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OT: Car repair advice

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Final update:

I reached out via email to the Head of Servicing and the GM to explain the situation, my frustration with a need for a new CAT on a 5 year old car, the inability to speak directly with anyone and my families history with Hyundai (7 total purchases). The Service guy called me within an hour and offered 10% off the total repair ($3,500) or suggested that I could try back with Corporate to cover the CAT (since it was Corps decision to deny).

I tried again to get Hyundai Corporate to reconsider covering a new CAT but other than the “Case Manager” that they originally assigned to review the case from the dealership (which was denied) there is nobody available at Corporate who is Customer facing.

That brought me back to dealing directly with the Dealership.

I decided I wanted to sell the car and be done with it…since it was not drivable and sitting in Hyundais lot I wasn’t left much choice but to sell back to Hyundai. Their original offer was only $5K (on a 2018 Tuscon with 99K miles).

I wrote another email back to the Dealership (and copied the GM) stating how the offer was extremely low and not fair to a loyal customer (and also considering the Kelly Blue book value on a good condition car and the repair needed). I requested a more fair offer for both parties said I was willing to make an appointment with the GM if needed (or requested a meeting so we could discuss all of the issues Hyundai has been having with engines/oil burn and so they could give me a walkthrough of what would cause a CAT on a 5 year old car to get clogged).

The GM reached out to me, expressed that he understood my frustration and welcomed me in for an appointment and suggested to bring the title and we could work something out. I went in this week and we did a walkthrough of the car and he offered $6,600 ($1,600 more than the original offer).

I didn’t feel like negotiating any longer and took the offer….I did ask him to walk me through the calculation of the $6,600 offer and he actually admitted they could sell it for $15,000 but because of the repair (and a small sink on the hood) the offer went down to $6,600.

Overall I still feel like I got completely hosed and they’re gonna flip that car in no time for thousands in profit to some poor customer who will most likely have more issues down the road (im convinced the CAT went because of the major engine/oil issues Hyundais have been experiencing).

An extremely frustrating and exhaustive process that took almost 3 months to resolve. Luckily I was able to borrow a car from my parents during this time and my 2nd Toyota will be coming in this week and I’ll be done with Hyundai for good :)
Man oh man - sounds like they put you through the ringer and gave you a lot of agita. It also sounds like you really did your due diligence, and were reasonable but for whatever reason they decided to die on this hill with you. The good news is that it's done and hopefully you can just leave it in the distant past where it belongs, and chalk one up to 'lesson learned' in dealing with this company ever again. Sorry you had to deal with this - now on to bigger and better things like AT #2 MICHIGAN!!!!!
 
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Sucks it happened to you with no way out. The problem is an engine design problem, burning oil and clogging the CC. They know it as well and won't acknowledge it because it will cost them a ridiculous amount of money on all the cars. Ford owners with 6.0 ltr diesels with a bad design a few years ago faced the same thing for even more money. Those were blowing engines left and right.
 
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Sucks it happened to you with no way out. The problem is an engine design problem, burning oil and clogging the CC. They know it as well and won't acknowledge it because it will cost them a ridiculous amount of money on all the cars. Ford owners with 6.0 ltr diesels with a bad design a few years ago faced the same thing for even more money. Those were blowing engines left and right.

Yep exactly.

My Elantra engine had to be replaced at 102K miles bc of engine knocking. This was covered under an extended manufacturer warranty but the car was never the same after replacement and turned into a giant money pit (I just traded this one in last month).

The issue with my Tuscon CC getting contaminated was most definitely (imo) cause their faulty designed engines. Interestingly enough the Tucson had an extended manufacturers warranty out to 150K for engine rod failure but I couldn’t prove what caused the CC to go and I’m sure the dealership knew way more than they would tell me.
 
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Final update:

I reached out via email to the Head of Servicing and the GM to explain the situation, my frustration with a need for a new CAT on a 5 year old car, the inability to speak directly with anyone and my families history with Hyundai (7 total purchases). The Service guy called me within an hour and offered 10% off the total repair ($3,500) or suggested that I could try back with Corporate to cover the CAT (since it was Corps decision to deny).

I tried again to get Hyundai Corporate to reconsider covering a new CAT but other than the “Case Manager” that they originally assigned to review the case from the dealership (which was denied) there is nobody available at Corporate who is Customer facing.

That brought me back to dealing directly with the Dealership.

I decided I wanted to sell the car and be done with it…since it was not drivable and sitting in Hyundais lot I wasn’t left much choice but to sell back to Hyundai. Their original offer was only $5K (on a 2018 Tuscon with 99K miles).

