Hey guys. I just got my car back from Mazda. I had a loose HID bulb in my right assembly. Turns out that the headlight adjuster was broken and they did not cover it under warranty so I had to pay $1100 to get a new assembly and pay for all the labor. The dealership still thinks the car was in a wreck. I am not 100% sure that it wasnt. The dealership says that they noticed that the right side door was missing a plastic lining and signs of sand blasting were seen on this door so they wouldnt cover the light assembly under the warranty. If anyone has any ideas or anything, just post. Thanks!

 

Run a carfax report against your VIN#. If an insurance claim was pulled against it, it should be listed. If some guy repaired it in his own shop under the table, there's no way to know.

$1100 + labor for 1 STINKING HEADLIGHT???????? Good lord. You got raped.

 

So did they just not replace the headlight, or did they not replace the bulb? My wife's Elantra had most of the front end replaced after saying hi to a trailer hitch, and the dealer is still replacing bulbs whenever they burn out.

Like he said, do a carfax on your car and find out if there was ever a reported wreck. Look here http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=42535.0. that's the carfax thread from mazda3forums. Whenever someone has a 30 day unlimited check they post up and check VIN's for people, and someone just posted a few days ago that he had one. If the dealer continues to give you grief about it then talk to the Mazda rep. and see what they say. Maybe the adjuster was broken from delivery, and the dealer that sold the car just repainted the door to fix a scratch or a dent. Doesn't mean it was in a wreck.

 

the CARFAX report shows nothing. it says it is clean

as for the headlight work, the whole assembly was replaced (the enclosure, high beam, low beam HID, parking light, etc.)

 

did you buy the car new? How many miles were on it? Assuming that the answers to those are yes, and few then I'd get in touch with the dealer you bought from and ask them what happened with the car that it was repaired prior to your buying it, and as a result of those repairs your warranty was partially voided. If they do nothing then get on the phone with mazda NA about it.

 

the dealership said that they have no knowledge of the car being in a wreck

 

I'd get on the phone with Mazda NA and tell them your warranty claims are being denied by your dealer because of something that happened prior to your buying it, and about which nothing was disclosed by the dealer.

 

what is Mazda NA and what will they be able to do about it

 

Mazda North America is basically what oversee's the dealers. There are regional reps all around, so you'd have to schedule for one to see you whenever they were in town for them to check out your car. Anyway if a dealer refuses your claim then they can overule and tell the dealer that the repair should be covered. Of course it can also backfire and they can back the dealer.

You never did say how many miles were on your car before you bought it. Assuming that it was a small number then you know the car was only at the dealer. Assuming that's correct then any wreck the car was in was either in transport (mazda's fault), at the dealer (mazda's fault), or during a test drive (driver's, and mazda's fault). You didn't cause the damage. The damage happened before you bought the car, and was repaired poorly (clear coat overspray, broken headlight) without your knowing about it. More over if the car was originally at this dealer (i.e. it was wrecked, and fixed there) then they lied by not disclosing the accident and the repair to you. An unblemished car is something someone expects to get when they buy new, and a broken interal piece of a headlight kind of exceeds what you would look for in your inspection before purchasing the car, so I can't imagine they would say, "well you didn't say anything before" and be able to get away with it.

However if you bought it used then that's another matter.

Here's a page with contact info. for Mazda NA http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/contactMazda.action

 

i did buy the car used