Angry_Robot
Junior Member
Illinois
About a month ago we bought a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan with 32,000 miles on it at a dealer over two hours away from our house. It was sold to us as still having both power train and bumper-to-bumper warranty left, and not “as is”. The bumper-to-bumper warranty expires at 36,000 miles. Since buying it we have driven it a lot. We live in a rural area that requires significant driving and this is our primary family vehicle. It now has a tad over 35,000 miles- so still within warranty but nearing its end.
Within the first week we noticed that the rear power liftgate didn’t operate correctly. Most of the time it does function as expected, as it did when we test drove it, but there are times when it will not work regardless of what button you press. After driving it for that first week we also started to notice a rattling sound as it would open/close. There is obviously a screw or broken piece of plastic tumbling around inside of the door.
We verified that its repair would be covered under the warranty and made an appointment with a dealer closer to home for the work. We had to schedule this appointment three weeks out, and got it in before the mileage elapsed. That dealer looked at it for less than 5 minutes and informed me they would not touch it as warranty work as the hatch had obviously been tampered with. They showed me several signs that I hadn’t noticed before that pointed to the hatch having been removed from the van at some point. The screws on the hinges had paint removed and were slightly rounded, some of the grommets were not inserted into the holes all the way, and several of the trim pieces were warped like someone had stepped on them and were no longer fitting like they should. They said they could not repair this as a warranty job because removing the hatch voided the warranty.
I contacted the dealership we purchased from and explained what was going on. At first, I was given the anticipated “well, it’s a used car what do you expect?” answer; eventually I was assured by a manager that they would do the work and cover it under the warranty. Their service department is only open M-F, so we drove two hours there on Saturday and left it on their lot with just a few hundred miles to spare on the warranty. I was told I would be contacted first today about the issue. They have been open several hours and I have heard nothing so far. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are busy; but what if they try to pull the same “it voids the warranty” shtick?
Do I have any legal recourse in this situation if they attempt to back out of making the repair?
About a month ago we bought a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan with 32,000 miles on it at a dealer over two hours away from our house. It was sold to us as still having both power train and bumper-to-bumper warranty left, and not “as is”. The bumper-to-bumper warranty expires at 36,000 miles. Since buying it we have driven it a lot. We live in a rural area that requires significant driving and this is our primary family vehicle. It now has a tad over 35,000 miles- so still within warranty but nearing its end.
Within the first week we noticed that the rear power liftgate didn’t operate correctly. Most of the time it does function as expected, as it did when we test drove it, but there are times when it will not work regardless of what button you press. After driving it for that first week we also started to notice a rattling sound as it would open/close. There is obviously a screw or broken piece of plastic tumbling around inside of the door.
We verified that its repair would be covered under the warranty and made an appointment with a dealer closer to home for the work. We had to schedule this appointment three weeks out, and got it in before the mileage elapsed. That dealer looked at it for less than 5 minutes and informed me they would not touch it as warranty work as the hatch had obviously been tampered with. They showed me several signs that I hadn’t noticed before that pointed to the hatch having been removed from the van at some point. The screws on the hinges had paint removed and were slightly rounded, some of the grommets were not inserted into the holes all the way, and several of the trim pieces were warped like someone had stepped on them and were no longer fitting like they should. They said they could not repair this as a warranty job because removing the hatch voided the warranty.
I contacted the dealership we purchased from and explained what was going on. At first, I was given the anticipated “well, it’s a used car what do you expect?” answer; eventually I was assured by a manager that they would do the work and cover it under the warranty. Their service department is only open M-F, so we drove two hours there on Saturday and left it on their lot with just a few hundred miles to spare on the warranty. I was told I would be contacted first today about the issue. They have been open several hours and I have heard nothing so far. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are busy; but what if they try to pull the same “it voids the warranty” shtick?
Do I have any legal recourse in this situation if they attempt to back out of making the repair?
