Worst: Car, dealer experience, service experience

[sdown]

What was the worst car you ever owned. Your worst dealer purchase experience. And, finally, your worst service experience.

Man, I hope it wasn't the same car for all three categories!

[GeorgeInNePa]

Worst service experience:
http://forum.grrrr8.net/showthread.php?t=2558

[zepcom]

What was the worst car you ever owned. Your worst dealer purchase experience. And, finally, your worst service experience.

Man, I hope it wasn't the same car for all three categories!

Worst car I ever owned:

used 2000 Z-28 camaro with the M6/LS1 and T-Tops. Had 62k on the clock when I bought it, opted not to get the extended warrantee for some stupid reason... and lost 3-4 fork in the tranny about 3 months later on the way to work. Got that fixed locally, and then about 3 months later, I was driving from Charlotte NC overnight to Buffalo NY to visit some family with my wife (doing cruise control at about 68 mph steady for a few hours prior, not flogging it in any way) and I broke a spring in the third cylinder on the right side of the car, dropping the valve into the cylinder and tearing up the bottom end of the LS1. :boxing:


Here's a few pics of the blown engine:

http://genius.zepcom.net:81/files/pix/archived/2004/marro_2004/20040521_BLOWN_LS1_broken_spring1.jpg

http://genius.zepcom.net:81/files/pix/archived/2004/marro_2004/20040521_BLOWN_LS1_broken_spring2.jpg

http://genius.zepcom.net:81/files/pix/archived/2004/marro_2004/20040521_BLOWN_LS1_broken_spring3.jpg

http://genius.zepcom.net:81/files/pix/archived/2004/marro_2004/20040521_BLOWN_LS1_full1.jpg

Now this was 2am in the hills of rural PA. Had the car towed to a local shop, where it stayed for ~1 month while they installed a rebuilt Jasper LS1 block. Picked up the car after the month, only to find no A/C while I was leaving the shop. Pulled it back in, they were like "oh yea, we forgot to charge it up" ... and then they realized that in tearing apart the engine, they put a bad kink in one of the A/C lines, effectively ruining it. Anyways, $6k later and a few more days to replace the new line for the A/C and I was on my way back home to Charlotte.

Time came to get a new car for my mother-in-law who had a nice 2001 Grand Prix with very low miles... so we decided to have me purchase that car directly from her, and for her to trade in the marro on her new car, to get rid of that POS.

We drove up to Buffalo again to make the deal. Car drove perfect all the way up, and to the dealership and back to make the deal. New car for her was to be picked up the next morning after being detailed, so next morning came and I started the z28 TO DRIVE IT TO THE DEALERSHIP TO TRADE IT IN, and I notice that the clutch pedal never came back from the floor from starting it. I try pumping it, it's stuck against the floor. Car will not go in or out of gear either. Puzzled, I got out of the car and popped the hood, then peeked underneith... only to find that the slave cylinder on the clutch let go, in the driveway, the day we were going to dump that piece of $h1t car. I guess it kicked me in the balls one final time. :nud:

Sure is funny when you get a ride to the dealership and shortly thereafter, a flatbed pulls up with the car you are to be trading in on a new car. The dealer had quite a laugh. Actually it was okay though, because after explaining the situation to the salesman, he was like "well, if it needs a clutch, we have to pull the engine and tranny and that is like a $1000 job... so that will be deducted from your trade value...." and I played hardball and we wound up getting not only the clutch job value back on the trade, but another $200 on top of it towards her new car when the final deal was done. At least that was nice.

Total time with the Z28 was approximately 10 months... a grand total of 4 of which, it was in the shop getting fixed.

When it wasn't in the shop, I had fun, but it was *way* too expensive to keep when all was said and done --- lol

Camaro pics: 2003 (http://genius.zepcom.net:81/files/pix/archived/2003/marro_2003/) and 2004 (http://genius.zepcom.net:81/files/pix/archived/2004/marro_2004/)

Then I owned the 2001 GP for 4 years, which I traded in (drove to the dealership under it's own power! ehheeh) on my new G8 GT.

That's my story. Don't have a bad dealership service experience... but thought I'd share that wonderful story, as it's quite a bit of "bad luck" with that POS camaro.

Some may think that I didn't get my 'fill' of the performance car years... so that's how I justify my G8 purchase. lol:woohoo:

--zepcom

[dllb]

Worst experience was when I bought my G8 GT! Bob Saks Pontiac Buick GMC in New Hudson Michigan.

Terrible sales manager, quote/scammed me, then the finance guy finished the scam.

The owner is a scammer too, didn't offer an apology or anything after the sales people wouldn't return my calls or e-mails after 2 months of not having my plate.

Poorly run dealerships like this are going under fast in this economy though, JUST LIKE Bob Saks Pontiac Buick GMC JUST DID! LOL I was SOOO frickin happy to see the lot empty.

Hope the owner looses his a$$. Sorry for the good people that worked for him though, I'm sure there was a couple..

[JMS]

Yep...all three were the same car.....I did truly love the car even though I had problems.

The car:
1987 Chevy Camaro Iroc Z28

The dealership:
In 1998 I bought a 1987 Camaro Iroc Z28 from National City Motorcars (used car dealer) in National City, CA (San Diego). Within one week of having the car the transmission went out. The dealer had a 50/50 warranty, but said it had to go to a transmission shop of his choice, not mine. I asked for all the old parts (so I could make sure they actually rebuilt the transmission) and I did not get everything I should have back.....I think they just changed the pump and threw random clutches and parts in the box. That cost me $450/ my 50%.

The service dept:
Then in 2004 my husband was transferred to Virginia for his last 2 years in the Navy and I stayed in San Diego. About 2 months after he left my car started giving me trouble. With him gone I figured if I could trust anyone to FIX the problem it would be the dealership that our neighbor works at......Ron Baker Chevrolet.........WRONG!!!! After throwing $1,000 worth of parts and labor at it(which I could have done for a fraction of the price), it ran worse than when I brought it in. I finally pulled it from them after a month of them "trying this part, then that part" and ended up parking it and buying another car. I finally ended up getting it fixed right by a shop that a friend recommended and it only cost me 2 days and $300.

[2girlsdad]

1988 Honda Accord Coupe.
To this day I would love to take a hammer to the skull of any one connected with building that hunk of sh#$. In the 4 years I owned it it ate brakes and batteries like a fat chick eats chocolate. I was a sales rep at the time so almost all miles were highway driven w/cruise on. Multiple Honda dealers and a handful of import specialists could never figure out why it ate batteries. Multiple load tests showed no reason for drain or dead batteries, but they happened! Worst and last incident involved new battery from Wal-Mart: car deader than Michael Jckson next AM. Got it jumped and went straight to Bert Adams Pontiac and got a black Grand AM GT. I've had either Chevy, Ford or Pontiac since then.Oh yeah back to POS: Timing chain broke 1 mile before owners manual said to have it replaced. Left front rotor literally shattered with under 300 miles on it. I slowed to a stop, heard metal clanging off pavement and discovered several large pieces of brake rotor. Replaced clutch 3 times in under 120K miles. Several times when coming to a stop the locked drivers door would pop open. Drivers side front window frequently came out of track. Bought it late fall 1987 Lemon Law was August 1989, by then vehicle mileage well out of warranty; pound sand.
Oh my am I rambling... bed time!!!

[todds87ss]

Wife's 06 GTO...Strut rub...3 sets of tires by 36K miles...no dealer support. Need I say more?

[GM_Fan]

Worst car...Ford Grenada with 3 speed manual trans: It had electrical problems. The battery would always be dead when I let it sit, so I always parked it on a hill to roll start it. I remember working on the car and finding marijuana cigarette butts here and there. I had it for about a month and got rid of it.

Worst dealer experience:

Dreyer and Reinbold BMW in Greenwood, IN. The dealership is also an Infiniti dealership. I had been divorced for a couple years and got left holding the bag on a whole bunch on bills. I was working at a good job and was making a fairly good amount of money. I had been debt free for a few months and decided to celebrate with purchasing a new car. I had been driving a POS clunker since the divorce. I got my financing approved through my local bank, I could more less buy any car on the lot.

I showed up in my POS car at the dealership with a smile and a blank check looking to buy a G35 coupe or well equipped BMW 3 series. When I asked to test drive a couple cars the salesperson said that they weren't going to allow me to test drive their cars and rack up miles on them. I smiled and offered to shake the salesperson's hand and looked to find a less prejudiced person to help me with sales. The 1st salesperson was pissed because I dismissed him and told the other salespeople to not to help me in purchasing a car.

I asked for the general manager who was "too busy" to help me. I left my name and cell number at the receptionist's desk ask for the owner or GM to call me and headed for home in my little beater car. I got a call back about 30 minutes later as I was headed home. I explained to the gm how I was treated and told him that I didn't drive 50 miles one way with a check in my hand to be screwed with by his sales staff. He apologized and told me I could drive whatever was on the lot. I told him to go "F' off" I would never buy a car from that dealership ever.

Worst service experience was a local GM dealership that tried to charge me $60+ dollars for a serpentine drive belt. I went to the local parts store and got a Good Year belt for $23. The dealership said it was the wrong one and would install the $60+ belt. I told them to hold on I'd get another belt. Me and the manager at the parts store took the same belt and put it in another brand box and I took it back to the dealer. It went right on that time. I asked why the belt went on that time and they said because it was the right size. I told them to call the parts store and ask about the belt. They got caught trying to pull a fast one on me and I was asked not to bring my cars there for service anymore. WTF ?