OT: My New Car Lasted 1 Week!

Now think about what's going to happen when you go to the emergency room when the government is running the healthcare system? It's terrifying, the DMV, the post office, GM, they all suck. Good luck to all of us in the upcoming years, try and stay healthy.

but a flat tire in the first week can happen on any car. Tires aren't going to be covered because it's not a car issue, just like if a rock went through your windshield. In the first week I got my new car a hail storm came about and all the dents weren't covered under warranty.

This is another example of how little most US car companies are willing to do for their next sale. They seem to be one-and-done with sales. It's stupid really and your situation is another example.

You're fresh out of college and bought your first new car. With this sale, they could look at you as a long term customer with a new vehicle purchase every 5-7 years, but the dealership and the manufacturer have soured the relationship and I would be surprised if your next vehicle was a GM.

Most foreign-owned car companies would have picked up the tab since their out of pocket would be next to nothing. I know my Nissan while under warranty would have covered it.

I'm not a Harley guy, but a friend was dating a woman whose family owned several dealerships. He was telling me how they sell the Sportster 883 almost at cost because they know if you buy that you'll be back in a short time (2-3 years) to upgrade if you keep riding.

Thanks I have been searching for the GM regional rep. No luck yet. My father suggested that as well. I'm not sure the exact issue with the tire my father said it was torn up on the inside but no visable damage to the naked eye(although I only saw it when it was dark out)

I was leasing an 08' Saturn Aura until the end of 2009. In March 2009, I had an issue where there was leak from an unknown source. I didn't notice it until a drive up north quickened the process and flattened the tire. Needless to say, driving the distance from when I noticed the leak to when I got the spare on, I ruined the rim. Although I have no idea how it happened I had to pay ~$280.00 to replace the tire and rim. The guy at Discount Tire said the Aura rims are notorious for being weak. Unfortunately for you, the Aura, G6, and Malibu all use the same rim if I'm not mistaken. Hope it doesn't happen again.

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My father is very busy helping me on his off day. He took it to a mechanic he trusts and can get the job done for under $200. He said he is getting it taken care of because he needs his car back tomorrow. It is apparently not covered under tire warranty according to him (I'm still going to call). I'm going to continue to fight this out of sheer principle of how I believe a business should be run.

You called OnStar just to have the donut put on? You know you can do that yourself, right?

My fiance had a similar problem. She got a brand new Saturn Aura on a lease about 1.5 years ago when GM had just filed for bankruptcy. About a month after she got hit by some driver and had to send it to the shop to get the bumper replaced. Well it was horrible timing because all the part suppliers were going under and they couldn't get the part. When they finally got it done TWO MONTHS later she was driving it home and noticed that the breaks were horrible and wobbly. Obviously she needed new breaks. Well she told them about it and they gave the same lame excuse "it's not under warranty because it's how you drive it". BS because we had the thing for a month.

Luckily it's a lease. When the guy told me this I said, "alright - I guess we're just going to burn up these breaks and in three years GM is not only going to have to replace them but the rotors as well" - and I ended with the shot to the throat "no wonder you guys are going bankrupt with policies like this".

That's a bummer story, but I know a lot of people who have purchased that new Malibu and they are all very happy with it. This it likely a freak incident, albeit unfortunate, but the car you bought is a quality one.

For all of you saying "see, this is why American cars suck" are completely ridiculous. I bought a Sony HD TV a couple years ago that I had to bring back and exchange after 2 weeks. Does this mean that Japanese electronics companies suck? No, sometimes products have issues.

One problem does not denote a lemon. If you continue to have problems, then that's another story.

An issue with a pothole is not the dealer's fault, or manufacturer's fault. It's an accident. I had this happen with my new Legacy GT back in 2005. $1200 for new tires and rims and an alignment. The culprit was a 1' deep pothole next to a railroad track. Just try going after the RR companies for that... My insurance said no thanks, I was in a residency, so I ate it.

This happened to me shortly after I bought my BMW. Alloy wheels in particular with low profile tires are very vulnerable to damage. Fortunately I had purchased a tire / wheel warranty when I bought the car.

Your situation sucks, but it may not be so bad if you look around for options. Here's some suggestions though:

1) most new car tire warranties are for tire defects not road damage - so most likely won't help. However, the tire may not be damaged. The wheel may be bent to the extent that your tire bead is not sealing.

2) take it to a reputable tire place. (In my area Discount Tires, and Colony Tires (Goodyear) are reputable, but it varies widely by area.) Have the tire place evaluate the tire and the wheel. Particularly if the tire is road damaged or not, and for that matter defective or not. As I said, you problem may solely be a bent wheel.

