The Car Gods Hate Us

I think we win the award for having the worst luck with cars. Ever. Let's start from the beginning.

Remember on July 29th when we bought a brand new 2012 Hyundai Sonata?

Well, 26 days and 535 miles later, we met Sam for lunch. On our way home, I noticed that the car was slightly waving. It was losing power and then picking back up but I thought I was imagining it. I was almost home, but the street I was about to turn on was under construction. It had one lane going each way and absolutely no shoulder. I pushed down the accelerator and nothing happened. I decided to coast into the gas station on the corner and make sure the car was okay. As I pulled in, almost all of the dashboard indicators started coming on: battery, EPS, oil, and check engine. Once I parked, the car turned off.

I couldn't believe it. I started wondering if we had forgotten to change the oil or something. But remember, this car only had 535 miles! It had plenty of gasoline. I called roadside assistance and they sent a tow truck and a car to pick up the little boys and me. The car they picked us up in had no air conditioner. July in Texas. It was fabulous.

Hyundai wasn't sure what the problem was, but they called the next day to say that we had "internal engine failure" and it would take nearly three weeks to replace the engine. It had nothing to do with us; the vehicle was "set to fail."

They got us a rental car, an HHR, which is in no way comparable to a Sonata. It also had a flat tire. The rental car company told us to take the car to a mechanic and get the tire fixed. Umm, no. I returned it to them.

Eventually Hyundai gave us a Sante Fe to drive. I really liked it. Although despite all of my requests for gas reimbursement for the difference in MPG, Hyundai refused.

Hyundai was really interesting to work with. I would have given up without my dad's help. He wrote a letter to the CEO, he made phone calls, and most importantly, he bugged me almost every day so I wouldn't let it go. It was such an aggravating situation, that I really wanted to give up.

The stories I was told by Hyundai got kind of absurd. I was told that "This car could have been built on a Monday and they were still hungover." I had salesmen call me to try to sell me another car. One lady became frustrated when I couldn't understand the Texas Lemon Law and she said that she "does this same thing every day." So they have a lot of cars failing?

Twenty-one days later, Hyundai offered to pay two car payments for us. I was livid. We had been pushing for three weeks to get a new car. Meanwhile, they were putting us off as they replaced the engine. I threatened to stand outside of the dealership and tell people not to buy their cars. Childish? Maybe. The lady I was working with said she would call me back after she talked to her manager. She called and offered to repurchase or replace our car.

Finally! After a ton of paperwork (including getting the wrong paperwork sent to us and notarized), the problem was that Sonata inventory is really low right now. They sell them so fast. It took almost three months to find us a new car. The appointment was set to pick up the new car and sign over the old car.

I was so excited to have the Hyundai ordeal resolved. Two days before that was to happen, Sam rear-ended someone on his drive home from work. The Jetta is a total loss. Now I get to learn more about insurance. The Jetta has over 173,000 miles. We bought it a few months before we got married and it has seen us through 27 states (from my best estimate).

Sam was totally fine. He had to climb out of his window though. The front driver's side panel smashed back into his door. The other driver was in an Explorer. Her car had zero damage and a police report was not filed. Thus, no fault!

After we got home, Sam was grabbing something out of his car by rolling down the window with the key in the door. While rolling up the window, Edison's fingers got closed in the window. It was so sad. Edison has since had a full recovery.

We did pick up our new Sonata though. A full 99 days after the original one broke down. They added in free tinted windows for our time. The new car has made it past 535 miles. For that, I feel Hyundai deserves a congratulations.

 As annoying as this has all been, I am grateful for this experience. I have learned so much through the whole thing. I guess that is true with all trials. I should add that it's a good thing I waited until this was all resolved before writing about it. It would have been much more scathing otherwise.

*Sam had to sign a confidentiality agreement. I signed nothing. This blog is all from me (Emily) and Sam has nothing to do with the writing of it.