I took my car in Jan 26th to get a wheel alignment. When I dropped off the car it was perfect running condition and had 41380 miles on it. 45 minutes later I get a call asking if there is a trick to getting my car in gear. I go down there to see what's up and my car is stuck in neutral and will not go in ANY GEAR - AT ALL. The shop "CLAIMS" it was not driven but the car was not parked in the original spot - and the mileage is now 41385. So its obvious my car was moved by someone at the shop...

What do I do now? Dealer will not cover it under warranty - it will have to the transmission rebuilt. Is this grounds for a NEW transmission or only to have the broken one fixed?

Will they also have to pay for my rental car?

You have to prove what happened, you will need to have the transmission inspected and have them determine what was done to it, to cause it to happen, and this shop will have to be willing to testify in court against the other shop.

It merely breaking done in their shop is not proof, you need proof.

Also if a car only has 41 K miles it should still have warranty on it, depending on the age.

Next they don't have to pay you anything at this point and time, you will have to sue and win, and this is not going to be as easy as I think you believe it is.

I dropped my car off with 41380 miles on it... THAT IS DOCUMENTED. When I go back to get my car it had 41385 miles on it. THAT IS DOCUMENTED. I just got off the phone with SERVICE rep at Subaru of American and he claims that 1st Gear is broke. Its obvious now what happen to my car. My car is a 2004 Subaru WRX - turbo, AWD. So the guy got crazy in my car and broke 1st gear. The service guy knows my story and also says yes, this shop should be liable for it...

It is under Warranty - but warranties are only covered if its not DRIVER ERROR. This was a driver error - not mine. So they have to fix it not me.

Did they do the alignment? If so, then yes the car was probably driven to check their work. Means nothing.


Ask the shop to thoroughly inspect the transmission to make sure it's not a simple mistake on their part. If not, you need to ask yourself if the transmission was really performing tip-top. Remember any slipping, hard-shifting? Fluid dirty?

Low-mileage doesn't mean squat when it comes to certain makes. 41k is actually just the right time for certain Mazda/Ford transmissions to fail.

Anyway, chances are they didn't do anything unreasonable to your vehicle that would cause complete tranny failure to that extent. Honestly, you will probably end up having to pay for this yourself. For them to be liable, you have to prove negligence.

I put my money on a bad/disconnected shift cable, or a pre-existing condition that just happened to come to head while at the shop.

Edit: First gear broken? This is a WRX - it should be able to handle some crazy driving.

Well, regardless of what you think - you will have to prove that in court and I don't see you being able to do that.

No they didn't do an alignment. They called me back 45 minutes after dropping it off and they said no one drove it. They pushed it to where it was. But there was 5 extra miles on the odometer... so COME ON NOW?? My car is a 2004 SUBARU WRX. I don't drive it in the manner that would cause this. I have had 3 manual transmission before and never has anything like this happen to me before. I had the clutch replaced less than 300 miles ago and it was running beautifully! Someone at the shop took advantage of my car. They drove it around 5 miles like it was a race car. That's how this happen. They didn't shift right or down shift right. This is a high performance car!

The car was taken to the dealer and the transmission was taken apart and pictures were taken!

Dealer says
"First Gear Stripped on Main Shaft, First Driven Gear has Broken teeth, metal shavings in bearings."

They even told me to get a lawyer!

SO - TELL ME AGAIN? DO I HAVE A CASE? The dealer told me to get a lawyer... I know I didn't do this! I don't drive my car like that! Funny thing is I didn't even take the car over 4000 RPM because it was on a new clutch!

I told my story to Chris Smith - Customer Service manager for Scher Goodyear franchise - he called me within 1 hour of emailing him! Was very interested to see the dealer papers... I have all my documentation that proofs my car was driven 5 miles! They claim it wasn't so then someone must have driven it without their supervision while it was under their care!

*Sigh*

Whether the vehicle was driven for 5 miles or not is irrelevant. It's documented that it was driven, so it was driven. Them lying about it is just your word.

What is important here is, you have to prove that the car was mishandled during that drive. Someone going behind the boss's back and taking it for a spin which resulted in transmission damage is circumstantial, and will remain so unless you can turn someone at that shop.

But yes, to answer your question, if they are found liable they will have to re-imburse you for the rental.

I am sorry your "evidence" is not evidence that has hardly any value in court. Error in milage could be claimed, test drive or other possible answers,

You have to PROVE, OK you know it, I even know it, but that means nothing in court, EVIDENCE, something that can be proved to the fact THEY did it. If the part just broke from prior use, it just happened, so yes get an attorney, most likely they will settle, most larger companies do, but do you have a good case, no not really,

Sorry but too many people watch law and order and think this is good evidence and that is good evidence but proving they actually did it is not done, it only proves it was broken when they got into it, they could easily claim a mistake in milage when checking it in,

This is not the place to argue who did what. If you have a question that someone on here might answer for you then pose that question to them and let them give you the answer they think is best. Your first question was whether this was grounds for a new transmission or a rebuilt one. And will they have to pay for the rental car also. I think before those questions are answered you are going to have to establish fault first, and that is not going to be an easy thing.
I am not sure this is not covered under the original warranty. How do they know it was driver error, is it possible that you may have mentioned that the repair shop hot rodded your car around, could it be that you yourself relieved them of any responsibility.

GoodYear called me today and said they would pay to have the car fixed by the dealer. :rolleyes: