Help/Advice - Lemon Hyundai from Rte 46 Dealership

I am very upset about my recent experience with this dealer. I have a 2016 Hyundai Tuscon which I lease. I have had the car for about 2.5 years. I have had constant issues with this car, and I am deathly afraid of getting into an accident. The whole point of me leasing is to avoid issues like this in the first place..I brought the car in the summer because my car would start to shake very hard upon accelerating from a stop and start to feel as it would stall. Then the engine revs and jolts forward. When I brought it in they told me there was a recall and I WAS NEVER ADVISED. They claimed there was a system update and fixed the issue.

Months have now gone by and every now and then the issue would happen. This week my car started to have these issues, and is now stalling. There has been SEVERAL times where I have almost been in an accident because of this issue. So I called the dealer..

I brought my car in and they told me THERE IS NO ANSWER AND CANNOT HELP ME! All they said was there is an issue with the clutch and Hyundai does not have a way for us to fix this.

Being that this is NOT OKAY I went over to the manager of the sales area. I told him that this car is going to get me into an accident and since you can't fix it you need to get me out of it. After pulling the "numbers" I was told I have to roll 7k into another lease!!!! They would not even provide me with a loaner car. They said I can call and make a complaint with the company but I am not okay with this. I have a job, I cannot afford to not have a car that works, and I am not putting my life in jeopardy or someone else's life. I reported to the better business bureau. I have unfortunately resulted to social media blasts because I do not want to see this happen to anyone else!!!!

How can this dealer send someone home from service knowing the car does not work and they can get into an accident. I need quick answers b/c like I said I need my car.. I barely made it off the lot leaving, my car would barely accelerate...

I am thinking about filing a lemon law case, but this takes time and I need a solution ASAP. Its unfortunate that they will not help, this is not a fault of mine and they are making me pay for a faulty product.

Angrycarcustomer ✉
Dec '18

With a standard three year lease just turn it in early and get a different car. You can return it as soon as 6 months sometimes even sooner.

Enjoy ✉
Dec '18

You might want to try another dealership as well. Nothing says you have to go to the same dealership for service as where you bought/leased from. There is also going the corporate route by way of phone. All of this needs to be documented with corporate customer service; service records just aren't enough in cases like this. I understand your frustration but, unfortunately, need to play by the "rules" with this. My experience similar to you was with Ford just as an FYI but it could still be helpful!

Joe Friday ✉
Dec '18

Before I brought a lemon law case, I would be going to Hyundai which would be quicker. They can authorize a replacement car. If that went no where, then I would be getting a lawyer because that's what I would think is required for a lemon law case.

The one time I had an issue with a dealer and went to another one they just laughed. They weren't about to poach on someone else's territory. The only solution another dealer offered was to buy a whole new car from them. Every conversation I ever had began and ended with "let me get sales here so you can discuss a new car".

GC ✉
Dec '18

Contact the President, Vice President, EVERYONE high up at the HQ. you can possibly find their emails on line. email them all. if not, get their names and addresses at Corporate HQ and write them all. Tell them you want an answer within 3 (or 5 days) of receipt of your email or letter.

tell them that if they don't fix this at THEIR cost, you are reporting them to the Attorney General's Office (consumer affairs) and the Better Business Bureau and the Lemon Law Agency.

and threaten them with a lawsuit.

Hackresident ✉
Dec '18

I would not jump right on the hard line. Present your case and they may just address it. In the end they have endless lawyers. You tow the hard line they may say there is no making this customer happy so you go for it and try a lawsuit and see how far it gets you to spend 20k on a 7k lease for the principal of it.

Jdem ✉
Dec '18

@Reggie, If it is a dual clutch transmission, they fail quite often.The dealership should have created a technical assistance case with Hyundai after the software patch failed to fix the issue. I wouldn't go screaming like a loony at every hyundai corporate official. I would suggest you go to a larger dealership, one that has more capacity to deal diagnostic issues (and more loaner cars). They will replace the transmission under warranty. FYI Your vehicle needs to be presented 3 times for repair of the same issue before it can be lemon lawed.

