What's That Sound? Car Repairs - Round 1

Our 2000 Chev Impala had been a great car so far, but it was now starting to give us some grief. First there were the warning lights: airbag and ABS to begin with. Well, you can ignore those for a while :)

Then began the droning noise in the front end, low at first, kind of like a tire slightly out of balance. So I got the tires balanced. No change. I kept driving.

Then the "Door Ajar" light came on while I'm going down the highway, and all the door locks began cycling like crazy. Sometimes a good doorslam would solve the problem. Other times, we'd try to find a tune on the radio that had the same rythm as the locks opening and closing so we could at least sing along with the beat!

But what finally provoked me to action was the interior lights. Sometimes they wouldn't go out (I guess the car figured the doors were still unlocked). Or if they did, they'd come on later after I'd gone in the house (tricky beggars!). After twice having the battery drained and waiting hours for a boost, I'd had enough.

Thinking that I'd better have a real GM dealer look at the car, I began phoning around Barrie to see who could take it as soon as possible. Georgian Pontiac-Buick-GMC, a large, well-known operation in the city said they could take it right away. Great! So off I went and in no time I was pouring out my woes to a top-notch service agent. As a demanding consumer, I was really impressed with Georgian's customer service. Friendly, knowledgable, and helpful. Now this was service the way I liked it! I sat back in the customer lounge, watching TV and reading newspapers and magazines to my heart's delight while the mechanics went to work on my sick machine.

An hour later, the verdict was in. That droning noise and the ABS light? A wheel hub & bearing unit. That's what the test equipment indicated. By the way, they said, it looks like it's been replaced before, along with a bunch of other parts in that area. Has the car been in an accident? Yes, a couple of years ago, I replied. It was an insurance repair. Well, it needs to be done again because the part has given out, they said. Total replacement cost? $700. Ouch! But they had the part and could do it the same day, so I decided to bite the bullet.

Several hours later, bleary-eyed from watching too much TV and reading too many magazines and newspapers, along with a nice little addition to my credit card bill, I waved goodbye to the friendly folks at Georgian and headed home. Guess what? That noise was still there! Didn't anybody take this thing for a test drive after the repair? Only a totally deaf man could have missed that annoying droning sound! I did a U-turn and went back to see my friendly customer service agent. Well, she said, it must be another wheel. Why don't you bring it in tomorrow and we'll have another look at it? But, I replied, your test equipment said it was that one wheel hub and bearing, and that the others were okay! Well, we must have missed something, she rejoined. Besides, we still need to look at your other electronic problems: the locks, the lights, and the airbag warning light.

It was with a slightly diminishing sense of confidence that I made another appointment for my car the following day. When I got home, I checked the insurance repair bill. Such enough, the right front wheel hub & bearing unit was on there. And it looked like it was under warranty! I called the dealership that had done the work. No problem, they said, just bring us in the old part and we'll see what we can do. I called Georgian again. Oh, sorry, they said, we've already thrown the part out. Not a chance of finding it again.

Suddenly, questions began coming to my mind. They knew it had been an insurance repair, so why didn't they recommend that I check the warranty on it with the dealer that had done the repair? Why were they so quick to throw the old part out? Had the old part actually been thrown out or were they just saying it had been so no one else would see it? My confidence in Georgian began to drop even further. Did I really want to take my car back there again...? (to be continued!)