Just thought I would vent for a bit. Back in the first week of december, my car slid on ice and my rear wheel slammed into a curb. That day I got my car towed to the dealership where I purchased the car earlier this year. They asses the damage and tell me the rim is bent, hub is broken, needs new control arms, etc.. They order the parts that day, and tell me it will take a couple days to arrive. They call me a week later and tell me the parts came, except for the lower control arm, which is on back order. It is now over a month since the order was placed, and the part is still on back order! I find it ridiculous that they cant get this part for a brand new car that is fairly common. I call and vent today, and they told me they have contacted the company headquarters and placed the part on "emergency order". They said if they cant get the emergency part, it will be until at least february before I get the part. I am really pissed off about this and was wondering if anyone else out there has had a problem similar to this with new parts?

 

Tell them you are tired of waiting and are ready to start talking about a replacement under the lemon law. Your car can only be out of service for a certain length of time before it is a lemon. Tell them you want them to take a control arm off a brand new car and put it on yours or you will force them to go into arbitration. I would wait and see if they can get the emergency part before I start getting real antsy though. You never know, it might come tomorrow or the next day. I would definitely get a time frame and hold them to it though.

Research the lemon law for your state.

 

I am actually in Canada (Alberta), so I will have to research these laws... This part is apparently very hard to get because you cannot take one off a regular lancer. They told me by February, so if it's not here by then, I will have to take action.

 

oh, yeah I dunno about the lemon laws there. and i figured it was different than the reg lancer but it should be the same as the sportback. if there is more than one mitsu dealer around you I would drive and see if you can find another RA, if so they should do something about it. My local dealer started stealing parts off of another lancer to fix my steering issue.

 

im pretty sure for it to be considered a lemon it has to be in the shop for a long time due to not being able to diagnose or resolve the problem, not because of back order on a part. jeeze i used to be a tech and now am a salesman and floor manager, and people are always threatening a dealership with the lemon law, and dot even understand what it is. you can also file on the lemon law if a car returns for the same problem in an unusually short amount of time 3 times

 

What are you currently driving, a rental or your RA?
There has been a problem with the OEM control arm bushing, which required alot of them to be replaced, I know, I am one of them. Its really not your dealers fault that you hit a curb though. Have you discussed using parts from another car on the lot? Only problem with that is that you may get one that has the old bushings that corrode due to our harsh winters. My origninal ones lasted one winter before they needed to be replaced and you don't want to go through this again, so waiting for the new ones isn't a bad idea. Try and maintain a good relationship with your dealership, speak to the manager and voice your frustrations to him/her and see about working out some other deal to your advantage, such as labour done at cost, or parts at dealer's cost for your inconvenience. They make alot of money here, and if you approach the right way, it can be a win/win situation for both. PS. I don't work for mitsu, or any company that makes/fixes vehicles.

 

yeah, I didn't even take into account that this was not Mitsu's fault. you definitely should follow psychlancers advice on this one.

 

Part is probably coming from Japan. Ships move slowly, so long waits are to be expected.