Even if your car is out of warranty, you may be able to get it fixed free.
All carmakers - foreign and domestic - have policies that permit dealers to use "goodwill money" to assume all or part of the cost of repairing chronic problems in a car.The best indication that a recurrent problem is eligible for a free repair is a manufacturer's service bulletin.
These bulletins, which carmakers send to dealers, describe new procedures for handling common repairs.
First you need to determine whether a problem is unique to your car or whether it's part of a pattern.
Talk with other owners who have cars such as yours. Also, write or call the Technical Reference Division of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, DC 20590; 1-202-366-2768.
If NHTSA has complaints like yours on file, that may confirm that the problem isn't an isolated one.
For $20 to $35 NHTSA can tell you whether service bulletins covering your car's problem have been issued and, for a fee of 10 cents per page, send you copies of them. You may also be charged $8 to $12 an hour, depending on the length of the search.
Decide ahead of time what you think is fair compensation for the fix by checking the cost with other dealerships.
Then talk with the service manager or a salesperson - whomever you've had the most contact with.
Most dealers can make free repairs without prior approval from the manufacturer, but if the cost is too high or the car is out of warranty, the dealer may have to get approval.
To get the dealer or the manufacturer to pay for all or part of a repair, you have to make your case politely but forcefully.
"Don't irritate, agitate or alienate," says Kurt Chadwell, a former field representative for the Ford Motor Co. turned consumer activist.
If you have a history of doing business with the dealership, drive home the fact that you and your family are loyal customers.
A company spends between $1,200 and $1,500 to win over customers from competitors, so spending a few hundred dollars to keep a buyer happy is worth the dealer's effort.