Legal issues with sonic

[severous01]

anyone have any legal issues with the sonic yet??? talkin lemon law stuff. my car has been in the shop 3 imes for the radio, and twice for fog lights going out.

first, they programmed the radio, then they replaced and reprogrammed the radio. and now they replaced and programmed the radio again. i have 11000 miles on the car. am i to expect the radio to go out every few thousand miles?? seems like it

for the fog light...it's half an hr labor and 35 bucks for the bulb. every 2500 miles it goes out. WTF??? i'm not gonna pay 75 bucks three times per oil change to make sure all my bulbs are working.

no telling how much the radio is, plus programming. ugh what do i do? i love my car. i just hate that every time i turn on the car i'm staring a the radio waiting on it to tweek out. and how goofy do i look driving down the road with one fog light on.

and now my trunk buton doesnt work as well?? how often will this go out?

what do i do? put up with it for now or seek legal advice?

 

[GeneralZod]

Talk to your dealer about extending your warranty. Or seek advice from Vanessa here in the forum. Once you go lemon over a certain amount of miles there is no trade. Only money given, and all bets are off as far as the warranty. In other words, will look for reasons to void it.

I would really talk before you lawyer up.

 

[HADES20]

Ask Danny stones I think she mentioned it once

 

[qwed94]

I think the trick trick is to fix the problem, not the symptoms. I would find a different Chevy dealer. Show them the papers from the first dealer. Ask them to examine the car to find out WHY these things are blowing up. Could very well just be a bad ground or 2.

BTW---I have absolutely NO IDEA about lemon laws, but since a dead radio or a blown fog light does not make a car "hazzardous to drive" I dont know if can be a lemon. ---No backlashing here, I did say "I dont know" this was just thinking out loud.

Truthfully, I would bet on a bad ground in those 2 areas. I bet another dealer would fix it first time, if you expressed your "dislike" with the first dealer. WHY? Because this next dealer is banking on you buying another car, and hopefully from them.

 

[Ms.DannyStone]

Its very hard to get your car traded out if its a lemon unless its just breaking down all the time.. I know for a fact they wont trade you a car just because of a fog ligjt and radio.. soon they will look further into them both going out and actually fix the problem instead of just replace the problem... in kentucky after 11k miles your somewhat **** out of luck with the lemon law.. thats why I never got mine traded out.. I now have 21k miles on mine after buying mine new in december.. just keep all your service records then take it to another dealer if your dealer cant fix it and tell them look at all this and find the problem... thats what I do and it works everytime

 

[Eric Smit]

Its very hard to get your car traded out if its a lemon unless its just breaking down all the time.. I know for a fact they wont trade you a car just because of a fog ligjt and radio.. soon they will look further into them both going out and actually fix the problem instead of just replace the problem... in kentucky after 11k miles your somewhat **** out of luck with the lemon law.. thats why I never got mine traded out.. I now have 21k miles on mine after buying mine new in december.. just keep all your service records then take it to another dealer if your dealer cant fix it and tell them look at all this and find the problem... thats what I do and it works everytime

I thought you bought it used?

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

anyone have any legal issues with the sonic yet??? talkin lemon law stuff. my car has been in the shop 3 imes for the radio, and twice for fog lights going out.

first, they programmed the radio, then they replaced and reprogrammed the radio. and now they replaced and programmed the radio again. i have 11000 miles on the car. am i to expect the radio to go out every few thousand miles?? seems like it

for the fog light...it's half an hr labor and 35 bucks for the bulb. every 2500 miles it goes out. WTF??? i'm not gonna pay 75 bucks three times per oil change to make sure all my bulbs are working.

no telling how much the radio is, plus programming. ugh what do i do? i love my car. i just hate that every time i turn on the car i'm staring a the radio waiting on it to tweek out. and how goofy do i look driving down the road with one fog light on.

and now my trunk buton doesnt work as well?? how often will this go out?

what do i do? put up with it for now or seek legal advice?

severous01,
I apologize for your inconvenience that Sonic has caused you and would be glad to research these issues. Fortunately you are working closely with your dealership already on getting these items resolved. If you would like to pm the following information in order to document you concerns, I would be glad to:

• Your first and last name
• Your address, city, state & zip
• Contact phone number
• Current mileage
• The last 8-digits of your VIN
• Your involved/preferred dealership

Look forward to your reply.

