Program vehicles

[packrat]

Seeing as how we have knowledgeable vehicle people here *cough Ame cough*, I thought I might ask thoughts on buying a program vehicle vs what *I* out in the boonies consider a new one? (If I want a big 000000 on the odometer I'll have to travel probably 4 hours)

We bought a new Jeep Cherokee Latitude in December, trading in my beloved 2004 Ford Escape for it. At first I loved it, cheesed out every time I looked at it and drove it. Felt positively faaaancy. Heated seats/steering wheel, a huge touch screen ohh heck yeah for us that was living large. I had problems w/it from the get-go but figured it was me being weird driving a different vehicle after having my Escape for almost 11 years. Then I realized JD was having the same issues. So I did a google search...and found out oh hey, there are huge problems w/this vehicle and there ended up being two recalls on it. Great, that should fix the problems-except it was worse afterward.

Took it back to the dealership twice after that and they flat out told us in no uncertain terms we were imagining things, the 'lil wifey doesn't know how to drive, that's just how vehicles are.

So we decided to trade it in. We talked to my parents about it and dad seemed kinda meh about us having problems-until he realized we were serious about it, so he started to look into it and oh huh well I guess there really are problems gee...He called the dealership (where he's gotten every vehicle he's owned for 40 years or whatever) and gave them the what for. We took it back to have them "look at it" again and suddenly oh wow, there really is something wrong w/it....buuuuuut Chrysler doesn't have a fix in the works so we can deal w/it for up to however many months/years it takes, or trade it in and lose our shirts. For now, they've given us a different vehicle to drive, a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee...they seem to want to do a tradesies with it and no thanks sir.

I bought a subscription to Consumer Reports and none of the Jeeps get fantastic reviews. Dad feels we should get a 2015 Grand Cherokee b/c they've got rebates etc on them. Far as I'm concerned Jeep can stick it-we got 3k worth of rebates on mine and what stinking good did it do me??? I feel like we got a lemon and it's defective, so we should get our money back. I'm told that's not going to happen.

We drove a few other vehicles at a different dealership, driving 2 hours to deal w/the brother in a family I went to school with who will give us his family discount. We liked the 2015 Chevy Colorado. Dad talked to the dealership here in town and they will give us 22360 on ours and we'd need a loan for roughly 15k to get the truck. We're losing 11k on this stupid Jeep thru no fault of our own. It's not buyers remorse like awww nah I really wanted something different, it's a faulty vehicle, end of story and we're not the only ones w/this vehicle that have this problem. This ticks me off to no end.

So. Dad says we should look at getting a program truck rather than a brand new one. This bothers me, so that's the whole point of my post..finally, right?? He said we could cut our loan by about 50% going that route, which would be nice of course. But still. I'll get a 2015 w/10k miles on it, and my 2004 only had 53K. It seems stupid to me. So then we had a whole go-round about high miles/low miles on vehicles and "nowadays" it's not a big deal to have high miles. Miles are the first thing people look at near as I can figure-I look I know.

Any insights into program cars? I'd rather avoid *another* fight w/my dad (we're going on vacation together in a couple weeks so there's plenty of time for us to have at it)

 

[iLander]

I have no idea what a program vehicle is.

But I do know that, for quality, I stick to Toyotas. Owned 6 of them (2 vans, a Corolla, 2 Celicas, a Rav4), never had any issues, other than batteries and tires.

Knock on wood.

 

[packrat]

Dad tells me program cars are the ones the dealers drive? Like it would be their "company" vehicle I guess?

 

[iLander]

Dad tells me program cars are the ones the dealers drive? Like it would be their "company" vehicle I guess?

What? So . . . like used car? Why are car dealers' used cars better than regular people used cars? Not being rude, just not understanding. . .

 

[packrat]

Dad tells me program cars are the ones the dealers drive? Like it would be their "company" vehicle I guess?

What? So . . . like used car? Why are car dealers' used cars better than regular people used cars? Not being rude, just not understanding. . .

I guess that's just what they call them, Program cars, not that they're better or anything. So yeah, it would be used. I think it's supposed to give a buyer "peace of mind" that they know it wasn't driven horribly..or...something

 

[iLander]

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. And you know the service would have been done by the dealer. So that's good.

Learn something new every day.

We got our last car (Rav4) through the Costco car program if that helps any. It was $25K on the lot, and we paid $22K, no haggling or anything.

Shrug.

I'm trying to help, PR, but I can't figure out how . . .

 

[packrat]

Thanks. I think we're just going to get hosed, regardless.

