Car Dealership Insisted That Her Engine Wasn’t Covered Under The Warranty, So She Went Into The Showroom And Talked To All Of The Potential Customers

Jayne Elliott

1 month ago

Source: Reddit/Petty Revenge/Pexels/Antoni Shkraba

If you buy a new car, it would be safe to say that you shouldn’t expect any major repairs on the car in the first year unless the car was in an accident.

In today’s story, a young woman has major problems with her car’s engine just six months after she bought it. When the mechanic claimed it wasn’t under warranty, she knew just what to do to get her car repaired for free!

Let’s see what she does…

Me vs the Car Dealership, 90s Edition

I (F, 22 at the time, early 1990s) bought a brand new car after I graduated from college, to celebrate my new job.

My employer would have me drive to wherever our specialized manufacturing systems software was being implemented so I could customize it to exactly fit the client’s business.

One customization turned into months of driving a 60 mile/96 km commute each way, & my new car racked up a LOT of miles very quickly.

It also started to make noises a car engine shouldn’t make.

The mechanic was patronizing.

I took it to the Major Metropolitan Area Mega Dealership where I’d bought it, & was informed that the engine block was cracked, I needed to pay for a new engine, & no it wasn’t under warranty.

When I told the mechanic that it was absolutely not normal for an engine block to need replacing at six months, he said in an extremely patronizing tone, “Well, you know, Ma’am, cars have a lot of little moving parts.”

When I persisted in arguing with him, he said, “Honey, cars are like light bulbs. Sometimes they just go out.”

Her boyfriend knew she was going to get revenge.

The manager came out to the waiting area & reiterated to me that it was “just one of those things” & I needed to pay the full amount for a new engine bc “warranties are complicated”.

My boyfriend (now husband) witnessed the conversations & told me later that he was internally freaking out at what I was going to do.

He’d met me when I was the only woman undergraduate in the entire [STEM] department at our university. He knew I didn’t put up with crap!

She talked to the customers in the showroom.

I smiled & left the manager & mechanic standing there, confused, & I went out to the absolutely packed showroom floor on that busy Saturday morning & started talking to the people checking out the showroom vehicles.

“Isn’t that a pretty color!?! It’s too bad the engine won’t last. Mine is toast already.”

“That one gets GREAT mileage, but the engine’s only good for about a year, sadly.”

“Yes, they’re SO HELPFUL at this dealership! It makes it hurt less when they tell you nothing is under warranty.”

She kept her cool.

I made sure I spoke calmly & politely, & I told every single person there about my car’s cracked engine block.

People started leaving.

Everyone else looked really uncomfortable.

The manager’s manger lied and claimed she “misunderstood.”

The manager’s manager came racing out & inserted himself between me & some potential customers.

OBVIOUSLY I’d MISUNDERSTOOD bc OF COURSE the engine was fully covered under warranty. Totally FREE & please would I COME BACK TO THE WAITING ROOM while they sorted my car.*

There was eventually a recall on her car’s make and model.

I know I cost the dealership some customers, including myself as I certainly never bought another vehicle from them.

& to this day, “Cars are like light bulbs” is a catch phrase in our home. It still holds the record as the stupidest thing a man has ever said to me.

*There would later be a recall on my car’s make & model for that exact engine block issue. My high mileage job just got me there first.

The car dealership deserved to lose customers for being so patronizing and unwilling to help!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…

This reader has a lightbulb pun.