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Dealership sales contract says 5 yr, service contract says 4, bad repair jobs, what can I recover?

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LauraLove

New member
What is the name of your state? CA
Bought Chevy Traverse 2012 on Christmas Eve 2013. ( Hubby was in a hurry to get it home to surprise me )
I drove for about 16 mos without any issues. Had 45k original miles on it. Was a fleet or rental car. Certified GM vehicle.
Hubby paid $2500 for service contract through portfolio. $900 for Chrysler maintenance plan. $700 for some surface protection application? ( he doesn't have a clue what that was)
Then in 2015... It started.. leak found, rack and pinion, steering gears replaced, hoses, bushings, struts, mounts, rotors, control arms, bushing links, battery, new tires, water pump, radio, AC issues, power steering pump....
All this stuff has needed to be replaced at least TWICE. pS pump will be 3rd time in 17 months.
The dealership service contract says I had to bring in to them. But they are a Dodge dealership. My car is Chevy. They don't know what they're doing. They've installed parts incorrectly. They've said it was fixed. TWICE. BOTH TIMES IT WAS NOT. THEY LIED. They've taken it in only to say they replaced pump but it comes out and needs a serpertine belt, and strut was locked up and I ended up taking it to chevy to fix. Cause they seem to make it worse. ( They did reimburse me immediately for that repair at Chevy because I proved they broke it) . Just took it to my mechanic and he says no more. Don't pay anymore into this nightmare. It's a lemon. So I want to sell it but it's been in shop like 40 times due to their mess ups, either not oem parts or bad work or bad car. Or all three. It's now going on 6 years I'll have owned it. I've got 104k on it.

The issue. A few years back I was told the service contract expired after 4 years.. 12/2017. And my maintenance plan after 2 . I could see all my warranties on mychevy.com.
I had for some reason thought I had a 5 yr service contract. But portfolio said 48 months. I checked my contract. But it is completely blank. All the ink disappeared!! So I called dealership and asked that I get sent a new one. They sent me the autogap policy instead. This wasn't even signed by my husband. !! I told them that wasn't the one I wanted. ( Cars paid off now) they sent me a copy of what my contract was before ink disappeared. ( I assume!!?? ) It showed choices of 2,3,4,5. Years. It had an xx next to the 48 month circle. So I figured I was crazy. Now I'm reviewing all this paperwork trying to see what my options are for recovering something because I can't sell this car for what it should have been worth at this point. And I notice the dealership sales contract says portfolio service contract 60 months. Autogap is 72 and Maintenance is 72!!
So this is a big deal! I spoke with 2-3 people at dealership and 2 at portfolio saying that I thought it was 5 year extended service contract and they said nope. So all the things I paid to be fixed in 2018 should have been covered. Not to mention the maintenance plan that I thought expired 4 years ago should have covered! It also looks even shadier because the one is gone. I've got 99% of repair orders, organized spreadsheets of repairs. I've got documented evidence showing that the dealership was at fault for issues and they lied about fixing something. All in an email from over a year ago. I've got on Star to show my mileage and oil life every month since 2014.

I'm assuming I can recover the amount we paid out of pocket in 2018 and door maintenance as well. But this makes me mad because I would have taken my car in for other repairs that were covered under service contract had I known it was still in effect. I want to know how serious this breach of contract is. How much negotiating power I have to work out a deal with dealership. Should I go in for arbitration, on my own. Get an atty? .
I would like to know what I can try to recover, besides my out of pocket service contract stuff, or all repair costs?
How about the $4000+ in service contracts we paid for?
And what about trying to recover some of the lost value of the car due to the faulty repairs? And going to 3 different mechanics, my own, Chevy dealership and Dodge dealership. Because I feel like had I been able to get Chevy to repair these issues I would not have had to get it fixed again and again. Since they didn't know what they were doing.. I just want to get enough to buy a new car cash. have literally $5 to my name, laid off recently. :( Really disappointed because this car was Christmas gift from my hubby and was kinda my dream car. It became nightmare car. Looking to recover 11k ? Ideal would be 15k. To buy a small sedan. In a hurry before car kills me driving it like this. Needs new power steering pump again, rack and pinion, rear suspension is blown, needs all new shocks, wheel bearings, bushings again.... But I'm not putting any more into this car.

Car purchased 21,000
Service contracts $2495
Chrysler Maintenance $900
Autogap policy $900
Surface protection? $700
Financing fees $?
Down payment $1000
Total amount financed $35k
Repairs in 2018 $2000
Repairs overall? 6000??
Buyback of vehicle $6000 CarMax offer as opposed to 11-12k private party selling price.
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
You should be able to recover the cost difference between a 4 year plan and a 5 year plan. You're not going to get $11k. Carmax is notorious for low-balling. If you can get $11k-$12k selling to a private party, then do that.
 

LauraLove

New member
Currently my car needs $2500 in work, again. Including the 3rd power steering pump in 16 months. I can't sell to private party, They can easily see the 45 repair records on a Carfax report because the dealership warranty repairs were worthless almost, installed parts incorrectly, said they reinstalled parts correctly twice when they didn't and damaged my car during repairs twice. Who would want that car?? What about all the things I would have fixed had they not told me my warranty was expired... Wouldn't they be responsible for the out of pocket costs of the repairs I paid for? Since I was actually under warranty? I mean one year of the warranty is what $500 bucks? Surely that is fraud or breach of contact with my blank policy and denying my service claims? Who will buy this car? That's what my biggest issue is. I'll be lucky if CarMax bought it for $5k after looking at Carfax.
I wanted to keep this car for my son to drive in a few years now its practically worthless.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
It could be argued that those things didn't "need" to be fixed, since you drove the car for a long time without fixing them.
 

LauraLove

New member
It could be argued that I've been driving my car without repairs done because every time I take it to this dealership they are incompetent and end up breaking my car and lying about what they fixed.
So honestly that makes me think I should sue for the amount of the service contract .. $2500.
But... I can argue right now I've got $2500+ in repairs that I can't afford to fix because we can't afford it. Which is why my husband bought the extended warranty, so we didn't have to deal with repairs. My car has been in the shop 26 times++ over 59 days in 4 years. I've got 2 old cars my teens drive, been in the shop 2 times in same 4 years and they're 8-10 years older. 26 times. Not to mention, 1 hr round trip to dealership. Rental cars. Borrowing cars. Getting rides. Nightmare.
 

LauraLove

New member
I guess that's all disputable. But that consequences do they have for falsifying or fraudulently charging me for 5 year service contract but only putting us onto 4 year porfolio service contract? I asked them to review to look into because I insisted 5 years. And suddenly the contract with disappearing ink says 4 years. Because they want NOTHING more to do with me at the service center...I was 19.7 miles from them via side streets, 22 via freeway but they insisted I go there only if it was under 20 miles. Too. Ridiculous. They should never be allowed to fix a Chevy there.
 

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