My Warranty Experience at Tim Short Honda in Ivel, KY

My 2021 Honda Accord EX-L needed a head gasket replaced, and the repair was covered under warranty at Tim Short Honda in Ivel, KY. The car did get fixed, but it took almost three weeks, and the way the service department handled communication is the reason I am writing this. I work in customer support for a living, so I notice this stuff more than most people, and I also know how much it helps to read an honest account before you book your own appointment.

This is a review of the service experience, not a complaint about Honda’s warranty itself.

Why I already suspected the head gasket

I did not walk in blind. I had gotten an engine temperature warning on the dash, and after that I noticed a coolant leak. Those two things together made me suspect the head gasket before I ever called the dealership.

I will say up front that I am not a mechanic, and the symptoms alone do not prove it. A coolant leak and an overheating warning can come from several things, like a hose, a water pump or a radiator. That is exactly why I wanted it diagnosed instead of guessing. But in my case I had one more piece of information that pointed the same direction.

The service bulletin that made this a warranty repair

Honda had issued a service bulletin that extended the warranty on the head gasket to 150,000 miles or 10 years. I knew about that before I made the appointment, and it is a big part of why I felt fine bringing the car in. My car was at 139,000 miles at the time I noticed the leak.

If you own a Honda from around these years and see a coolant leak or an overheating warning, it is worth looking up whether a bulletin or extended warranty applies to your car before you pay for anything. I would also double check the exact terms with the dealer or with Honda directly, since coverage rules like this can come with conditions that I am not going to try to summarize from memory.

September 15: the diagnosis

The appointment confirmed what I expected. It was a busted head gasket. The technicians also did not want me driving the car anymore, which made sense. Driving on a leaking head gasket can overheat the engine, and that can turn a covered repair into a much more expensive problem. I was not going to argue with that.

So I asked if a loaner was available. They told me one was not available at that time, but that they would call me when one was. They also quoted the full service at about a week and a half.

I want to be fair here. Not having a loaner on a given day is not a scandal. Dealerships have a limited number of them, and I do not know how many Tim Short Honda has. What matters is what happens after you tell a customer “we will call you.” That sentence is a promise, and I took it as one.

Week one: no call, and an expensive commute

About a week went by and nobody called me about a loaner.

In the meantime I still had to get to work, so I was driving my parents’ vehicle. That cost me about $50 a day in gas for the round trip. For context, I drive an hour one-way to and from work each day. Over a week that adds up fast, and it was not something I could keep doing. It was also not something I had budgeted for, because I had been told this would be a short repair with a loaner on the way.

So I called to ask about the loaner and about the car. They told me a loaner was still not available.

I did not mind having to call. I minded that I was the one who had to, after being told they would reach out.

The day it was supposed to be done

Since they had quoted me a week and a half, I called on the day they had said it would likely be finished. It was not finished.

When I asked why, I was told “they were having trouble with it.” That was all. They would not say what the trouble was.

I want to be careful about this one. I do not know what the problem actually was, and I am not claiming they were hiding something. Engine work can go sideways. A part can be backordered, or a technician can find a second problem once the engine is opened up. All of that is normal, and I would have been understanding about any of it.

But “we are having trouble with it” with nothing behind it is the least useful answer they could give. It does not tell me whether we are talking about two more days or two more weeks, and it does not let me plan anything. If I had been told something like “we are waiting on a part, and we expect it on this day,” I could have planned my week around that. Instead I had no new date and no reason.

I have written before about what actually helps when a customer is stressed, and a lot of it comes down to this exact situation. Saying “I do not know yet, and here is when I will find out” is better than saying nothing. People handle uncertainty fine. What they do not handle well is being left in the dark.

Week two: the phone calls that went nowhere

The following week, over about two days, I called repeatedly to ask about the loaner. I kept getting the runaround.

Then the third time I tried to call, things got strange. Every time I tried to reach the service department, the call rang a few times and then hung up. It did that consistently. It looked to me like my number had been blocked.

