Dealer refuses to honour warranty without a Carfax

[Superdave]

Hi. Back in Oct 2007, I bought a 2006 DTS in the US and imported it into Canada. At the time, there were a couple of items that needed to be fixed and my local dealer (here in Canada) performed them under warranty, no problem. Before I even bought the car I was told that GM Canada would honour the warranty whether the car was a US or Canadian one.

Recently, I brought my car to the dealer (which is still under original GM warranty) and was informed that now, no repairs under the warranty would be honoured on the car unless I supplied a Carfax (at my expense), a copy of the registration, and a copy of the sales contract. I am told that GM has apparently “changed the warranty rules” on imported cars recently. I thought the warranty was a type of contract. I can see how GM can set new rules on newly imported cars at a certain time going forward but how can they apply this retroactively to an already imported car that they’ve already performed warranty work on?
The registration and sales contract copies are no big deal. And I know a Carfax is only $30 but it’s the principle of the thing that makes it seem unfair. If GM can change the terms of an already existing agreement then they can continue to impose one additional thing after another.

I wasn’t able to find any similar threads in the forums on this. Does anyone know if GM can legally do this? Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[submariner409]

CARFAX is an entirely voluntary reporting system which usually only reveals registration changes and emissions tests. Anything else is sent in by the owner or the one-in-a-million shop which reports work.

Ask your GM/Cadillac dealer why they don't just pull up the GM VIS printout for your specific car: Their database gives all the GM recall, warranty, and maybe some GM repair work. It is online and every GM dealer on earth has access to the system instantly.

Someone's snakin' you..........your local dealer.

[ewill3rd]

I haven't heard of it, you might call your Cadillac Customer Care number for Canad and ask the actual company.
Your dealer might be setting the rules here, something sounds wierd.

[Superdave]

I called GM Canada today. I didn`t get a person that was too knowledgeable but they said they`d open a case up. I`ll see what the outcome is.

Dave

[Superdave]

Well I called GM Canada customer service and told them about my situation. They said they never heard of this and that they would call the dealer and get back to me.
A couple of days later they called and confirmed that it is this dealer’s policy to request these 3 items before performing warranty work on imported cars. The dealer claimed it is their protection against not being reimbursed from GM Canada for repairs on cars that turn out to have been written off in the US (e.g. flood, total write off…). I said I didn’t think that imposing additional requirements to the customer on existing warranties was fair and that I wished to escalate to a higher level. A couple of calls later, the higher person gets back to me and now insists that it is a GM Canada requirement and not a dealer policy (although both people at GM Canada were not aware of this when I first spoke with them). They can’t even get their stories straight apparently. They say they have the right to make these requirement changes any time they want, including not honouring the warranty at all if they wish! Unbelievable.
This whole thing has shown me that GM’s service agreements aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. I’m now so pissed off, I’m going to cancel the extended warranty I just took and paid $2500 for. I’ll take my chances repair wise and even if I lose out in the long run, GM will not see a penny for maintenance or repair work. Needless to say, my next car will also not be a GM.
You’d think a company in bankruptcy protection would give a little more attention to customer satisfaction.

[ted tcb]

I don't blame you for cancelling the extended warranty.
It would seem to be worthless if the dealer, backed by GM Canada,
can decide to dissapprove a warranty claim on an imported car strictly
at their discretian. Unbelievable.

Had the car been purchased in Canada, you would have the ability to use
OMVIC or some similar dealer approved arbitrating body.
It would seem they are penalizing you for purchasing a car from the US.
I understand their position on new cars purchased from the US, but not
on used cars.

Ridiculous!

[ewill3rd]

Wow, that's news to me.
Sorry to hear that they are doing this to you.

[Superdave]

Thanks for your supportive updates.

Well I went ahead and paid for the Carfax today. It has a clear history (all green thumbs up) and only one previous owner. But to my surprise the original owner happened to be a car rental agency. This leads me to 2 questions that I wonder if anyone out there would know the answer to:

1) Does this in any way effect any warranty coverage on the base/original warranty?

2) Does this in any way effect any warranty coverage on an extended GMPP warranty?

With the hassles I've been having with my dealer and GM Canada lately I'd like to know in advance of asking "them" and avoid any surprises.

Thanks in advance,

Dave...

[TSS]

Rental car should not be an issue, as it is not an issue in the US. Sorry to hear of your troubles .