Miguel's Auto Repair

In regards to your customer's complaint of her (used) 2005 Ford Explorer, that she has recently purchased, from the previous owner, Mrs. ***, Mrs. *** is correct about the multiple repairs performed on this vehicle. There were two different repairs under the previous owner, ***. The first repair had a 12/12 warranty and the second repair was performed without any warranties with the approval and consent of the owner.

The first repair was performed on 6/26/2017. The vehicle was driven into Miguel's Auto Repair with a blown transmission. *** performed a complete rebuilt transmission with a twelve-thousand mile or twelve-month warranty, whichever came first.

The vehicle was brought back to us a second time after misuse of the vehicle, causing the transmission to fail and leaving the vehicle undrivable. The customer explained that she had driven it to tow a travel trailer with the overdrive engaged during her entire trip. Mrs. *** was advised to have the transmission sent out to be rebuilt, aware that the warranty from the previous repair had expired. A simple repair was performed per the customer's request, allowing the vehicle to be drivable until it was rebuilt as advised by Miguel's Auto Repair. The second repair was performed on 10/05/2019 without warranty with the customer's consent.

*** was aware of her mistake and the misuse of her own vehicle by driving it with the overdrive on while towing a heavy travel trailer, with a vehicle unsuitable for heavy towing, for the duration of the trip, causing the transmission to fail/blow again. The customer did not comply with any of the precautions she had been given from the last repairs performed on the vehicle and unfortunately, the repairs performed to the vehicle on 10/05/2019 are not under any warranty. We are terribly sorry to hear of the current situation and we are also sorry that we cannot help Ms *** with her vehicle repairs as there was no warranty for her damaged transmission.

Kind Regards,

*** M.

Mrs. *** opted for the most cost-effective method of repair vs. a complete rebuilt of the transmission in October of 2019. It was requested, by Mrs. ***, that the vehicle be made "drivable" and that she would consider the recommended repairs of a complete rebuilt of the transmission on a later date. There was no warranty suggested or implied on the repairs completed on October 5th, 2019. We would have only provided a 12 month or 12,000 Mile warranty had the customer decided to have a complete rebuilt of the transmission. The cost of the repairs to remove, complete rebuilt of transmission and reinstall would have cost the customer over an additional $1,000. The most cost-effective repair involved sending the transmission out for repairs. A complete rebuilt of the transmission was not performed. The transmission was repaired by replacing noticeably damaged components/parts within the unit. There would be no way of knowing if the components/parts which were not replaced, were worn or weakened by the misuse of the vehicle and would result in a failure of the transmission on a later date. The repaired transmission was installed in the vehicle and it was returned to the customer in a "drivable" condition. if there were any issues with the installation of the transmission by our shop. Those issues would have been evident within days of the repairs, not four months after the installation was completed. We also can not expect our vendors to provide a warranty on transmission repairs of $375, that may result in possible warranty rebuilt of $1300, plus our cost to remove the existing transmission and reinstall the rebuilt transmission. We are sorry that Ms. *** is having these issues with the vehicle she purchased from Mrs. *** and can appreciate her frustration, but we simply cannot help her with the non-warranty transmission repairs made to the 2005 Ford Explorer.