I first purchased a used 2001 Hyudai Sonata from Autoland Hyundai in Sept. Of 2005. The Sonata had about 50,000 miles on it when it was purchased. I then moved 5 hours away from that dealership 2 months later. Not long after I moved away, the issues started with the Sonata.
First, it needed new brakes (including rotors and calipers) in the rear. That cost me over $250. And I had only had the car for about 3.5 months. When the car was in having the brakes worked on, the repair shop pointed out to me that the car was due for inspection the next month, and the new county where we lived also required emissions inspection, so that total came to $65. I called them, and they basically said it wasn't their problem.
About 2 months after having the rear brakes replaced, the front brakes of course needed changing as well. Another $250. And don't you know, 2 weeks after that — rear brakes again. Now, my husband mainly drives this car. He has had several cars throughout his life, and NEVER had issues with brakes. So, let's keep adding, that was yet another $300. Again, I called Autoland Hyundai, with no result. I had a hard time even getting them to return my calls. At this point, I had owned the car less than a year, and had put just under $1000 of work into it.
Fast forward a few months, and the "check engine" light comes on. I take the car in, and a sensor need replaced. Chalk up another $150. Again I call Autoland Hyundai, and in no uncertain terms I was informed that this was not their problem and that I lived too far away for them to do anything about it.
For next few months we went through several occasions of the "check engine" light coming on, only to take the car in and find out that it was a different sensor needing replaced.
$, all into the Sonata.
Then, I hit my breaking point when we found out that the Sonata needed rear brakes AGAIN! It was at that point that I contacted the only guy at that dealership that was willing to help, and that was their finance manager. (He was a customer of mine at my old job.) We brought the car back to them (5 hours away), and he gave us an exceptionally high trade-in value for it, and put us in a 2002 Dodge Stratus, with about the same amount of miles on it as the Sonata currently had. He made sure our car payment stayed the same amount, and even threw in a 6 month warranty. I had longer to pay on the car loan now, but at least I was out of that piece of crap Sonata. This was in January.
The warranty he "threw in" was explained to me by him, and he said that it covered "everything" in the car, and that if "anything" goes wrong in the next 6 months, it would be taken care of by any repair place. Hmmm... Well, i DID like that guy... Until this week.
This week, my husband was driving the Stratus to work when the thing just stopping shifting gears. It made a horribl noise, and the car was not drivable. I took the day off from work, and went to pick him up. We had the car towed to the local Dodge dealership.
Well, the Dodge dealership called me back today, and said that the car needs a whole new transmission. And my warranty (which i had to get faxed over from Autoland Hyundai, because what I thought was a copy of the warranty was NOT what i had) was only a powertrain warranty. It didn't cover anything electrical wrong with it, and it only covered $55 an hour. (about half of what the dealship charges.)
Again, I call Autoland Hyundai, and again, not their problem. Again i have a car from them for less than 6 months, and something major is wrong with it. And frankly, they don't care.
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