Honda Corporate Where You At?

[WandaTheHondaMN]

First off, if this isn't the right place, I apologize in advance.

I need some help/Advice with my 2023 civic ST. February 26th I brought it in for an oil change knowing I had an outstanding recall for the power steering rack. Low and behold I was actually affected by the recall. Dealer called, put me in a loaner and said parts will be her on 3/6. Today, 3/6 they called and said they need the loaner back by 3pm and the parts are now backordered again with an estimate of 4/5.

It was at this point I have all but lost it, I've been going through some personal stuff and a separation and this damn car is all I have to my name. I walked over to the sales side told them what was up, he keep trying to put me in at EX-L as they didn't have any ST's on the lot or in transit and wouldn't look at other dealers for trade. So finally he put numbers together for an FL5 and we were way off so I told him no thanks.

I then proceeded to call Honda Corporate and had them open a case. All I want is my car back and the dealer is refusing to let me have it back. I've had it for 5 months and they will literally give me 2,500 more than I owe $22,000 currently. So I would be out 8k with 5 months of ownership with only having 8,800 miles on the car.

Not sure if there is anyone that can help or provide some advice. I'm at a loss of what to do.

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[Jester04]

First off, if this isn't the right place, I apologize in advance.

I need some help/Advice with my 2023 civic ST. February 26th I brought it in for an oil change knowing I had an outstanding recall for the power steering rack. Low and behold I was actually affected by the recall. Dealer called, put me in a loaner and said parts will be her on 3/6. Today, 3/6 they called and said they need the loaner back by 3pm and the parts are now backordered again with an estimate of 4/5.

It was at this point I have all but lost it, I've been going through some personal stuff and a separation and this damn car is all I have to my name. I walked over to the sales side told them what was up, he keep trying to put me in at EX-L as they didn't have any ST's on the lot or in transit and wouldn't look at other dealers for trade. So finally he put numbers together for an FL5 and we were way off so I told him no thanks.

I then proceeded to call Honda Corporate and had them open a case. All I want is my car back and the dealer is refusing to let me have it back. I've had it for 5 months and they will literally give me 2,500 more than I owe $22,000 currently. So I would be out 8k with 5 months of ownership with only having 8,800 miles on the car.

Not sure if there is anyone that can help or provide some advice. I'm at a loss of what to do.

I don’t think you will find them here, but keep pushing through by emails and Phone calls.

 

[CTR]

Pretty sure they can't prevent you from taking the car. Threaten legal action if they won't give you the car back or pay for a rental in the meantime.

Seems like a sales tactic for them to get you to trade in your brand new car at a fire sale price.

 

[RUNN1N]

Not sure if there is anyone that can help or provide some advice. I'm at a loss of what to do.

Honda dealerships are independent businesses with minimal oversight from Honda corporate. You'll have your issue resolved before you ever get anything meaningful from them. These guys get a lot of freedom.

That said, here's how you got into this issue--there's a recall affecting 176,000 Civics. Honda passes the responsibility of managing the recall onto the dealerships. They have to identify affected vehicles, order parts, perform the work, and certify that the recall problem is no longer an issue. As part of this recall, Honda tells dealerships they'll get $X/day if customers are provided a loaner vehicle in connection with this recall. A dealership is a business, and charging Honda for a short-term rental is an easy way to make money. Honda caps the number of days they'll reimburse a dealership for loaner vehicles. You've reached the end of the term Honda will pay for, so now they want the car back, even though your work isn't complete.

Put simply, they didn't give you the loaner because you're a great customer or they're a great dealership... they did it because Honda will pay them for it, but it'd now cost them to let you keep it, so they want it back. They're going to do the same thing with another customer each week. Easy peasy.

If you ever have an issue at a dealership, don't try to get a salesperson to help you fix it. They have one job: selling cars. It's all they have to think about. Inevitably, whatever your issue is, they're going to try to solve it by selling you a car. It's that easy. They made you a crummy offer because they know you need a car, and your trade isn't sales-ready. They'll have to wait a bit, but they know there's a profit to be made if they can get you to trade it. Don't bother.

Talk to a manager. Tell him/her you'll return their loaner, but you need your car back in working order until they have the parts on hand to perform the recall repair. Tell him/her that you understand why they put you in a loaner for a week when they likely had no line to these back ordered parts. No hard feelings, lesson learned, you just want your car back in working order until they can get ahold of your parts/perform your repair.

Don't let them convince you a trade is a good idea, and don't be the guy who buys a hot hatch/sports car mid-separation/personal issues. It's a recipe for regret.

 

[CTRifecta]

Keep the loaner until you have your car back

 

[PointByPatrol]

Keep the loaner until you have your car back

Don't do that. They can report their vehicle as stolen.

The recall likely barely pays the dealership anything, and now that they can't get approval for additional days from honda, then it's not longer worth it to them to shell out a bunch of money for a factory campaign that would cost them $100's in rental expense. It's not fair to you or the dealership in this case.

You need to get Honda to authorize additional rental by calling them, and asking for goodwill consideration.

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