Complaint Review: Concord Auto Protect

  My name Frank Morello with Concord Auto Protect Claims dept. This letter is in reference to Complaint #13184549. I am the ASE Certified Master Automotive Technician with over 41 years of auto repair experience on staff here at Concord. First I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to the public & explain the accurate details as to what happened with a former customer of ours Mr. David Khieu. I am going to explain why his slanderous accusations about Concord Auto Protect are totally false & inaccurate. Mr Khieu purchased a service policy with us in June of this year for a 2014 Maserati Ghibli. His policy went into effect on 7-19-18, & in less then 3 weeks later, after driving 539 miles, we receive a claim that his car needs a new engine.  Now, its not out of the ordinary for someone's car to need a new engine as it happens which we totally understand. As a matter we fact we have covered quite a few engine replacement claims in the past with much success. Here at Concord we pay out thousands of dollars every month to cover repair claims with proper justification, which is a very easy process. All claims are treated the same with no prejudice, regardless of how large or small they are. This is where my job comes as the Claims Adjuster in to insure customers are doing the necessary maintenance to their vehicles, & adjust the claims to fair market value.

I also follow policy protocol to make sure any reported claims are in fact a new issue, & not a pre-existing one, which is something that I do in fact discover at times. Unfortunately Mr. Khieu's engine claim was determined to be an issue the started before his policy was effective. In a complaint letter he wrote, explain that his problems began right after the Manufacture warranty ran out with his car running rough, & the "check engine light" was flashing on & off. However it was not the check engine light that was flashing, it was in fact the "low oil pressure" warning light that was flashing, which can be much more serious then the check engine light. I agree with him stating that when the check engine light comes on in most peoples cars, they don't have it towed, & they do still drive it. Its not a good idea to continue driving it, because your car is trying to tell you something. However most of the time a car can still be driven with the check engine light on with no major problem. The one & only check engine light can come on for a multitude of reasons, from a loose fuel cap, to a faulty sensor, a thermostat not functioning properly, & so on. The list is quite lengthy that can cause that one & only check engine light to come on. However, it was in fact the "low oil pressure" warning light that the dealership said was coming on in Mr. Khieu's car, which he himself also told me.

Totally two different warning lights as well as the systems they monitor. The dealer's diagnosis was the main engine bearings have worn out causing low oil pressure, thus triggering the "low oil pressure" light to come on. His car only had 24,000 miles on it which is very rare, & unheard of for any car to need a new engine under this low mileage circumstance. Its obvious that the bearings used to build these engines has a very serious design flaw. Because when I questioned the dealer diagnosis, they told me its a common problem with these cars, & that they had 3 more Ghibli's there that also needed new engines for the very same reason. The dealer also informed me that Maserati was covering the bad engines for customers even if they are out of warranty as a good will restitution. They also told me that they will not cover Mr.Khieu's engine because he had a policy with Concord, which is not fair to us to have to cover a flawed engine. There are 3 common factors that will cause the "low oil pressure" light to come on with a full oil level. 1st is simply a faulty sensor just sending the wrong signal, & very easy fix. 2nd is a litter deeper, if an engine's oil pump should fail, that will also turn on the light. However if the engine is shut down immediately (which is stated is all owners manuals to do), the engine can be saved by having the oil pump replaced. A little more costly, but still reasonable. 3rd is simply a worn out engine, which will usually have very high mileage on it. Worn out bearings is a process that occurs over a long time of constant use, which mostly happens to cars with very high mileage. Then of course if its worth fixing, the engine will need to be replaced or rebuilt.

