Rebecca Walker says Hyundai denied her warranty, leaving her with an $8,000 bill and a smoking gun she hasn't seen.
Rebecca Walker says she bought Hyundais because of the brand's pricing, warranty, and reputation for reliability. As of now, none of those words apply to her 2015 Hyundai Genesis. One day, Walker was driving it when it started making an odd noise. After pulling over, the car died. Cut to a dealer, and Walker is now facing an $8,000 bill for a new motor.
On top of that, Walker says that she's been told it won't be covered under Hyundai's now-famous 10-year, 100,000-mile warranty because she wasn't religious about her oil changes. She'll tell you she was. Problem is, she can't prove it because she didn't keep the receipts.
Initially, Walker says she wasn't worried. "The gentleman [at the dealership]said that it looked like it had been maintained ... and that it was under warranty," Walker said to nj.com. The dealer had some other repairs to clear out and told her they'd circle back in a week.
The dealer later told Walker they'd need to see the receipts for her 91,000-mile Genesis in order to replace the motor to prove the car had gotten regular oil changes throughout its life. "I told the serviceman that we have certainly gotten the oil changed but that we don't have the receipts," Walker said. "We don't just go to one place and we have had the car for seven years."
So, the request for the new motor was submitted without the oil change receipts. After all, how could walker be expected to come up with six years of oil changes? Even some of the most meticulous enthusiast owners would struggle to produce that.
As you might've guessed, the dealer said her claim was denied on August 15. "I was told that the service person was told to take a picture of the motor and that the powers that be had determined that there was 'so much sludge' that we couldn't have maintained the oil changes," Walker said. "I told him that we loved our Genesis and that we have maintained it."
"I asked [the representative] about the status of my appeal and she said that my appeal had been denied and that there was no more appeal process," Walker continued. A few came up on a Carfax, but far from the comprehensive history she was hoping for. Eventually, Walker was able to round up another handful of receipts. Still, it wasn't enough for Walker's appeal of the verdict.
"The person from the Hyundai executive department said that she reached out to the warranty department and that it was obvious that the engine had been neglected and therefore they were not able to overturn the previous decision."
As of now, neither Hyundai nor the dealer has responded to the request for evidence of this "sludge" in Walker's motor. As a result of that, in addition to what she claims was dutiful maintenance of the car, Walker says she feels it's unfair for Hyundai to deny the claim.
"We have bought Hyundais because of their reasonable cost, the fact that we have rarely had any trouble with them, and because of their warranty," she declared. "I will never buy another Hyundai in my life." As of this article's publishing, Walker's motor still has not been replaced, nor has a photo of the damage been provided to our knowledge.
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