need motor replaced, denied by mazda
 

After stalling and not starting again in a parking lot, I had my car towed to the dealership. they decided the motor needed to be replaced. Mazda denied the claim because my oil change invoices didn't have odometer readings which is not my fault. the car only has 58k miles, well under the warranty. anyone dealt with this problem or have any advice on dealing with this?

where did you change the oil then? ask them to add the odometer readings.

sorry to hear that man. Hope all goes well.

i think it's already past being able to do that. they've already reviewed everything without the mileage. if I add it now, they wouldn't even believe it anyway i would think

That is BS, the first time they changed my engine they did not ask for any oil change receipts and I wouldn't have had them because I did them myself. The second time they did ask but at that point I was getting them done at the dealer and Firestone so I was able to prove it but had I not had them I would have raised hell. the dates on your receipts should be enough, they cannot reasonably say you were driving an enormous miles a day or anything.

call mazda north america see if they could talk to the dealer.

How many oil change invoices do you have? What does the owners manual say for oil changes? 7500 miles? I ask 'cause i don't know. So say you have 8 invoices, so 8X7500=60,000 miles. That is all they should need to know. I seems as Mazda is now looking for any excuse to not replace motors. First it was some guy who used syn. oil and they denied him, now it's because you don't have odo. readings on the invoices. All you people better keep some really good records.

They are all full of shit, they are very inconsistent. This last time they tried to tell me they were not going to give me the rental because it wasn't covered and then when I reminded him I had gotten a rental twice before they gave it to me no problem. And this is at a dealer I have been pretty happy with. If you let them push you around they will.

FYI, I am on my third engine at 107,000 miles.

they have 5 invoices for oil changes plus i did a couple myself. i've put 30k miles on the car since I bought it. under normal driving i think the manual recommends oil changes every 7500, or every 5k for "severe" driving. my records should be more than enough. it does seem like they're just trying to avoid doing the work, but i can't even get in touch with anyone at mazda to get answers. anyone know of another way to get in touch other than the customer service line?

Well that puts you at 6,000 or less miles per change so I would raise hell.

WHERE were the oil changes done?

And I would think the receipts have dates on them too. It will all average out to be within there recommended service intervals. They have no recourse but to install a new engine. I would be a bit more aggressive with the dealership and Mazda.

that sucks.

Maybe a letter from a lawyer, sent by certified mail.

Ken

huh, I guess the techs at the dealership don't want to make any money :dunno:

either that or they want to do oil changes all day

Mazda Customer Assistance Representatives are available

Monday - Friday, 6:00am - 4:45pm Pacific Time

1-800-222-5500

Call the Lemon Law lawyers. Look them up online they will do your case for free if Mazda of North America can not help....

I'm pretty sure the manual says x amount of miles OR x amount of TIME which ever comes first. so you don't HAVE TO RECORD THE MILES if the time intervals are good. in other words if you should have done 5 oil changes in the amount of time you have owned it AND you have done 5 oil changes and they are at regular intervals then you have properly serviced the car.


call the number above.

Wait until all options have run out before you get a lawyer involved. Once you say lawyer to them, the only way they will talk to you is through their lawyer.

Hey, I just went through a similar situation.

MNOA will not help you. The dealer did not deny the claim, the regional rep for mazda denied it. All the Customer Service Rep from MNOA can do is send a message to the regional rep. He is god to you, and of course you have NO WAY to get in touch with him. You can ask MNOA or the dealer to have him call you, but he/she will not (in my experience).

My advice to you is to either consult with a lawyer and/or file a claim yourself in conciliation (small claims) court. I would guess there is a good chance if you file the claim yourself they will end up settling at some point. However, hiring a lawyer would probably be a more sure fire way, but also a more costly way. Probably worth consulting with one even if you go down the small claims court route. Personally, I would rather spend $10k on lawyer and court fees than $5k on a new engine. But that's just me.

For one, Mazda has been inconsistent in their handling of the warranty. They filled so many warranty claims when they were in their "good PR" mood that they did not require maintenance records for. Now that they are denying claims for lack of maintenance records, I believe they are being inconsistent in their enforcement of the contract terms, and I can't say one way or the other on this for sure, but I think it would be an angle for litigation.

Aside from that, I think you would have a decent case with the records that you have, and whether or not it's really legal for them to require the records in this situation. Yeah, I know it's in the extended warranty verbiage. But just because something is written down doesn't make it legal.

I hope you take the time to talk with a lawyer and keep us up to date on how things proceed.

I've always been confused by this. Its work for the dealership! Why would they turn it away? Mazda pays the bill for warranty work, not the dealership. The dealership and the techs make money out of the deal.

I'm surprised they keep giving you engines.

First one dies at 22k, second at 96,0000. So I barely made it. But each engine had on the clock oil changes most of which were done by them until the second engine so they couldn't say shit. But the one at 96k was my last.

However, there are many here on their third engine (I am not the only in even in this thread :))

Im trying to figure out why you are not going back to the place that changed your oil and got the odo readings, they have to put them in their system to determin when you have to come back for your next change. I'd be talking to the manager at the oil change place.

I've never heard of any oil change place that doesn't put the mileage of the vehicle, oil change places that has credit card machines and pay their taxes on a regular basis anyways...

I think it's funny that people think dealerships are out there to get them.

You do realize they not only get reimbursed, the mechanics actually get paid by Mazda North America, not by the dealership themselves?

The only rational reason that I can think of them denying your warranty is they wouldn't be able to prove to Mazda North America you did your oil changes on a regular basis whether if it's by yourself or another oil change place. Then again, they really should take your word for it because your word > oil change receipts.