Funny story

So on Sunday, Matt and I were headed to the gym after church to go work out. As I go to get in the car, something weird happens. I can't get in. The door handle is in my hand. It had broken off from the rest of the door.

Great.

My poor door looks so sad...

Apparently I shrieked a little in surprise because Matt thought I saw a snake or something. Nope, far worse. I couldn't get in my car (well, without some difficulty). 

Of course the dealership I take my car (2010 Hyundai Sonata) to is closed on Sundays so first thing Monday morning I drive down there and see what they can do for me. After waiting about 10 minutes, they tell me they can fix it, obviously, but it will be about 2 days. Apparently it takes forever (i.e. 1-2 days) to paint a door handle. Once that is done, I bring my car back in and they re-attach it to the door. So right now, they're painting it and will let me know when they're done.

If you've ever wondered what a door handle looks like...

The best part about this? My car has 61,000 miles, almost exactly. This would have been covered by the warranty, but that warranty expired at, you guessed it, 60,000 miles. After doing some internet research and talking to the dealership, apparently it isn't uncommon for my model year of the Sonata to have this issue. So though it appears to be a known problem, they still wanted to charge me almost $300 for it. I asked the service guy if they could waive the fee or discount it since I was so close to the mileage and it didn't fall off because I'm rough on it, but apparently they couldn't do anything. Of course not. 

So close to 60K...

So I contacted Hyundai corporate. When in doubt, go big right? So about 3 hours after I send my email, they get back to me and say they will consider reimbursing me if I provide them specific paperwork because I'm a loyal customer and I've kept up with the maintenance of my Sonata. 

And that's where we're at now. I have to open my car door through the front passenger side for the next 48 hours and then wait and see if Hyundai will refund us our money. I'm happy they got back to me quickly and will think about reimbursing us but it is still silly. I can either get mad or laugh and I'm choosing to laugh, especially as I try to reach across my car to open the heavy door and get it to stay open when it wants to close.

At least that's what I'll remind myself of :)

Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes we still went to the gym. We're dedicated like that.

So, has this ever happened to you? Any other funny car malfunction? 

For the record, this is the first time since I got the car in 2010 that I've had an issue. I am otherwise very happy with my carand recommend their vehicles. This is not a paid advertisement in any form, just wanted to put that out there :)