9 months ago, I bought a 2009 Honda CR-V from S&J motors for $15,000
that had 99,000 miles on it. It felt like a lot at the time, but
this was the hight of covid-induced crazy-used-car-price vortex,
and from what I could tell by checking ebay and facebook marketplace,
this was a fair price.
The lady who sold me the car was very personable as great to deal
with. I was a bit concerned about spending so much for a car with
so many miles, so for an additional $1600, I bought a 30,000 mile,
2 year extended warranty.
Fast forward to about 2 months ago. I'm coming home from a work
trip, and my wife calls on the phone. "I'm in the car and there's
no heat" she says. "What does the temperature gauge read?" I ask.
"It is hard to see, but it looks like it's all the way over" she
says. "Pull over immediately and turn off the car!"
We get the car towed to my mechanic and he says we blew the head
gasket.
So I call the number on the warranty contract for TruWarranty. "I
blew a head gasket" I tell Jordan, "I'm going to need a new engine.
Am I covered?"
"Yes," he says. "Just take it to your shop and have them send us
a repair order with parts and labor spelled out." So, after my
mechanic complies, Jordan tells me he'll have to send out an
inspector, just to verify that the car is really broken. Jordan
seems like such a nice guy, always pleasant and reassuring. I'm
starting to think "Wow, these people are really great, and I'll
soon be back on the road"
The CR-V is really in very decent shape -- no body rust, interior
is good. It has a tow hitch and and sunroof and the factory radio
is decent. It is probably only worth about $9000 by now, as used
car prices have come back below the stratosphere. It wasn't my
first choice when we got her, but she really has grown on me in the
9 months that we have had her. When we bought this car, we really
expected to get at least 5 more years out of her. I was really glad
that the warranty I had purchased for just this purpose was in place.
Now friends, there is only 1 of 2 things Jordan could have said to
me when he got word back from the inspector. And the first was he
could have said "your car is too expensive to repair, so we're just
going to give you a check for $9000", which wasn't very likely and
I didn't expect it. And the second was he could have said "your
car is clearly broken and we are going to fix it." But when we got
the answer from Jordan there was a third possibility I hadn't counted
upon and he said "Your car was heat damaged so we won't fix it"
Heat damaged. Not covered.
But I bought an extended warranty from S&J motors that covered the
power train. How is heat damage not covered? Besides, I had the
car in the shop just a week or two before this happened and they
saw no problems with the cooling system. We certainly would have
had it fixed if there was, or fluids topped off or whatever might
have been needed, but no problems were detected in the cooling
system.
Whatever happened, happened quickly, and we addressed it as soon
as we could ("Pull over immediately and turn the engine off").
I called S&J and asked Nick (the owner's son) to make this right.
After all, I bought the warranty from S&J Motors. Doesn't S&J stand
behind what they sell? But Nick, in the kindest and politest tones
possible, said "no, they will not fix my car."
Now I'm not denying that if you pour over the extensive list of
exceptions to coverage you won't find "heat damage". Clearly, this
warranty was written to minimize valid claims. Plus the contract
stipulates that I may not take them court but must use an arbitrator
(which my lawer tells me costs a lot even if you win).
What I am saying is this:
- I bought a used car from S&J Motors
- Since it had 99k miles on it, I purchased an extended warranty
on the powertrain
- I kept the car in excellent maintenance
- Something unexpected, unpreventable, and catastrophic happened
to the engine
- The extended warranty I bought from S&J Motors did NOT
protect me
So, the short story is, S&J motors sold me a useless warranty, and
I'm out the $15,000 for the car and the $1,600 for the extended
warranty. My dealing with S&J warranty resulted in a total loss
of $16,600.
Now I know there are probably lots of folks out there who have had
great transactions with S&J. But you don't really know the quality
of a company until something goes wrong. How the company responds
when something goes wrong tells you if they are fundamentally there
to provide something of value, or if they are only concerned to
separate you from you money.
IF S&J felt they had a reputution to uphold, they would not have sold
me a shoddy warranty, and they would have made sure I was made
whole, even at cost to them.
As for me, I will never do business with them again, and I would
strongly discourage you from doing business with them either. read more
