A good warranty experience at dealership

[HawkeyeScott]

Just had a good experience with a dealership honoring a warranty and thought I'd share. Frankly, I'm shocked at how smooth it was.

This is the 2007 Chrysler Pacifica (4.0 V6 with 123k miles) my wife and I bought new two days after Chrysler announced a short-lived lifetime drivetrain warranty. I've maintained the heck out of it, down to making sure every single drop of oil it's received has met the MS-6395 spec.

So when it developed a tick this fall upon cold startup, I knew the repair - likely rocker shaft assembly that's a known flaw on this motor - SHOULD be covered under warranty. But having heard years' worth of horror stories here, and with a nearly 12 year-old car, I feared how things might go.

I'm happy to say there was zero resistance from the dealer or from Fiat Chrysler. The service guys didn't ask for a single maintenance record, even though the vast majority of what's been done to the car doesn't show up in their system. They did the diagnosis and repair without any cost to me whatsoever. Again, it was shockingly smooth.

Now, it wouldn't have been a dealership visit without an astronomical $1400 quote for about $250 worth of suspension work, but water is still wet and the sky is still blue.

Anyway, thought I'd share. Onward for 123k more until the next time it needs done.

 

[JLTD]

Amazing...glad to hear a good warranty story for once!

 

[benjy]

better than when my 2001 VW jetta 5 spd manual syncros gave up when VW had 100,000 drivetrain warranty!! dealer noted they replaced an out of warranty engine as they always used their services!! i prolly could have fought it but they VW have more $$$ + layer power than I!!! good to hear a good s-dealer experience.

 

[demarpaint]

Amazing, that would never have happened here.

 

[HawkeyeScott]

My best guess is the repair it needed is so common on this engine that they didn't even bother putting up a fight. But not getting asked to produce a single maintenance record still baffles me.

 

[daves87rs]

Very cool that they didn't fight it.....

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by HawkeyeScott
Just had a good experience with a dealership honoring a warranty and thought I'd share. Frankly, I'm shocked at how smooth it was.

This is the 2007 Chrysler Pacifica (4.0 V6 with 123k miles) my wife and I bought new two days after Chrysler announced a short-lived lifetime drivetrain warranty. I've maintained the heck out of it, down to making sure every single drop of oil it's received has met the MS-6395 spec.

So when it developed a tick this fall upon cold startup, I knew the repair - likely rocker shaft assembly that's a known flaw on this motor - SHOULD be covered under warranty. But having heard years' worth of horror stories here, and with a nearly 12 year-old car, I feared how things might go.

I'm happy to say there was zero resistance from the dealer or from Fiat Chrysler. The service guys didn't ask for a single maintenance record, even though the vast majority of what's been done to the car doesn't show up in their system. They did the diagnosis and repair without any cost to me whatsoever. Again, it was shockingly smooth.

Now, it wouldn't have been a dealership visit without an astronomical $1400 quote for about $250 worth of suspension work, but water is still wet and the sky is still blue.

Anyway, thought I'd share. Onward for 123k more until the next time it needs done.


Thank you for sharing that... I have never had nor has my family had warranty issues with Chrysler to date for our families vehicles when needed and maintenance records have never been asked for where the problem is blatantly obvious.

Items replaced under warranty in our family include: Complete Engine when a valve seat failed, A transmission in the 1990's from my aunts van (common problem), drive shafts, wheel bearings, cylinder head in my dad's Mitsubishi 4-cylinder engine in the Chrysler wagon, Alternator in my Journey when it was just 2 years old and we were in Florida with it. They even gave us a rental free of charge because it broke down an hour away from our hotel and they overnighted the new alternator from the Orlando parts warehouse because we were supposed to leave to come back to Canada a couple days later and needed to be sure it was repaired in time for the 1200 mile trip. I bought the guys in the shop Pizza because the service was so exceptional and I wrote a letter to corporate recognizing their efforts.

Anyway my point is that I haven't had any issues with them denying warranty, but I think it takes an excellent dealership to make sure that happens and I really wish they would bring back the 5-star dealership rating program so you could tell them apart aside from trial/error. Now I just look for the ones that service police vehicles, fleet trucks, and that it takes at least a week to get an appointment for repairs because they are so busy. Usually a good sign they are trust worthy and so far that seems to be working because where I bought my Journey and now my Caravan they are insanely busy all the time and adding on to the dealership to expand to 20 service bays from the existing 11 and they are adding onto their body shop as well.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by HawkeyeScott
But not getting asked to produce a single maintenance record still baffles me.


