Hi Guys..

So after owning my 06 Tiburon for a little over a month now, im driving down the road when a seam on the radiator decides to give in and spill all my precious coolant onto the road.

Get the car towed back to the Hyundai dealership where I purchased the car from alittle over a month ago to be informed that im past my 1000km guarantee (go figure) and the repair bill sits at almost R6600 (for you guys thats about $880 but for me thats almost half my paycheck).

Things on the list to replace/repair are:
Broken Radiator
Faulty Thermostat?
Leaking waterpump?????

Anyways I refused to let Hyundai fix my car as I can repair it for a fraction of the cost myself although bang goes my mechanical warranty (Not that I care as they only wanted to contribute about $200 towards the repair)

But now the dealership refuses to pay to tow the car back to my house......

I must say this is the first car I have bought from a dealership (my previous cars have all been rebuilt from the ground up) and im not very impressed, they were quick to sell me the car and accept my money but thats about as far as it goes.

makes me wonder what are service levels like elsewhere in the world?

 

Sounds like a rare situation. Usually people have pretty good luck with their Hyundai's...especially the newer ones. Im really surprised the dealer didnt give you more of a 30 day warranty, even though its past the 100K factory one. Here in the states, most dealers will give you 60 or 90 day warranty if the factory one is expired or about to be expired.

You could always try and contact the district manager for the Hyundai dealer, and complain about it. Or contact Hyundai Corporate and see if they can help you. Let them know you have owned the car for a month, and now theres all these issues and the Hyundai dealer is refusing to pay or repair it. Not sure what the rules are there in South Africa, but here in the states...usually district managers or corporate dont like hearing things like that and will force a dealer to repair stuff if the car was recently sold.

 

The thing that bothers me the most is that since owning the car ive looked after it the best that I can, ive washed and polished it every weekend, checked fluid levels etc, every week aswell (yes you can tell I dont have much of a social life, haha nah I just like my car) and I havnt given the car stick more than twice, but now the dealership looks at me as if its my fault.

Without being negative but thats South Africa, there are ways to go about this but really its just more hassle, stress and time wasted than what its worth. Car sales took a hit all over the world but more so in South Africa and service like this is to blame.

Im lucky enough that my mother works for a consumer rights group, and this is very much the norm than the exception here. She also agrees with me that it will be much easier to repair the car myself than spend many hours on the phone and 2/3 weeks to get the car sorted out by hyundai.

 

That really sucks man, sorry to hear the bad times. I would do the fix the car myself AND go crazy on the South African regional hq demanding retribution. Not sure how effective it would be but if they have the slightest scintilla of public relations concern they'll jump pretty quick. You just need to make sure you can put pressure on them. Good luck man, don't roll over on this one. You take good care of that car and deserve better.

 

Luckily its not all doom and gloom, Its still a great car and that more than makes up for any problems I may encounter.

For a laugh though, I went to inspect the car after they gave me the quote on which they state "leaking radiator". Im looking in the engine bay when the technician walks up to me and asks........ so where exactly is the leak on the radiator......... Thankfully I can see the funnier side of life and just smiled and walked away.

I also had a friend who took his car to get turbo'ed list included T3/T4 turbo, manifold, wiseco pistons and rods,cometic head gasket etc..., R30000 ($4000) later all the turbo stuff was there on the outside and in working order but the motor had never even been opened, the guy closed shop and dissapeared the moment my friend drove out.