[TriLUG] [way OT] new auto recommendations (fwd)

[matt at noway2.thruhere.net]

> The car had a constant-on check engine light at about 9K miles. I took
> it in, they fixed it for free, it was something about the gas cap or
> evaporative emissions system or something like that.
>
Years ago, I leased a Honda SUV.  I forget the model, but it was before
they came out with their own (the CRV, Ridgeline, etc) and was actually an
Isuzu that they put their name on.

It had a defect that caused the check engine light to come on every
thousand miles or so.  Long story short, it was in the shop 13x in the
first year, 11 of which were for this problem.  I kept going round and
round with Honda and said that it was time that they replace the car. 
They kept stomping their foot quoting their policy to fix the car, etc.

I filed a complaint with the BBB which had an auto program that goes
through arbitration.  Normally if the arbitrators declare the car
defective they rule that you get your money back minus a fair usage fee. 
In this case, they said that Honda's behavior was so egregious that no fee
was justified and I was entitled to a full refund.

Honda didn't like the ruling and refused to comply with it.  I sued on the
grounds of a couple dozen state and federal lemon law violations and about
a week before they had to respond to the court they offered to replace the
car for the remainder of the lease.  I declined and said, no, I was
willing to do that six months ago and you wouldn't hear it.  The law says
I am entitled to a full refund plus reimbursement of all costs, including
legal fees.  I got like $11K back on the thing and bought a 99 Ford truck
which I still have.

The lawyer, who specialized in consumer law, said that was the first time
he had ever had issues with a Honda lemon.

The story doesn't end here.

Part of the settlement papers was an agreement that effectively said Honda
and I should never speak of this problem.  Fine, no go away.

A couple of months later, I received a letter in the mail stating, "Our
records indicate your Honda Passport was recently in for service..."  I
ignored it.  Several weeks later, at the exact same frequency rate at
which I was having the problems with the check engine light, I got another
"Our records indicate..."

I sent it back to them with a copy of the settlement with a note that
said, "This would be really funny if the implications weren't so very
serious."  I never received another statement.

I turned the car into the dealer and instead of sending it back, they sold
it used to someone poor sucker.  Unfortunately the lemon law doesn't apply
to used sales.  I am sure though, that they failed to disclose that the
car was returned as a lemon.  I had considered putting my contact
information in the users manual at the page where it talks about the check
engine light, but didn't.  I wish I had.