My experience with a Honda dealer at Kansas City (Mods, I could not fit this under any other forum. Please do the needful if deemed necessary.)
It was in September 2006 that I started looking out for a used car here in the US and finally after a great deal of hunting managed to stumble on a 1999 Honda Civic which has a clean title and history and had clocked close to 70k miles. I bought the car from a used car dealer and was happy that I was finally able to get a decent car.
It was two weeks after purchase and I noticed this problem wherein the front seat belts were sluggish in retracting back to their original position once unbuckled. I checked with the owner’s manual which said that Honda offered a lifetime warranty on seat belts. I exclaimed with joy and fixed up an appointment with the authorized Honda dealer near my place. Also, I had to get my vehicle pass the Missouri State Inspection as I had bought it from the state of Kansas. This inspection is mandatory for any vehicle to be titled in the State of Missouri and most service stations offer this service. I took the car to the service centre mainly to get this inspection done and in course of my conversation I also referred to the problem of the slackened seat belt. The service advisor promised to take a look into that. I was asked to pick up the car in two hours time. When I came back to pick up the car on my way home, I was simply impressed to note that they had indeed agreed to replace the belts on warranty. What’s more, I was told that they had also found out that the exhaust manifold of my car had developed a crack while doing the safety inspection. The best part comes here. It was replaced absolutely free of cost as my vehicle was less than 8 years old had covered less that 80K miles. I was astounded to note that the warranty extends to 8 years. This could have cost me a minimum of $700 otherwise. About the seat belts I was told that an order was placed and I would get my replacement within a week. I drove home delighted not knowing what was in store the next day. The next day at about 10 AM I got a call from the dealership saying that the seat belts had arrived and they asked me if I could come in the same day for getting them on my car. I was speechless and more than happy to schedule an appointment the same day. I was later told that the seat belts were ordered to be shipped overnight as it was a question of safety that could not be made to wait for a week. Well, how many of us have had, (if not similar at least close) experiences like this with our car dealers in India ?
Points to ponder: - The dealer need not have bothered to check whether my car was still under the 8 year warranty. More so considering the fact it is a used car and I had bought it only a few days back. In India I have read several user manuals which say that the warranty is applicable only to the first owner
- How many of our car companies offer life time warranty ? (Correct me if am wrong)
- The dealer could have taken his own sweet time in getting me a replacement for the seat belts. On the contrary it was perceived as a matter of safety.
The best part is no one at the dealership spoke of this as a great thing and just treated me like a normal customer and the issue as one of those normal things that happen everyday.
My intention in narrating the above experience is not to have a dig at the Indian car dealers or car companies but to throw light on how a customer and his safety is valued here. Will a day like this dawn upon the Indian car owners ?
Last edited by rr_zen : 17th January 2007 at 04:00.
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