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no, actually that third-party warranty was completely free from the selling dealership. i went over the paperwork at the dealership in the F&I office multiple times to make sure they hadn't snuck it in somewhere, but they hadn't. i'm assuming that it's a very low-budget warranty that often denies claims (as third-party warranties typically do) in order to get customers into the dealership, which is a bit shady, but i bought a car with factory warranty existing still, which buys me time to shop around and purchase an FCA-backed warranty.
If its free, then dont worry about it. Enjoy the spyder and shop around for an FCA warranty.
If its free, then dont worry about it. Enjoy the spyder and shop around for an FCA warranty.
yep -- i did some online shopping tonight for a powertrain plus warranty through FCA and found that the 8 year/125k mile warranty (from original date of sale), which is the longest offered and also least comprehensive in that it covers pretty much the drivetrain and drivetrain-related components only costs on average about 1750$ from a number of the websites that i visited. some wanted personal information to 'unlock discounts' which i didn't provide because i didn't want to be bombarded with telemarketing calls until the end of days, but i feel like that's a reasonable number that i can probably knock about 150 bucks or so off of if i really try to negotiate the price down.
Just for the record, I was also of that opinion, if you saw that part of my post. I, too, am not particularly trustful of third-party or aftermarket warranties. You're usually (but not necessarily always) better off going with a factory-extended. And, yes, though the rest of this car is (likely) to be as reliable as the excellent Mazda Miata, the Italian-sourced Fiat engine is a potential trouble-spot...and a new engine can run big bucks.
i certainly did read through all of your post and i greatly value your opinion on here as you are one of this forum's many valued treasures! you, in fact, helped me choose, along with a number of other forum members, a car for my mom who is now in her early 60s a few years ago and we decided upon the 2016 Acura ILX A-Spec -- she test drove it and fell in love! So thank you again a number of years later! I read more than I post here, although I'm really always around and have been since before I officially signed up as a member of the site in July of 2010.
and yes, the engine is the sole reason for wanting the FCA-backed extended warranty -- the price one pays for making an emotional decision and not a pragmatic decision, but if you see the post just above this one, FCA powertrain extended warranties for this car aren't terribly expensive.
if a warranty is 'free' then that's probably what it's worth too and just a gimmick to close deals by a corrupt f&i douchebag.
my thoughts exactly. it's just a lure to get people into the dealership by advertising that all pre-owned cars come with a 7yr/100mile warranty not worth the paper it's printed on. total bs.
so, folks, i have an update - i took the dealer to temecula valley toyota because i can bring the car to any toyota or lexus dealership for oil changes every six months or 5k miles for two years as part of the purchase agreement and temecula valley toyota happens to be the closest to me as temecula valley lexus is currently under construction. anyhow, i told the service advisor who knows me as i service my lexus there and have serviced past lexus vehicles there that the engine was idling a bit roughly and to please have the tech check to see if he could determine just via a short inspection why the engine was running roughly before i took it to fca for inspection.
anyway, fast forward three hours and they texted me that my car was finished having its oil changed so i walked outside and was met by the service advisor who said that the tech was able to pinpoint the cause of the rough idling - a vacuum leak from an unsecured hose via a 'damaged clip' that holds the a vent hose securely onto the air filter box. the tech was able to secure it back onto the housing but said that it would come loose again if not replaced. i drove the car home and it drove perfectly as it did the day that i purchased it, so i was really grateful that that tech was able to figure it out relatively quickly and do it for free as they were under no obligation to inspect the car and pinpoint the source of a problem, but they did anyhow, so shoutout to temecula valley toyota.
anyhow, i drove the vehicle home and called lexus carlsbad and told them that i had purchased the vehicle there three weeks earlier blah blah blah the entire story and they said that they did not want to fix the vehicle. i threatened to call corporate on them and also report them to the bbb along with leaving negative reviews on every review platform across the web, so they said that they would diagnose the vehicle if i were to bring it in. i said the vehicle had already been diagnosed by a sister dealership as i had already told them and they asked to see the paperwork so i scanned it and sent it over. they said they'd call me back.
i waited, they called back about an hour later and said they'd purchase the clip have it shipped to their dealership, not temecula valley toyota, and when it arrives i would be called to make an appointment to bring it in to have the hose and clip replaced. fine with me.
