ckurok1

Hi All,

I bought a '21 TLX last year at Vandergriff Acura in Arlington, TX. It currently has ~48k miles so it's still under factory warranty. I also bought the extended warranty at the time of sale. I was rear-ended a month ago and my car is currently at a body shop for repairs. Once they disassembled the rear end they found evidence of a poorly repaired impact that happened prior to my purchase of the car.

Issues center around the L taillamp pocket which should have been replaced. There are threads welded into this piece of sheet metal that popped out, and instead of replacing the sheet metal they glued the threads back into place. The quarterpanel also has buckles that weren't fixed but that were conveniently concealed by the weatherstrip surrounding the trunk opening. They were also so lazy that they didn't remove the taillamp clips and simply painted over them. This also caused water intrusion and there is rust in the trunk compartment. The estimated repairs are over $2,000.

I have called the dealership but can't get a hold of anyone. I might have found the GM's email address and wrote him but I've gotten no response so far and I can't say for certain it reached him.

I did call Honda Customer Service and got a case number but I'm not experienced enough to know whether this is a manufacturer or dealer issue. Does anybody have any helpful suggestions? Thank you!

Welded threads broke off, then were reapplied with glue




Seam sealant exposed due to lack of repairs




Bad gaps/poor installation of taillamp led to water intrusion.

mvl

The Acuracare warranty exempts Honda from problems that existed prior to the purchase of the car. So technically Honda could try to weasel out of it, and say to go after the selling dealer.

However I have found Honda/Acura to be generous over the years in goodwill credits if a customer was clearly not responsible for something. So they might help if the selling dealer doesn't.

Some states (like mine in Massachusetts) require a licensed dealer to repair anything in a car that wasn't disclosed at the time of sale, if you can prove it previously existed at time of sale. Private parties have have the same liability if the buyer can prove the seller knew and didn't disclose, but licensed dealers have to cover stuff even if they didn't know about it (like your situation). So in my state the combination of both warranties makes CPO a worry-free experience.

Eg: I noticed a lot of problems when I bought my CPO Odyssey and the dealer filed the repair claims to their own used car insurance provider, not Hondacare. It was only new failures that they billed to Hondacare.

Bottom line you probably have to complain to the selling dealer and see what protections exist in your state. I believe many states have rules that they at least have to repair pre-existing issues that would prevent the car from passing a safety inspection. But I hear a few states allow "as is" sales and have no mandated warranty at all.