Gettel Hyundai, 3480 Bee Ridge Road Sarasota, FL 34239-7245
Complaint 20203 Details

I was looking to buy a car last year, my first priority was to buy a car with good gas mileage. I bought a new Hyundai Elantra from Gettel Hyundai in Sarasota in 8/28 2010. The mileage written on the sticker was 35-45 mi/gal and the salesman assured me that this car would deliver. After the first few months of use I noticed my mileage was 26-28 mi/gal. When I called the dealer where I bought my car they told me this was normal, I simply had to break in the vehicle and I would soon be getting good mileage. 3 months later I called again with the very same complaint and was told I needed to wait, the car would not be fully broken in until I reached 5,000 miles. In June (10 months after purchase) I still was still getting the same poor mileage even though I was very attentive to always drive in ECO-mode. I brought the car into the Sarasota dealership, where I bought the vehicle, to investigate the problem. After 2 hours the auto maintenance guy said there was nothing wrong and I probably wasn’t calculating the mileage correctly. They also thought that if I used different gas stations that would make a difference, in case the gas at one station was sub-par. When I asked what the next step, I was told that if I continued to have problems I could come back and that they would have someone drive around with me for about 50 miles and then help me calculate my mileage(!!!).

So, I spent a month recording my receipts and odometer readings, I have been scrupulous in staying in ECO mode on the highway and in town. I drive round-trip from Tampa to Sarasota (60-75 miles about once a week) and my mileage is nowhere near 35-45 mi/gal. The last entry I logged was a short trip of 65 miles; only 4 miles were in town, 61 miles were driven using cruise control, to keep it at a constant 72 mi/hr in ECO-mode. I then called the corporate office to see who I could report this to and was told that the mileage for this car was 26-32 mi/gal! NOT 35-45.

The number one reason for purchasing this car was the gas mileage. I had every reason to expect I would get over 30 mi/gal. If the salesman had been honest up front, I would have NEVER bought this car. If the maintenance men had been honest enough to say “Lady you’re getting the gas mileage your supposed to get”, I would have returned it, or at least not waste a year of my life frustrated and annoyed.

I'm very upset - if there is anything I can do about this please let me know.