OK. Spare me the "dear diary" stuff. I have a story that I want to tell. A little background on me: I've replaced complete automotive ACs, so I know a bit about them.
I have a 2022 Lexus ES 350 with 42K on it. We love the car, but a couple of weeks ago when we had 80 degree days, the AC was blowing warm air. It's under warranty, so Mrs. Tree took it into the dealership for service. This is a reputable dealer (not Keating), and they have always been great to work with, but this is our first warranty repair.
After they looked at it, they called me and told me that a rock had damaged the condenser, and it would be $3300 to repair. It wasn't going to be covered under warranty because an outside element caused the damage. However, they said, I could file a claim with my insurance company which would likely cover it under comprehensive coverage.
I'm not buying that this rock damage without evidence, so I ask them to send me pictures. They do, and all I see are some bent fins that you would expect on a 3-year old condenser. There was certainly no large rock damage with a pattern of bent fins together like I'd expect from an impact large and hard enough to cause the condenser to leak. They even put a circle on the picture where they thought it was leaking. I saw no evidence of the leak.
The next morning, I paid the service manager a surprise visit. He was very nice and had the mechanic bring the car around and put it on the lift. The three of us looked at it together, and again, there was no evidence of rock damage. The mechanic pointed out where he thought the leak was, but I saw zero evidence of that and it was clear that he was guessing. I asked if he had put dye in the system to verify where the leak was. He said that he couldn't because their machine couldn't charge the system if there was a leak.
I know that these new R1234 AC systems run at higher pressures, and the mechanic confirmed that as we were talking casually and he mentioned that he's seen the systems blow out pipe welds. This throwaway comment helped confirm to me that the rock story was BS.
I got a call the next morning from the dealer and was told that they would cover the repair under warranty. Good. I called their BS and they knew it.
Where I get hung up is that this sure seems like insurance fraud: Get a warranty repair, claim an outside impact caused the damage, refuse to cover, customer gets insurance to pay for it, everyone is happy, right? 95% of their customers don't know jack about cars and would've gone this route. It stinks.
Thanks for letting me rant.
I have a 2022 Lexus ES 350 with 42K on it. We love the car, but a couple of weeks ago when we had 80 degree days, the AC was blowing warm air. It's under warranty, so Mrs. Tree took it into the dealership for service. This is a reputable dealer (not Keating), and they have always been great to work with, but this is our first warranty repair.
After they looked at it, they called me and told me that a rock had damaged the condenser, and it would be $3300 to repair. It wasn't going to be covered under warranty because an outside element caused the damage. However, they said, I could file a claim with my insurance company which would likely cover it under comprehensive coverage.
I'm not buying that this rock damage without evidence, so I ask them to send me pictures. They do, and all I see are some bent fins that you would expect on a 3-year old condenser. There was certainly no large rock damage with a pattern of bent fins together like I'd expect from an impact large and hard enough to cause the condenser to leak. They even put a circle on the picture where they thought it was leaking. I saw no evidence of the leak.
The next morning, I paid the service manager a surprise visit. He was very nice and had the mechanic bring the car around and put it on the lift. The three of us looked at it together, and again, there was no evidence of rock damage. The mechanic pointed out where he thought the leak was, but I saw zero evidence of that and it was clear that he was guessing. I asked if he had put dye in the system to verify where the leak was. He said that he couldn't because their machine couldn't charge the system if there was a leak.
I know that these new R1234 AC systems run at higher pressures, and the mechanic confirmed that as we were talking casually and he mentioned that he's seen the systems blow out pipe welds. This throwaway comment helped confirm to me that the rock story was BS.
I got a call the next morning from the dealer and was told that they would cover the repair under warranty. Good. I called their BS and they knew it.
Where I get hung up is that this sure seems like insurance fraud: Get a warranty repair, claim an outside impact caused the damage, refuse to cover, customer gets insurance to pay for it, everyone is happy, right? 95% of their customers don't know jack about cars and would've gone this route. It stinks.
Thanks for letting me rant.