I wrote another email back to the Dealership (and copied the GM) stating how the offer was extremely low and not fair to a loyal customer (and also considering the Kelly Blue book value on a good condition car and the repair needed). I requested a more fair offer for both parties said I was willing to make an appointment with the GM if needed (or requested a meeting so we could discuss all of the issues Hyundai has been having with engines/oil burn and so they could give me a walkthrough of what would cause a CAT on a 5 year old car to get clogged).

The GM reached out to me, expressed that he understood my frustration and welcomed me in for an appointment and suggested to bring the title and we could work something out. I went in this week and we did a walkthrough of the car and he offered $6,600 ($1,600 more than the original offer).

I didn’t feel like negotiating any longer and took the offer….I did ask him to walk me through the calculation of the $6,600 offer and he actually admitted they could sell it for $15,000 but because of the repair (and a small sink on the hood) the offer went down to $6,600.

Overall I still feel like I got completely hosed and they’re gonna flip that car in no time for thousands in profit to some poor customer who will most likely have more issues down the road (im convinced the CAT went because of the major engine/oil issues Hyundais have been experiencing).

An extremely frustrating and exhaustive process that took almost 3 months to resolve. Luckily I was able to borrow a car from my parents during this time and my 2nd Toyota will be coming in this week and I’ll be done with Hyundai for good :)
I'm sorry I somehow missed this thread until now as I think I might've had slightly different advice.

I agree you got hosed here. Although perhaps not so much by Hyundai as the dealership, IMO. But they had you over a barrel.

If I understand correctly, the car got to about 99K miles, yes? The question I would've asked is, if I sink another $3500 for a new CC into it, how many more miles does that buy me with routine maintenance, and the typical replacement of aging parts now and then? If the car would've lasted another 50K miles, then it might've been worth it to keep it.

I might have missed it, I read through very quickly to catch up, but I didn't see anybody ask that question. And you didn't have to have the dealership do the work, any competent mechanic could've done it.

Anyway, water under the bridge now.

Good luck with the incoming Toyota. Hopefully it'll last 200K trouble-free miles.
 
I'm sorry I somehow missed this thread until now as I think I might've had slightly different advice.

I agree you got hosed here. Although perhaps not so much by Hyundai as the dealership, IMO. But they had you over a barrel.

If I understand correctly, the car got to about 99K miles, yes? The question I would've asked is, if I sink another $3500 for a new CC into it, how many more miles does that buy me with routine maintenance, and the typical replacement of aging parts now and then? If the car would've lasted another 50K miles, then it might've been worth it to keep it.

I might have missed it, I read through very quickly to catch up, but I didn't see anybody ask that question. And you didn't have to have the dealership do the work, any competent mechanic could've done it.

Anyway, water under the bridge now.

Good luck with the incoming Toyota. Hopefully it'll last 200K trouble-free miles.

Two main issues were:

1) Everything I read online and feedback I got from the mechanics I spoke to told me it was something else that caused the CC to become contaminated/melted inside. So if I got the CC replaced there was a decent chance I could have been in the same boat again (assuming there was something else at play). Hyundais have had major issues with engines and oil burn over the past few years.

2) Every mechanic I spoke to couldn’t find an after market CC and said they would have to buy it through the dealership…so I was still looking at almost $3,000K even through a mechanic. The guy at Low Cost exhaust told me that it’s not easy to find after market parts such as a CC for a car that’s only 5 years old because a part like this shouldn’t need to be replaced that quickly (not much demand at 5 years).
 
Two main issues were:

1) Everything I read online and feedback I got from the mechanics I spoke to told me it was something else that caused the CC to become contaminated/melted inside. So if I got the CC replaced there was a decent chance I could have been in the same boat again (assuming there was something else at play). Hyundais have had major issues with engines and oil burn over the past few years.

2) Every mechanic I spoke to couldn’t find an after market CC and said they would have to buy it through the dealership…so I was still looking at almost $3,000K even through a mechanic. The guy at Low Cost exhaust told me that it’s not easy to find after market parts such as a CC for a car that’s only 5 years old because a part like this shouldn’t need to be replaced that quickly (not much demand at 5 years).
I figured the same problem would eventually destroy the new CC, too. But it went 99K miles the first time. It might've gone half that the second, assuming whatever caused the problem hadn't worsened steadily all that time. Barring other problems, getting an additional 45K miles for $3K would've been easily worth it.

However, it's academic at this point. And there's probably a better than even chance whatever fouled the CC is worsening, so another 45K miles might be a pipe-dream.
 
Two main issues were:

1) Everything I read online and feedback I got from the mechanics I spoke to told me it was something else that caused the CC to become contaminated/melted inside. So if I got the CC replaced there was a decent chance I could have been in the same boat again (assuming there was something else at play). Hyundais have had major issues with engines and oil burn over the past few years.