in the meantime, i called up the fca dealership in temecula and explained the situation and they asked for the a copy of the invoice diagnostic sheet, which i sent over with the vin blocked off as i didn't want them notating anything onto the vehicle's file. they said that because the wording specifically had the word 'damaged' in it, that it probably wouldn't be covered under warranty because it may have been damaged by someone prior to my ownership. i was super frustrated, but figured that i'd wait for lexus carlsbad to figure it out which is what i'm going to do.
anyhow, i decided that yesterday would also be a good day to purchase an extended warranty on this italian POS engine, so i purchased an eight year / 125k mile extended warranty for 1200$ which is really quite reasonable and covers the engine and all related components as well as the transmission and drive shaft, etc.
moral of the story: make sure you are covered by a warranty if you decide to buy a fiat, even one that is nearly exclusively japanese save for the engine.
attached is the invoice and the clip and hose in question - the damaged portion is the part with the green lock clip.
Glad it was something simple, but beyond the 'quick fix' i wouldn't use a toyoya/lexus dealer to fix an fca engine.
anyway, i wouldn't call that engine a POS just because a clip was bad... it will probably run fine with the new clip.
$1200 is worth 8 years/125k miles of peace of mind, IMO. Interesting to see that the FCA dealership is basically saying it wouldn't be covered because the wording implies something they can't prove.
That said, the hose/clip does look like it would be easy to damage during a routine air filter inspection/replacement for someone unfamiliar with the engine.
Glad it was something simple, but beyond the 'quick fix' i wouldn't use a toyoya/lexus dealer to fix an fca engine.
anyway, i wouldn't call that engine a POS just because a clip was bad... it will probably run fine with the new clip.
yes, i shouldn't have stated that without some more substantiation and if i weren't attracted to this car's design so much, then i would have bought the nd miata, although this engine has proven to have quite poor reliability in the fiat 500, the jeep renegade and dodge dart in the north american market.
that said, do you think that i should take the vehicle to the fca dealership in order to have the simple clip replaced? or would you trust lexus carlsbad to order and replace the clip as they wish to do?
another option is to order the clip myself, pick it up, and install it myself, although i would have to provide my vin and that's a bit disconcerting because i don't know what they'd do with it -- add that the engine components are potentially being worked on by me? i'm not sure...
$1200 is worth 8 years/125k miles of peace of mind, IMO. Interesting to see that the FCA dealership is basically saying it wouldn't be covered because the wording implies something they can't prove.
That said, the hose/clip does look like it would be easy to damage during a routine air filter inspection/replacement for someone unfamiliar with the engine.
SO much piece of mind!
i agree, and i think it was probably broken when a lexus carlsbad tech replaced the air filter during the reconditioning process.
that said, do you think that i should take the vehicle to the fca dealership in order to have the simple clip replaced? or would you trust lexus carlsbad to order and replace the clip as they wish to do?
another option is to order the clip myself, pick it up, and install it myself, although i would have to provide my vin and that's a bit disconcerting because i don't know what they'd do with it -- add that the engine components are potentially being worked on by me? i'm not sure...
i don't know why you'd have to provide a vin (and to whom) just to get a clip that will probably take 2 minutes to install. if you're not comfortable though, go to whomever you can find to do it and seems competent.
i don't know why you'd have to provide a vin (and to whom) just to get a clip that will probably take 2 minutes to install. if you're not comfortable though, go to whomever you can find to do it and seems competent.
yeah, i can definitely install it. i just don't know why the dealership wants my vin - the first thought that popped into my head was that they were going to add something to the car's file to use against warranty claims in the future, but maybe that's paranoia creeping in... they refuse to sell me the part without the vin, though.
i dunno, i really don't have a problem with lexus carlsbad installing the clip as i mean, they are only touching that one area. so rather than give the fca dealership my vin, i'd rather just let lexus carlsbad replace the clip when the part arrives.
no idea why there's a concern with giving a dealer a vin, that's just how they track things.
i guess it comes from temecula valley toyota that attaches everything and anything along to your car's file that can be viewed by any lexus/toyota tech/service advisor.
i learned about this when i had my tom's unit installed and the local toyota/lexus indie shop let me know that temecula valley toyota records EVERYYYYTHING so to avoid them unless i was planning on uninstalling whenever i get oil changes on the car, so i just take the IS300 f sport to the indie shop now.
in any case, i'm giving lexus carlsbad a chance to order and install the part. it's not that big of a job. if it involved the engine itself or one of the more integral components, then yeah, i'd feign ignorance, not show the fca dealer the toyota invoice and have them deal with it.
07-07-20, 08:27 PM
