RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – Virginia Sousa purchased a car from Lithia Hyundai and immediately noticed a rattle. After bringing the car in Sousa was told all she needed was an oil change and everything was fine. Within two days, everything went from bad, to worse.
“I’m paying monthly for a car I can’t even use,” Sousa begins.
When the rattle persisted Sousa tried to call Lithia Hyundai to have the car looked at again. According to Sousa, it took three months to get ahold of the dealership and when she did, it was another two months to get her car on calendar. This time around, after dropping the car off, she was told the vehicle had to have the motor replaced and that the warranty was invalid.
“We were thinking, well, is there any exception because we had it in prior to the warranty? We never heard yay or nay…nothing,” said Sousa.
In the five months it took for Lithia Hyundai to determine the warranty was outdated, Sousa’s father was dying.
“I think I made at least four trips to California in the time being. One being I had to by his bedside, he died January 1st, I had to go back for his celebration of life, and then I had to go back twice to get some of his stuff,” Sousa recalled.
Sousa and her husband texted and called repeatedly just to get answers. The Sousa’s even kept records of each time they reached out. In some instances they would call the dealership eight times in a week. Their car has now been sitting at Lithia Hyundai for three and a half months.
“Well first off I felt dismissed. I felt in a way, as a woman taking her car in that I was being overlooked,” Sousa said.
If that wasn’t bad enough, in the midst of all this, Sousa’s four-year-old son, Zane, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The two are currently together in Utah while he gets his radiation treatment. Since there’s three other kids at home Sousa’s husband had to stay behind in Reno.
“I don’t know anybody here. I’ve never been to Utah. It’s hard. It feels like quarantine all over again but without my family. It’s definitely hard to go from lying next to somebody every night to just being on a video chat,” Sousa said as she fights back tears.
Without a car, Sousa is dependent on Uber and Lyft to get her son to the hospital. Not only are they racking up charges, but she says, they are unreliable as they’ve cancelled on her multiple times. If her son has a body tremor, or even gets a slight fever, he has to get to the hospital within an hour. Not having reliable transportation has made Sousa paranoid that in an emergency situation, Zane wont get to his doctors on time. She says the ordeal has her feeling trapped everyday.
Zane is currently going through radiation treatment and therefore is immunocompromised. He can’t go into public spaces without the risk of doing serious damage to his health. Sousa describes him as a ray of sunshine but, between the intense treatments, and being unable to leave his hotel room, the situation affects him too.
“He’s constantly upset, he wants to go home, he wants to be in mommy and daddy’s room. It’s really hard, he’s not getting to see his family as much as we’d hope so,” said Sousa.
At the end of the day, Sousa doesn’t want any money, she doesn’t want the car, she just wants to be done. She says all she wants is an apology and for the situation to be made right.
We reached out to Lithia Hyundai for comment, they have yet to provide a response.
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