Waiting to hear back from the out of town dealership and see what they'll give us for trade.

The closest Costco is 2 hours away-but it's in the same town as the other dealership we're talking to. Trials and tribulations of being out in the boonies.

 

[ame]

Pass! Get new and fight like hell.

I am not a fan of Chrysler products, including Jeep. I have never owned one and don't plan to change that.

Program cars are usually demos that the dealer drives, or cars that were loaners, fleet vehicles or just came off lease. Unless you're getting it practically or totally FREE with a warranty from the gods, not a chance I'd recommend. Those are rarely in good shape and not typically well maintained.

Regarding lemons: that is a major pita to get a dealer to identify and "agree" with and prove. They work for the manufacturer and not you, and they're gonna do all they can to circumvent the process. I hate the way lemon laws are set up bec they don't really benefit the consumer as much as they should. But if you have had it in and actually repaired for the same thing at least 3x and its documented as such--insist that it be documented!!! And it has to be repaired three or more times to qualify in most states-- you can go after lemon law.

 

[Calliecake]

Hi Packrat, I'm sorry to hear you are having problems with your Jeep. It is frustrating fighting with dealerships. A friend of mine has one the same year and has not had any problems with hers. Look up the car on Truecar.com and see what others in your area are paying for that car. At least this way you will know what a fair price is. I would also negotiate to try to get an even lower price.

I'm also having the same dilemma. The car I'm looking at has 6,000 miles on it and it's being sold for $11,000 off the sticker price. I love the car and don't want to spend what they are going for so it may be a good deal. It looks brand new inside and out and has a warranty 2 years longer or 40,000 miles longer than the standard issued warranty. I view a car with 6,000 miles as a used car no matter what the dealership calls them. On the other hand I also like the fact that I won't be taking a hit the second I drive it off the lot. $11,000 would also be nice to put toward other things.

Please let us know what you decide to do. I hope you can come up with a solution where you are happy and not taking a huge loss.

 

[packrat]

Pass! Get new and fight like hell.

I am not a fan of Chrysler products, including Jeep. I have never owned one and don't plan to change that.

Program cars are usually demos that the dealer drives, or cars that were loaners, fleet vehicles or just came off lease. Unless you're getting it practically or totally FREE with a warranty from the gods, not a chance I'd recommend. Those are rarely in good shape and not typically well maintained.

Regarding lemons: that is a major pita to get a dealer to identify and "agree" with and prove. They work for the manufacturer and not you, and they're gonna do all they can to circumvent the process. I hate the way lemon laws are set up bec they don't really benefit the consumer as much as they should. But if you have had it in and actually repaired for the same thing at least 3x and its documented as such--insist that it be documented!!! And it has to be repaired three or more times to qualify in most states-- you can go after lemon law.

Cripes, three times? That's so ridiculous. I wish I'd never bought the stupid thing. We took it in once to have the recalls fixed-one of the recalls was for the transmission-and then took it back twice to have them look at it. The first time they insisted there wasn't anything wrong w/it, and JD told them they better go look again-they kept it another day and still insisted there wasn't anything wrong, that I didn't know how to drive and was imagining things. It kept getting worse and I'd finally had enough and was going to get something else, then my dad stepped in and called the owner (we'd been dealing w/the service manager) who had us bring it back. One of the guys drove it and it did the same shit to him that it does to us, so then the owner googled it and found tons and tons of people w/the same issue. So technically we've only had it in once for the recall, and then not again to be "fixed"-bc they kept saying there wasn't anything wrong w/it to fix. This second time when the owner had us bring it in, he told dad Chrysler is aware of the problem, but they've got no plans to fix the issue. But he wants to "treat us right"...sooooo then I am of the mind if you want to treat us right you'll refund us to the penny what we spent on the piece of crap. Dad doesn't see it that way and it's just eh, well, too bad so sad.

So, now we "own" a vehicle that is sitting in the parking lot of the dealership whilst we drive a different vehicle-the owner said he didn't care if we had it for 6 months or a year. That's dumb. Granted, we're not putting miles on our "actual" vehicle but still. The Grand Cherokee that they gave us does the same thing but to a way lesser degree.

Now we're stuck trying to find something GOOD in our price range that we aren't going to have to drive hundreds of miles to test drive and then go back again to purchase, and deal w/the salt in the wound of well shit, we could've added 10-12k to our original budget and gotten a better vehicle to begin with if we'd known, and now we're out that money. Shoot, we could've spent a weekend in Minneapolis, four stupid hours away, driving all kinds of vehicles in a 40-45k price range for what we're going to end up spending now, all told.

