shave ice & gelato

I called Saturn to see if I could bring it in. When the girl on the phone asked where I was and I mentioned Fort Weaver Road, she reacted as if I was coming from Alaska! I asked her if she knew what made a car stall. She had no idea either. Meanwhile I kept trying to start the car. It finally started.

My next decision was whether or not to attempt to drive my car in to Saturn or call a tow truck. My tow coverage (I think) is only for 10 miles and I believe Saturn is about 15 miles away. I also know that calling a tow truck involves at least a 45-minute wait. I decided to take a chance and drive my car in with plans to stay to the far right as much as possible. I called work and let them know that I was going to be a little late. Luckily I have extra help in my room on Wednesday mornings and I figured I wouldn’t be that late if the traffic wasn’t bad. I will save my shuttle ride experience :{
for another blog post.

During my drive, I wondered if somehow my car was getting back at me because I have recently been thinking about buying a new car. I even spent some time on the web the other night checking out the new Saturn cars and some Hybrid cars. As I drove carefully towards Saturn, I apologized to my car and told my car how much I loved it. I also told my car that I was really not thinking of getting rid of it for quite a long time. I also pleaded with it to not stall as my heart was racing the entire way. I also realized during my drive to Saturn that I did not have any lunch. When I left my house this morning, I decided to go to the health food store nearby during my lunch break to pick up lunch and some coffee (not thinking that I would not have a car).

My car made it all the way to Saturn without stalling again. When I got there (a little before 8), I told the service guy what happened. I also told him that I needed an oil change and explained that I was not sure what other service I needed. When I first bought my car, I bought the extended service warranty plan, which meant that for the first 5 years, anything that needed to be done was covered, including all regular maintenance. Although my service plan has expired, Saturn had all my records in the computer and I figured they would know what I needed to have done. I was quite shocked when he informed me that I never had my 30,000 mile scheduled maintenance service, which he also said was a big service (meaning lots of money). I asked him if he was sure and informed him that I should not have to pay for that because it was supposed to be included in my extended service warranty plan. He insisted that this service would not be covered and that I would have had to pay for it even if it was done when it was supposed to be done. He appeared to be a little puzzled also as to why it wasn’t done. I have always trusted Saturn and figured I needed it done so I told him to do it.

He then told me that IF they found what was wrong and had to do more work to fix the problem causing my car to stall, I would not have to pay the $128.92 diagnostic service charge (to figure out what was wrong). My estimated cost (with the diagnostic cost) was $686.73 and this was before fixing what was wrong with my car. That was a pretty expensive oil change since that was all I originally asked for besides getting my car fixed!

The service guy called me later in the day, telling me that the "stalling out" problem was discovered. It had something to do with carbon needing to be cleaned out of something that was all clogged up…which translated into another $600.00 charge!! Of course he reminded me that I would not be charged the $128.92 diagnostic service charge. That gave me little comfort. I again questioned why I was paying for the 30,000 mile maintenance since it should have been previously done and covered on my warranty service plan. The Saturn service guy again insisted that it would not have been covered.

Grand total: $1,127.11 and a migraine after spending a few minutes in a tiny area where the cashier had a very strong lei on the counter. Because of the lei, I did not even look at the bill. I just gave her my credit card and signed it as quick as I could to get out of there.

I was not happy with the bill but figured what could I do? I tried to rationalize that it really was only 4 car payments and since I didn’t have car payments anymore it really was not that bad as long as my car did not break down again in the near future.

During my ride home, I was still bothered by the fact that the service was not done when it was supposed to be done and the fact that I was being told that I would have had to pay for it anyways. When I got home, I emptied out my glove box looking for my old Saturn service statements. I have not been great about keeping all my car papers in one place but did find a few statements. In that pile, I found my 30,000 mile car maintenance WHICH was done and was covered (which means I did not have to pay for it to be done!!).

One of the reasons I have liked Saturn is that I have not felt taken advantage of as the "dumb girl" that knows nothing about cars. I have trusted Saturn whenever I have been told that something needed to be repaired. Today, I felt that I was taken advantage of. I am hoping that it was just an honest mistake. If you asked me today (after being told I needed to have a service done which was already done and after my latest shuttle experience which I will blog about later) if I would buy another Saturn, I would probably say "No".

I will be calling Saturn tomorrow. I am hoping that this can be resolved in some way. I am not sure what to expect. I will also make sure to let Saturn know that this experience has been documented on my blog and I will be writing their response in a future post. I do hope Saturn redeems itself. We shall see...

Oh...and my friend took me out to get lunch so I did not starve :)