KRGV.com

MCALLEN - A Brownsville man says he bought a bad transmission from a local parts company. Now he says they won't honor the warranty.

Julio Guerrero paid $750 for a used transmission. He says it started having problems right away. Now it seems the chances of him getting any satisfaction are as slippery as the transmission itself.

Guerrero doesn't drive his 2000 BMW much any more. Since he paid $750 for a used transmission in November, he's had nothing but trouble. He took us for a short drive.

"I could even destroy the motor. You could do more damage to the car by continuing to drive it," says Guerrero.

Guerrero says gears one and two work OK, but the transmission starts slipping once he gets to third gear. He can't drive the car much over 20 or 30 mph because the engine is over-revving.

"See, it's going higher and higher. It's not shifting right," says Guerrero.

Guerrero says after the problems kicked in, he took the transmission back to National Used Auto Parts in McAllen where he got it. He says they told him he had voided the warranty on the part because he had opened it. Guerrero says he had to open it to replace the fluids and seals as it says to do on the receipt.

"I called and called and called and called, and I finally got through to talk to him and he told me that the transmission was bad, that the car was fine. There was nothing wrong electrical with the car and he said the transmission was bad," says Guerrero.

So Guerrero says he wants a refund. The manager of National Used Auto Parts, a man named Eduardo, would only say he has no comment on the case.

Now Guerrero has to save up the money to rebuild the used transmission he already paid for. He estimates that will cost him another $2,000.

National Used Auto Parts has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau. Among the reasons the BBB gives for the F is failure to respond to a complaint.