Dealer's Fault-and Will This Make a Difference?
I recently had my 2001 Insight serviced (oil & filter change; tire rotation). A few days later while driving to work I heard a loud clunking and scraping sound underneath the car. When I finally got to where I could pull over I looked underneath the car. On the right (passenger) side I saw what looks like a plastic splash apron or cover of some kind hanging loose with only one bolt holding it in place. The part was pretty much destroyed and fell off of the car a few miles up the road despite my best efforts to try and tuck it out of the way. There is also one of these pieces on the other side of the car and it looked fine. I note that both of these aprons/covers appear to be attached by bolts or screws to what looks like an aluminum skid plate under the front of the car.
I'm by no means an expert on changing oil on a Honda Insight so my question is this-would the dealer's mechanic have been required to remove some of the attaching bolts/screws in order to perform the oil change? If so, I believe the dealer owes me a free replacement. Also, is there any harm in operating the car without this piece? I assume it might have something to do with airflow and my mileage might suffer a bit, but does anyone see any harm aside from that?
I'm by no means an expert on changing oil on a Honda Insight so my question is this-would the dealer's mechanic have been required to remove some of the attaching bolts/screws in order to perform the oil change? If so, I believe the dealer owes me a free replacement. Also, is there any harm in operating the car without this piece? I assume it might have something to do with airflow and my mileage might suffer a bit, but does anyone see any harm aside from that?
