So my car is almost ONE year old new... pretty cool.

Anyways that means it's time for the yearly inspection... So I take it to the GM dealer today to get inspected... waited probably 20-30 minutes and they said it was ready and I paid without checking my receipt and got into my car and was thinking I paid $40... Now an inspection is government regulated with regulated fees so I check it and they did NOT inspect my car... they did an oil change... Nice... It was only about a month ago I got one done so I had to go back in and get refunded for my $40 for an oil change that is now free and wait another 20 minutes for them to tell me...


That this "quality" made General Motors vehicle is not going to pass inspection due to a faulty tie rod...
So now I have to take it back Monday to get it fixed, and I am lucky it is still under warranty.

So my guess is that this time next year I will get to pay for the other tie rod...

 

I would wonder if you "felt" any play in the steering wheel. Rack and pinion set ups have inner and outers and I have to assume your outer one was bad.

 

So the dealer will inspect my one year new car for free? I never knew that

 

It could be bent. Potholes or anything could give it a good hard shot.

 

Sounds like the shop is retarded (especially since they accidently changed your oil).

IF you actually needed a tie rod, you'd be able to tell. Your HHR would wander all over the road, shake terribly and wear your tires bad!!!

Take it somewhere else - don't knock GM.

 

Hey Eldon....

I'm confused about the "yearly inspection", "government regulated" and "regulated fees". What is this that you are speaking of? Is it a State requirement and the fees and service is detrmined by your state? And your GM dealer will do the state mandated inspection, for that fee?

I'm also confused on how the tie rod problem is enjoined with the oil change. You used 4-5 sentences to describe the oil change problem but only one to say you need a tie rod. Did the GM dealer, during the mentioned inspection, notice the tie rod problem and advise you in writing or verbal? If so, why didn't they fix it while it was on the rack? Are they ordering a part?

 

In Massachusetts we too have a yearly safety inspection as well as an emissions inspection. State mandated at licensed inspection stations (most dealrships are) and the fee is 29 bucks. They have a host of items to check including jacking it up and checking the front end, all of your lights, broken glass, etc. It's pretty comprehensive. The garages make the money when they find a problem. They can issue a "REJECTION" sticker, which stands out like a sore thumb, especially to the cops. So, around here, the inspection station needs to be reliable and respectable or you could get ripped off. As for the unecessary oil change.....someone wasn't reading the repair order.

 

I'd disagree. Depending on how badly it's damaged, you might not notice all that easily. We had a vehicle that needed a new tie rod, and all you would notice was a little extra noise when changing lanes. Very slight symptoms, but a new tie rod fixed it.

 

So...you got a free oil change and a free tie rod, and GM is still the bad guy here? Your logic escapes me...

Also, just because ONE tie rod went bad doesn't necessarily mean the other side will go bad too. You lost some time. Big deal. You didn't have to get all sweaty or greasy doing the work yourself and it was covered under warranty.

I take my car to a little greasy garage across the street from my office for the annual inspection. Last year the guy asked me what year it was and then said, "Ah, new car, it's passed". The car was actually a year and a half old, but I took my sticker and went on my merry way anyway.

 

Could it be that the tie rod end did not get made with any grease ????????

As a NYS Motor Vehicle Inspector we check things like the breaks, steering, lights, tire tread depth, sub frame rust on older car's as well. The state sets the fee we can charge, which does not cover the time it takes to run the inspection. MOST New car's are exempt from the emmision inspection the first two .
Everyone makes a mistake, maybe you were not quite clear on what was to be done ?????? Was the service writer having a bad day ?? because of another customer ?????
At least all is FREE, FREE is always good.................................