Why Do These Things Always Happen to Me?

Here's a weird little story for you today.  It involves my 2008 Impala that I've had for right at a year. 

When I bought the car last July, I was told by the dealership, Bruce Foote Chevrolet in Monmouth, IL, that the wheels on the car were actually wheels from an Impala LTZ, the Impala with the sport suspension, and a step up from the LT model that I have.  It turns out an elderly guy bought an Impala LTZ, but liked the wheels on the LT better.  He asked if he could swap out the LTZ wheels for the LT ones.  The dealership said, "Sure, no problem." 

They explained to me the LTZ wheels are about a $1000 upgrade to my car, but they weren't going to charge me for it.  Fair enough, and I got some nice looking wheels on the car.

Everything was going along fine until recently when I took my car in to get the tires rotated and balanced.  I began to notice after a couple weeks that I was having a noticeable shimmy in the rear end at higher speeds.  I took it back to the tire place - Duck Creek Tire in Bettendorf - and told them about the shimmy.  They are good guys and they said it was probably a tire that had lost a balance weight.  They said they'd look at the car right away.

I sat and waited for a while before one of the guys came out and said, "Well, we've got some bad news.  You need a whole new set of tires."

Well, I was incredulous.  I had just over 28,000 miles on a set of high quality Goodyear tires that came on the car.  The guy at Duck Creek Tire told me that it could be that the car was severely out of alignment and that would have caused the inside of the tires to have extreme wear.  Extreme wear to the point of the belts beginning to show through the rubber.

I reluctantly agreed to get a new set of tires, but the same Goodyear's that were on the car weren't cheap - $1400 bucks!  Ouch!  He had a couple of other price alternatives including a set of Continental tires that would run about $875 before taxes and other fees.  I opted for the cheaper Continental's.  All the time, I was just completely amazed that I only got 28,000 plus miles out of a set of very good tires.

The guys at Duck Creek Tire had me come back in the next day to put on the tires.  The service manager, Matt, told me they'd do an alignment on the car to see if there was a problem with that.  He said, "If it isn't out of alignment, then you may have some bigger issues with the car.  Issues that the dealer may have to take care of." 

Well, they put the tires on and aligned it.  The rear was out of alignment, not significantly, but enough to warrant a complete re-alignment.  After a couple three hours, they were done and I drove back home. 

That evening, Cindy and I were on our way to a deck party at the house of a co-worker of hers.  We had the radio low and we were talking.  As I took a right turn to go to the house, I heard some rubbing coming from the left rear tire.  I said, "That's odd.  It shouldn't be rubbing."  I immediately wondered if they put the right tires on the car.  

When I took a look at the rear tires when we stopped at the party, I noticed right away that one of the strut coils was sitting directly on top of the tire.  On both sides.  Suddenly, it all became clear.  While the tires were probably the right ones, I had the wrong wheels on the car.

The Impala LTZ wheels are 18" wheels, the LT wheels are 17" in diameter.  I wondered if the LTZ suspension was significantly different from the LT suspension.  A trip back to Duck Creek Tire the next morning confirmed my suspicion.  

I told Matt the story of how they had swapped the LTZ wheels for the LT wheels.  Then I showed him the coil resting firmly upon the top of the rear tires.  He said, "Yep, the suspension on the LTZ is significantly different from the LT."

I said, "Can I put the LTZ struts on the LT?"

He said, "Nope, the suspension on this car wouldn't allow for it.  You need to get new wheels."  

Well, I also wanted to get reimbursed for four new tires that I suddenly didn't need on these wheels.  I asked Matt if he had my tires still around.  He thought for a second and said, "Yeah, we do."  I asked if I could have one to take down to the dealership to show the wear and tear.

He went in the back and about three minutes later he was rolling out one of the old tires.  It was one that had been on the left rear for about 25,000 miles and the belts were showing through.  I said, "This one is perfect."

I got in the car and drove directly down to Bruce Foote Chevrolet.  I like dealing with small town car dealerships, even though it appeared that Brad Deery Motors in Maquoketa didn't want to sell me a car.  (That's an incredible story that I should have told you about before - they literally didn't want to wait on me when I went in to buy a car.)  But the guys at Bruce Foote were great to work with and overly accommodating to me when I got the new and improved ROKNROL Impala.  

