I thought I’d write it all down to see if I’m being reasonable or not. Chances are that I’m not seeing as I know myself better than anyone, but I’ve been known to surprise myself on occasion with an actually piece of well thought out diatribe and decision making. However, perusing my previous posts proves to me that these are rare occasions to be cherished and, possibly, collected into a novella as proof to my offspring and future generations that I wasn’t a complete moron at all times. Just part-time! However, in a lot of the movies I watch, the loveable goof-of-a-guy is always rooted for, right?

How many people know that I’m having car trouble? Show of hands please…

Okay, now how many people knew that it was actually cars and not car? Ooh, a few hands went down.

Michelle and I have somehow become a GM family. This was not intended as I didn’t really read any lemon guides to automobile purchase, but through a series of good fortune we are both able to use separate vehicles which both happen to be GM products. The first, a Pontiac Sunfire, was purchased brand new back in Victoria from Dave-Wheaton Pontiac Buick in 2002; the second is a used 2002 Chevy Venture, yes, a minivan, that was purchased used from Murray Chev in Medicine Hat at the beginning of this year, so I’ve had it for almost a year now. I couldn’t afford to be choosey at the time (yeah, because now I have more money than I know what to do with NOTE SARCASM), and even though one could tell by the way the vehicle looked that the previous owner had been less than kind to the vehicle, I had been assured that the vehicle was in tip-top shape because it was a GM Optimum Used Vehicle. Reading through that link, it seems like every used vehicle sold under GM’s Optimum name is gone over from top to bottom, inside and out. I was assured by the salesman that the van had been thoroughly inspected and every conceivable detail had been taken care of. Upon test driving the vehicle, I noted a certain smell to the salesman who told me that the van would be detailed before it came into my possession. Man, I’m thick! Why the heck would they detail it after a purchase was made? Why wouldn’t they do that before to increase the appeal of such a vehicle to a consumer? I was told that the interior would be steam cleaned and the engine shampooed or what ever it is you do to engines. Kiwi-lemon rinse, maybe? What they actually did was put some sort of scented deodorizer in the interior carpet to mask the smell for a short period of time. Now, I had my humorous dealings involving this van, but like I said before, I was assured that it was inspected to the very last diminutive detail. However, I purchased a protection plan anyway.

The “Emissions Control” and “Traction Control” light lit up early last week on the Sunfire’s display. The automatic shifting became vary rough at high RPMs. Not being under the bumper to bumper warranty anymore, I took the car to a Petrocanada Certiguard mechanic or, as the big dealers like to call them, jobber shop. They hooked their diagnostic tool up to the computer of the car and found a trouble code (P0717) that informed them that it had something to do with the Transmission Speed Sensor (TSS), but seeing as they weren’t transmission specialists (they could take them out and put them back in, but they wouldn’t open up a transmission), the mechanic wanted to send it to a transmission place to be diagnosed. He informed me first that I shouldn’t drive the car too much in its current condition (no kidding), but then totally failed to inform me that the transmission guy he wanted to send the car to was about 20 kms away. He phoned me later to tell me that they had pretty well been right about the problem and that because of where the sensor was located (apparently in the transmission), several things would have to be done to get at it. Part of the axel would have to be move, a priest would have to bless the area, a microscopic population of unknown creatures would have to be relocated, and, finally, the transmission would have to be taken out. All in all, the total approximated cost would be around $1450.

I was dumbstruck (big surprise)! The car is only four years old! There’s no way that any repair should cost that much…yet! Unless I had been driving erratically (I don’t) or had been in an accident (I haven’t), I mean.

But wait!

The bumper to bumper warranty may be up, but I remembered that the vehicle still had a 5 year, 100000 km powertrain warranty. Being a person of my intelligence level, I suspected that the powertrain warranty had something more to do than protecting any toy train sets I may have purchased and taken for a ride in my car, so I phoned up the GM help line and barely had time to listen to the hold music before I was speaking to a very friendly lady on the other end. I told her my dilemma; she put me on hold.

She didn’t take too long, however. She informed me transmissions fell under the warranty but even though the TSS was located in the transmission, it was considered an electronic part, and the powertrain warranty only covered mechanical components. My hopes were dashed!

I considered this after I finished speaking with the GM representative: the component is electronic, yet it tells the transmission what to do. If it fails in doing so, the transmission shifts roughly and will eventually fail. When the transmission is all gibbled and useless, the problem has then become a mechanical one. Wouldn’t my warranty cover that? I’m not saying that this is the course that I’m taking, but I find it odd that the powertrain warranty wouldn’t cover small items that would prevent major mechanical failures. I looked up the price of a TSS; 50 bucks at most! That’s almost $1500 to replace a $50 component!

I tried phoning some dealers to see what their take on it would be, but they just wanted me to bring it in and pay to get it diagnosed again. I’ll probably have to do this, anyway.

