Steve Rapchick

Review of Hilton Head Hyundai

About 2 weeks ago, I traveled from the Charleston ...

About 2 weeks ago, I traveled from the Charleston area to purchase a 2013 Chrysler Town and Country van with a little over 82,000 miles. I had asked them before I made the trip about the condition of the van (and specifically asked about the glass, tires, strange smells). I was told it was all good. When I get there, they had the van outside waiting for me. After inspecting it, there was a huge odor of cigarette smoke. I continued with a visual inspection and took the van for a short test drive. Everything else seemed OK. We sat down and talked about the van, pulled up the various reports and I was told all was good. We agreed that due to the obvious smoke smell, that they would offer a price concession since I'd need to have quite a detail job to remove the smell. We agreed on a price and after a couple of hours, I was on my way (they did give me a full tank of gas). The ride home was uneventful.

2 days later, I noticed the "check engine light" illuminated. I then went to an auto parts store and they read 2 alarms. The first alarm was a "small EVAP system leak". I was told that I may be able to fix if by buying another gas cap, so I did. The second alarm was a water temperature issue.

The next day, I went to my mechanic to get an oil change since I had no idea when the last one was done (starting to get suspicious). At that time, they reset the alarm codes to see if they would pop up again.

They both did.

The car is running at 145 degrees...considerably lower than it should be. After calling a couple of places that do that kind of work, minimally it will cost about $150 to replace the thermostat if that's the issue.

The next morning, it was cold outside so I remotely started the car. When I sat in the car, a huge orange image indicating the gas cap was illuminated. So, since I replaced the gas cap already, now I need to get a "smoke test" to see where the EVAP leak is. I also understand that possibly, the monitor may be at fault.

Meanwhile, twice, the sliding door on the driver's side has refused to electronically operate. I had to manually open and close the door.

Lastly, while I was out and about, I picked up a large screw in my front tire. I took it to be repaired at my local warehouse club and was told they couldn't repair it due to one of the lugs being cross threaded. Since they wouldn't correct that, I had to take the vehicle to another tire place where I had to leave the car overnight. They were nice enough to tell me that they would repair the tire and assuming no big issues, would replace the lug at no charge. They (Pep Boys on Savannah Hwy), did replace it at no charge (even though they said it took 2 hours) so I'm very grateful to them. They will be doing work for me in the future,

I have only been through 1.5 tanks of gas (about 500 miles) and although it could be coincidence, I have a tough time believing that the "check engine" lights and issues just happened to pop up. I doubt that the door started having issues out of the blue. I understand that they probably had no idea of the lug being cross threaded.

I've place a call to the dealership to see if they can help with the issues even if it means that I'd be driving back to the dealership. I haven't heard back from them yet. I'll keep this review updated to see how the dealership responds.