Complain about a product or service

Daewoo

Save up to $379 on Your Auto Insurance. Compare Quotes from Top Providers Now! Find the Best Deal and Apply! - Adv.

Daewoo •Owners' Complaints •GM Buys Daewoo •GM Will Sell Rebadged Daewoos in U.S. •Insurers Refusing to Cover Daewoos

General Motors has bought the assets of Daewoo, leaving consumers and dealers wondering who will honor warranty obligations. (See story).

Anthony of West Babylon, NY, asks (1/2/03):
I can't find parts for my car -- it is not running and I owe money on it what can I do?

Debbie of Mesquite TX (11/6/02):
I bought my Daewoo Leganza in Dec. 01. 2 months after the purchase the oil covers started leaking, took the car to the orginal dealership which at that time I knew nothing of the current problems with them and GM. I also purchased the extended warranty. They shoved me off saying they'd order the part and call me when it was in. That was 8 months ago. When I call I get no answers. In the meantime the car is valued at $4,900 Kelly Blue Book and the car has to have oil put in it every 3 weeks. The engine looks like it's several years old and nothing can be done legally? This is a horrible expensive problem for many of us Daewoo owners. No parts, no warranty, who's to take care of this?

Trina of Baltimore writes (10/20/02):
In May 2002, I went to the Daewoo dealer for routine scheduled maintenance to find that Daewoo had filed for bankruptcy. The three year/36,000 mile new vehicle warranty was no longer being honored. As a courtesy, the dealer did not charge me for the oil change and 18,000 mile scheduled maintenace that Daewoo would have normally covered. I still have approximately 7 months of warranty I would have been entitled to. What does one do in this case? I was not notified about the bankruptcy or about warranty changes from Daewoo.

Since GM did not take over Daewoo America, parts may have to be ordered from overseas if the parts are not in the U.S. which may be very costly, especially parts or service that would have been included in the warranty. The parts manufacturer no longer exists in the U.S so parts would have to ordered from Korea or Asia. Daewoo also offered three years of Roadside Assistance which they are not honoring. They also offered a 5 yr/60,000 mile power train coverage. I am assuming they will not honor this coverage as well. I am checking into this matter regarding the power train coverage. The dealer from which I purchased my car from gave me a number to call Daewoo and join in the "Class action Law Suit" option is no longer available on the automated system.

Progress is being made on the warranty front, as our latest stories (see index box above). Many class action suits have no doubt been filed but it's likely the issue will be resolved before they get to court.

Nancy of Chatham VA (10/14/02):
I purchased a 2000 Daewoo Nubria Feb 28, 2001. Since then I have found out about the bankruptcy. My car is awaiting a sensor now. So, what will it be next week when I cannot receive a part for my car? This company owes me a comparable car in place of this one. It just isn't fair as hard as you work to have something nice and then you end up with a piece of junk.

Don of Parrottsville TN (9/13/02):
We purchased a 2000 Lanos Daewoo and since our purchase we have needed some repairs. Every time we take it to a dealer that still repairs them we continue to hear that GM is not supporting any of them with parts, shipping or any kind of help. When we purchased the car we bought it due to the warranty. NOW WHAT? I thought in some fashion our goverment would protect us against something like this. Can any company at any time sell you an item with a warranty and just leave you in the dust?

When the car breaks down we are without means to get to work. My 19 year old daughter broke down and needed help she was crying and had to call 911. My main complaint would be if GM wants to throw Daewoo out of the Country then they need to do one of two things either support all of us with service in a timely manner or buy out the remaing loans on our cars so we may afford to go out and purchase a new vehicle.

Cheryl of Houston (9/10/02):
I have a 2000 Daewoo Lanos that has been in the shop for repairs for the past three months waiting for parts to become available. No one can give me any information. There is no phone number to contact anyone at Daewoo to get information. I just get the runaround time and time again.

The consequences are, I'm paying a car note each month and have no transporation. This is very fustrating. Also, I talked to the bank that financed the car about a voluntary repossession and they're giving me a hard time about this being reported on my credit and paying a fee. This is all crazy.

Alisca of Fayetteville NC (8/29/02):
I bought my car in July of 2000 and before my car was a year old my front brake pads went metal to metal and then 2 months after that the timing belt broke and damaged the valves and the head in the engine. The dealer fixed it under warranty and then the sensor in the radio was connected to something that it shouldn't be and caused the radio to come on when I had it turned off and go off when I had it turned on.

In February of 2002 my car broke down again when we first moved to North Carolina and again it was the timing belt. Of course the dealer here in North Carolina fixed it under warranty. Now my car has broken down for the third time within 8 months and again it does the same thing that it did in February. I got my car towed to the dealer and the service guy was writing up the work order, he then turned and said that he could not service my car because they don't service Daewoos anymore let alone sell them. ... So I then called my dealer who I bought the car from and they said it wasn't anything they could do about it because they couldn't get any more parts and they didn't have the room for the cars to be stored while waiting on the parts and they would have to charge me storage fee.

