Saturn owners - is your warranty useless?

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

Okay, this is a budget buster, so I put it here. When Saturn went out of business, they sent us information on where we could go to service our car since it is still under warranty. Well, my DH made an appointment and when he went in, he told them the things he wanted them to check. One of the problems doesn't happen all the time; it's sporadic. They did not tell him this on the phone, but when he went in for his appointment, they told him they would charge him $90 for every problem that they could not replicate. Since when do you have to pay to use your warranty? So basically, they're saying that until your car breaks down, you're out of luck. I say this warranty is pretty much useless - at least when you're trying to be preventative. I am so mad right now. DH didn't have them check out the items on his list since we can't afford to throw money away right now.

Any other Saturn owners run into problems like this?

 

[patsal]

You are still under warranty. Perhaps your go to person doesn't know what they are talking about? If you continue to have an issue contact GM, but for now see if you can find the person who sold yours to you and ask for help. Where I am they all were moved around but did share the location they were placed at with us.
Ttrue we are feeling like the outcast, but we still get good service and our warranty is still valid.

 

[marn913]

I don't think your situation is Saturn-specific. Your warranty is still good. However, if they can't identify or replicate the problem, then they can't make a determination whether it is an actual problem and therefore an issue that is covered under the warranty. So, you are basically left with the charge for the time the mechanic took to do the diagnosis (I know this can be frustrating, especially if the "diagnosis" was simply hooking your car up to a computer that says there's not a history of warnings/indications that the computer "remembers"). Some places do charge an excessive amount for the "scan", others do it for free. I had my car in this weekend for a check engine light, and the place I went to didn't charge for the scan. They charged a couple bucks for the part and nothing for the scan. Another time I went to a GM dealer with my Saturn and it was about $100 for the scan (my husband has had the same cost with his Acura at the Honda dealer, so I think it is more a dealer charge rather than Make/model.)

 

[01spirit750]

I think this is normal now. When we took our Ford truck in they claimed they would have to charge us for one hour of troubleshooting to find the problem. If the problem was covered under the warranty then the trouble shooting would be paid for by the warranty.

I think I can understand why they do this (frustrating for the car owner though). I guess the dealers had problems with people coming in with symptoms that the dealer could not replicate, or a problem that is not covered under the warranty (ie wear items).
If this happens then there is no warranty repair and who would pay for the dealerships mechanics time?

Of course this is frustrating for a problem that is sporadic. You could drive the car and the problem is there, then the car sits for half a day until the mechanic takes if for a test drive and the problem has gone away.

 

[rock_doctor]

Well...ford started something similar a few years ago. All of a sudden you had to pay for diagnosis unless they actually found a problem bad enough for Ford to ok a repair. Then the cost of the repair and diagnosis would be on the warranty. So...yes the warranty is basically useless unless something has completely broke but all manufacturers have gone with this model not just GM. So no more, "I think something is wrong", they want you stranded on the side of the road or the car on fire. They all are doing the same thing. The idea is to reduce nuisance visits to the dealer and sometime a failing part can fail slow enough to make it past the warranty period. Both would be in their favor...

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We had something similar happen with my 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan. The Dodge Dealer wanted $65 to just check out the problem and I knew what it was, it was the starter, then it was going to be some deductible amount on top of that. We took it to our regular mechanic and he checked it for FREE and did the work and all for alot less than what the other would have cost.

Suzanne

 

[AlbertZeroK]

Don't feel bad. I'm fighting with FORD right now.

$168 for a blown fuse to the cluster display in our F350 van at work. And because we've added a few non-factory parts, second battery and battery isolator, they said it was due to 3rd party add-ons and billed us.

I'm still fighting with it and just recently did a charge back to the dealer. But this is how stupid the dealer was, they changed out the 20 amp fuse with a 22.5 amp fuse - okay, I'm a certified ship board electrician from my Navy days - over fusing is a HUGE no-no. It's even documented on the sheet.

On the other hand, our Sienna, the trailer connector got wet in Asheville, NC on vacation. The fuse for the tail lights blew and you can't get the car out of drive without tail lights apparently. So we had it towed to a dealer. I'm not kidding, $26 to replace the fuse! They knew exactly what it was, fixed it and away we went. If we buy another Toyota, we're seriously thinking of driving to Asheville to get one! )

 

[LilyWDW]

Makes sense to me.

A warranty is to cover work that is NEEDED and COVERED by the company.

If they run a diagnostic but not issues are found there and they can not replicate it then no work was needed or under coverage. They can't fix what can not be found to BE fixed.

90$ sounds about the normal cost of a diagnostic. So they would charge you for running an "unneeded" diagnostic since nothing was found.

I totally understand their side of things.

 

[katman2540]

My wife has a Saturn as well that has a couple of funky issues but has so many miles the warranty is totally gone. Out of curiosity is it and issue with starting in an ION?

