Honestly, what I would do if I was in your shoes is buy a used transmission, then have them install it and reimburse you a couple hundred bucks. It's far less out of your pocket and will probably be far easier to convince them to do since it's just a few hours of labor and a couple hundred bucks rather than a grand or more. If they can't do the labor, then either have a local shop do it and inflate the price a bit, or swap it yourself (entirely doable on jackstands)

That 50/50 means that you will be out of pocket on some amount of money anyway, and if you aren't going for a brand new transmission, I'd just get a used and minimize how much it's going to cost.

 

I was just thinking about doing that but after getting off the phone with the owner yesterday he said he wanted me to send him a receipt of getting the work done including the cost of parts.

If I got a used transmission, I'd have to get it myself, no? And if I got it myself, it wouldn't show up on Neptunes receipt and the guy wouldn't reimburse me for it. Which is understandable, there's nothing stopping me from saying "oh yaaa, I spent $1,250 on a used trans" when it was only like $800 (hypothetically) so I see where he's coming from.

Honestly, I'm gonna run this past him too. I wouldn't mind coming to terms on which used transmission to buy with our money and driving it up there to have their guy swap it out. I'd be totally okay with that. I just don't want them keeping my car, driving it around the lot and shutting it off without letting it warm up over and over again, doing cheap, crappy work just to get it fixed until it malfunctions again outside of the warranty, etc. It's not driving it up there I have a problem with. It's driving it up there to have work done by somebody they won't give me any information about. For all I know, these guys don't even know what a rotary engine IS lol.

thanks again for the help RIWWP! thanks to everyone who's posted too!

 

I just got off the phone with the owner. He let me take a recording. Apparently this is the first time he's heard about the issues with my car. the dealership hasn't even let him know (note: his office isn't AT the dealership) and I told him it took me forever to get in contact with him because they wouldn't give me his info, etc.

He said "this is <owner's name>, the date is 12/6/13" etc. and then basically said "we'll let the owner fix it at his location" so I trust his word. Looks like everything's gonna be okay

 

Sounds like it worked out. RIWWP's suggestion to get a second hand transmission is definitely good advice, and even if you buy it yourself, there should still be a receipt you can show the owner. Like he said, you're still going to have to pay half of the final cost.

I'd be vaguely worried that the dealership might still ditch the agreement, and even if you win a case in the small claims tribunal, as you said, it's up to you to actually enforce it. And how long would it take them to 'go out of business' and re-open with a new name? Couple of days? Then there's no one for you to get your money from, because the dealership that owed you money no longer exists.

But that probably won't happen.

 

Well glad to see you are moving towards resolution. BTW, out of curiosity, is anyone posting in this thread an attorney?

 

I know of only one attorney that drives an RX8. In Calif. too, but this would be outside of their expertise.

 

I was just curious. I am an attorney, but not licensed in Cali and therefore will not be offering legal advice. However, I found it interesting how so may folks seemed dead sure they knew the answer. In my brief legal exerience, few things are as cut and dry as they may appear on the surface.

 

Because of those reasons, in my original post, I was trying to point him to seeing a lawyer.

 

85rx, of course, that's why I'm not taking all this info as fact. Law is never cut and dry haha