Chrysler just called me about my '97 needing to be painted! Can you believe they VOLENTEERED such a call? They asked me to have it measured at a local dealer, they CALLED ME to confirm that I did it, then they called me again to tell me the results!
I give them credit!
James Bird BirdJD@InternetMCI.com
'97 Dakota CC, V8, 5sp, 4x4, 3.55 gears, loaded, 500w of serious sound
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Brown [SMTP:Richard.Brown@MCI.Com]
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 1997 3:19 PM
To: JShandsjr@worldnet.att.net
Cc: dakota@ait.fredonia.edu
Subject: Re: Paint peeling
At 01:34 AM 5/28/97 -0500, John W. Shands, Jr. wrote:
>Hello out there...
>
>I have a '93 Dakota that is peeling bad. Has anyone had this problem?
>I have not talked to Dodge yet but has anyone dealt with them on this
>problem?
>
>john
>
Welcome, John, to the PPC!
(That's "Peeling Paint Club". I could see some "MechWarrior" gamers
getting somewhat confused....)
Yes, my '92 Dakota Sport (electric blue) started peeling last year. It
started on the roof initially, and on the hood about 4 months later. Was
concerned as to what recourse to take myself, since:
(a) The Owners manual stipulated "1 Year Warranty on Paint", and
(b) Chrysler was rumored to play "hardball" with repaints.
The Dakota finally got to the point where it looked like TOTAL crap, and
although 5 years had passed I only had 55k miles on it! Pissed off, I went
to the dealer ready to do battle. Standard questions they asked were if I
was the original owner, do I typically wash my truck with lacquer thinner,
etc.
Actually what they did was the "tape test", where they test the
adhesiveness of the paint to the primer. Mine pulled off *chunks*, hence
they filled out some forms (and stuck the tape to it) for the factory rep
to review when they came by the dealership... which occurs about once a month.
My argument to them? I told the Asst. service manager:
"So if I buy any one of these cars off your lot today, this
(pointing at my truck) is what I can expect it to look like
in 5 years? Does this look NORMAL to you??"
Finally got a call where they agreed to cover $400 of any work I had done,
so long as I provided the invoice from whatever body/paint place I had do
it. Of course, I shopped around and found a place which did the work for
$530. Only the hood and roof were painted, plus the pillers and fender
tops where they tried to "blend" the colors in. It's been a few months
now, and it looks terrific. They did an EXCELLENT job.
A repaint of the entire truck was out of the question. I didn't want to
spend the money... I knew Chrysler probably wasn't going to give a
"complete" paint job being that the truck *was* 5 years old, and I didn't
want to lose my "sport" stripes. I had priced those decals, and they
weren't cheap. Sure, I could've picked up some pinstripe kit from Pep
Boyz, but lets get serious!
So its done, and I'm happy. The check from Chrysler took 3 to 4 weeks to
arrive, but at least I didn't have to hunt it down.
Just go to your dealer, and carry the attitude that any attempt to avoid
the issue is unacceptable. Since this typically is a charge back to the
"factory", its not like your taking money from the dealer anyway. Oh, and
don't let them force you to use "their" body shop! If the price is right,
then excellent, but you should still be free to "shop around". It isn't
the dealer's money, so they don't have the right to dictate terms to you.
For the same hood/roof job I had so called "cheap" places (ie. "Maaco")
tell me $750. Others were over $1000!
Best of luck to you!
===========================================================
Richard Brown Antelope, Calif.
'70 \6 Challenger Conv. (440 6pak R/T clone in progress)
'92 Dakota 2.5L (Great gas mileage, no power )
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