OP ✉
Dec '18

First of all - find all repair records. You should be getting your own service records when you repair or service your car. Don't assume that dealership has correct records. I had recall done on my car on one Monday, then I bought car for major service in 2 days (on Wednesday) and they did the recall again claiming that there is no records in the system it was ever done. Despite me having a service receipt in my hands.

Then contact corporate office. There is a phone on the main website to contact and email form. Dealer will not help you to get a replacement car because it will come out of their balance. Only corporate office can help you but again, you MUST have all records for repairs, services and phone conversations (with names).

BTW, when I bought a car from this dealer I was given "life-time tire" program that they don't honor for me anymore because I fixed brakes somewhere else (Hyundai charged me for brakes evaluation) and didn't do maintenance services on time (I did them with higher mileage).

Lena ✉
Dec '18

I have the same year vehicle and know that this is the number 1 complaint that i have read everywhere. Mine has only done it a handful of times, but it is scary and accidents will happen. The dual clutch automatic transition is horrible. I have the turbo and still bad. My lease is almost up too. Lucky for you, you leased it.

If you only have 6 months left, how can you have 7k to roll over? Hyundai has deal will they will wave the last 3 months if you lease again.

Hopeful ✉
Dec '18

There appear to be quite a few similar reported problems :
http://m.carcomplaints.com/Hyundai/Tucson/2016/drivetrain/power_train.shtml

The first complaint even says, "Hyundai is aware, there is no fix to the problem -- that I just have to get use to it! "

OnTheEdge ✉
Dec '18

Wow, Hyundai is definitely off of my car shopping list!

maja2 ✉
Dec '18

Every car company has made a lemon. Hyundai has without a doubt made some great strides and their cars are much better than in the past.
This one transmission, the DCT, is a bad one, the rest seem to do just fine.
They do, however, need to step up and help with this particular issue, give you another new car, etc.
I owned a brand new Honda Minivan that burned oil like a fiend. Not all Honda's are good either.

dodgebaal ✉
Dec '18

"Do not buy a hyundai or a kia both are garbage"

Got that right but for some reason people in NJ love these pieces of garbage. I don't get it.

LJRubi ✉
Dec '18

These don't look like the ratings of a "throwaway" "garbage" car

https://www.jdpower.com/cars/ratings/kia

evets23 ✉
Dec '18

I love my KIA, it's a great little car, had two of them, not a single problem with either of them. My Dodge? Not so good.

GreyHawk ✉
Dec '18

Save all service records- my Kia Optima had the tail light resealed twice.. 82,000 miles they tol me I need new taillights.. they said it was out of warranty, called Kia directly and they gave me a claim number.. took 3 months but they replaced both lights at a cost of 500 each light.they have the best warranty of any brand.

Robster
Dec '18

I had a very similar situation with Kia. My car was in for repairs many, many times. Each time I got it back the problem was not fixed. I ended up filing a lemon law suit against Kia. It took almost 3 years to settle and the whole time my car was at the dealership, still broken AND I had to continue to pay the car loan and keep insurance on a car that I did not have! Kia fought me tooth and nail every single step of the way! I had to retain a lemon law attorney who in the end took a third of my settlement. I ended up losing four thousand dollars and 3 years of sanity! I would advise to try everything you can to settle before filing suit!

Pamela ✉
Dec '18

Hi there - I started a thread about this but the moderator deleted it and pointed me to another thread about Hyundai in general, but perhaps this thread might be a more appropriate place to post it.

I'm a longtime Great Meadows resident who recently moved out of the area, and I thought I'd share something my wife and I are going through with Route 46 Hyundai.

Back in early 2015, my wife and I purchased a new Hyundai from what was then Hackettstown Hyundai. As part of the sale, we purchased an extended warranty, which was financed into the sale along with the price of the car - so, over the course of the car loan, the warranty cost us more than $1,300.

When Hackettstown Hyundai was purchased by whoever owns it now, we continued using them for all the regular service and maintenance on the vehicle, since that's where we bought the car.