They can look at the vehicle, the engine bay, the oil on the dipstick and get a fairly good idea if a car is cared for or not. I presume yours looked nice ? The oil on the dipstick was probably at a good level and not black in color so they saw no need to question anything. If the car was in poor condition, leaking oil, low level on the stick, etc, I suspect it wouldn't have been as smooth.

Or, they may know from experience that corporate Chrysler is lenient on this warranty job and it "pays well" (meaning they get paid for more hours than it takes them to do the work).

 

[KrisZ]

Good to hear you had e a good dealer in your area.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by HawkeyeScott
But not getting asked to produce a single maintenance record still baffles me.


Or, they may know from experience that corporate Chrysler is lenient on this warranty job and it "pays well" (meaning they get paid for more hours than it takes them to do the work).


This...

Sounds like a "silent" TSB on the issue. Dealerships after all aren't in the business of performing thousands of dollars in free work.

 

[BobGoblin]

I drive new KIA CEED 2017. I had bad habbit of keepeng my foot on clutch pedal while driving. After 25.000 kilometers I ruined my clutch plate. KIA changeg entire clutch set for free.

And I never leave my foot on clutch again.

Also I dont want to use their waranty any more - oil and filter change cost me 230 euro, and I can do all that for 50 euro myself. Thanks for the waranty, but no thanks. I did only 1 servise (at 15.000km) at dealers, used their waranty at 25.000 and I never wernt to 30.000 oil change to them. Basicaly I screwed them

I do oil changes for my self every 7.500km now.

 

[SeaJay]

Not changing the oil on or before the OCI hits just one time is not (unlike the belief of many bitgogers) an automatic grounds for denying any and all warranty claims.

Not having records is not an automatic refusal either. That being said, if you go way over the OCI, and the oil sludges up causing an engine failure, a claim for said engine failure will likely be a refusal of warranty.

 

[StevieC]

Here is how Chrysler states it in Owners Manuals here...

 

[HawkeyeScott]

The car does look very good for its age and, like you said, that was probably a factor. The service guy who wrote the ticket commented on how nice it looked, especially on the inside, when he first got in it. The oil level and condition were noted in their summary of what they examined before the repair. Also, the driver's door jamb is covered in oil change stickers (my method is blue squares of painter's tape with oil change date, mileage and oil). If they spent any time looking at that, they would've seen it gets oil changes every 6 months with only about 2400 miles driven during the interval.

In short, there's quite a bit of obvious evidence the car has been well taken care of. It'd be nice knowing that the appearance of good maintenance is all it takes for a dealer to honor a warranty.

 

[BobGoblin]

Originally Posted by SeaJay
Not changing the oil on or before the OCI hits just one time is not (unlike the belief of many bitgogers) an automatic grounds for denying any and all warranty claims.

Not having records is not an automatic refusal either. That being said, if you go way over the OCI, and the oil sludges up causing an engine failure, a claim for said engine failure will likely be a refusal of warranty.



Perhaps ypu dint understood me. I change my oil twice as often than dealer recommends (7.500km vs 15.000km recomended)

 

[SeaJay]

Originally Posted by BobGoblin
Originally Posted by SeaJay
Not changing the oil on or before the OCI hits just one time is not (unlike the belief of many bitgogers) an automatic grounds for denying any and all warranty claims.

Not having records is not an automatic refusal either. That being said, if you go way over the OCI, and the oil sludges up causing an engine failure, a claim for said engine failure will likely be a refusal of warranty.



Perhaps ypu dint understood me. I change my oil twice as often than dealer recommends (7.500km vs 15.000km recomended)


I understood you, my comment was directed to those who couldn't believe that you got a warranty claim taken care of without a thick 3 ring binder full of notarized paperwork documenting each and every change.

 

[jerseyguy123]

It makes you believe in the honesty of some dealers nowadays.

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted by HawkeyeScott
My best guess is the repair it needed is so common on this engine that they didn't even bother putting up a fight. But not getting asked to produce a single maintenance record still baffles me.


In not suggesting that your astonishment is baseless, but on the other hand, well maintained vehicle usually look like --- well maintained vehicles. If they were tempted, they probably decided that picking a fight over your car wasn't worth it. Well done!

 

[Eddie]

I also have had very good dealer responses. This idiot idea of labeling dealers as dealerships is as stupid as the one saying it. JMO. Ed