Just out of curosity, did you happen to go back and see what it was you hit?

Some good points listed, but I highly doubt this would be covered under warranty. This was not a mechanical failure that was due a fault of GM. Warranty repairs for breakdowns normally are only covered if the item fails under normal wear and tear. A damaged oil pan that shows signs of an impact is not normal wear and tear. Yes, you might could find a dealship to work with you. But I would not hold my breath on that. I deal with fleet vehicles and we have GM, Ford, and DC vehicles, about 5,000+ in SC alone. We are nation wide and in a few select overseas locations. I deal with warranty work all the time. I would at least try for a "Good Faith" coverage. Probably will not work, but I would imagine it being your only shot. But you will need to show what you hit.

 

I agree he might catch a dealer who would out of the goodness of their heart try to warranty it. I was saying that, it was not GM's fault if you run over something. I fixx so many cars for service departments that people claim that their cars got dented at the dealer. They just pay me to fix them to shut the customer up. Everyone knows about 90% of them are bogus. But in the interest of trying to get the customer back in sales and service they take care of it. People take no responsilbilty for their own actions and expect it always to be someone fault besides their own. I would think this would be a collision that would fall under comp. I would be at my insurance agents office trying to get them to take care of this.

 

Now you know why your car costs $20,000 instead of $10,000. Lawers, lawauits and false warranty claims.

 

Your insurance should cover it. My wife had a rather large piece of metal fly up and mangle the front bumper and tore up the wheel well of our venture van. progressive took care of it, we just had to pay our deductible.

 

Hey everyone! Thanks again for all the input. The pan had a large hole in it from the rock I must have hit. Essentially it came down to this. I left the roadway onto what essentially was a two track path, crowned in the middle with a vehicle that has all of 4" of clearance. I was suprised and the dealer said it must have been some hit because of the break to the pan. Knocked a big hole in the cast piece. I agree it should have some sort of protection because I have already hit several tire chunks on the freeway that left marks on the rear fender forward edge infront of the tire.

Anybody who lowers one had better get a skid plate that covers the whole undercarriage.

Insurance is coming to look at it. $5400

 

Funny, but not so funny cooinsidence... A few days ago, I was driving down a dirt road, at night, and apperently ran over a large rock.. Never felt it, but the next morning, I noticed the car was shifting terribley. When I parked, noticed a huge puddle comming out from under the car. Turns out, I tore a hole in my tranny pan and lost majority of the fluid. Knowing the dealership would rip me off on services, I just bought a new pan and gasket and did it myself. It was an easy fix, but only Dextron 6 can be used... which is not sold, ANYWHERE. I had to go to 4 different dealerships before I could find some! How can a service department in a GM/Chevy dealership NOT have the correct fluids?! Well, just thought I'd share the experience. All is good now ($200 later)

 

Yep, it is just amazing to me something so low off the factory floor would not have more substantial protection under it. But then I am an off road guy and everything must be protected there.

 

yeah, when I took the transmition pan off to replace it and the gasket, the pan itself is a VERY thin peice of aluminum. Much thinner than the average backing pan. And the fact that such a small peice of thin aluminum costs $80 AMAZED me.

 

And here is something to think about if you ever have transmission service done. Some places don't carry the proper transmission fluid so they are putting what they have in it (like Dexron 3) instead of ordering the proper fluid from the dealer. Us Intrepid owners had this problem because our cars take Dexron 4 and it is only now starting to show up at auto parts places. So some shops were putting Dexron 3 in and it caused problems. Make sure that they are putting the proper fluids in at the shops.

 

Thanks for the update!
I'm going to look into something for my undercarriage now!