 

[cm8]

My wife has a Saturn as well that has a couple of funky issues but has so many miles the warranty is totally gone. Out of curiosity is it and issue with starting in an ION?

I was just wondering the same thing!!!!

 

[KNJWDW]

I just checked with my DH on this. He is a Service Director and said there should be no charge for looking at a vehicle under factory warranty. GM will reimburse the dealership for labor spent trying to duplicate a concern. So, therefore you should not be charged for it. You can take your Saturn to any GM dealership for service. You can contact GM customer assistance at 800-222-1020 with any questions. HTH!

 

[JenniJ]

I have a Saturn, not under warenty anymore due to mileage and year. (can't think of the model but it's a 2001)
I thought about continuing the warenty but whenever I brought it to the dealership about my oil leak problem they said there was no problem.. I knew there was one because the oil would actually almost run OUT before 3 thousand miles, like dry out. Still, I would get the.. don't see a problem Miss, you must not be changing it often enough or you didn't get it changed at the dealership and the local Midas, Fiestone, Jiffylube doesn't put the right amount of oil. They actually short you. So that is the problem.... the service center didn't put enough oil in at oil change.

Well, low and behold, my warenty runs out and I move to a new town, I go to a machanic that was recomended by a co-worker. The mechanic says Saturn is well aware of this oil leak! Would cost thousands of dollars to fix it. Told me to look up oil leaks online in reference to Saturns, yep, my model was the top offender....
Well, the mechanic said as long as I keep oil in the car and change it regularly, I'm ok for now. Unfortunatley now we keep getting check engine light and the code is something about the air intake???or oxigen something or other. lol Car works but sometimes will stutter when starting or from a stop. Thankfully that is our spare car and is paid off!

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

I have a Saturn, not under warenty anymore due to mileage and year. (can't think of the model but it's a 2001)
I thought about continuing the warenty but whenever I brought it to the dealership about my oil leak problem they said there was no problem.. I knew there was one because the oil would actually almost run OUT before 3 thousand miles, like dry out. Still, I would get the.. don't see a problem Miss, you must not be changing it often enough or you didn't get it changed at the dealership and the local Midas, Fiestone, Jiffylube doesn't put the right amount of oil. They actually short you. So that is the problem.... the service center didn't put enough oil in at oil change.

Well, low and behold, my warenty runs out and I move to a new town, I go to a machanic that was recomended by a co-worker. The mechanic says Saturn is well aware of this oil leak! Would cost thousands of dollars to fix it. Told me to look up oil leaks online in reference to Saturns, yep, my model was the top offender....
Well, the mechanic said as long as I keep oil in the car and change it regularly, I'm ok for now. Unfortunatley now we keep getting check engine light and the code is something about the air intake???or oxigen something or other. lol Car works but sometimes will stutter when starting or from a stop. Thankfully that is our spare car and is paid off!

That can be an expensive repair if you let it go too long. DH did in his Saturn and it cost us over $700 for 2 sensors. Not nearly as expensive if you fix it now. His started that stuttering and that is when it got bad and quickly.

Suzanne

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

Quote:
Originally Posted by katman2540
"My wife has a Saturn as well that has a couple of funky issues but has so many miles the warranty is totally gone. Out of curiosity is it and issue with starting in an ION?"


Not to hijack the thread, but I used to have a Saturn Ion that would not start. You would turn the key and nothing would happen. About 15-20 minutes later it would turn over. To make a long story short, the ignition switch was bad. This would only happen in the winter though, not sure if this is the problem you are referring to, but it was quite common with the Ion. Thankfully, I have a friend who is a mechanic, and the part was only $25!

 

[JenniJ]

That can be an expensive repair if you let it go too long. DH did in his Saturn and it cost us over $700 for 2 sensors. Not nearly as expensive if you fix it now. His started that stuttering and that is when it got bad and quickly.

Suzanne

Yeah, it is expendsive. We have a friend who will fix it if we buy the parts of course. It's just not in the budget right now. Thankfully we will not have to drive it very much after this weekend. We will then save the money we send on gas and sell some things to fix it. We HAVE to by October for admission testing.

My parents had a Saturn when they 1st came out. Same thing... always loosing oil, got it "fixed" many times by Saturn, but not fully. After their warenty ran out went to a local machanic and yep... some huge repair and not anything that the dealership was telling them the source of the issue.

I was not surprised when they were bought out or went under or whatever happen to the company.

 

[janey99]

DH has a 2009 Saturn Vue hybrid. We very recently got a postcard that the battery pack was being voluntarily replaced by "Saturn" under recall.

The postcard came from the local GMC/Hummer dealership, and they also preformed the repair, since the Saturn dealerships have closed.

I would defeinitely not say our warranty was worthless - it was a 1500$ part that they replaced for free, plus free labor!


Jane