Many people have PM'd me about how I got a buyout from Chrysler...

I did everything by educating myself about the CA lemon law (via the internet). No attorneys. There is a postcard in your owner's manual that you can send to Chrysler telling them about your difficulties. I believe that's how I finally got a call back.

3 ways you can qualify for the (CA) Lemon Law:
1) In the shop for a total of 30 or more days for the same problem.
2) They tried to fix the same problem 4 times & failed.
3) Tried to fix the same problem 2 times & failed & the problem could cause a fatality.
Either of these must be within the first 18 months of initial delivery.

If you fall into any of these categories, you're in luck. They have to work with you. If your not in these categories yet, keep taking your car back until you are.

I qualified under the first.

Tell your Service Manager you want to talk to their Zone Manager. Explain your problem to him. Kill him with kindness. I found that every call that guy gets is from a disgruntled owner. Being calm may get you farther (at first). Again, I think the postcard did more for me than the Zone Manager.

Alas, they wanted to:
1) Give me a replacement car (any Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge product. I would pay or get credited the difference of the MSRP's between the cars. Example: if I wanted a roadster now, I would pay the +$4,000 difference of the roadster's MSRP vs. my coupe's MSRP) or,
2) keep my car & Chrysler would give me 3 car payments $$$.

I wanted the same car I had. By this time, my '04 replacement would be an '05 (good deal I thought). The dealer did a 500 mile radius search with no luck finding my exact car. Chrysler said I could order one. By now this would be an '06 (better deal). 2 months went by & I got a call saying they aren't making the '06's yet because there are too many '05's still around.
Now Chrysler said I could either take something off of a lot, or they would give me my money back.
Since the value of the XF has plummeted, I took the $$$.

I bought a used SRT with 80+ miles for $34,500.

Caveat: This happened in CA. Laws in your state may vary.

 

Thanks for the post Goodenough.

I sent in the card from the manual which I was unaware of until you mentioned it. Unfortunately Chrysler has not replied.

My experience with Chrysler service has been almost totally negative, culminating in more damage done to the car on it's last visit to the dealer than was repaired.

I'm stuck with a car that must be driven very carefully due to it's tendency to dart to the right when hitting a dip in the road and the propensity of the driver's door to pop partway open. I can not sell the car since I have previously made my awareness of these possibly fatal problems known on this board.

People often ask me about my Crossfire and I tell them it was a delight to drive until it developed problems after seven months. I also mention that the dealers are unwilling or unable to repair the car and that Chrysler does not honor it's warranty.

I am currently investigating my options as defined in Ohio's Lemon Law.

 

I bought my car at a 5 star dealer. They even call me from time to time and ask how everything is going. Also everytime I take it in for service (even an oil change) I get a service survey. I also got 3 years of free oil changes with Mobile 1 oil when I bought the car and this was from the dealer not chrysler. That is worth at least $100.00 per year if not more. This dealer is also one of the larger in the area. He sells Chevrolet, Saturn, BMW, Mazda, and of course Chrysler. They are all kind of separate by brand but they share used care dealership.

The way I see it if he wants to stay dominating this market and keep his 5 star rating he will continue to take care of his clients.

 

Hi Laura, How's the SRT 6 and did you buy it here in Ca.? Like to hookup again? I'm looking at a SRT6 coupe with 100 miles for $32,900. I'm going to offer them that out the door!

 

I had a Porsche Boxster that fell under the Lemon Law but was not getting anywhere with the dealer or Porsche. I found an attorney (actually was recommended by my attorney) that only deals in Lemon Law here in Southern California. He did a great job for me and at the end the day it turned out that we settled with Porsche rather than them taking a Lemon Law Strike.

The settlement was a) They purchased my car back from me for the full price that I paid for it after me owning it for 2 years (6 months of which it was in the shop). b) They covered "all" of my car rentals for the entire time my car was in the shop. I was made aware that this would be covered by the attorney so let me tell you I rented to great cars during this time. c) They covered all of my attorney fees.

PM me if you are in SoCal and need a good Lemon Law attorney.

 

Lemon laws do vary from state to state. Call the consumer affairs dept of your local govt. or research Lemon Laws via the internet. Wish they had them when I had my Corvette. Biggest piece of plastic junk I've ever seen. My '79 vette was what turned me against GM forever!

Pat

 

I have had transmission problems with my Crossfire and have taken it in for repair more than four times. It has been in the dealership over 30 days in the past two years. Chrysler even replaced the transmission under my warrenty, but I am still having problems with the way the car shifts into first and second gear. I have called Chrysler Customer Service MANY times and have gotten no where. They do not care. I am currently seeking out the lemon law in Michigan to help resolve my problem. They do not make filing easy and I am sure many give up, but your successful outcome gives me hope!

I will never buy or lease another DCX product again due to the poor customer service the company has given me. They do not care about making their customers happy or keeping them as future customers.