There’s no one who wants to receive a recall notice about their car. Everyone wants to think the vehicle they have purchased is perfect and going to last forever.
A recall notice is proof that your vehicle is damaged in a way that absolutely must be fixed.
Many people panic when they see a recall notice. They believe their car is damaged in a way that can never be fixed. The truth is that many recalls are actually for issues which are highly unlikely to be serious ones. Or they can have serious consequences to a vehicle in strange and obscure situations. Regardless, when a person receives a recall notice, they don’t need to panic. If they merely follow these steps, everything will be okay.
The Steps You Should Take When You Get a Recall Notice
- Examine the Notice
- Confirm Accuracy Online
- Contact Dealership to Set Appointment Time
- Take The Vehicle In
- Wait for Repairs
- Drive Home Happy
The Steps Explained
The first thing is to examine the notice received and make sure it applies. Most notices are still mailed to a person through the US Postal Service. Old school snail mail is still reliable, but many people may not check it very often. Some car companies will also send email recall notices as well if they have that information from the sale they made.
It’s important to double check and make sure the recall notice is legitimate. Scammers are everywhere. In addition, it’s important to make sure that the recall appointment actually applies to your vehicle. Mistakes have been known to happen (or there wouldn’t be recall notices, right?) and there’s no point in undergoing a recall if it’s not actually for your vehicle.
From there, the next step is contacting your local dealership for repairs. Since recalls come from the company, they are going to be the one making the repairs. When a company makes a recall notice on one of their vehicles, they know they will need to do everything they can to accommodate them. If the repair is something that will take a moderate to long amount of time, it’s likely they may provide you with a courtesy car so that you can still go about your business while the repair is ongoing.
Once the appointment time is properly set, the next step is to head over to the dealership. It’s still frustrating to give up some time in the day to the company, but these things happen. After that, it’s a matter of waiting. As mentioned, if it’s a long repair, they will offer up a courtesy vehicle or shuttle. If it’s a short term fix, it’s probably best to sit in the dealership and enjoy some free coffee.
Once the repairs have been completed on the car, it’s time to head home. If the repair is something that is visual or cosmetic, the first thing that should be done is to check it out. Make sure that the repair was done correctly and that it’s not going to be a reoccurring issue. If there is in fact a problem, quickly contact the dealer. It’s not unheard of for one fix to cause a problem in another way.