Talk about crooked!!!
I purchased a 2001 Ford Windstar minivan from Carmax in Tampa, FL in October. The salesman included the Maxcare extended warranty ($1599.00) without asking or telling my husband and me. Since my husband was in a hurry to go and pickup our child from school, we didn't have time to have the extended warranty removed. I decided to keep it because I thought I might need it after all.
While they did perform a few small repairs, things turned sour when the engine spun a bearing. Now let me give you some history about my husband's mechanical abilities. He has rebuilt motors, replaced transmissions, rebuilt carburetors, replaced brake systems, etc. Before we purchased the minivan, we had a 1997 Ford Escort that we managed to put over 100,000 miles on before the engine gave out. The reason that the Escort lasted so long is that it was well maintained.
Now back to the minivan and Carmax.
I was almost home from work when the vehicle cut off at a stop sign. I was able to start it back up right away and drive it the one block that I had left to get home. There were no warning lights indicating that anything was wrong so I let the vehicle cool down and a few hours later I checked the oil and radiator fluid. Both were at normal levels. My husband came home from work later that same day and also checked the same fluids and found them to be at normal levels.
The next day, I called Maxcare and reported the problem. They had me call Carmax and set and appointment for them to look at the vehicle. I used the towing company that Carmax suggested and got a rental car from a company that Maxcare deals with.
The next day, the service tech from Carmax called and said that Maxcare had requested a tear-down of the engine and also told me that they wanted an inspector to give them a report about the problem and its most likely cause. I gave them permission to procede. The next day, the service tech informed me that Maxcare was going to review the repair claim and decide whether or not to honor it.
This took an entire week. Meanwhile, the service tech assured me that the inspector (who happens to be the service department mananger) had remarked about how well maintained the minivan appeared to be and that they felt fairly certain that Maxcare would honor the claim. When the claim was denied, I called Maxcare to find out why and was told that the inspector had stated in his report that the spun bearing was caused by a lack of oil in the engine due to a leak in the oil pan gasket.
Funny, my husband and I did not see ANY oil on the driveway even though after we had both checked the oil and the vehicle had sat in the same spot overnight. Maybe the "Oil Fairy" came and magically made it all disappear that night!
By that time, I had no way of proving that there was nothing wrong with the oil pan gasket because that had already been removed during the tear down. (Isn't that convenient for them!) I explained to the people (and I mean people as in I went up the chain of command) at Maxcare that there was no way that the oil had leaked out through the oil pan gasket. I told them that we had checked the oil and that when the vehicle was moved onto the tow truck, there were no oil spots whatsoever. They said that they would send out an "independent" inspector (who happens to work for Maxcare, as in you call Maxcare's number and he has an extension). His conclusion was that the problem was due to a lack of maintenance even though I had brought the van to the Carmax service center for another problem only 3 months before and because of the nature of the repair, they had to change the oil.
I know that this is a long drawn-out story, but it is entirely true and I hope that it will benefit someone else. I'm not the only one who has been victimized by Carmax, if you do a search on them you will find others with simular stories.
Susan
Valrico, Florida
U.S.A.
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