Putting gas in your car can be a pain, but for one new car buyer, it’s been even more frustrating.
When Preet Gill bought his new hybrid Hyundai Santa Fe in 2023, the enjoyment was short lived.
The first time he went to refill his car with gas, he knew something was wrong.
“The first time you go to put it in, you get maybe a litre or maybe two litres,” said Preet Gill. “And then you go second time, maybe you get a litre maximum. And then all the subsequent tries, you don’t get anything, you click and it shuts off immediately.”
Gill says he brought his car back to the dealer who confirmed the issue, and they began repairs.
But when Gill got the car back and tried filling it up again, the issue remained. He couldn’t fill his car up with gas without letting it slowly trickle in, or by filling up in small chunks.
“So on a day like today, minus 35 weather, you can imagine having to stand there for 15 to 20 minutes with bare hands on a cold metal fuel dispenser,” said Gill. “It’s beyond frustrating.”
Over the course of a year and a half, Gill had his car in at least seven times to address the fuelling issue with no success.
Last March, he wanted to end the frustration.
“I went to talk to the general manager, explain the situation, explain my frustration and replace my vehicle, give me a new one or they should just issue me a full refund and I could walk away,” he said. “The general manager explained that none of those options are possible, that they would just have to continue trying different repairs until they figured it out.”
Gill says the last repair attempt was completed in December, but still the issue remained.
He repeated his request to walk away from the deal, but Gill says the response was the same.
After filing complaints with Hyundai Canada and the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan (CAMVAP) with no success, Gill says his last resort is legal action.
Neither Saskatchewan, nor any other province in Canada, have “Lemon Laws” that protect consumers from faulty automobiles. But, finding a resolution is possible without going to trial.
“You can do things like send demand letters, set up meetings, potentially having an in-person meeting to try and resolve things,” said Daniel Katzman, associate at Scharfstein LLP. “It’s not just straight to suing somebody.”
Katzman says you never know how the other side will respond to something like a demand letter, but it can be helpful to sit down with a lawyer for an initial intake to discuss your options.
“If you come in with a mindset that, I’m here to fix the problem, then more than likely there will be an opportunity to fix the problem,” he said. “If you come in with the mindset that it’s scorched earth, well then likely you might be headed to a more difficult situation.”
“CTV reached out to the South Saskatoon Hyundai dealership for comment and was redirected to a media contact at the FFUN Auto main office, but did not hear back.”
Hyundai Canada says it’s working to rectify the situation.
“Once this case was escalated to our technical team late last year, we provided technical assistance to the dealership to diagnose and repair the concerns as confirmed with multiple attempts to reproduce the issue after repair,” Hyundai Canada told CTV News in an email.
Since then, the company says Gill has expressed further concerns but he won’t bring his vehicle in for inspection.
“After several attempts to confirm a new appointment for Mr. Gill, he continues to refuse to bring his vehicle in for additional inspection which would be handled by our field technical team. We would still like to find a solution to this case for Mr. Gill, and encourage him to bring his vehicle to a Hyundai dealership so we can understand the issues his vehicle is experiencing, and work towards repairing it. We will also provide Mr. Gill with a vehicle on loan while his is in service.”
But Gill says the whole ordeal has been a negative experience.
“I purchased a new vehicle and it hasn’t functioned properly for a single day,” said Gill. “It just ruins the joy of having a brand-new vehicle.”