 

[packrat]

Thanks Callie. I hope you get what you're looking for at a good price!

A program car, that's a used car to me too, and I don't want that. I HAD a used car, my Escape, used by only ME for 11 years. Should've just kept the thing I guess. A used car to me, too, is not a current year car. Unless it happens to be a *true* buyers remorse thing like oh crap I guess I really wanted a car rather than this suv/pick up, and then they trade it in right away. That's different and probably it's not going to have several thousand miles on it already. I tried to explain to dad that I don't want a vehicle that has 1/4 the miles on it when I buy it, that my 11 year old one did. That just seems stupid to me.

I feel like we're just screwed. What I get for buying local I guess. At this point I'd rather sell the stupid thing outright and put the money on the mortgage and just drive JD's truck when I need to.

 

[ame]

Pass! Get new and fight like hell.

I am not a fan of Chrysler products, including Jeep. I have never owned one and don't plan to change that.

Program cars are usually demos that the dealer drives, or cars that were loaners, fleet vehicles or just came off lease. Unless you're getting it practically or totally FREE with a warranty from the gods, not a chance I'd recommend. Those are rarely in good shape and not typically well maintained.

Regarding lemons: that is a major pita to get a dealer to identify and "agree" with and prove. They work for the manufacturer and not you, and they're gonna do all they can to circumvent the process. I hate the way lemon laws are set up bec they don't really benefit the consumer as much as they should. But if you have had it in and actually repaired for the same thing at least 3x and its documented as such--insist that it be documented!!! And it has to be repaired three or more times to qualify in most states-- you can go after lemon law.

Cripes, three times? That's so ridiculous. I wish I'd never bought the stupid thing. We took it in once to have the recalls fixed-one of the recalls was for the transmission-and then took it back twice to have them look at it. The first time they insisted there wasn't anything wrong w/it, and JD told them they better go look again-they kept it another day and still insisted there wasn't anything wrong, that I didn't know how to drive and was imagining things. It kept getting worse and I'd finally had enough and was going to get something else, then my dad stepped in and called the owner (we'd been dealing w/the service manager) who had us bring it back. One of the guys drove it and it did the same shit to him that it does to us, so then the owner googled it and found tons and tons of people w/the same issue. So technically we've only had it in once for the recall, and then not again to be "fixed"-bc they kept saying there wasn't anything wrong w/it to fix. This second time when the owner had us bring it in, he told dad Chrysler is aware of the problem, but they've got no plans to fix the issue. But he wants to "treat us right"...sooooo then I am of the mind if you want to treat us right you'll refund us to the penny what we spent on the piece of crap. Dad doesn't see it that way and it's just eh, well, too bad so sad.

So, now we "own" a vehicle that is sitting in the parking lot of the dealership whilst we drive a different vehicle-the owner said he didn't care if we had it for 6 months or a year. That's dumb. Granted, we're not putting miles on our "actual" vehicle but still. The Grand Cherokee that they gave us does the same thing but to a way lesser degree.

Now we're stuck trying to find something GOOD in our price range that we aren't going to have to drive hundreds of miles to test drive and then go back again to purchase, and deal w/the salt in the wound of well shit, we could've added 10-12k to our original budget and gotten a better vehicle to begin with if we'd known, and now we're out that money. Shoot, we could've spent a weekend in Minneapolis, four stupid hours away, driving all kinds of vehicles in a 40-45k price range for what we're going to end up spending now, all told.

Yea I would be of your same mind--I want my money back to the penny. That's the only way I'd be feeling like I was treated right--and they better not sell it to anyone else. Your dad should see it that way and I don't get why he doesn't.

See--that's what really bugged me about stealerships/this industry--they knew there were problems, YOU working with the dealer knew of problems, the manufacturer knew there was a huge problem. And they covered it all up. But who is gonna do something about it? NOT A DAMN SOUL. Well, until the media finds out a few people were killed by the problem and a huge recall was covered up by people who got millions in bonuses. Then they just get fined a little bit, someone apologizes and oh it's all fine and dandy, and a loophole is closed so no one can sue. And then yet again NOTHING gets done. I don't get it. It is baffling to me.

I would seriously demand that they take your car back, give you a refund and you go on your merry way.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I think big decisions need to be made with the head not the heart. When I was looking for a new car my heart wanted BRAND new. The more I test drove and played around with the numbers the more sense it made for me to by used. I found the exact car I wanted 18 months old with 15K miles on it. Saved me 10K so for *me* that was worth it. Of course I grew up in a family that ALWAYS bought used cars even though my parents could easily afford new/luxury. If it were between paying my mortgage and getting a new car, shelter would win. Especially if there is another car you could use or can manage on being a one car family.