Vanessa,
GM Customer Service

 

[ChrisJ]

Its very hard to get your car traded out if its a lemon unless its just breaking down all the time.. I know for a fact they wont trade you a car just because of a fog ligjt and radio.. soon they will look further into them both going out and actually fix the problem instead of just replace the problem... in kentucky after 11k miles your somewhat **** out of luck with the lemon law.. thats why I never got mine traded out.. I now have 21k miles on mine after buying mine new in december.. just keep all your service records then take it to another dealer if your dealer cant fix it and tell them look at all this and find the problem... thats what I do and it works everytime

I thought you bought it used?

And I thought most of the problems were caused by either you or things going around you (bobcat) and not manufacturing defects?

I can't crash my car into a pole 5 times and return it because its a lemon........... Yanno?

 

[Red_RS]

Lemon laws vary from state to state. Google "lemon law (your state).

 

[Ms.DannyStone]

Eric no i told you like 20 times i drove it off the lot with 15 miles on it,

And ChrisJ Yeah the Bobcat messed a few things up on my car but i didint blame that on the car, My radio quit working then got it replaced then the cd got stuck in it got that replaced, my breaks grind and squeak, its like my car has no weather stripping.. and a lot more things, all that bobcat did was blow my tire and bend the rim.. got those fixed the same day

 

[dkennedy1989]

It varies from state to state, but I know with Michigan its 4th time and you are eligible to do lemon law, but you need to have a lawyer to get the issue resolved. I had to do this with a car before but be warned...it takes a while to do.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[severous01]

the thing is...the fix for the radio is a replacement, and a program. if i have to do this every 4-5 months, and the radio is 900+...over the life expectancy of the car that's an extra car or two in paying to fix my current car...doesnt matter if it's a safety or other issue to me. my point is i'm paying to fix something that shouldnt have to be paid to fix.

vanessa i'll get to you on the info soon

 

[rondoman]

In Wisconsin it qualifies if an issue isnt fixed by the 4th time or its been out of service for 30 days or more. Days do not have to be consecutive.

 

[brandon1239]

you can't file a lemon law claim for a radio or fog lights going out... I started to file one with GM and the dealership I purchased mine from called me and said GM would help get me into another one. I had 4 transmissions put in my 2012, second gear would grind in every single one, I finally got them to admit it wasn't me on the fourth one, they put it in took it for a drive with me in it and they replicated the grind on the brand new trans first drive out. you have to have a serious issue for them to consider it or try your luck in court. all i had to do was be halfway willing to jump through hoops and I landed myself a 2013.

 

[dkennedy1989]

It depends on what the claim is for, you will definitely need a lawyer...I had to do a lemon law on my car and Chrysler didn't even try to replace the trans on my old car

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[severous01]

on an update notification for records keeping...

i've had some issues with the radio still, 10,000mi later. i have not brought it back to the dealer but i have video recorded it happening...after about 30 seconds, when i finally notice my radio is blank and i have no sound.

the fog light issue is fixed for now still. after installing a 'long life' bulb which isnt as bright as the passenger's side. so i assume i'll have to invest the 'whopping' $13 bucks for a LL bulbe and install it myself to make it look like the left side.

and as far as the 'lemon' part goes...i doubt it would be worth my time or money to fight GM over a radio issue....although a trade-up into one of the new diesel Cruze models would be nice.

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

Hi severous01

If you would like I can document your concerns and issues in our internal system. I can start a service request to keep track of the issues and dealer visits if you would like. This can be pulled up in the future if needed and also used by Customer Care Agents to assist in getting the issue resolved. Please send me a private message if you are interested.

Jackie
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[rdss]

I would get the radio fixed and just trade it on something else whether it be another Sonic or a different car all together.

 

[SnowVert]

Actually, you probably can go through the lemon law process for a radio repair issue. Recalls are triggered by safety issues, not cosmetic or appearance issues. Lemon law is triggered by an unresolved repair that is documented as a continuous, repeated problem. I went through this with a 2012 Camaro Convertible regarding appearance issues with the convertible top.

The key is, work with GM to try to resolve the problem. I went far beyond what my state requires to trigger the lemon law, because I loved the car and just wanted it to work as a new car should. After multiple attempts, I began to go down the lemon law path. GM swiftly offered to buy back my 2012 (for the purchase price) and apply it to a 2013 replacement. The deal worked out well for everyone involved.

Good luck with the issues. Feel free to message me if you have any questions about going through the process.