starts on what's called the DOFS, or Date of First Use. This date is the date on which the car first changes ownership from dealer's new car stock to the first owner/lessee, or the date on which it enters service as a demonstrator or TRAC (Toyota Rent A Car) vehicle, not the date on which the car is delivered to the dealer.

Pamela,
my guess would be that your car was reported to Saturn factory as having been sold or leased or entering demo or rental fleet use at some time prior to your having taken delivery, so it shows up in the database accessed by the service department as having a date of first use in October of 01.

Saturn still has the 30 day no questions asked return policy, so it's possible your car was first sold in Oct. of 01 and was returned by the first buyer, then placed back into dealer stock from which it should have been sold or leased as a used, not new, car.

There's also a good chance someone bought it and took delivery in Oct of 01 and had their financing fall through and had to return it.

You said the car had 180+ miles on it when you took delivery, which is excessive for a car sold as new from a dealer's own stock. On occasion a customer will want a car in a color or with specific equipment the dealer doesn't have in stock, so the dealer will trade with another dealer, sometimes 200 miles away. Your car may have been a dealer trade, accounting for the mileage. The dealer you leased from may have had a car some other dealer wanted for a customer and your's was the one they took in trade for it.

At our dealership we sometimes have to dealer trade as far away as San Francisco (190 miles) but we no longer have them driven--we trailer them instead.

 

[Pamela]

Steve-
Thanks for the good info.

Saturn Corporate got back to me late this afternoon. In part they said: "The warranty begins on the date that your Saturn was placed into service. Your Saturn was placed into service on April 10, 2001. This has nothing to do with the date that the car was delivered to the retail facility. The manufacturer's warranty will expire on your Saturn at 36,000 miles or on "April 10, 2004, whichever comes first."

Whew! I was told they are trying to contact the Service Manager to make sure it is taken care of in their system.

Now I just have to contend with my apartment lease. I gave the manager more than 30 days written notice that I was moving out. A week after handing in my notice, the manager was ousted. Now the new manager says they have no written notice on file and my security deposit will not be refunded. I'm so tired of fighting with people. :frowning:

 

[brentl]

"I gave the manager more than 30 days written notice"

Too bad you didn't get him to sign a copy!

Brent