Now, the van had some brake work done on it a week or so before this, and since then when the van stops there is a serious squeak or grinding sound that wasn’t there before. Could be that the brake pad are wearing out, but seeing as the van was just serviced and an inspection done, I thought the mechanic doing the servicing would have caught this. The van was serviced at Certiguard, as well. The technician wrote a whole list of items that he found, though, upon his inspection. Items that included a leaking oil pan, a leaking steering column, leaking brake lines, etc, etc. All sorts of items on the barely year-old purchase of a GM Optimum Used Vehicle. On the list of items that he gave us, the brakes were the most important, so we got those done right away. I had completely forgotten about the protection plan. So we paid for the brake work to be done, and no, this did not involve new pads.

A few days later we noticed the squeaking and grinding every time we would brake to a complete stop. Only when stopping did this occur and not when holding the brakes to slow down. We brought the van back to Certiguard where the technician had guessed that it was just brake dust. What he found would cost almost $400 in parts alone. It was at this point that I remembered the protection plan, and we took the vehicle out of Certiguard’s care and made an appointment at the nearest GM dealer, Shaganappi Chev http://www.shaganappi.com/. Michelle dictated to them word-for-word every item on the Certiguard technician’s list. This included about five items, and we added two more: the air conditioner that didn’t work and the rear windshield wiper that didn’t wipe. Every item was covered under warranty, thank goodness, and all I had to pay for was the $100 deductible. There is a $100 deductible per visit not per item.

I went to pick up the vehicle yesterday. The attendant told me they had found a few more items that we didn’t know about that were covered under warranty, and that I had definitely taken advantage of the coverage that I had purchased. I had been reassured that there were no more leaks, that the ABS light wasn’t going to be on constantly, that my AC would blow cold air and that everything had been taken care of. I even found out that the brake work that Certiguard had done was covered, and that all I had to do was fax the receipt to head office where they would reimburse us minus the $100 deductible. I was happy.

That’s when they pulled the van around, and it made the same squeaking, grinding noise when it came to a complete stop. I said to the kid that got out of my van that I thought that noise was supposed to be fixed. He hadn’t a clue about it, so he got the attendant who talked to me before. I asked why the noise was still there. He looked through the work order and said that it wasn’t one of the items we had given them. I said that we were told by Certiguard that it was due to the brake problem we stated. We looked through the book of a receipt they had given me which detailed every item that was covered during my van’s stay at Shaganappi Chev, and under the first item it said that the technician heard a squeaking, grinding sound while taking it for a test drive.

Why wasn’t this investigated, I asked the attendant. He said that the technician had made a judgment call and deemed it not important enough to pursue. They didn’t even check what it was making the sound. I was flabbergasted! Yes, I just used the word flabbergasted in a sentence. I was stammering! I read the note again, and I’m paraphrasing here because I don’t have the actual receipt in front of me, and read that the service technician had hear a squeaking, grinding sound from the rear brakes or suspension when coming to a stop. How could that not be important? I said. I’m pretty sure that the brakes and suspension are a core piece of the vehicle that prevents its occupants from, oh, I don’t know, DYING!!!

He reiterated that the noise was not mentioned on our list of complaints. Michelle had dictated the list over the phone and never mentioned the noise. I don’t blame her at all! We had the vehicle in at Certiguard and were told exactly what the problem was. That was the list Shaganappi Chev was given. It didn’t occur to us that we’d need to mention the noise as well.

But they heard it anyway! I have it on the receipt they gave me! And they never even checked it out because they deemed it unimportant! I don’t even care if this particular problem wasn’t covered under warranty; I just want to know what the problem is and how to make it go away.

This attendant asked if I wanted to bring it in the following morning, but I was just angry at that point. Now if I brought the van in again and the problem they discovered wasn’t under warranty, they would charge me for inspecting the vehicle. This just floors me! They had the vehicle in their shop, and they didn’t bother to check something that could potentially be a serious issue. Mind you, it could be a simple item, too. But they didn’t check! Now I have to take time out of my busy schedule to get this checked out! Again! And I have to because my kids and my wife and, sometimes, my dog ride in that van, and I like them alive! Always have.

And what really grinds my gears is that the attendant kept making excuse after excuse and said that the noise wasn’t on the work order. Why hadn’t we mentioned it? Well, that point is moot, my friend, when you actually know about it. The attendant didn’t know about it personally, but the technician did! They should have checked. They should have at least checked. They made me feel like I should have diagnosed every little problem with the vehicle before I brought it in. Well, if I did that then I’d be a mechanic and wouldn’t need them now, would I?

I wanted to make an appointment to get the car’s problems checked out, but they didn’t have any space before the holidays. I’m leaving on Friday for mom’s and dad’s, so the car will have to wait till I get back.

If it is in my power and within financial feasibility, I will never, ever buy a GM product again. I may have the same problems with another manufacturer, but that is an adventure I’m willing to take. From problems with the vehicles to the people who sell them and the people who service them, I find that I now have a particular loathing for GM.

Grrrrr!

I can’t wait till Friday!