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The problems with cars

Mom bought a brand new SUV (which will remain nameless) the day after Easter. The day we were to take it to the Rod Stewart concert, it wouldn't start. Ok. Freaky things happen and you move on. And then you have it towed to the dealer and they replace the battery thinking it was just a bad battery. Ok, but when it happens a second time, you really have to start thinking what's up. So last night Mom goes to take the car out to get gas for a big "road trip" tonight and the car doesn’t turn over. She just keeps saying I know... "I told you so". Actually, I really wasn't planning on saying that (maybe). So here we are today and we needed to call for a tow again. The tow truck came (a bit later than expected) and gave the poor car a jump. He tried telling me that if you don’t drive new cars enough the battery looses its charge. Is it just me or does it seem like technology is going in reverse if that's the case? What if I go away for a week? I'll need to call for jump so I can go the grocery store the next weekend or worse, get out of the airport parking log???

So I get my jump and drive it down to the dealership to get this car checked out because something has to be wrong, right? To make a long story short, they gave me a rental for the day so I could get home without having to call for a ride, and at the end of the day, they couldn't find anything wrong. (Throwing hands up in the air) The service manager doesn't think it will happen again, but I think we'll leave the car sit again until Friday and see if the car starts. If it doesn't I'm going to have to have a talk with the dealership owner, Regional Management and probably Corporate Headquarters because a brand new (fairly expensive) car shouldn't be behaving this way. Mom and I have both been driving long enough to know that something is screwy! Granted, if they can’t fix something in3 times without a certain amount of time for a new car… thanks Ralph I may need you on this one. Oh and for the record, this is one of the car brands known for reliability. Ironic, ain't it?

Posted: April 30, 2005

Updates

Since I've had a few visitors find this particular entry I figure I owe an update. The SUV (knock on wood) has been running fine with Mom's irregular driving schedule. Best that we can figure out was that the battery may not have been replaced on the first service call, just recharged. Maybe we misunderstood that it was going to be replaced? Since we did not recieve any paperwork for either service call it's hard to tell what was actually done. And no, I'm not claiming conspiracy theory. I do get the feeling that the battery was replaced on the second service call, though. So, the leason of the day is first try monitoring the battery, then the alternator and then the electrical system. And, insist on paperwork to document your journey through the service department. At the end of the day, I would still buy this particular SUV so I'm not anti-brand (at least yet).

May 21, 2005

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