I walked into the dealership and immediately saw the sales manager.  I couldn't remember his name and I said, "You're the sales manager, right?"

He said, "Yes, I'm Mike.  And I remember you and the car but I'm sorry that I can't remember your name."  I told him and he said, "Oh, yes.  Of course.  How can I help you?"

I said, "Come take a walk with me."

He remembered that they had swapped the LTZ wheels for the LT wheels on this car.  I was telling him the story of having a shimmy, getting the car in to have the tires looked at and the surprise of them telling me that I had to get new tires, to the tune of over $900 bucks when it was all said and done. 

I opened the trunk and showed him the wear on the inside tread of the tire.  He said, "Whoa!  That is strange!"

I said, "This is why..."

We went around to the rear tire wheel well and I showed him the strut resting on top of the tire.  Again, he said, "Whoa!  Wow, that's not good!" 

Mike went and got his service manager who came out and looked at the one on the right side.  The service manager asked, "How long have you had this car?"

I said, "About a year.  Put over 28,000 miles on it."

Mike said, "Well, I'm certainly going to have to do my homework on this one..."

The service manager immediately spoke up.  "There's no homework to do on this one," he bellowed.  "This guy is not driving this car off this lot.  That's all there is to it.  It's a wonder he hasn't had a catastrophic blowout before this!" 

I said, "Well, I guess I'm going to need new wheels with new tires.  And I'd like to be fully reimbursed for the tires I just paid for yesterday."

Mike turned to me and said, "Well, those are all very valid requests.  But first, we're going to get you a loaner car."

I said, "How long will it be before I get this car back?"

He said, "I don't know.  A couple days, maybe."

I said, "Look, I've got to drive to St. Louis, then up to Des Moines, then up to Milwaukee."

He said, "Well, I can't give you a new car, but we'll give you something that will get you around."

He told me to gather up all the stuff in my car and he'd arrange for a loaner.  He came out after about five minutes and said, "OK, we're gonna put you in a car with a warranty on it.  Unfortunately, it's a Ford."

It turned out to be a 2009 Ford Fusion.  It had about 12,000 miles on it and I'm guessing it was a rental car.  It's an OK car, not as roomy as the Impala and only a 4 cylinder model.  But it had a sun-roof and a kick-ass stereo system.  In fact, there were some amenities in the Ford Fusion that I immediately liked that my Impala lacked. 

(As an aside - We had rented a Mercury Grand Marquis when we were on vacation in Savannah, and that car was very nice, as well.  We had asked for an Impala with the Hertz NeverLost system, but they didn't have one.  They only had the Grand Marquis.  It was roomy - much more roomy than my Impala - had some nifty creature comforts and was an impressive car.  I've been a GM man for well over 20 years after having a couple Thunderbirds in the 70's that didn't work out very well.  After driving the Montego and the Fusion, I'm starting to think that Ford definitely has their shit together in regard to their cars.)

As I was putting stuff from the Impala into the Fusion and I said, "Look, I'm going to be putting a lot of miles on this car over the next few days.  Maybe 1500 miles total.  Are you sure you want me to have this car?"

Mike said, "I don't have a choice, do I?"

No, he certainly did not.  I offered to bring the car back on Monday on my way to St. Louis and he said, "I don't think I can rectify the problem that quickly."  But he said he'd give me a call on Monday and let me know what was going on. 

As I got into the car, I noticed that it had Sirius Radio.  I asked, "Anyway you can activate the Sirius Radio for this thing?"

He laughed and said, "No, I don't think I can." 

I said, "Wow, I have to listen to regular FM.  I don't know if I can bring myself to that."  (I am literally hooked on listening to Little Steven's Underground Garage channel on Sirius XM.)

Before I left, he gave me a voucher for a free tank of gas for the Fusion.  That was nice of him.  I mean, I think he was embarrassed and realized that his service manager was probably right - they had dodged a huge bullet in that I didn't have a major incident with the tires before this.  He really was bending over backwards to take care of me.   

