I bought my '04 Crossfire off the showroom floor on March 29, 2004. I'm nearing the end of my 3/36 bumper to bumper warranty so I decided to try one last time to get the re-occurring problems fixed (drivers side seat heater 4th time, squeaking spoiler 2nd time). So I get to the dealer and he tells me my 3/36 warranty expired 10/25/06 because my car was put into service 10/25/03, four months before I purchased it new!
I contacted DC and was told that I needed to take it up with the dealer because their records show that the dealer put my car in service on that date for demo purposes. While the car had 381 miles on it when I bought it the dealer assured me it had a full warranty from my date of purchase. My invoice shows the car as new and makes no mention of any demo status. I live in Northwest Indiana. Do I have any recourse with the dealer or DC!

 

The short answer is no. The dealer lied.

 

Name and shame the lying gits ... everywhere you can.

The Internet is the perfect tool for giving a business the publicity that it truly deserves,

have a look at: http://www.lyingscumbags.com/ for an example of what can be done.

 

You need some competent legal advice on this. You can also contact your states department of consumer relations (or whatever they call it). If your contract says the car was new and the dealer did not divulge that it was a demo, I would think you have a strong case.

You can try posting with your local Better Business Bureau, however they are funded by the same businesses that the consumer can have problems with. They can be very helpful if the dealer you bought from is not a member.

Good luck.

 

Unfortunately, this is a common practice in order for the dealer to collect rebates from the manufacturer before the car is actually sold. Your best bet is to try to resolve it with the selling dealer.

Good luck.

 

I will be following up with my xfires purchase dates and ??? in service dates. Interestingly, I have purchased 3 town and country vans and my Crossfire from Palm Automotive. in Punta Gorda. I wonder if they considered it a demo? It had 100 plus miles on it, but said it was new.

The second xfire was bought at auction and the local dealer said it was under warrantee 3 year or 36K till April '08. I dropped it off @ the dealer in Miami on Tues night. They haven't touched it as of Friday PM. Their response to me questioning why, was that only certified mechanics for the crossfire can work on the car, otherwise Chrysler will not reimburse them. He said they would be working on it on Sat. Why the @@#!@ did they schedule an appointment for Wed.

Sounded like BS, but since AMA is driving the '97 MB I went with the flow and accepted the line of crap but let them know I would be expecting a call on Sat. Hopefully I will pick up the car on Monday. I am kind of at their mercy.

1. Headlights fogging TSB.
2. Driver side seat... back heats up but not the seat area.
3. Locking mechanism for roadster top has questionable connection issues... something loose in the connection.
4. Put in tire sensor and reprogram.

 

Yeah,
I also found that out about my Crossfire. The sales contract even says the car is "NEW" but DC has a different in service date than the purchase date. I have called them and the original dealer several times with no luck. I asked one DC rep "What purpose do you serve if you cannot help the customer?", long silence and his reply "That's a good question." They also did not care if I had written proof of the purchase date. They said take it to the dealer, the dealer says take it to DC. Sorry, I had to vent.

 

Pretty much all DC reps are worthless IMO. I've dealt with one and he was some young kid who didn't know anything about cars at all. I've talked to dealers in Phoenix and Houston and its the same thing.

 

Have you looked at your original paperwork? You should have a service contract with the Premium Care Plan Provisions. It has an effective in-service date on it as well as an expiration date. If the effective date is 10/25/03 on the contract, you probably don't have much recourse. If for some reason the contract states 3/29/04 than you have a strong case.

 

Thanks for the replies. All the paperwork I have says my in service date is March 29th. I have just returned from the dealer trying to get some answers. He became very co-operative when I told him that I had spoken with a nice man from the Indiana Attorney Generals office who said that if the dealer could not answer my questions to my satisfaction that I should call him back and he would get answers for me. He also suggested that I might be able to get a full refund under the Indiana Lemon Law because I've had it in so many times for the seat heater. Anyway the dealer assured me he would have this whole mess straightened out by Monday. He also insisted I leave my car so that he could make sure all items were repaired correctly this time and gave me a new 300C to drive. He also is throwing in a couple of free oil changes for my trouble. I really like this car and I hope this is just an error, but as they say, the ball is in his court now!

 

I had a similar problem with my bike a Buell XB.
I bought it pre registered but was told it had the full 2 year warranty.
The front brake disk warped on it and I took it to my local dealer not the one I bought the bike from.
They told me that yes the disc was warped but my warranty had run out.
I had to then phone the supplying dealer and he admitted that he had told me that it had the full 2 year warranty but it was Harley that were to blame.
They did get me a new brake disc under what they said was a good will gesture.
I wonder what would have happened if it was something major like a engine?

Norrie.