OZZIE4DUKE wrote:Very Duke Blue wrote:OZZIE4DUKE wrote:Good morning. Nothing like trying to solve car problems from 750 miles away. At least it's covered by a comprehensive service contract with only a $100 deductible that covers both the towing and the rental for today.
Your new car? Yuk.
No. My mom's 2007 Camry. Electrical problem. She called road service to have it jumped 3 times yesterday, without taking it to the tire store where she bought the battery last year. She called me last night. I doubt it's the battery, probably a bad alternator, which is covered under the service contract. So I've made all the appropriate phone calls and the car should be in tow as I type (NOPE! NOT there yet) to the Toyota dealer as per the service contract person I spoke with earlier. They want the dealer to do the work. Hey, it's their dollar, might as well get it done right the first time with factory (new) parts. Same $100 deductible any way you cut it. Only problem would be if it IS a bad battery, then I have an issue with the tire store, but they haven't seen/tested it, and I've wasted this effort/money getting another new battery at Toyota, which probably isn't covered under warranty, but we don't know that until it's checked.
It was the battery and not the alternator. Good news is, it had a two year free replacement from the tire dealer, and the Toyota dealer gave my mom a jump start after diagnosis so she could drive over there and didn't charge her anything for the diagnostic work they did*. Even better, she was still at the dealership and hadn't rented the car yet, so no expense incurred there - since it wasn't a service contract covered expense, the rental wouldn't have been covered, which also means that the $60 tow wasn't covered and she had to pay that. But that's cheaper than the $100 deductible that she would have had to pay for the alternator replacement, so I guess she's $40 ahead of the game. Now, if she'd only gone to the tire dealer yesterday when she got the car jumped the first time, this could have been taken care of at no expense and no additional wasted time by either her or me, but nooooooooooooooooo... she didn't have time to do that yesterday, she got it jumped 3 times instead. Mothers
*They also "discovered" that there is a leak in the oil pan, which would cost $340 to repair ($40 in parts and $300 in labor). He'll check with the service contract folks but doesn't think that would be covered. My mom hasn't noticed an oil leak, not that she would. When the car runs out of oil, we'll fix it. I have since called the Tires Plus store, and they did a courtesy check when they changed the battery (battery was free, $15 installation fee
) and the oil level was fine (and all other fluid levels too), although they did not put the car in the air and look under it. They said bring it back tomorrow and they will.
Of course, with some home TV's these days, there won't be much difference, and the popcorn is much cheaper!
