Ok...
I live in GA

My friends car is hooked up from the dealership (you know how these honda dealerships like making rice cakes out of cars), he has a 2003 honda civic Si....He has a 2.0..
Ok..here is the story....

One day he was driving to his friends house to swap rims...As he was driving to his friends house on steelies 15's... thier was a little incline in the road and a suear (those things that ninja turtles come out of) and the suear drain was sticking out due to the contruction in the road (poor tarring/contruction etc...by the city)...Ok so he hits the suear and his oil pan gets hit and puts a dent into the underneath part where the plug is...Causing oil to start leaking...So after the shocking hit by the drain, he comes home and drains the oil out...

ok....

So he orders a new oil pan while his car is just sitting in the drive way with no where to go....

Now, while he was at work, his sister took his car and drove it.......WITH a minute amount of oil in the car!!! She didnt see an oil light come on, but in the past his car has had little problems with engine readings comming up on dash (ABS light etc...)...Carrying on, she drove it for about 1/2 mile to a gas station to put gas in it....As she started the car to go to get something to eat, the car just stopped and started to gear down.....Now she claims that she didnt know that the car had no oil in it...Butt thats another story.............

ok...

So he comes home and starts to cry...Me and my other friends pick up his sister and we push the car home...We came to the conclusion that the cars engine was basically welded together.......he didnt open anything...But the car wont even start..We dont know what to do? WHo can he get help from? Can he blame the dealer ship for putting such a low drop on the car? Can we blame the city for the hump in the suear? How can he fight this with the dealership? Also, If he put the new oil pan on it and say that we didnt know, because he didnt see an engine oil light come on? (or he can put the old oil pan on and say that he didnt know what happend due to the bad readings on the dash) But that may look fishy? I dont know what he's gona do...The car is just sitting out thier, a brand new 03 si K20 motor, with only 7K miles on it.....Is thier any way we can look inside with out touching anything? Also, what do dealerships charge for inspecition /warranty issues?? What about ECU computer readings? is thier anything we can do to fight the dealership? Do they know how much oil we had? what speed? What time? etc....

My main question is: How can he fight this with insurance/dealership/city? I say put on the new oil pan and say, i always get bumps (due to the low drop those rice makers put on) i ddint notice? or (and) keep the bad old oil pan on it and use the i dunno what happend consumer attitude?

What can he do?
Thanks he needs all the help he can get....

 

I don't believe insurance will cover this, as it is sort of a negligence type problem. The dealership definately will not cover this. The city at most will pay for a new oil pan. I would say you friend is out of luck.

There are 3 things wrong with your post:

1. Suear is an neat looking word, but "sewer" is the word I believe you're looking for.
2. Trying to commit fraud is bad. You can end up in some serious trouble whether it is with insurance, warranty claims, or the city. Sue the city for the cost of the oil pan and the time your friend lost without the car while the oilpan was on order. Do not include the damage your sister caused.
3. You should know by now that there are people from different walks of life that read these types of forums. Word gets out fast when you publicly state that you suggest your friend attempts to lie and get some sort of compensations for his own mistakes.

The first part of your post is honest, which is good. The 2nd part is not something we condone here. It's a lesson your friend has to learn. Hope you guys don't decide to try to blame someone else for this.

 

This is interesting.. My friend just 2 weeks ago drove his car over a slight bump in the road and clipped his oil pan. It completely destroyed the oil pan and his front bumper. Oil leaking everywhere. His oil light came on so he pulled over and noticed a very large oil path from where he hit. So he called a tow truck and claimed it on his insurance. It was only $1200 to fix (he drives an S4) but he still claimed it under his insurance. I would of just paid for it. Anyway, you might be able to fight the dealership into paying some of the cost of a new motor since most likely the motor is seized. The oil light should always come on if there is a super low amount of oil.. Period! You WILL have to get a lawyer though (or tell them your lawyer is going to contact them) for them to budge on this. Honda Motor Corp isn't very friendly when it comes to this type of stuff. The other option would be to tell the insurance company about the accident and claim it there. Just my 0.02. Good luck and keep us informed on what happens.

 

No way you can blame the dealership for lowering the car. Your friend knew the car was lowered when he bought it and chose to do so anyways. As for the city, it will be hard to convince them that it's their fault this guy's sister drove it without oil. He should have made sure nobody could drive that car since it had no oil in it. Best bet is to call insurance and see if they'll cover it. Anything else will involve fraud and a new engine isn't worth some possible jail time.

 

I disagree. When a dealership sells a new car, it warrants it to be free of defect under normal driving conditions.

When the dealership sells a car installed with lowerings springs or coil-overs, it is extending that warranty to say, "there is no problem with this car as long as it's used in the intended manner."

Now here are the key questions:

1) Would a reasonable person, driving in a reasonable manner, have hit the sewer cover like your friend did?

2) Is it forseeable that your sister would have taken the car out after you pushed it home?

I can't answer these questions without more facts, but I'm willing to bet that had the car not been lowered, it would not have hit the sewer cover/man-hole. (Assuming your friend isn't a shit driver) Liability to the car lies with the entity that lowered the car and since it's the dealership in this case, they owe you at the very least a new oil pan, money equivalent of pushing the car home, the downtime from replacing the oilpan. In addition, if you are able to show that it's reasonably foreseeable that the sis would drive the car, then throw new engine into that equation as well. You may also sue for the new engine just based on the fact that the loss of oil after hitting the sewer caused enough oil loss to damage the engine.

 

There was something sticking up in the road. How is that the dealer's fault? Would you also think the dealer should pay if he ran over a piece of debris in the road that fell off a truck? It seems like Americans are way too eager to sue and try to blame someone else when they screw up. The guy parked his car knowing his sister had access to it and she drove it. That's his fault. Trying to blame that incident on the city or the dealership is ridiculous.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by wickerbill
There was something sticking up in the road.

 

It seems to me that the negligent driving is outweighted by the fact that the oil light did not come on, regardless of who was driving it. Technically, your sister did not know it had low oil and it should have lit up to let her know to stop driving the car.

Suppose the car had been a rental car. When you get a rental car, you have no way to know what's wrong with it unless the engine lights start coming on. You are not expected to have a mechanic look over your engine before you take it off the lot.

You sister drove it off your driveway (the lot), not knowing this information. The oil light failed to warn her. Though this argument is weak, it's possible that your warranty could cover this.

 

Who says there was no oil light? Your sister? Is she familiar with the instrument panel on the car? Has she read the instruction manual? Does she actively know what each of the indicators on the instrument panel means?

 

SO QUICK TO BLAME.