 

[packrat]

Well, I tried going the route of selling my Escape and just driving JD's truck-he's got two of them. One big one we all can fit in and one small one I could use if it was just me, or me and the kids if we didn't have to go far-it just has one of those little sideways jump seat things in the back. Whoever is on duty picks up the officer coming on duty, and they drop each other off, so 99% of the time JD doesn't drive to work. And of the 1% of the time that the officer is on a call or the crap is hitting the fan and he has to go NOW, I just take him myself. So if we want to get down to business, we don't NEED a third vehicle. I broached the subject a few years ago and it was met w/a resounding NO. I'm the only one who thinks that's a good idea, b/c there have been times we've actually needed another vehicle. Neither of his are "nice" vehicles, they're more utilitarian, he uses them for hunting/trapping/hauling things. Not ideal for trips of more than a few miles if you'd prefer any sort of comfort.

We're not to the point where we are in dire need of the house to be paid off, it just would be nice. It wouldn't pay it off completely but close!

I'm fine saving money buying used...but I'd rather have then done that from the beginning. Not buy a brand new one and get hosed on it thru no fault of my own so then I lose my shirt and have to buy used, which technically then would be the same cost, or *more* of a brand new vehicle b/c of the loss. Spending 33k on a brand new vehicle, to sell it for 23, then to turn around and buy a used vehicle for 30, to me then it actually cost me 40 to buy the used 30 vehicle b/c I lost 10.

when I bought my diamonds, if the cutter had left little scratches or mouse bites or something on them, and it was thru no fault of my own, it shouldn't be me then having to take the loss on them.

My head balks at the whole thing. I would be horrified if I were a sales person and sold something to someone that was faulty. I would feel it would be my obligation to take care of the situation completely. When you put a car in gear, you expect it to go, not sit in traffic and pray nobody runs into you, until the vehicle suddenly shoots forward and you have to hope *you* don't hit anyone.

I don't *have* to be a big cry baby about it-my parents paid for part of the vehicle as a gift for us. But then if we lose money on it, then that means they threw their money away-and that also pisses me off. It's just not right. And now any help they tried to give us to lessen the payment, is gone, b/c we'll have to get a loan to pay it off.

Dad very much is just kinda eh, well, that's how it works when you buy a new vehicle, it depreciates the second you drive it off the lot, that's not the dealerships fault. HELLO? I get how it works, but it is FAULTY. And dad is like...sell ice to the eskimos, the most level headed, make you feel like his idea was really yours all along and by golly it was a brilliant idea...I look up to him so much, and both JD and I go to my parents for advice on things and respect their opinions.

I don't know. I'm at a complete loss what to do. If the dealership won't give us our money back, we're stuck. I don't know how to *make* them, how to convince them.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

That's really frustrating. I don't know much about lemon laws or what are the consumer rights laws. I hope you get some compensation because one expects a reliable product no matter what brand car is bought.

If you can get away with only having one car (or two trucks in your case) think about the car insurance, gas, oil change, repairs, savings. In the meantime maybe you can take the money you would use towards a new car and invest it. That way when you are ready to buy again you have a bigger downpayment.

 

[packrat]

Soooo...after much back and forth, my dad talking to the dealership a few times and my talking w/a different dealership...two months later nothing had been figured out.

I finally had a bit of a hissy fit and texted the other dealership last night and said we wanted to get going on a new vehicle. Then my dad comes over today and says you know, you're going to lose a lot on this, let's get w/the owner of the dealership and see what we see.

The owner said we would contact his rep (which I don't know what that is, a Chrysler rep?) and have him come. They would look at doing a buy back, but he said we would probably need to stay in the Dodge/Chrysler/GMC family. We could go out of that set of vehicles but might not get as much for the buy back. I personally find that to be a pile of shit, if I want to put it toward a stupid Porche I should be able to, but dad said we will see first what they offer as the buy back price. The owner said it would be basically what the cost of my Jeep was (what we paid outright plus our trade in cost) but less an amount for whatever miles are on it. I looked up in the lemon law and it said in there about taking off for the miles--but taking off for the miles that were on it when we first started bringing it in to be fixed, not what's on it 4 months later. I'm ok w/that. I'm not ok w/being forced into buying from a certain vehicle family-I didn't see anything in the Lemon Law about that-it just said a full refund, less the miles.

