Kubota M5660SUHD caught on fire (60hrs)!

[fbitz777]

Back to the dealers' view that it is not under warranty. Exactly how did they figure that?
Years ago we had a tractor that Ford did not want to warranty. The problem was the kill cable rubbed through the harness. They initially said it was wear and tear, therefore not warrantable. When I explained that the cable was improperly routed and the possibility of a short could have resulted in a fire, the warranty was honored.
Sometimes the whole picture isn't played out or someone is too lazy to do the proper investigating.

Dealer showed no interest in investigating what caused the fire and spent maybe an hour printing out 200 or so parts that could be affected by a fire irrespective of wether they were even touched by the fire.

 

[2manyrocks]

Unless your insurance company hires an expert to determine the cause of the fire, you or your lawyer at your expense may have to hire an actual expert to assess the cause of the fire. Once the dealer starts removing parts, it may be impossible after that.

 

[LD1]

Dealer showed no interest in investigating what caused the fire and spent maybe an hour printing out 200 or so parts that could be affected by a fire irrespective of wether they were even touched by the fire.

As someone else mentioned.....kinda seemed like your dealer assumed you had insurance. And of course they were gonna bill for and replace everything they possibly can....
And again, assuming insurance is in the picture... why would the dealer waste valuable time and resourses trying to investigate what the cause was. Thats the insurance job to do if they choose. To the dealer, this should be an open and shut deal......between them and your insurance. Thats it.

Now that you dont have insurance and that has came to light, you have to decide what to do?

Do YOU want to conduct the investigation....hire a investigator and/or lawyer....and hope they find the cause to be something warrantable? Because if rodent, or chaff, etc its not.

Do YOU want to pay to fix the machine? IF so, have the dealer RE-ESTIMATE to just the basics needed to run. Not the cosmetics,

Do YOU want to walk away and say screw kubota and their lein?

The ball in in your court to decide what to do. But taking delivery of another brand new kubota kinda didnt do you any favors and you lost your only bargaining chip

 

[2manyrocks]

Tables would turn if an expert determined that a fault in the equipment caused the fire that resulted in damage to the tractor and burns to the owner. But if that doesn't happen, it would be pretty uncomfortable to owe Kubota for the tractor and to also have to pay for the repairs out of your own pocket.

 

[fbitz777]

As someone else mentioned.....kinda seemed like your dealer assumed you had insurance. And of course they were gonna bill for and replace everything they possibly can....
And again, assuming insurance is in the picture... why would the dealer waste valuable time and resourses trying to investigate what the cause was. Thats the insurance job to do if they choose. To the dealer, this should be an open and shut deal......between them and your insurance. Thats it.

Now that you dont have insurance and that has came to light, you have to decide what to do?

Do YOU want to conduct the investigation....hire a investigator and/or lawyer....and hope they find the cause to be something warrantable? Because if rodent, or chaff, etc its not.

Do YOU want to pay to fix the machine? IF so, have the dealer RE-ESTIMATE to just the basics needed to run. Not the cosmetics,

Do YOU want to walk away and say screw kubota and their lein?

The ball in in your court to decide what to do. But taking delivery of another brand new kubota kinda didnt do you any favors and you lost your only bargaining chip

My last resort is to fix it myself. I am not expecting this to be very hard except if ECU is damaged. It is kind of hard to assess things when the dealer is not letting me inspect the tractor while at their location.

 

[LD1]

And what reason are they giving you for not letting you inspect?

If its in their shop I can understand them not wanting to let you back there for liability reasons.

Are they doing their own inspection and its not complete? Are they still trying to battle with warranty? Are they still waiting to hear from you insurance that you dont have? Are they still waiting on you to pay the $200 they charge to trailer it to them?

I mean they HAD to give you a reason. They cannot just deny you your machine without explanation.

 

[fbitz777]

And what reason are they giving you for not letting you inspect?

If its in their shop I can understand them not wanting to let you back there for liability reasons.

Are they doing their own inspection and its not complete? Are they still trying to battle with warranty? Are they still waiting to hear from you insurance that you dont have? Are they still waiting on you to pay the $200 they charge to trailer it to them?

I mean they HAD to give you a reason. They cannot just deny you your machine without explanation.

They want to tractor out of their shop unless I want to spent that 29k which I as much as tractor is worth. They are not interesting in discussing anything else such as taking parts off the estimates that are not damaged. My lawyer is dealing with Kubota directly

 

[ruffdog]

They want to tractor out of their shop unless I want to spent that 29k which I as much as tractor is worth. They are not interesting in discussing anything else such as taking parts off the estimates that are not damaged. My lawyer is dealing with Kubota directly

Gee....nice place to do business.

 

[2manyrocks]

Although there may be some suggestions posted here that you may want to discuss with your attorney to see if your attorney thinks they make sense for you, I'd suggest that you follow your attorneys advice.

I would expect the dealer to take a hands off approach to this situation because the dealer doesn't want to get in a lawsuit and doesn't want to tick Kubota off, either.

 

[LD1]

They want to tractor out of their shop unless I want to spent that 29k which I as much as tractor is worth. They are not interesting in discussing anything else such as taking parts off the estimates that are not damaged. My lawyer is dealing with Kubota directly

Not really sure what you were meaning to say that got autocorrected?

Are you trying to imply they WONT let the tractor out of their shop unless you are prepared to spend $29k?

That dont seem right.

I can understand them maybe not wanting to amend their estimate. Maybe they are answering to kubota corp.....and that $29k is EVERYTHING that is needed to make it back to previous condition and protect the interest of the lien holder.

But as long as you are still making payments on the machine and are not behind, I dont think they have a right to prevent you from taking the machine and doing the bare minimum to get it running....although not cosmetically perfect. But again, I can understand their willingness to deny that type of service. Ya know....sometimes a $5 roll of ductape or $2 pack of zip ties may solve a problem that requires $300 of parts. Which route do you think a reputable dealer would take?

Honestly, I dont think there is much more you can get from this forum. This is between YOU, The dealer, and your attorney now. We do appreciate the updates.....and hopefully one day soon this will be resolved and we can have an update to the final outcome. But at this point, I am sure there is far more going on than we know. Too much missing information. I'll stay subscribed to hear the outcome whenever it happens. But dont think there is anything left to say