He's a sweetheart who usually hangs in the specific fora. Pls don't be cynical bc gfm and other fundraisers have been overused by some DUers. It is hard to trust, I know.

He and his husband are in a badspot, and I believe him. We have all had expensive car issues, and they need the car for salary.

He's a great person and needs support. Ty all. DUers are great and generous.

ETA he didn't even want to do this he's embarrassed.

transmission that's been replaced isn't guaranteed?

The shop and mechanic should honor some sort of warranty/guarantee.

A good mechanic would never recharge for a faulty repair.

You need to take it back to the mechanic and politely but firmly insist to get it repaired free of charge.

The transmission repair should have lasted much longer than 8 months.

Yes, he guaranteed it for three months. That was not long enough I am afraid.

He did not charge us anything when we took it to him a few weeks ago. That was when I first noticed the developing issue. The issue is that things like this are not meant to be 'repaired' anymore. They can only be replaced. That will cost us too much.

From what I can see, the issue is a stupid design idea. Add to that the fact that the design (according to my research) does not do well in cold weather. Which is something that the manufacturer should have told people from the beginning. But, expecting a business to be honest about their products is even more stupid, I am afraid.

The problem was and is the fact that taking it to a dealer would have added a few thousand more to the repair. We definitely could not have afforded that. Plus, based on my reading, this may well have happened regardless of who fixed it. So, we did what we could.

Personally, I would love for this practice of 'never let them know the truth' that businesses are constantly using to be removed from legality. But, of course, that would arouse the ire of corporations, who feel that using the phrase 'caveat emptor' once fifty years ago is warning enough.

Lastly, we have already been through the mechanics around here thanks to my old truck. It seems working on anything around here that is more than five years old is impossible. Or way out of reach financially. Or any number of excuses that I got when I tried to get it fixed. So, I do not have that vehicle anymore. Now, we may not have anything. We don't have the resources and the talent to work our way through this crap. Which, given my 'work history' of the last ten years, is not a surprise. The powers that be do not want to lift a finger to help anyone, certainly not someone who is not killing themselves to make some oligarch richer.

Let me see what I can figure out for you...

1) Year and make of the vehicle?

2) Was the replacement a complete replacement or a rebuild?

3) is the mechanic certified in your state?

It is a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe. It is AWD.

As far as I know, it was a complete replacement. There was nothing on the bill about rebuilding it. I will double check that.

I will have to check that out to know for sure. There are certificates aplenty on the walls, so I may have made an assumption on that matter. I would assume that he would not own two successful businesses without being 'legit' (meaning he is certified to practice this in the state). But, these days, it could be a mistake to assume this. He has always treated us well in the past.

You have recently spent $6,000 for a new transmission, and you are planning on spending another $6,000 for yet another transmission for this vehicle. This means that you are spending $12,000 for one system on a vehicle that is only worth $5,000.

You were over-charged for the original transmission replacement.

Per Kelly Blue Book, the transmission replacement cost of your vehicle is:

Via dealer: $4,923 to $5,293
Via independent mechanic $3,642 to $3,966.

$6,000 is significantly higher than the independent mechanic range of $3,642 to $3,966. You indicated that you did not go to the dealer for the repair.

I'm not sure if you had a contract for the original repair.

If it were me, I'd consider two options:

1) A 90 day guarantee on a transmission replacement is basically no guarantee at all. You could try to negotiate with the mechanic that you used to get the repair re-done. It's been 8 months since the repair? I'm not sure of your relationship with the mechanic, but small claims court is always an option, since in Minnesota, you are under the $15,000 maximum. I'm not sure how to put this delicately, but you got ripped off by this guy if he is not standing behind his work at 8 months, especially after being charged too much.

2) You could sell or trade in your vehicle for around $5k and immediately buy a similar vehicle with a working transmission for around the same price. Whatever you do, do not sink another $6k into this vehicle.

Good luck and best wishes.

Excellent points. Tough spot to be in, but no sense compounding the losses.

The transmission replacement was not the sum of the repairs. I know how this sounds, but he found other things that had to be addressed. He showed me the catalytic converter and the entire thing was in rusted pieces. The front end suspension also had damage that was unknown before he put it up to do the other repair. There was one more thing as well, which I am not remembering at the moment. The blame is from not doing a proper inspection and discussion when the vehicle was bought. On that, I agree with you. We seemed to have been ripped off. That was because of... how the vehicle was purchased. But, we did have it for five years and drove it to North Carolina and back. There is that to consider I suppose. The replacement came a year after the trip, btw.

We have had a great relationship with this repair person and I would hope that he has not been ripping us off. He has cut us deals in the past when our old cars developed problems that were major. He has thought outside of the box to fix things that were not supposed to be repairable. Of course, I cannot rule it out. I will have to assess that part of things once we get the immediate issue addressed.

I doubt we would get the listed price for a vehicle that does not go. Right now, it will barely engage in gear and it takes a lot of coaxing just to get it to the higher gears, where it seems to run okay. We are in the city, so getting to those speeds is very difficult. It would have to be towed to wherever we were going.

Do not worry. I have no intention of paying another dime on saving this vehicle. Of course, I am not the decision maker here. Assuming I can convince the other half of the necessity of seeking out another, cheaper vehicle and dumping this thing in the river (kidding), we will seek out an alternative to the present situation.

Sigh. We have a mandatory wedding to go to this weekend, and now we have no way to get ourselves there outside of a waste of funds on Ubers back and forth. Plus, they won't post the schedule for hubby's work this week and he still does not even know if he has it off. There is an even chance that I will have to go alone. FUCK.

(and tired of being that way. Hopefully, the failing heart will bow to the pressure...)

And skip a wedding. Friends will. Understand. I'm so sorry you're undergoing this nightmare. Been there, done that. They couldn't find out why my car would not start sometimes and i wastted 1200 on an alternator and threw up from stress