South America in a Honda
Written: Feb 19 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: learned a lot
Cons: lost the car
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| m.laudahn's Full Review: Chile |
Adventure in the era of globalisation: A pan-american car trip in a
Honda, according to Honda's motto 'First man, then machine'
WARNING FROM PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: DO NOT READ THIS REPORT IF YOU
- HAVE NOT VISITED LATIN AMERICA BUT STILL ALREADY KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT
THERE,
- ARE AT ODDS WITH LOGICAL THINKING,
- ARE CONVINCED THAT DRIVING AN INTERNATIONAL BRAND CAR IN ANOTHER
COUNTRY THAN WHERE YOU BOUGHT IT AUTOMATICALLY MEANS THAT THE MAKER HAS
THE RIGHT TO DROP YOU, IN CASE OF A TECHNICAL EMERGENCY, BECAUSE IT WAS
ALL YOUR OWN FAULT TO CROSS AN INTERNATIONAL BORDER WITH YOUR CAR IN THE
FIRST PLACE;
- CANNOT ADAPT TO A 'FOREIGN' - IN THIS CASE EUROPEAN - PERSPECTIVE FOR
A COUPLE OF MINUTES.
Imagine you have got some time and money to spare and like travelling,
preferably on your own and by car. You have seen Europe and
Australia/New Zealand, North and maybe Central America too, but South
America is still missing in your collection. What suggests itself more
than flying to the US and buy a car there? In this car, you then drive
on the panamerican highway to Panama. There you choose if you prefer to
cross the highway gap between Panama and Colombia by freight vessel or
plane. And after you and your car have arrived safely in Colombia, South
America lies at your feet - you just hop in, and off you go!
If you drive a world-famous brand and have maintained well your car,
nothing much should happen to you, technically spoken. The major highway
network of South America seems to be largely asphalted, so that a round
trip of the continent on decent roads appears largely possible. The few
sections not yet asphalted are at least level and maintained, so that a
sedan is a suitable vehicle. A jeep would be rather exaggerated, which
is also underlined by the local auto scene: The vehicle type by far
outnumbering all the others there is the sedan. If you finally have got
yourself a road map of a well-known editor, one that differentiates
between asphalted and non-asphalted highways, you have probably taken
all the precautions necessary to avoid technical trouble in the first
place.
And that is what I did: I bought a newer Honda, had it maintained
according to the book, got myself the South America road map from the US
auto club AAA and then marked a round course in it of the continent,
along asphalted roads. This strategy worked fine in Colombia, Ecuador,
and most of Peru; also in Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay
and Brasil. In the south of Peru, however, things turned sour.
Instead of proceeding straight ahead towards Chile, I decided to take a
detour via lake Titicaca and La Paz/Bolivia. According to AAA's map,
everything was fine with that - 'asphalted all the way'. But in fact,
the asphalt layer ended shortly after Arequipa, which lies on the
western foot of the Andes. There were no signs with regard to the length
or quality of this section. As the first miles appeared tolerable, I
continued driving - always hoping that conditions would not deteriorate
and the asphalt layer would recommence soon.
To make it short: It began only after 210 km (130 miles) of a road which
deteriorated all the time, showing horrible roughness which could be
mastered undamaged in a sedan only if it is a high rider - or if you are
really lucky. I filled none of these requirements and consequently
damaged my automatic transmission through a massive blow from below.
The result at this stage was therefore: Plan A ('leaning on reliable
map') had failed, so switch over to plan B ('leaning on reliable car
brand'). And the AAA had added a reservation clause with regard to the
map's exactness, so they could not be held responsable...
I was lucky to reach on my own wheels the nearest Honda-authorized
workshop in Antofagasta/northern Chile, about 1000 km (600 miles) away.
The friendly Honda logo seemed to signal me: 'Here your problems will be
solved swiftly and well', although it was obvious that it would cost me
a four-figure amount.
However, it soon turned out that the workshop was rather helpless. Apart
from the fact that my Honda type was known there in a similar version
only, already the basic question - if in this situation the best
solution was to repair the transmission or go for a refurbished or new
transmission - was 'asking too much'. (Later it turned out that there
are no official refurbished transmissions in Honda's empire. Buying an
inofficial one from a specialist means you will lose your guarantee.)
Honda's Chile importer in Santiago attempted to abuse my situation by
imposing a settlement on me which would have cost almost as much as
buying another such car in the US - always assuming I would do anything
that would allow me to continue my trip.
After 'American Honda' in the US, who also monitor Honda's latin
american activities and whom I addressed, was not exactly helpful
either, and based on the Antofagasta workshop's assurance to be capable
of repairing the transmission, I decided to choose the cheapest yet
official and therefore guaranteed solution: I ordered the parts damaged
- according to the workshop - in the US.
After they had finally arrived and passed customs formalities, it took
quite a while for the workshop to finish the repair job. After 7 weeks
of unvoluntary stay in Antofagasta, during which I had to fight almost
every day from dawn to dusk for a solution (I also survived a 2-minute,
6 to 7 Richter degree earthquake in my shaking hotel room) and direct
expenses of about 4500 USD (not to mention the indirect ones, like for
hotel and telecommunications which added up to several times that
amount), I continued my trip in Chile, heading south.
