Advice Needed!! Denied outboard warranty claim

[dbaja]

The short: I think I need to lawyer up after getting pushback for a repair on my outboard that should be covered by my extended warranty. Any advice would be appreciated!!



The long: I have a 2018 Suzuki 300 with 170 hours covered by an extended warranty (Corner Stone United). A few months ago it started having serious performance issues. My local Suzuki certified mechanic found 2 scorn cylinder walls. After an initial inspection by the warranty company it is very clear they are looking for any reason to deny the claim. The Suzuki mechanic says it should be covered and the warranty company is doing everything to deny the claim. Do I lawyer up? Small claims court? Or??

Has anyone navigated this scenario successfully? Any advice is greatly appreciated

 

[Rio_01]

Those extended warranty companies look for any way possible to worm out of paying. I’d start by talking to a supervisor and tell him that you want the reason they are declining it in writing. Usually if you make enough noise and go far enough up the chain, if the damage is legit, they’ll pay, but it can take some work.

I wouldn’t bring up the lawyer until you’re actually ready to play that card. Sometimes once you say the word “lawyer“ you’ll end up getting sent to their legal people and the regular staff can’t speak to you anymore. You will be forced to deal with legal and they’ll stall for as long as they can.

lastly, in some states those companies are regulated by your state insurance commission who nobody wants to mess with. You may want to bring this to the insurance bureau‘s attention if they have any control over extended warranty companies in your state.
Good luck!

 

[dbaja]

Those extended warranty companies look for any way possible to worm out of paying. I’d start by talking to a supervisor and tell him that you want the reason they are declining it in writing. Usually if you make enough noise and go far enough up the chain, if the damage is legit, they’ll pay, but it can take some work.

I wouldn’t bring up the lawyer until you’re actually ready to play that card. Sometimes once you say the word “lawyer“ you’ll end up getting sent to their legal people and the regular staff can’t speak to you anymore. You will be forced to deal with legal and they’ll stall for as long as they can.

lastly, in some states those companies are regulated by your state insurance commission who nobody wants to mess with. You may want to bring this to the insurance bureau‘s attention if they have any control over extended warranty companies in your state.
Good luck!

Great advice, thank you

 

[knotflying]

I agree with Rio_01's advice. Additionally once an attorney is involved I doubt you will recoup the cost for repair. The other issue is time. How long do you want to wait until the repair is done? Do you have the money to get it done? I would probably first see if they are regulated under the state insurance commission. If so I would send a registered letter with all the facts and copy the commission. I would also advise them that they have x amount of days to respond and since time is of the essence you are having the repairs done without prejudice and will continue to pursue the claim by whatever means necessary.

 

[dbaja]

That is a better approach, thanks. A lawyer is an absolute last resort and something I don’t want to do. Right now the case manager and Suzuki mechanic are trying to work it out.

 

[dbaja]

This is where we are now, after major variable valve timing issues were discovered, limp mode initiated, failed leak down on 2 cylinders and scoped scorn cylinder walls the case manager required a visual inspection by a private inspector. So far reasonable. Inspector said a scope would have been fine but case manager required disassembly. Unfortunately because of the way Suzukis are made the motor is upside down and this required the entire power head to be disassembled. This was done, although a very difficult task, but again understandable.

Just as we thought, all that was discovered was the scorn cylinder walls on my motor which has less than 180 hours. It has always been well maintained/regularly serviced with zero operator error or foul play. No carbon buildup, no frozen pistons/rings, no water intrusion, milky oil, low oil, etc etc. Just normal wear for a motor with 180 hours. The mechanic said everything looked like a recently broken in engine with only 2 things to note: the scorn walls and what seemed to be too much play on the piston head when pushed up/down on apposing sides of the rod. Not sure if that’s normal or a poorl seated ring or?? So a mechanical failure has been discovered resulting in a cascade of documented power issues and out of spec parameters on the print out. Clearly not normal wear and tear.

This is where things get weird.

I believe this is what the warranty dept is trying to deny or stall the claim under:

#23:
FOR A MECHANICAL BREAKDOWN CAUSED BY STUCK AND/OR CARBONIZED PISTON RINGS, IMPROPER SPARK PLUG HEAT RANGE
OR PISTON SEIZURE NOT CAUSED BY A MANUFACTURING DEFECT OR FOR THE REPAIR OF VALVES AND/OR RINGS FOR THE PURPOSE OF RAISING THE ENGINE’S COMPRESSION WHEN A MECHANICAL BREAKDOWN HAS NOT OCCURRED.


They are now asking for the block to be cracked in half to further investigate the cause of the mechanical breakdown. The Suzuki shop says this is unrealistic and abnormal. If truly required I’d imagine we will continue tearing down the motor but in the process only further expose ourselves further for an excuse to deny the claim and/or increase my bill if they don’t pay out.

Would you categorize this as stuck piston or piston rings? (The mechanic doesn’t).

Suzuki shop says this should 100% be covered

I attached the warranty terms and some photos for reference.

Thoughts?

 

[Brent]

I don't think you have a winnable legal case
You need work out a settlement with them or pay out of pocket. I would be documenting everything. Check with BBB,too. Maybe a third party mitigator is available. Worth looking for one.
Fwiw we didn'tr receive, a settlement from Yamaha for corrosion exhaust issue. Corporate called and gave me the dead fish voice. Many others got the same csll. BoatUS published article and no Yamaha reply.
Extended warranty is good as long they stand by it
I moved on

 

[SamR]

Questions?:

Who sold the extended warranty?

Did you finance the purchase?

Not that you should spell it out here, but given where things stand now, what would be a satisfactory resolution for you?

I would do some research into protections from your state. You have a Governor and AG up for re-election this fall.

 

[CobbFisherman]

That really sucks, and I'm sorry the warranty company is being difficult.

"too much play on the piston head" can definitely scratch up cylinder walls. Why is there too much play? Is it a wrist pin fitment issue? Documenting why there is too much play on the piston head might be your best argument. If it has improper connecting rod to wrist pin clearance or play, or excessive piston head play, or premature wrist pin wear, that should be easy to document and point to.

From a fixing it standpoint, it seems like a cylinder honing and replacement pistons, with properly fitting wrist pins, and the play checked would be the solution. Since its already torn apart, you're already half way there in shop labor. Hone jobs are usually ~$100/cylinder, piston kits are ~$300/cylinder, and maybe $1000 labor to re-assemble? That's gonna be way cheaper than a lawyer and going to court.

As a last ditch effort, maybe retain a lawyer and have them send the warranty company a letter? Even if you don't intend to follow through and sue, it might scare them into action and will probably only cost you a couple hundred bucks? As others have mentioned, this may require you to exclusively deal with their legal department and could really hold things up, so it's definitely a last ditch effort.