I took the car in for the radiator fan recall and to fix the top to the Chrysler dealer in Westlake CA, which is a different dealer than where we purchased it. We purchased it from a small dealership that although they were certainly one of the more helpful and just plain nice car dealers I've ever had the pleasure to buy a car from they didn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy when it came to having a mechanic who has actually worked on a Crossfire before. The Westlake dealer is a huge 5 Star dealership.

So when I took it in I asked for the service manager, I thought it would be nice to associate a name with a face and introduce myself. He was immediately suspicious of me, said hello and pointed me towards a service guy who checks cars in. I wanted to ask the service manager a few questions about the service I could expect, how many mechanics (if any) do they have that work on Crossfires, after all if they didn't have any Crossfire specialists I'd rather go back to the dealer where we purchased the car, at least I like them.

Well the service guy was friendly and reassured me that they indeed had two Crossfire specialists and started gathering all of the pertinent information from our car. After going on a bit about how they could take care of me, immediately after I told him about the problem I was having putting up the top he informs me that they can't fix that and hands me a card from a shop up the street.

That little dealership is looking better all the time. So not wanting to rock the boat I take the car to the other shop where they inform me the dealer has to fix this. This is quickly becoming an episode of the Twilight Zone! Anyway, I ask that guy to call the dealer and explain the problem to him and I head back to the dealer. Now I'm thinking this is all just a little to odd.

When I arrive the service guy continues to schedule the appointment to bring the car in on Monday when one of their Crossfire guru's walks buy. The service guy asks him to take a quick look, he looked like he was in a hurry and I was thinking this whole thing was a big mistake. But to my surprise the mechanic was very funny was able to diagnose the problem in about three seconds, with a completely different conclusion than everyone else had come up with and asks if I would like him to fix it right then and there - it would take about ten minutes.

Since I was bringing the car back on Monday for the recall and it was obvious that before we derailed him he was busy I decided not to turn this into a fire drill and just have it fixed on Monday. Well on Sunday we're out and about and it's threatening to rain so I decide I'd try to repair the top myself. So I did exactly what he suggested and it worked like a charm. When I brought the car in on Monday I told them what happened and asked them to check and make sure the top was working correctly and about four hours later the car was done, no scratches, everything was clean and worked fine.

So from what I've read about other Crossfire owners experiences I feel pretty lucky. Although I have to admit I feel like I betrayed the dealer where we purchased the car.