I feel bad about having contacted the other dealership again and now we'll end up not going thru them--but there's really something wrong w/the vehicle and I can't use it as a trade in and have someone else end up stuck w/it b/c it really is dangerous to drive.

So. Finally something good, hopefully.

Exceeeeppt...I lost one of my sets of keys, so I'm going to have to pull my hair out.

 

[diamondringlover]

This is a very timely post for me...I am looking at a 2015 Jeep Latitude....hmmmm maybe I better google some reviews on it. I have 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee and love it, I have this Jeep since 2008, I have never kept a car for this long that is how much I love it!

I am glad to hear things are at least getting somewhat resolved for you! would you mind sharing the type of issues you are having? I was thinking of going and test driving one today, I might have to rethink it, I know they have a current recall on it but I would make sure that one is fixed.

 

[packrat]

I would nix it off your list. In our small town of 5k, there are several people that are having issues, the dealership said, and the Chrysler corporation KNOWS there is an issue and refuses to do anything about it. If you were to get stuck w/a vehicle like this, you'd..well, you'd be stuck. They INSIST that the 2015 programming isn't like the 2014, and the dealership said they could try putting the 2015 programming into my 2014 but don't know that it will work or even if it does, how long it will work. But, even *after* recall work was done, my vehicle and others are doing the exact same thing, so there is an issue. The number of accidents we've almost been in...I've never been flipped off as much or given so many dirty looks for my driving as since I've had this vehicle. Pretty much once a week if not more, I narrowly miss running into something/someone, more depending on how much it's driven. Don't chance it.

http://www.edmunds.com/jeep/cherokee/2014/consumer-reviews/pg-1/

transmission, transmission, transmission, Oh I love it! transmission, transmission, it's the best ever! transmission, transmission..

sadly, we are going to be one of the transmission reviews.

 

[tyty333]

FYI...my BIL has a fairly new Jeep (not sure which one though) and he is having problems with it. He has owned one in the
past and loved it (an older one).

 

[azstonie]

OMG no to program vehicles in my area,they've been trashed by golfers at all the tournaments here. The years we've hosted the superbowl, all the program cars were trashed by NFL people.

 

[packrat]

Yeah, we're over the program car thing, that was a no-go for me.

 

[diamondringlover]

Thanks for the heads up...I was close today..but didnt pull the trigger, I have heard some terrible things about the transmissions issues, guess I will keep looking.

 

[packrat]

yeah, definitely steer clear for sure. We've had too many close calls-bad enough they're the eyes squeezed shut pleasepleasepleaseohshitohshit running thru your head kind. Not a safe vehicle. I'm honestly surprised they aren't doing a total buy back, and I'm surprised there haven't been some really serious accidents. Or if there are, they've not been heavily publicized anyway.

 

[packrat]

We finally got this *almost* over. Jeep decided they would do a "buy back" on the vehicle. I don't know that it's really a "buy back" since we're not getting what we paid, but whatever, it's almost done and we will NEVER EVER EVER buy another Jeep and we will NEVER EVER EVER buy from this local dealership again. The only way they'd agree to it is if we put the money toward something different in the brands they carry, which is limiting and I don't think that truly follows the Lemon Law, so we're getting a Durango, putting what they're allowing for the Jeep onto it and then we'll have to get a loan for the rest.

 

[diamondringlover]

I am glad you are getting some resolution ...after this post I did read quite about the new Jeeps and I will not be buying any newer Jeeps lol...I actually have decided to just hold off on buying anything at this time....

 

[jordyonbass]

Good to hear you are getting resolution packrat, however I don't think it has anything to do with the dealership as they can only sell the products they receive from the factory. New Jeeps are one of the worst cars on the market; they've had so many issues now here in Australia that I believe consumer watchdogs and authorities may be launching an enquiry into Jeep and parent-company FIAT. It's kind of sad to see as I always wanted a Jeep to tow my boat, but I wouldn't ever consider one now. Even Toyota have had a decline in quality in recent years, something I see as complacency due to having such a good reputation.

