Ok so when last we left our intrepid hero (that's me) his car was left in Chantilly in hopes of rapid repair. Today's journey began at 10:45 AM. I got a call from Mike my helpful service dude. He said API the provider of my extended warranty had rejected the claim. Pohanka had diagnosed the problem as a faulty front seal and as a result wanted to replace the transmission. I called API to try to get their side of the story. They said they wanted further diagnostics to prove that it needed a new transmission and further they would prefer a rebuilt or used transmission. Pohanka said they don't do rebuilt transmissions only new, which I must say I would also prefer. The two options API suggested were to take it to an Aamco shop or to go to the dealership that I originally got it from and who sold me the warranty. I wasn't too enthused about the Aamco option so I started by calling Lindsay where I got the car and who has done all the major work on the car including the 90K checkup recently. I explained the situation to Lindsay and they thought most likely they could just replace the front seal. Lindsay wanted to look at to make sure of course and they thought they could deal with warranty company.
At this point I had to get my car from Chantilly to Alexandria and I of course couldn't drive it. I left work at about 11:30 AM and headed home to grab a few things. I then headed down to Chantilly from home about noon. On my way at about 1 PM I called AAA to get my car towed from Chantilly to Alexandria. Luckily I have a Plus account that allows for up to 100 miles of towing. I got to Pohanka close to 1:30 PM. I had to of course turn in my Pohanka loaner and hope to get one from Lindsay. The tow truck showed about 2:30 PM. He hooked me up and then said he had to pick up an explorer. We went to get the explorer in Fairfax. He had originally planned to take me off the flatbed to tow and put the explorer up. He figured out he could tow it though so he just but it on the rear skids. The owner of the explorer took about 30 min to show. We then towed the explorer to the auto shop in Manchester Lakes. After that we headed over to the Lindsay Lexus Service Center. We got there about 4:30 PM. I checked in my car and got a loaner. This time it is a Chevy Trailblazer. I left Lindsay at 5:00 PM.
After I left Lindsay I got stuck in some really nasty traffic. It took me 2 hours to go this 1 mile from Quaker Lane to Telegraph on Duke St. To give some idea I stopped for gas and got a Subway sub at gas station. While I was doing those two things the truck in front of me didn't make it the length of the gas station. It took me a total of 3.5+ hours to get home to finish off the day. It was so much fun.
The worst part is Lindsay may find they same thing and get same result from API tomorrow. At that point I will probably go ballistic since the dealership talked me out of Lexus extended warranty and into API one. Updates will come as needed.
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