We can only thank you for the insight of buying use cars.
-------------------------------------------
Steven St.Laurent
Test Engineer
Test Branch, GSD, MCTSSA
MARCORSYSCOM, USMC
760-725-2506 (DSN 365-2506)
Work:mailto:stlaurents@mctssa.usmc.mil
Home:mailto:saint1958@home.com
-----Original Message-----
From: mopar98@webtv.net [mailto:mopar98@webtv.net]
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2000 6:23 AM
To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net
Subject: DML: dealer-warrantee problems....kinda long.....
You all had some bad problems with dealers....well had a problem
with one of my local dealers a couple of months back.....
My wife & I bought a used 1995 Dodge Stratus ES on Memorial Day
this year with 61,000 miles on it.....we drove it everywhere, well over
2,700 miles, than I noticed the fan ran continually and there was a
strong odor of antifreeze outside the car.... I opened the radiator
thinking it was a little low....it took over a gallon to refill it...it
was low again later on....I thought it might be a leak in the
radiator,so i added some stop leak.....no do.
At this time the car had a hair over 3k miles, I also noticed it
was leaking trans fluid coming from the rear main seal.......so i made
an appointment at my dealer to have it looked at.
I dropped it off on the appointment date....well come to find out it
had a bad water pump and a bad seal...total bill....$1300.00 on a car we
only had for a little over 3 months.I said we can't afford to pay
that!!!....
So I got my father to come up and talk to the used sales manager to
do something about the repair bill.(my father works for Chrysler and has
had 95% our families cars worked on there) so he cut the bill in
half...no problem.....
So a week later car done......got it back on a friday....drove it
home and noticed the steering wheel sat cocked @ the 11 o'clock
position.....got home 10 min later called the service writer about
it....he said drop it off on mon to have it looked at....Mon morn
dropped car off..mon afternoon to pick car up car still on lift no tech
near buy,getting a little pissed by now...both the tech and the writer
said nothing found loose or wrong. i said it sat off center and it did
not do it before i dropped it off....i asked if they put it on the
alignment rack...they said "no...it was too old of a rack to get a
accurate reading and they were getting a new one in the next month or
so"
I wasn't going to argue with them...so i took it to another shop to get
it aligned.....and went back to the dealer to see about getting
reimbursed for the cost of the alignment they said that they couldn't do
that.....so they offered me a free oil change....(i use Amsoil in all of
my cars)...basically i argued with the service manager and the
technician for about 1/2 hour in the shop.....they told me to go pack
sand!!!!.....
later that evening...i call Chrysler customer service and told them the
whole story...and about 2 weeks later.....i got 2 calls from the dealer
with a big apology on the whole dealings with their handling of the
whole thing.....
their 5 star rating was on the line....GO TO THE TOP!!!!!!
all said in done...when they pulled the trans the whole crossmember must
be lowered to get access...the steering column shaft was not returned to
the proper position on the rack&pinion causing it to be off center.
Dakota content...I love my 94 Dakota!!!!!!
1994 Dodge Dakota Sport V6(1 of 2,986)
1995 Dodge Dakota Sport V6 (RIP)
1995 Dodge Stratus ES(1 of 593)
1989 Dodge Daytona(1 of 1,196)
1988 Dodge Daytona Pacifica(1 of 457)
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