Or if the car is old & run down, most people will just send it to the salvage yard. This is a very similar process that happened to Mr. Khieu's car. The flawed bearings in his car has started to deteriorate before his policy with us was effective. Theoretically, this is something that does not happen over night, or in the very short time/mileage his policy went into effect. This is a slow process that does not show up until the engine oil pump can no longer maintain oil pressure, due to the worn bearings. In a recorded phone conversation I had with Mr. Khieu he said that "low oil pressure" warning light was coming on. (which in his complaint letter he states it was the "check engine light") Upon this conversation he told me that when the low oil press light was flashing on & off, he called the dealer for advice on what to do. Mr. Khieu said they told him to add 1 quart of a specific type of oil, which he did, & the light should go out. (Because its not unusual for any car in this era to burn an occasional quart of oil between oil changes.) Then they told him to bring it in to be checked, which he also did. What he failed to tell the dealer is that after adding the oil, the warning light did not go out. (which he also told me in our recorded conversation) According to the factory owners manual, it states very clearly that if this light should come on, to shut the car off immediately, & carry out the necessary checks. It states DO NOT operate the vehicle until the problem has been checked & serviced. In our policy, in the "Your Responsibility" section it states, "Failure to adhere to the owners manual recommendations, may result in denial of service. This is a very important factor that Mr. Khieu totally disregarded. In the phone conversation I had with him, he told me that he did not have the car towed, & he drove the car to the dealer with this condition, which is not close to his home. With my 41 plus years of experience in the auto repair trade, my professional opinion is that this definitely exasperated this issue that was already in the deterioration process prior to his policy being effective.

By deterioration I mean that even before the "low oil pressure" light came on, the poorly designed engine bearings were already in the state of premature failure. I am thoroughly convinced that if Mr. Khieu did follow the very important instructions listed in the owners manual to shut the engine off, & do not operate it until the problem was checked & serviced. His car would most likely not need a complete new engine, & his engine could have been fixed by replacing the flawed bearings. This is a very doable repair on any car, that is no where near as expensive as replacing the whole engine. At Concord we have certain policy stipulations, as all service policy companies have, to protect us against fraudulent claims. Line # 11 in the Exclusion section of our policy states "Any damages determined to be a direct or probable cause of a pre-existing mechanical issue weather it is known to the owner at the time of policy purchase or not". I'm not saying this was Mr.Khieu intention, but the point is that the engine in his car has a major flaw that is recognized by Maserati. Also in line #18 of the Exclusion section it states "Any damage or malfunction that is due to an already worn out or malfunction part".

In this case its the engine bearings that were already worn out. Because again I want to point out that engine bearings do not wear out to a point that a car will need a new engine in the very short window of time that his policy was effective. What could in fact happen to any car's engine overnight or in a short time frame is the engine could simply blow. For no reason at all it could just blow apart, which I have seen plenty of times while I was on the job. Its like a chains weakest link, it can be intact one day, & break the next day. The bottom line here is the fact that Maserati is well aware of this design flaw, & should of replaced Mr. Khieu's engine under their warranty. Maserati warranty is 4 years or 50,000 which ever comes first. Being this car only has 24,000 miles on it, & was out of factory warranty literally by a couple of weeks, they should have fixed his car instead of trying to put it on us. We did not build this car with the obvious engine flaw, they did, so if anyone Mr. Khieu has a right to be upset with, its Maserati of North America, not Concord Auto Protect. Please see attached excerpt from the owners manual for a 2014 Maserati Ghibli, where it states what to do in this situation. Thank you for taking the time to read our response, as I greatly appreciate it.

engine hood (see "Maintenance
Procedures" in section 7).
If the problem persists, contact an
Authorized Maserati Dealer
Low Oil Pressure Indicator
Under normal conditions, the
warning light illuminates
when the ignition switch is
turned to RUN and goes off as
soon as the engine is started.
If the warning light stays or turns on
while driving, the engine oil pressure is
too low. The warning light is combined
with a displayed message and an
acoustic signal that will last 4 minutes.
In this case, turn the engine off
immediately and carry out the
necessary checks.
Do not operate the vehicle until the
problem has been checked and serviced.
This light does not indicate the oil level.
The engine oil level must be checked
with the dipstick located under the cars hood.
                                                                               
Sincerely, Frank Morello Concord Auto Protect.