Before accepting the car, I had undertaken a longer test drive which did
not show anything negative, but I had not been able to reach higher
speeds, due to traffic. This omission made itself felt now: After some
time on the country road, I was again able to drive speeds above 100
km/h (60 miles), and from this speed upward a certain noise could be
heard from the transmission area. A fax message sent to the workshop
remained unanswered.
The following days I could go on driving unbothered, apart from the
occasional noise. I used this phase in order to travel to the south of
Chile, across the Andes into Argentina, to the coast of the Atlantic,
along the coast and into Uruguay, back to northern Argentina - and all
this on asphalted roads.
Shortly after crossing the argentinian border it happened: The
transmission started to fail at times. And so it went on the next days,
with increasing intensity. I dragged along the north of Argentina,
through Paraguay and into Brasil, until my transmission finally gave up
its spirit there after a short distance.
Assuming that Honda and its partners (importers and workshops) are
correct business people anywhere in the world who also meet their
warranty obligations, I had kept my Honda business partners in Chile and
the US posted regularly by fax about the development of things, since
transmission trouble had returned. According to circumstances (noise
from transmission after repair, driven only asphalted highways after
repair) there was not much doubt that the problem was due to a faulty
repair in Antofagasta.
If you think that Honda would now be generous and arrange all things
necessary without further ado, ie have my car repaired properly so that
I can finish my South America trip, then you are as much mistaken as I
was: Honda did not even think of it. All levels of this company were
exclusively occupied dodging any responsability and outsmarting me.
Honda could not care less what happened to me, my car and my
once-in-a-lifetime South America trip. As I did not want to invest into
another south american Honda repair attempt, I decided to leave the car
on the premises of a brasilian Honda dealership and to break off the
journey.
You consider Honda's behaviour scandalous? Wait until you have read this
chapter, it gets even better. I addressed Honda USA again, asking them
to promise they would repair correctly and on warranty my car and then
sell it there on my behalf. This I intended to do so I could save part
of my losses, and for this purpose I would have transported it back from
Brasil to the US. Honda's reaction? Nothing but impudent palaver. In
other words, Honda has made, probably out of bureaucratic malice, my
loss so total that it can hardly be more total. Where are those US top
lawyers who hold companies like these responsable, so they come to
reason after paying millions in punitive damages?!
My opinion is: Honda USA could have transported my car to S=E3o Paulo,
the city where Honda Brasil resides. They could have sent there by air
cargo from the US a complete transmission; likewise they could have
given mounting/demounting tips (if necessary) by email or fax to a local
qualified Honda technician. After that, they could have returned the
defective transmission by maritime freight (the port city of Santos is
not far from S=E3o Paulo), in order to find the cause. This would most
probably have proved the Antofagasta workshop's responsability. The
expense for this action they would have charged their Chile importer,
who has the responsability for the overall Honda situation in his
country and probably would have 'swallowed the toad', because he wants
to keep his Honda licence. Moreover, he could have passed on part of the
cost to the workshop.
This would have been an adequate and just solution. But this was
irrelevant to Honda. Honda wanted to maintain peace in its realm, and
pursuing a just solution, peace would have been put into danger, because
the people responsable for the errors would have had to pay. It is so
much cheaper just to cheat the customer, no matter the consequences for
him. The important thing is to keep on drivelling about 'first man, then
machine', or its 'company principle: Maintaining a global viewpoint, we
are determined to supplying products of the highest quality yet at a
reasonable price for worldwide customer satisfaction' (!!).
PS: Actually, the course of events was even more complicated, because
the workshop (and the importer) had committed even more technical
errors. Most of them did not refer to the transmission, so that I did
not mention them, in order not to complicate the story unneccesarily.
FOR THOSE READERS WHO HAVE NOT HEEDED MY INTRODUCTORY WARNING, LET ME
REPEAT: THIS REPORT WAS NOT ABOUT THE QUESTION WHETHER OR NOT YOU SHOULD
TAKE A HONDA (OR ANY OTHER) SEDAN TO SOUTH AMERICA. SO DO NOT TELL ME
WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN ON DISCOVERY CHANNEL OR READ IN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA, BECAUSE IT DOES NOT COUNT ANYWAY FOR SOMEONE WHO
HAS SEEN THE CONTINENT HIMSELF. THIS REPORT WAS ABOUT
- A HONDA WORKSHOP IN CHILE PERFORMING A JOB INCORRECTLY THAT THEY HAD
CLAIMED THEY WERE CAPABLE OF DOING,
- DODGING THEIR WARRANTY OBLIGATION,
- THIS INCORRECT ATTITUDE REINFORCED BY HONDA'S CHILE IMPORTER,
- THAT ALTOGETHER REINFORCED BY AMERICAN HONDA, TORRANCE CA,
AND FINALLY - TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY -
- THE LATTER'S SCORNFUL REJECTION OF MY BID TO FINALLY REPAIR PROPERLY
AND SELL ON MY BEHALF MY CAR IN THE US, IN ORDER TO KEEP LOSSES AS LOW
AS POSSIBLE.
AND YOU THOUGHT HONDA WAS A DECENT COMPANY? BETTER THINK AGAIN...
FEEDBACK OF THOSE WHO WISH TO AND ARE ABLE TO HELP (JOURNALISTS,
LAWYERS, ETC) WELCOME. OTHERS PLEASE REFRAIN, WE HAVE HEARD IT ALL
BEFORE.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
m.laudahn
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Reviews written: 1
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