Accident = no warranty?

So I took my Corolla into the dealership to get some warranty work done. I was told that I had a rear main seal leak last time I was in there. This morning I got a call from the service department asking if my car has been in an accident. I told her, that in 2007 it was in an accident.

The lady told me that because it was in an accident, the warranty is no longer valid. On top of that, she told me she was not sure where the leak was coming from...? They would have to take the tranny off and start there... Why the hell did you tell me it was a rear main seal if you didnt know!?

Can they do this?

I bought the extended Warranty, so I am going to ask that they prorate the warranty and give me my money back.


Josh

 

That doesn't sound right, but I wouldn't be too surprised if they could pull that out of their sleeve.

As for the prorate, I recent had this done with my extended warranty and was given back $1100. They will prorate the warranty from the time you file the request to the end of the warranty.

 

Thank you for the info, I will file today. should I just call or should I go down there and talk to someone about all this?

Josh

 

this sounds a little shady.

 

Agreed, does anyone know how I can verify this?

Josh

 

1. Go to a different dealer and complain about the leak. When they ask you if its been in a wreck tell them no. Or ask your local non-Toyota Corolla shop if they can do warranty work. Sometimes they can and they probably won't care if its been crunched or not, just wanting the work.

2. I bought an extended warranty on my '02 Camaro and never used it. They gave me money back at the end of the warranty period like $1200 or so.

 

You'll have to take a trip to the dealership that you purchased the truck from. Just go in and speak to the financing manager and they will take care of you. Its just a simple from that they fill out and send it to the insurance company. If you have a lien on the truck, the prorated refund will go directly to the lien holder and paid towards the principle balance of the loan.

It took all of about 15 minutes for me to get everything taken care of.


Good luck!

 

If they gave you that much back, I would venture to say you paid a fortune for that extended warranty, otherwise they wouldn't be in business. IMO, the best insurance company is your own.

 

You get all the money back if you never use it for 60 months. That's the Money Back guarantee part.

I've got the same plan for the '09 Tacoma.
It's called Toyota Platinum Extra care or something and is administered by National Administrative Dealer Services (NADS). The dealer actually pays you back apparently.

I paid $1200 for the Camaro warranty in 2002 and this one cost $1995 this year.
The trick is to keep the car for the whole 5 years, never use the warranty and then remember that you even have a warranty.
Then you have to apply for the refund within 60 days of the exact expiration date, be the registered owner, you have to prove the car is still registered to you.
And the selling dealership has to sign off on it that no warranty work was ever performed.

 

Why would they refund you so much jsut because you didn't use it? They make their money hoping you dont ever use it; I dont get this logic at all. 60 days proreated of 1825 days should only be $65.

 

How does that not sound right?? The car gets into an accident- and the part was damaged as a result...Why should the warranty be on the hook for that part??

If you ECU dies after a minor fender bender- that's one thing. But without knowing more about the accident it's hard to say that the dealer is being shady.

 

If you get into an accident while the vehicle is under warranty you have to take it to the dealership to get cleared. If the dealership clears the vehicle then any malfunction after that is still covered under warranty. I know this because I was involved in an accident 2 months after I purchased my truck. The dealership looked over the truck and verified nothing was wrong. I have since been in to have warranty repairs done with no issues.

 

Guessing you didn't have Toyota fix the accident damage or at least recertify the car's integrity? If not then I can see why they pulled that card on you.

 

I learned something new today

that is correct

 

Bummer - hard lesson to deal with. Maybe you can get the paperwork from the accident and work with your dealer showing them that the accident wasn't the cause. Maybe split the cost, even ask for an arbitrator. Play the loyal customer card, I have seen that one work before at dealerships that do care about its customers. Good luck on this one.

 

I was rear ended hard while stopped at a light in my 98 Wrangler at about 5000 miles, and the rear main seal started leaking within a few weeks. Luckily the dealer repaired it under warranty. A heavy front or rear impact can do it.

 

Transmission and rear main are next to each other, you have to take off the trany to check the rear main. When they got the trany off they found the problem. When I had the clutch put in, by "clutch doctor" on fourth plain in Vancouver, WA they may have installed something incorrectly, or not put it back together correctly.

There are 4 dowels that keep the clutch and flywheel aligned, well two of those dowels came out and have been floating around and tearing the inside of my transmission. One spot was hit so hard it caused a hairline crack which gives us the leak we were looking for.

My question now, can I hold that shop reliable? I had that thing put in around 15k-20k and am now sitting at 56k...about 2 years later.

Josh

 

now that makes sence.ive learned something to.great reply.

 

^^ agreed. I am sure if I am in an accident my insurance will be involved and since they will be paying I will take it to the Toyota Collision Center in Portland. If I dont have that option I will just get it repaired and run it by Toyota next time. Thanks again!

Josh