So I’ve got a fun one for the forum, related to vehicle repair obligations prior to turn-in at lease end.
I’ve got a 2016 Genesis due back in May. Yesterday, the vehicle control panel (ie the dashboard with the LED screen, radio, etc) died while we were out running errands. Prior to this, we’d had other electrical issues over the last year and a half (ie faulty usb ports, screen freezing) that our local Hyundai dealer (Keyes Van Nuys) acknowledged but never fixed because they claimed electrical repairs weren’t within warranty, and it didn’t bother me enough to pay for the repair for a vehicle I don’t own.
Fast forward to today, my local San Gabriel Valley Hyundai dealer confirmed the radio is completely dead and needs replacing. However, I’m at 39k miles of my 46.5k mile allotment (was a loaner with 1.5k miles), and he is saying we are no longer within warranty so the repair would have to be performed out of pocket. I do have a paper trail of bad electrical since ~25k miles, but given that the control panel finally died, and I’m outside of warranty, am I on the hook for these repairs prior to lease turn-in?
Looking for thoughts from those who have the knowledge or have had similar experience. As much as I loved the Genesis and its plentiful options for a dirt cheap payment, I’m ready to be done with it. I’m heading in to the dealership this afternoon to see if I can talk it out with the service manager, but would love advice prior to that conversation.
Scan in the paper trail of your complaints and their refusal to work on it, then open a case with Genesis/Hyundai NA. My guess is the service manager isn’t motivated to make this right or go to bat for you and will only do something if instructed from corporate. That has been my experience.
My assumption would be that you’re on the hook for this repair outside of that.
Agreed. It’s crazy to me that service advisors and managers fight their customers instead of corporate for warranty work compensated by the OEM. Hyundai must pay really, really, really low rate for warranty work. Actually using the warranty seems to be a common problem for Hyundai owners.
You should still be within warranty on a Genesis. 2016 Genesis’ have a 5 year 60,000 mile warranty. See below from their website:
Radio and audio systems (i.e., radio, compact disc player, DVD player, navigation system and Bluetooth®): for MY 16, 5 years/60,000 miles for all models
I am returning my 2015 Genesis (extended lease for several months) this week. I am sorry to hear about your troubles. I possibly would be in deeper trouble because I believe for the model year 2015, the warranty for the central panel unit is shorter and I would be on the hook for the repair cost. I recall reading on a Genesis online forums about the central unit being very expensive repair in the 4- 5000 dollars range.
Electrical repairs aren’t covered under B2B? I could understand if the neighborhood rodent decided to snack on a wiring harness, but otherwise, that’s kinda laughable he could say that with a straight face.
So I picked up the car and the radio now works. But the service team says it’s temperamental and they are ordering the new part — the service guy agreed that I should be covered under the 5/60k limited warranty but he wants to call Hyundai to confirm. It’s apparently a $3-4K repair. Meanwhile, I did open a case with Hyundai today to have someone look at it. So I’m crossing my fingers this should end up being pretty painless. Thanks all for the excellent input! I’ll post again if something goes haywire. I’ve gotta say — seems like the Hyundai warranty is a bit of an uphill battle to take advantage of. And you’ll most definitely need it if you own one.
I had to pull up the link to the 5/60 and hand him my phone. He walked back into a mystery room with it and came out ten minutes later nodding his head
Unreal I wonder what the success rate is of simply blowing off folks with valid warranty claims by claiming it’s not covered? It’s gotta be high enough to make it worth driving so many customers away. Nice scheme! It’s probably in the Hyundai service manager training manual.
There is a good story over on edmunds about them voiding a warranty a few years back after one of their engines threw a rod. It was maintained religiously but they voided it because of a very minor documentation abnormality. I’ll try to find it.
In short, it sounds like a great warranty in marketing but they must not pay dealers the way they should if basic stuff gets tossed back to the customer.
Long time lurker, first time poster. Had to chime in to this topic because of my expertise.
I was a service consultant at a Hyundai/Genesis dealership in Houston for about a year and a half. I’ll chime in.
Firstly, firefighter, what your referencing is likely the campaign 132/162 on applicable 2011-2014(and now 2015 with the ECU update) Sonata short block engines. In my experience, I NEVER had a warranty claim denied for an engine in one of those vehicles, after doing 100+(figure about ~9 per month). EVEN when the VIN plates on the car and engine did not match (Customer brought in car for hole in block, it was a 13 sonata engine in a 12 sonata that was obv from a junkyard with mismatched VIN plates and Hyundai still payed the 6.5k, warranty P+L, to replace the engine with a long block. We thought for sure that it was going to be my first declined engine .
The warranty confusion on radio is understandable. Hyundai’s warranty guidelines for the radio and head unit was 3/36 on most vehicles up until 2015. MY2016 is when the first significant warranty change happened, which affected the head unit coverage and battery, for instance. It changed to 5/60 with the 2016 MY. The 2019 MY also had significant warranty changes, but mainly in the processing of warranty claims (battery claims, A/C claims involving new freon, etc)
And lastly, the warranty labor rate is not horrible - usually around 85-95% of Customer Pay labor rate. At the two locations I worked at, the respective warranty rate/CP labor rate was 124.33/129.99 and 132.66/145. The labor time, however, is absolutely pitiful (6.7 hours for a short block that would take a technician in excess of 20+ hours to complete, including refitting head and adjustments).
The Hyundai brand is an entry point for most consultants/advisors. Most of them are not as experienced as the highline guys (BMW/Audi/Cadilac) BUT Hyundai has the most resources for service personnel of any car manufacturer I’ve witnessed and literally all it takes to verify warranty coverage is to input the VIN and Part Number and it will tell you what coverage is. So, at the end of the day, it might be inexperience, or it could be laziness.
This is super helpful detail, @Tempest505 - really appreciate you providing that level of depth. I’ll find the story from Edmunds today - I don’t think it was that MY car, I think it was a bit older. I only share it because I happen to know of the dealer where it happened.
And yes, all Hyundai, regardless of ownership have 5/60 bumper to bumper coverage (but that does not cover the battery, or maintenance items for instance). If you’re the original owner, you’ll also have 10/100 powertrain coverage on things like engine, transmission, axles, etc.
The ‘bumper to bumper’ warranty was often misconstrued for a long period of time because there were a few exclusions, namely, the head unit. Hyundai did update their warranty for 2016 MY and 2019 MY to rectify those. There are still a few exceptions to the 5/60 but its about 99% covered for manufacturer defect (not even talking about external influence (rodents, rock pebble in condenser, etc).
I wonder what the success rate is of simply blowing off folks with valid warranty claims by claiming it’s not covered? It’s gotta be high enough to make it worth driving so many customers away. Nice scheme! It’s probably in the Hyundai service manager training manual.