3) ask at the tire place, and look online for alloy (or steel if you have them) wheel repair. That bent wheel may be repairable for $50-100 (versus the cost of that new wheel the dealership wants to sell you).

4) Also, look on craigslist or ebay for someone selling your car's wheels. Many people buy a new or used car and then replace the wheels and tires. You may be able to pick up a full set for the price the dealer wants for one new wheel -- and then you have spares for the next pothole.

Good luck!

Somewhat related

My most recent set of tires came from Sam's Club. They came with a lifetime guarantee. Not more than a month later I was only way back to campus and had a flat on the freeway. I was one exit from a Sam's and nursed it in there. They looked at it and decided the tire was shot and so they made me pay the difference between a new tire and how much tread I had worn off the original. It came out to $11 and change. I thought the service was exceptional and would gladly buy tires there again.

When I saw the thread title, I figured it was a Toyota. Zing.

Sorry to hear about that, though.

this issue. Not to say this isn't an issue.

I suggest you contact Mark Reuss, GM North America President. He is on Facebook and is great at responding to customers. Wheels & tires, obviously, are very susceptible to road damage. I'd be surprised if any of the auto companies cover under their warranty. GM has the best bumper-to-bumerer coverage in the industry. I actually took out some issurance (5/month) from the dealership to protect myself from the poor Michigan roads. I would at least raise the issue and take things from there. To those that sugggest this is an American auto issue, is just ignorant. Kinda like the ref. at the hockey game last weekend. However, if you do have the issue on a Toyota, I'm sure you can get the dealer without stopping.

I agree with another poster. If the rim was in fact defective when purchased then that is the only scenario where I could argue that you are in the right.

However if you happened to puncture the tire by a pothole or a nail, etc. then that has nothing to do with the automaker. And subsequently if you drove on a flat tire too long and it damaged the rim then again, unfortunately, that would be your fault.

The biggest issue here looks to be you now have a damaged rim and it is impossible to ascertain how/when that occurred. It now falls into the Chicken or the Egg argument. Did the faulty rim cause tire damage or did the blown tire cause the rim damage? There really is no way to prove this so it looks like you are going to have to pony up the dough.

If if makes you feel better I average about 1.5 nails in my tires each year. About 14 months ago I purchased two new tires with a lifetime warranty. Then 8 months ago two other new ones without the warranty. And of course the nail that I got a month ago happened to go into a tire without the warranty.

This crap happens to all of us. Don't let it ruin your day/week.

Go Blue.

There are tire/wheel specific insurance policies that cover this because it is never covered (nor should it be) by either tire or auto manufacturer. However, these policies are usually only worthwhile if you have expensive low profile tires (usually implying expensive large wheels), which are more prone to damage from potholes. So in your case, sorry, bad luck.

Find a copy of the warranty, Research a good attorney in your area, then tell the dealership that you're prepared to go ahead with a suit. The dealership will probably just do it at this point, as $385 is a pretty nominal amount of money to them.

I drive a 2002 Acura MDX that I bought in 2005 as a certified pre-owned car that had come off a 3 year lease. It came with a 3 year warranty that covered pretty much everything. I got it with about 50K miles on it.

Long story short, late last year the transmission went at around 95K miles. I was out of warranty in every sense of the word, but there had been a re-call very early on for the model and there was a lot ot talk in online forums about issues with this particular transmission.

When I call to inquire about the $$ to fix, the dealer rep tells me that Acura has a program where they will cover somewhere between 50 and 90% of the repairs depending on the particulars of mileage, etc. I ended up getting out of there with about $5,500 worth of remanufactured transmission and labor and only paying $1,700 (some % of the actual labor). the reman tranny has a 3 year guarantee on it. To replace a transmission that is sporting 100K miles, that is a pretty sweet deal, especially when you consider I will likely sell it in about a year or so and get back the $1,700 as part of the resell value.

More than likely I will be getting a new MDX after that.

Advice to the OP, contact GM directly and indicate that you will be posting your story online and telling everyone you know exactly your experience with buying a GM and they might be willing to work with you and the dealer.

Too bad you didn't know me. My first car was a Malibu. The only thing that didn't go bad was the engine or transmission. Everything else went to hell....

Buy a Toyota. You've heard that new Toyota ad, right? It's pretty reassuring: http://www.fretsetguitar.com/sommy/toyotaad.mp3

This is not a big deal. $400 payments are routine when you own your own car. Roads are rough, shit happens, cars are expensive, get a helmet.

Hey, I work at GM at am extremely frustrated at your story. Send me an email at paul.e.krajewski@gm.com and I can see what I can do to help.