Hyundai make really good cars nowadays and represent the best quality for money in my opinion, VW being up there as well. However if you want to know my personal preference I would buy a turbo diesel Isuzu if I could have my choice of any vehicle on the market; they've built trucks for years and know how to build a bulletproof motor. Oh and I need the towing power and space to carry all my boy-toys

 

[packrat]

I wouldn't actually have issue w/the dealership if they'd acknowledged the issue from the beginning. We've been fighting w/them since February over this. They spent months telling us there wasn't anything wrong and that it's how I'm driving it, that clearly I don't know how to drive. I've been driving for 26 years, I'm familiar w/the activity. Now I've been hearing from other husbands who've been told their wives don't know how to drive, and apparently there's a couple people there who will only deal w/the husbands, or in my case (b/c they had JD so worked up he was ready to knock heads together and as an officer that's kinda frowned upon haha), a father who is sick of his daughter being treated like an idiot. Dad kept going to the owner of the dealership and has talked to him several times, mostly in person, and even then, every time it's "I'll call you X day" and then three days after X day, no call and dad has to keep chasing him down. I worked in an office/customer service type setting for four different businesses in my working career and I can honestly say I *never* not ONCE told someone I would call them back by a certain time/day and failed to do so. Ever. Even if I didn't have any new info, I called to say I was still working on it. That is a huge pet peeve of mine. I don't like to be treated as if I don't matter. If I had a business and sold a product that was brought back to me that had serious hazards to the point of being in near accidents and leaving the driver in tears after coming *thisclose* to running children over on different occasions (including her *own*), I would be horrified and I would make it right as fast as I possibly could. That's why I'll never shop locally again for a vehicle. And Jeep can go ahead and suck it too.

Isuzu, heck I don't even know if you can get that make around here! My dad's owned mostly Dodge for his big vehicles so hopefully the Durango is a good fit for us.

 

[jordyonbass]

Oh those issues are dealership issues packrat, I meant the issues with the car specifically are not to do with the dealership - they were probably wanting to be careful of accepting responsibility with the car as well, Jeep could well have been very happy to let them take the fall on that the moment they mention they would look at it. It's all merely speculation though.

We're just starting to get the newer Dodge vehicles here in Australia and I don't mind them although I do find that the overall look of the car leaves a lot to be desired (but that is personal), as far as the quality goes I guess we will find out when someone eventually has a crocodile try to eat the front bumper
Isuzu have made trucks for so long that they started off with a top quality motor and have only had to design and build a chassis around it. I recently towed nearly 4 tonnes with my neighbour's Isuzu DMAX, 3.5 tonne towing capacity and a 3L turbo diesel motor. Did the job easily while many cars have literally broken their chassis and folded in half with the same weight in tow

 

[packrat]

Oh yeah, I know the issues w/the vehicle itself was no fault of the dealerships-they just refused to even acknowledge anything for the first two months and refused to look into anything-I did it all on my own and presented what I found. And when they finally did decide oh der, yeaahhhhh there really is something up w/this vehicle, they flat out told me I was out of luck. They wouldn't stand behind their product that they sell. I was sold (unknowingly on both our accounts) a piece of crap-if they'd said Oh shit, we're sorry, we didn't realize it was a lemon, let's get this taken care of, we value your business, that would've been a whole different story and I only would've been ticked at Jeep-now I get to be ticked at the dealership for dinking around w/it for 6 months until my dad went in w/papers and started talking about legal things..then it was like oh hey wow, we didn't realize this was a real problem, why don't I call my chrysler representative and we'll see what we can do. Really? Sometimes living in a small town where the people who run the town also run the big businesses isn't all it's cracked up to be.

I looked up that DMAX-that's a nice looking truck your neighbor has!

 

[katharath]

Packrat, I'm so sorry you've had to deal with this. It makes me sick to my stomach just reading about it.

This is such a great example of why I hate dealing with dealerships and car salesman. They are just the shadiest people, and they will screw you every single time. There is a reason that people hate car salesman!

Sorry, but I've had a few bad experiences. And it's not due to lack of effort on my part - we've bought 4-5 cars at this point so we've been through it a few times. I consider myself to be pretty good at it by now. The issue I have is the blatant deception on the part of the sales people, I have quite a few first hand stories. And they're so happy to take your money - but at the first sign of a problem, suddenly no one wants to help you...

I think of dealerships as a necessary evil, but you really have to be on guard and aware of all of their bullshit when you're buying a car or getting it serviced, etc. Even if you are very informed, you can still get screwed if you're not careful. (Or in Packrat's case, simply unlucky). I have no problem being aggressive and walking away if I don't get what I want, so my husband is happy for me to handle new car buying now, lol. But when you buy a car, you rely on these people to sell you a quality product. This is such a horrible example of a bad product and the sales people refusing to stand behind the product that they have happily taken your money for. It's disgusting.

Packrat, I really hope you can move forward now, really sucks that you had to deal with this crap!