I cannot prove that. I do not have access to their phone system, and there could be some other explanation, like a technical fault on their end. I am telling you what it looked like from my side, and what happened next is the part that stuck with me.

I had my mother call the service department from her phone number. Her call went through. And only then, once somebody was on the line who was not me, were they suddenly able to start looking for a loaner for me.

That was week two. At the end of that week I finally got a loaner. I was also told my car was still not going to be done yet.

Whatever the reason my calls did not connect, I think the pattern is fair to point out. I was calling several times a week to check on my car, and it felt like the department got tired of hearing from me. I would suggest a different reading of it: if a customer is calling that often, the department has probably failed to tell them something. I was not calling for fun. I called because a promised callback never came and nobody was giving me a straight answer.

Nearly three weeks, start to finish

The repair ended up taking one day shy of three weeks. That is about double what I was quoted.

I will give them this: the work was covered, and the car was fixed. I paid nothing overall for the repair, and in person, the employees seem to be very nice. A fair review should say what went right, and the core thing I needed, a warranty repair on a known problem, did happen.

A change in management

During week two, I was told there had been a change in management at the dealership. Honestly, that was not a surprise after the experience I had.

I do not know anything about who left, who came in, or whether it had anything to do with the service department specifically, so I am not going to speculate. I will just say I hope the new management gets the service department’s communication in order. The problems I ran into were not about skill or parts. They were about people not calling back, not giving real dates, and not telling customers what was going on. Those are fixable, and they are mostly a matter of process and habit.

What I would do differently

If you are headed to a dealership for a warranty repair that could take a while, here is what I would suggest based on my own experience. None of this is a guarantee that it will go smoothly.

Ask about transportation before you leave. I asked about a loaner at the diagnosis, which was right, but I would push further now. Ask how many loaners they have, how they decide who gets one, and whether you can be put on a list with a specific position. I am not sure whether Honda’s warranty provides any rental or transportation help for a repair like this, and the answer may depend on the situation. It is worth asking about before the car is already in the shop.

Get the estimate and the date in writing. “About a week and a half” is easy to forget or walk back. A written estimate gives you something to point to later.

Write down every call. Note the date, the time, who you spoke with and what they said. When I was told they were “having trouble with it,” I wrote that down. If you ever need to escalate, specifics carry far more weight than a general complaint.

Ask for a specific callback time. Do not settle for “we will let you know.” Ask “when will I hear from you, and who will call?” It sounds pushy, but it gives you something concrete to hold them to.

Know where to escalate. If the service department stops responding, you can ask for the service manager. If that goes nowhere, Honda’s corporate customer relations team is another option. I did not take that step myself, so I cannot tell you how well it works.

Plan for the repair taking longer than quoted. I wish I had. Having a backup plan for getting to work, even a rough one, would have saved me real money.

What I would want them to know

If anyone from the dealership reads this, here is the short version of what I would ask for:

1. If you tell a customer you will call, call, even if the news is that there is no news.
2. If a repair is running late, say why, even in a sentence.
3. Give honest dates, not optimistic ones.
4. Do not treat a customer who calls often as a problem. Treat it as a sign that something was missed.

None of that is expensive. It is mostly a matter of someone deciding that the customer’s car is their responsibility until it is back in the driveway.

The takeaway

The head gasket got replaced under warranty, and that matters. A repair like that can cost a lot if it is not covered, and I am glad Honda extended the coverage.

But the experience around the repair was poor. I was promised a callback and did not get one. I was quoted a timeline that was off by about a week. I ended up paying around $50 a day in gas while I waited for a loaner I was told was coming. I missed a week of work due to the cost of gas. When I called to follow up, my calls stopped connecting, and I could not get anyone to help until my mom phoned from her own number.

I am hopeful the new management turns it around. If you are booking a warranty repair there, I would go in expecting to follow up, keep notes and ask for specifics. Promises were not kept on my visit, and I would rather you know that going in.