a good story

[Norm201]

This is not about a Fiesta but an interesting story anyway.

Last Friday my son took delivery a brand new fully load Buick Regal. After 6 hours and only 51 miles the transmission gets blown!
He was able to contact dealer about a half hour before closing. The dealer had a vehicle ready to drive for as long as needed. The loaner is a brand new vehicle of the same model. It will no longer be able to be sold as a new vehicle but most likely as demo.

Now here is the interesting part. The dealer is not allowed to touch the vehicle. GM wants to be the first to look and diagnose the problem. The car is in a "protected" area and is not allowed to be inspected by anyone until a GM engineer/designer sees it. Then a determination will be made as to what happened. When the emergency road service truck arrived at the time of trouble the driver said he is a big gear head and knows a lot about cars. He thinks that the tranny never had any fluid in it. (No one checked it and everyone was told not to touch it.)

It's my contention that if the problem was a lack of fluid, then both the manufacture and dealer are at fault. I believe the fluids are added at the point of assembly, but that the dealer has a responsibility to check all fluids prior to customer delivery. Others tell me its just a manufacturing problem and the dealer has no culpability.

Anyway, the current thinking is that asking for a new car is probably not in the cards and would only make for a long and drawn out battle between my son, dealer and GM. Most likely the fix will be to get a brand new tranny (must be ordered from the factory overseas). But the service manager suggested that my son ask for more for time and trouble incurred. For instance, the factory could extend the warranty or pay for several months of car payments. My son mentioned that in the past 5 years between him and his wife they have bought 6 GM vehicles. If the dealer and GM can't make him happy then this loyalty will be gone.

The thing that bothers my son is that the car already has a Carfax history and the resale value has fallen even more than usual for new car driven off the showroom floor. He was asking me if I had any ideas of fair compensation to make him happy. He has about a week to decide what to ask for. He does not want to punish the dealer because they are trying to treat him well. But he is frustrated and wants his new car.

[BondiBlue]

First of all, let me start by saying that sucks. Those are nice cars. I'm sure when it's all sorted out he's going to enjoy that new Regal a great deal.

If a new car is out of the question, I think both the extended warranty and waived car payments for a period are a great idea. Another one, if he's interested in any GM accessories or performance parts, get those put on. They offer some nice 19" wheels, sport pedal covers and Buick embossed all weather mats. Maybe see if you can get all that and the GM extended warranty for free along with the new tranny?

[Cobra348]

That bites! I can see the tech needing to look at it for determining cause. I think manufacturing/QA and dealership are culpible to an extent.

If dealership was told "hand off" though, then it falls squarely on GM and the QA group.
===
In 1992 we bought a 1989 Dodge Dynasty LE. The 89 models were first with the 3 liter V6 mated to the transaxle. The car had under 20K miles on it and had been a "fleet car" (read corporate lease plan). We were able to buy the remainder of the 7/70000 Crystal Key warranty as a result.

After about a year the transmission started acting strange, shifting when it shouldn't, downshifting at 50 MPH or better, etc. We took it in to dealer. Found out an ECN (Engineering Change Notice - similar to Ford TSB) was out on this situation.

Not a recall, but what happened was the tranny was rebuilt totally by a tech who flew in from Detroit. We paid the deductible on that and Chrysler absorbed the rest ... totaling over $1800.

That car lasted another 10 years without a transmission problem.

...
As for the Regal. It's a new car and has a warranty. They should rebuild or replace the tranny especially if your suspicion of no fluid is correct. And GM should foot the bill.

[Norm201]

Originally Posted by BondiBlue

First of all, let me start by saying that sucks. Those are nice cars. I'm sure when it's all sorted out he's going to enjoy that new Regal a great deal.

If a new car is out of the question, I think both the extended warranty and waived car payments for a period are a great idea. Another one, if he's interested in any GM accessories or performance parts, get those put on. They offer some nice 19" wheels, sport pedal covers and Buick embossed all weather mats. Maybe see if you can get all that and the GM extended warranty for free along with the new tranny?

Good ideas. He still likes the car as a vehicle. But I think the sports package is what he is going away from. Much to my disappointment he traded into this from a 4 year old Pontiac Grand Prix (??). Complete sport package including heads-up display on the windshield. The heads-up display is not an option on the Buick. I think the heads-up display was the greatest thing. The Pontiac being a performance high maintenance car was getting to him. He had to replace all the brakes and rotors every year and two different size tiers (front vs back) had to be purchased every two years. He is a very conservative driver and never abused the car. But as I said the Pontiac was considered a performance car and required maintenance on a regular basis. Like he told me, he had 4 years of fun with the Pontiac but the time to look more conservative has come. I might add that here in Western New York Pontiac was very popular and the Buick was considered as an "old man's" car. However, apparently that is not how the rest of the country viewed Pontiac or Buick.

I like your idea of asking for some accessories that he would not normally consider. Perhaps a years worth of On-Star or Sirius Radio.

[CrazyZealot]

Originally Posted by Norm201

I might add that here in Western New York Pontiac was very popular and the Buick was considered as an "old man's" car. However, apparently that is not how the rest of the country viewed Pontiac or Buick.

No, that's pretty much accurate. The only reason GM kept Buick around was its popularity in China.

[Delbert]

More and more transaxles no longer have dipsticks and are "filled for life" I could see how GM would be interested.

[cosmicrhino]

Originally Posted by Norm201

I think the heads-up display was the greatest thing.

On the topic of heads-up displays I have always wondered why very few US market cars have a heads up display. I have been to Asia and have seen a Mitsubishi galant and Nissan Sentra (although this is the asian market one which even has integrated sunshades you can pull down) with a heads up displays

[Norm201]

Originally Posted by cosmicrhino

On the topic of heads-up displays I have always wondered why very few US market cars have a heads up display. I have been to Asia and have seen a Mitsubishi galant and Nissan Sentra (although this is the asian market one which even has integrated sunshades you can pull down) with a heads up displays

It seems there are many features that Europe or Asia have on their cars that we Americans can't have. I don't know if its a lack of marketing, or government red tape that prevents many of these options to be available.

[Flagstang]

I think he should of went for a new car because its not out of the question and the moss act would of had his back along with the states lemon laws.

Also if the regal is lake 99% of new car the dealer would have no way of checking the tranny fluid due to lack of dip stick.

[Norm201]

Hi all,

Here's the latest follow-up about that Buick Regal my son purchased. GM has shipped a new transmission to the dealer. But they forgot to send the fluid! Sound familiar?

Here's the kicker. Apparently this "world" car requires a non-standard
non-available special transmission fluid that must be special ordered from GM
then ship to their distribution center then shipped to the dealer! If you have a
trusted non-dealer mechanic that you normally bring your car to, say goodbye to
him and be prepared to pay and be ripped off by the new GM.

I guess the bail out has done it's job!

PS..BTW, GM refuses to tell what exactly is wrong with the transmission. We
think it was a lack of fluid direct from the factory. This seems to ring true
since the new tranny was shipped without fluid also. Dealer prep seemed to fail
when car was purchased.

I will continue to provide updates as they become available. "Film at 11:00"