2) Every mechanic I spoke to couldn’t find an after market CC and said they would have to buy it through the dealership…so I was still looking at almost $3,000K even through a mechanic. The guy at Low Cost exhaust told me that it’s not easy to find after market parts such as a CC for a car that’s only 5 years old because a part like this shouldn’t need to be replaced that quickly (not much demand at 5 years).
My son got into an engine warranty disagreement with Subaru two years ago. It took more than 3 months of constant pressure to get a somewhat fair response from Subaru, while the dealer contributed nothing and mostly delayed the end result.

In some cases the Dealer is not your friend.
 
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My advice fond one of the perps stealing CC's seems to be a thing...maybe get on the cheap

Could also be to bad O2 sensors at least that's what I remember when I ran an auto store. They are on exhaust manifold may also be part of your problem will cause loss of power...have someone run a sensor check on your car. I'm never sold on the most expensive option when there is a cheaper option upstream. Also if you had oil in your convertor you would get smoke out the exhaust
 
Gotta say, I was starting to warm to Hyundai/Kia after a lifetime of thinking they were cheap junk, but this thread made me reverse course a bit.
They still have pretty good reliability ratings lately. But I know what you mean.
 
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Gotta say, I was starting to warm to Hyundai/Kia after a lifetime of thinking they were cheap junk, but this thread made me reverse course a bit.
Still wouldn’t touch a new one with a 10 ft pole…

Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, and several others sell about 20-30% of their allocation to fleet companies (rental cars). As a result, 2-3 years later all those car re-enter the market as used cars and take a major depreciation hit since so many of them are back for sale (supply/demand).

To my knowledge, Honda and suburu are the only ‘economic’ manufacturers that will not sell to fleet directly, therefor a used Honda or suburu almost always costs more than its equivalent, but also has higher trade value.

If you’re gonna buy a Hyundai, make it 3 years old with less than 40k miles
 
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Thanks!

Some good advice in this thread…sounds like general consensus is to sell the car and move on.

It’s been sitting at the Dealership for over a month as I’ve been trying to get them to work with Corporate to cover the repair, but that was denied.

I won’t ever be buying a Hyundai again so I’ll see what they’ll offer for a straight up trade in since it’s sitting in their lot. Unfortunately a CarMax type of place is going to want to inspect it since it has such as major issue and is pretty much not able to be driven at high speeds right now.
I'm wondering why you gave Hyundai a second chance after your experience with that first junker?
 
I'm wondering why you gave Hyundai a second chance after your experience with that first junker?

The engine issues/debacle with my Elantra happened last year. At that point we already owned the Tucson for a few years.

My parents have had 4 Hyundais and haven’t had any major issues but it definitely seems like the quality of the product has gone downhill quickly and the servicing departments at the two different dealerships I’ve dealt with in South Jersey were awful to work with. They’re inundated with cars and the turnaround time on repairs is a complete joke…not to mention they don’t return your calls when you leave messages with the receptionist.
 
The engine issues/debacle with my Elantra happened last year. At that point we already owned the Tucson for a few years.

My parents have had 4 Hyundais and haven’t had any major issues but it definitely seems like the quality of the product has gone downhill quickly and the servicing departments at the two different dealerships I’ve dealt with in South Jersey were awful to work with. They’re inundated with cars and the turnaround time on repairs is a complete joke…not to mention they don’t return your calls when you leave messages with the receptionist.
FWIW, I'm hearing similar stories of poor initial quality, an uptick in recalls or stop sales, and a general sense of cost-cutting taking place among several different auto manufacturers these days, including luxury brands. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine, EV price-wars, etc. have auto-makes scrambling a bit.

My read on the situation is that no company is immune and that reliability issues are widespread and affecting them all. Kind of depressing, but I mention this because it's not clear to me that jumping from one brand w/issues to another will improve anybody's odds of avoiding issues.

I'll be reading consumers and JD Powers ratings w/more interest than usual in the months and years ahead.
 
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The engine issues/debacle with my Elantra happened last year. At that point we already owned the Tucson for a few years.

My parents have had 4 Hyundais and haven’t had any major issues but it definitely seems like the quality of the product has gone downhill quickly and the servicing departments at the two different dealerships I’ve dealt with in South Jersey were awful to work with. They’re inundated with cars and the turnaround time on repairs is a complete joke…not to mention they don’t return your calls when you leave messages with the receptionist.
Oh, got it. I've heard of the engine design flaw but assumed that was in distant past.
Hyundai/Kia also has the serious flaw that allows their ignition security to be easily bypassed too if I'm not mistaken.
 
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That's the kind of thing that makes me hot under the collar. Really burns me up.

The Hyundai motor group executives are gonna feel the heat over this.
 
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