When I was driving back home, I was playing with the stereo system.  I hit the "Media" button on the steering wheel and it went from FM to Satellite radio.  It turned out the Sirius radio WAS activated!  Well, all right!  Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

While the Fusion isn't as roomy, it's still comfortable enough.  I passed a couple cars along the way home on a two-lane road and it was really poochy when I'd floor it.   After driving it home, I thought it would work, but I'd really rather have my Impala. 

Then I thought, "Wait a minute.  Why should I put miles on MY car when they're giving this one to me to drive for the week.  I'll just put the miles on THIS car!" 

A couple days later, the service manager from Bruce Foote called me up and asked if the tires on the car were brand new.  I said, "Brand spanking new, to the tune of $920 bucks." 

He then asked if the car had been aligned.  I said it had.  He said, "Well, we've seen on these Impalas that the back end can get out of alignment and that kind of tire wear can be possible on as little as 30,000 miles."

I said, "Look, let's cut out the bullshit.  You saw the strut laying on top of the tire when I brought it in.  I have one of the tires in the trunk that clearly shows the only wear on the tire is where the strut was rubbing.  Yes, it was out of alignment in the rear end, but it wasn't bad enough to cause the tire to have that type of wear where the belts are beginning to show through."

It went downhill from there.  He came back and said, "Listen, I don't appreciate you insinuating that I'm giving you some B.S. here."

I said, "I understand what you're trying to do.  To minimize the cost of what has to come out of your pocket.  I need new wheels, I need new tires and I would like to get reimbursed for the out of pocket expense on these tires that I just bought." 

He then said, "Do you think the tire place would be interested in trading these tires for new ones?  I mean, they only have Davenport to Monmouth mileage on them."

I replied, "That's going to have to be a conversation you're going to have to have with Duck Creek Tire.  All I know is that I just paid for new tires about a year before I had to." 

He said he was going to call up to talk to Matt at Duck Creek Tire and he'd get back to me. 

Well, he never did. 

24 hours came and went and I began to get sort of worried.  Cindy said, "Will, I think they're trying to give you the run-around on this deal."

I said, "Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing."

I placed a call to Mike, the sales manager at Bruce Foote Chevrolet and I said, "Hey, Mike!  I just have this sneaking suspicion that you guys are giving me the run around on this deal."

He said in a surprising tone, "How so?"

I told him of the conversation I'd had with his service manager and how he was trying to tell me that there were previous problems on Impalas with the rear end going out of alignment causing extraordinary wear on tires.  I said, "Mike, it's quite obvious that the cause of this was due to the larger wheels and the tires rubbing on the strut."  I told him that Robert was supposed to call me back on the progress of the situation, but never did. 

Mike said, "Well, here's what I know.  The new wheels are coming in today.  We're going to take the car back up to Duck Creek Tire to get the new tires put on, balanced and checked.  Then we'll bring it back down to Monmouth and wait for you." 

I said, "Oh!  Well, no one certainly told me that."  I then proposed that he just leave it at Duck Creek Tire and he makes arrangements to come up and get the loaner car.  He said, "Well, that would be two trips to Bettendorf.  I mean, if we have to come up and get the car and do it that way, I will.  But I think I'd rather have your car here so we can finalize the swap here at the dealership."

I thought it was sort of weird, but I agreed to do that.  Then I got to thinking - he wants to negotiate on the new set of tires that I had to pay for that I can't use. 

I got back from my trip that encompassed over 1300 miles in 4 days, cleaned out the loaner car and Cindy and I drove down to Monmouth to change cars.  The Impala was sitting in front of the dealership and Mike met me at the door.  It turned out that Robert, the service manager, needed my remote lock and start key fob to reset the tire pressure indicator for the car.  Don't know exactly why they needed to do that, but I handed him the key fob and off he went.  

Mike came back and I said, "OK, so what's the story."

He said, "Well, new wheels.  New tires.  The guys at Duck Creek Tires took back the ones you just put on.  You're right, they were good guys to work with."

I then said, "OK, so, what are we going to do about the new tires that I just paid over $900 bucks for." 

He said, "Well, we have new Continentals on your car.  The same kind of tire like you just bought.  This is what I'm going to propose.  You had, what?  20,000 miles on those tires?"

I hesitated for a second, fully knowing that I had 28,500+ on the tires.  I said, "Uh, yeah!  Yeah, 20,000 miles."   I'm such a shit, sometimes.

