McCafferty Ford of Mechanicsburg, Inc.

Review: I had my Kia Sorento towed here because it wouldn't start. They said that it needed a new starter. While they had it there I also asked them to perform some 120,000 maintenance on it incl changing the timing belt. The total cost of the repair and maintenance was 1849.30. When I picked it up I only drove about 20 miles and it started making a loud banging sound and quit running. I called them & they had me tow it back to them again. They called & said for them to see what's wrong it would cost 400.00 more. Worst case scenario 7,000.00 to replace the engine. They insisted that it was not their fault or anything they did wrong. I live 75 miles away from there, so instead of having them work on it anymore, I had it towed a third time to a local garage in [redacted]. This garage looked at the inside of the engine & said that they found all these little pieces of brass in the engine & exhaust manifold. This brass being in there caused one of the valves to be bent & that it would need to be sent to a machine shop. They said it definitely had to be McCafferty's fault since there should be no brass in the engine & we weren't having any problems with it before then. My local garage emailed pictures of the pieces & also talked to them on the phone. They are still insisting that they did nothing wrong & have offered to look at it again if I have it towed back down there again. They said if it was not their fault they would pay 1/2 my bill from the local garage which is estimated at 1500.00 (so they would pay 750). They said if it is their fault they would put the new engine in at no cost to me. On one phone conversation I was told that the vehicle had all these bulletins on it stating that parts fly off the engine all the time & this might be the problem. My garage said that even if a part came off the engine somewhere, there is no way it would end up in the combustion chamber unless it was when they were working on it. Clearly they are not going to admit any fault.Desired Settlement: I think McCafferty's should pay for all the expenses in order for this vehicle to be running good again since it is clearly their fault. Whether it needs a new engine or not, whatever it needs to be fixed is their responsibility. It's been sitting since the second week of July waiting for their resolution.

Business

Response:

August 30, 2013

**. [redacted]:

We have already reviewed [redacted]'s request for assistance and fees we are not responsible for the engine repairs needed to her vehicle.

The engine in question has a service bulletin for just such a problem that can occur at higher mileages and result in the damage that [redacted] has reported. At the same time, we were not working on the part of the car that would expose the inside of the engine in a way that would allow outside materia! to enter the combustion chamber as her technician reported.

That being said, we understand that it is an unfortunate coincidence that the vehicle needed repairs so soon after repairs at our shop. It is also our belief that the technician that she has giving her diagnostic information is not certified to make such an evaluation or investigation of such failures.

Unfortunately all of the above conditions still leave a customer without their vehicle and in the middle of two conflicting opinions. So, in the interest of good will and customer relations, we had already agreed to pay for the $1500 repairs to the engine prior to receiving your letter.

We are not assuming responsibility for this failure or future failures of this vehicle. We simply feel it was prudent to make this one time good will gesture.

Please feel free to call or write should you have any further questions.

Sincerely,