As I mentioned, we recently moved to another state, and needed a repair that should've been covered under the extended warranty. When we brought the car to the local Hyundai dealer here in upstate New York, the dealership confirmed that the repair SHOULD have been covered - except the paperwork for our warranty was never filed. It seems that the dealership just took the $1,300+ that we paid for the warranty, and kept it for themselves.

The dealer here in New York tried to rectify the situation by calling Route 46 Hyundai, but they did not return calls. When we tried calling ourselves, they initially did not return our calls either, but we were persistent until we finally got someone to talk to us. When we finally spoke with a representative there, they suggested that we have the car towed to Hackettstown - 2 hours away - and that they would make the repair. Of course by that time, two weeks had gone by and the repair was already done, but there was no way we would've had the car towed two hours away, when the warranty we paid for should be good at any Hyundai dealer.

Eventually, we spoke with a person at Route 46 Hyundai who advised us that since the dealership had a different owner when we bought the car, that they had no responsibility for the warranty, and that we could track down the former owner to try and get reimbursed for the cost of the warranty.

That was two months ago. We have continued to contact the dealership in hopes of receiving some sort of restitution, and we have gotten no response. The reality is that we purchased a brand-new Hyundai with an extended warranty that cost us over $1,300, and the dealership never filed the paperwork for the warranty. So now, we have a car that is out of warranty, a $400 repair that we had to pay for, and a nonexistent warranty that we purchased from the Hyundai dealer in Hackettstown.

We have contacted Hyundai Corporate America, and they have advised us that they have no recourse in this type of situation. They suggested that we contact the Better Business Bureau, which we have done. Despite all this, we have still gotten no response from the dealership.

I believe that in this case, a local car dealership charged us over a thousand dollars for a warranty and never filed the paperwork, and now that we need to utilize the warranty, the new owner is hiding behind the original owner, and refusing to honor its own business obligations. We paid $1,300+ for an extended warranty, we have a contract stating so, and the company that assumed responsibility for that contract is refusing to acknowledge it.

I'm normally not the type to go running to a message board to complain about a local business, but that's not what this is: it's a warning to a community where we lived and worked for more than 15 years, in case any of you are thinking of purchasing a car from Route 46 Hyundai. It might make sense to drive an extra block to the Honda dealer next door.

Former GM Resident ✉
Nov '19

Here’s a tip. Try to avoid buying ANY extras from the dealer during the initial purchase. Chances are you can get the same things cheaper later.

If you do buy anything extra, make sure you get the paperwork before you accept the vehicle and leave the lot. Solving anything after that point gets much harder.

Also, you can usually buy an extended warranty later direct from Hyundai (or any manufacturer) where you can be sure of what you are getting. Remember that some dealers may actually be selling third party warranties which may not be as good as manufacturer warranties.

It also lets you shop for better prices. I bought my extended Ford warranty online from a dealer in Indiana that relies on volume instead of high prices. The dealer I bought the truck from in New Jersey wanted a lot more money for the same warranty.

It may be very hard (if not legally impossible) to hold the new dealership owner responsible for the theft of the previous owners.

Mark Mc. ✉
Nov '19

Awful! Find out who the prior owner was and sue in small claims court.

maja2 ✉
Nov '19

“When you buy a business, don’t you usually take on all its assets and liabilities.”

Not if you are a smart buyer...

(Random google search result)...

http://www.rdwaller.com/video-archive/421-when-i-buy-a-business-am-i-buying-the-debts.html

“Most of the business sales contracts that I review are a sale of the business assets, so you are not agreeing to pay any of the debts. You simply contract to buy the good will, which is the name of the business, the phone number, the trade name, as well as the business assets; such as the fixtures, equipment and also inventory.”

I would assume this goes double if any of the ”debts” include theft or fraud.

One of the few exceptions I’m seeing is that buyers might be required inherit debts owed to the government (property taxes, etc.). The government always get their money... regular people not so much.

Or, if you actually buy company stock (I.e. if you buy “Hyundai” in its entirety) then you inherit liabilities too. I doubt “Hackettstown Hyundai” was sold off as stock.

Mark Mc. ✉
Nov '19

Have you tried the NJ department of Consumer Affairs?.... they love to sue car dealers

Bug3
Nov '19