He said, "Why don't we say we give you $400 bucks for the tires."

I said, "Wait a minute.  Those were 70,000 mile tires on that car.  I wouldn't have needed new tires for another year or so.  If I'd gotten the same tires that were on the car, we'd be talking over $1500 bucks for the set, mounted and rollin' down the road!"

Mike looked at me with funny smirk on his face and he said, "Those weren't 70,000 mile tires on that car.  GM would never put those good of tires on a new car."

I said, "They sure did."

He said, "I can't believe it.  GM NEVER puts good tires on new cars." 

I said, "Well, they were on this one.  I've got the tire in my trunk, remember?"

We walked out to the car in a light rain and I opened the trunk and showed him the old tire.  I said, "See?  Goodyear RS-A.  They wanted something like $1440 for a set of fours."

He looked at me rather incredulously.  He exclaimed, "$1440 dollars for new tires?  Look, I don't want to tell you who to do your business with, but that seems exceptionally high." 

I said, "You're telling me.  I think $920 bucks is exceptionally high for Continentals!  But what was I supposed to do?  Tell 'em to put the tires back on and I'm going to go look around for a deal?"

He sort of chuckled and said, "Well, no, probably not." 

We went back inside and I made this proposal.  I said, "Let's take the mileage on the old tires and figure the percentage of mileage driven versus 70,000 miles.  Then we'll take that percentage and deduct that from $920 bucks and that's what you owe me."

Mike said, "That's fair enough.  Fax me the bill and we'll figure it out."

We shook hands and Cindy and I got into the car and drove off.  The first thing I noticed is that the mileage hadn't changed from the time I brought it in to the time I picked it up.  I said to Cindy, "Jeez, they put this thing on a trailer and took it up to Bettendorf for the new tires."

Cindy said, "Well, you said the service manager didn't want anyone to drive the car with the struts sitting on the tire!"

I said, "Yeah, that's true.  But they could have easily driven it up there and driven it back without trailering it."  I was sort of impressed they would do that. 

We stopped at a place to eat in Monmouth and I got to looking at the car.  I noticed that they had detailed the inside of the car.  I also noticed they had detailed the outside of the car, including getting all the tar off the sides and filling in the rock chips that were noticeable on the front hood.  I was just incredulous.  I told Cindy, "Jesus!  They even fixed the 'Service Engine Soon' light problem that I was having!"  (It had to do with a valve leak in some emissions control section.)  Suddenly, I felt like a complete heel for dicking around and not being truthful with Mike at the dealership.

That night, I went home and figured out that 28,500 is 40 percent of 70,000.  So, I figured that 60% of $920 is $553.  I faxed Mike a note with my figures along with the copy of the bill so he'd have it first thing in the morning. 

I waited and waited for Mike to call me the next day.  I never heard anything from him, so I gave him a call a little after 5 p.m.  I said, "Hey, Mike!  Did you get that fax I sent down?"

He said, "No, I sure didn't."

I told him I'd fax it again.  I did.  He called me back about five minutes later and said that it didn't go through.  "I got part of one page and then it was blank the rest of the way."  He asked me to try it again.  I did.

He called me back about 5 minutes after that and he said, "I don't think our fax machine likes your fax machine.  Just tell me what you came up with."

I explained to him the figures I came up with and he said, "Look, I'm just gonna take care of this right now.  We'll send you out a check next Monday for $553 dollars." 

I said, "Mike, this is why I like dealing with small town car dealers."

He said, "Well, when you're ready to trade, please come back to see me."

I told him, "Mike, I drive my cars into the ground.  However, my wife has her eye on a new Malibu. But I don't think we can afford one right now."

He laughed and said, "Don't be so sure.  There's some great deals on them right now." 

The all happened within the last 10 days.  All's well that ends well...

Comments

[Robert Coleman]

I remember commenting last year that I thought your car was an LTZ because of the wheels. That's quite a story. Too bad you had to go through all of that.

[los angeles car dealerships]

Thank you for sharing your experience. Buying a car can be a very frustrating experience. On the flip side, it can be a very pleasurable one. You have to do your research on the dealership and read all of he reviews that you can.