Jay of Boca Raton FL writes (6/13/02):
I purchased my 2000 Daewoo Lanos back in March of 2001. Shortly thereafter I had a leak everytime it rained. Lou Bachrodt Chevrolet & Daewoo of Coconut Creek took care of the service on the car back then. It took them 4 times before they fixed it right.

Then a few months later rumors started to surface when I braught the car in for its 12 month or 12,000 mile maintenace which they had tried to get out of doing, but then honored it. Then about a month and a half ago one of my tires went flat with only 13,000 miles on the car. Was advised that was not covered under the warranty so I took my car in to Tires Plus in Ft. Lauderdale only to find the reason this had happened was that the front two tire rods were bad. The car never being in an accident, how does this happen?

Tried to go to where I purchased my car -- Daewoo Of Ft. Lauderdale -- only to find out that they had closed their service department and were in the process of shutting down operations. I took my car to Lou Bachrodt only to hear an interesting story from one of the employees of whom said he would deny anything he told me if I get the media involved to try and help me with the situation as they did not want to honor the warranty on the car. Which seems surprising to me being that your column says GM is going to be taking responsibility yet when you call the Daewoo corporate number you set on hold for over 2 hours and still no one picks up the phone.

The person I spoke to at Lou Bachrodt told me certain parts of my warranty that I paid for are no good, even though I had paid for the extended warranty which is supposed to cover a rental car if the vehicle is going to be in the shop for 1 day or more. They would not honor that and they also mentioned Daewoo owes them over $55,000.00 and they have had vehicles in their shop for over 2 months waiting for repairs and as soon as the rest of the vehicles were gone they were folding their Daewoo dealership and not honoring any of its warranties.

Then I had an instance on 6/11/02 where my 2 front tires were flat and I had called the Daewoo 24-hour emergency support, only to find the 888 number is disconnected. These incidents have really left a bad taste in my mouth.

I feel I have paid for extra warranty services which I am not receiving, I am an emotional wreck trying to get rid of this car that is now only worth a value of $4,400.00 according to Kelly's Blue Book, and I still owe over $9,000.00 on it compared to what it was worth when I had purchased it. I also forgot to mention I have sent Daewoo numerouse emails, but yet get no response.

Obviousely GM is not taking any actions that they are claiming and it's really frightening to be making payments on a car where there are lack of parts, and the dealerships don't want to get involved on warranty issues because they are owed too much money. I still have a problem with the alignment, everytimne I have it done five minutes later it's off again. The tire place I took the car to told me that is due to a caster setting on the vehicle that can not be altered and is preset by the factory and can only be changed by the factory.

Patrick of Cambridge NY (4/22/02):
My car which is under waranty broke a timing belt on Tuesday, 16th of April 2002. I had it towed to the Daewoo garage in South Glens Falls. I have been informed today that it will take possibly another two or three weeks before shipping this part. I asked the company to provide a vehicle while having to wait for this part to arrive. The Service Mannager said she would need to ask if this was possible, she later told me that because the vehicle was past the 36,000 miles the company would not provide a replacement as the company policy did not cover this under the powertrain waranty.

Christopher of Seattle (3/13/02):
Basically, I have taken my car, 2000 Daewoo Lanos, in for servicing several times for the engine check light continuously coming on. I was constantly told nothing was found to be wrong until this past Dec 01. Now I have to go back for a follow up diagnostic about the engine mis-firing. Now my Daewoo servicing center is going out of business.

Since the last service in Dec 01, my car has lost power 7 times on the highway forcing to quickly pull over, wait, restart, and then operate my car without a problem. I'm concerned that I have a lemon and while it is under warranty would like to resolve this engine check light issue.

Cheryl of Palmdale CA (2/18/02):
On 1/7/02 my timing belt broke on my 2000 Daewoo Laganza car. It was towed to the mechanic on 1/9/02. Because the belt broke all 16 valves were bent. They had to replace the valves and grind down whatever they had to grind down. Those parts took several weeks to come in after ordering them.

Everything has been completed for quite awhile now, and we are still waiting for the stretch bolts to be sent. My mechanic has called several auto part companies along with sever dealerships who sell Daewoo's. He has been told repeatedly that the bolts are being manufactured. Today is 2/ 18/02. I have not had my car for almost 2 months (in another 2 weeks). I am continuously searching for rides to work which is 75 miles one way.

I have e-mailed Daewoo Company in Korea, I have e-mailed Daewoo Motor America in Compton, Calif. I have also called Daewoo Moter in Compton, left a voice mail message for him, didn't get his name. I can never get a response from no one. I am EXTREMELY frustrated and am at my wit's end. I don't know what else to do or where else to go. I am a person who is totally lost without a car. I live 20 miles out of town and have to stay with my parents, I can't even stay at home. Haven't stayed there since 1/7/02.

It is costing me $16.00 a day to go to work. I have to leave by 4:30 in the morning to catch the metro by 5:00. Then I have to take a bus to get somewhat close to where I work. Then I have to walk 4 city blocks and am late because of that.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top | Automotive Section