This story is LONG; it goes back to Sept 2005 (that is where it all starts).

I purchased a 2004 Crossfire. I questioned the salesman several times if the Crossfire was ever involved in any wrecks, and I told him I wanted to see a CarFax. He kept telling me the car had never been wrecked, and he would get me the CarFax. After closing the deal, (you got it), the CarFax turns up. Right there on the front page "Wrecked" (maybe not that word, but you get the idea). I go home with the report to think about what had just happen. I called the dealership and they assure me that it was a very minor wreck. I say Ok and I would give the purchase a cooling down time. That same night, I by chance, discovered that the same Crossfire had also been hit in the front. That was toooo much. The next day the dealership took the 2004 Crossfire back and canceled the contract. BUT THE STORY DOES NOT END THERE, read on...

Upon returning the 2004 Crossfire, back to the dealership, the new car manager approaches me and asks me if there is anything he could do to make it right with me... I said yes, "I would still like to have a Crossfire"... He informs me that he has on the lot, a brand new 2005 blue limited coupe, and he would put me in it for $29,000, total price. I agreed.

I took delivery of the Crossfire that night (after dark, under the lights). Took it home and parked it in the garage, turned out the light, and left it parked there for two days. The third day I pulled the Crossfire out of the garage and started the inspection of my NEW Crossfire. I find a small dent down near the bottom of the driver's door, I find small rock chips running half way down the R/S of the car, I start inspecting the glass and find rock chips in the windshield, R/S door glass, and L/S quarter panel glass. I also find the R/S rear wheel had a noticeable cut into one of the spokes.

God it gets better, so stay with me...

I take the Crossfire back out to the dealership. They look at the wheel and declare "it is not warranty", but they will fix it. I leave it with them; they exchange wheels with another Crossfire. After picking it up and returning home with the car I notice that I got one tire that looks nothing like the other three, yes it is the wheel that was changed out (wrong tire). Now there I set with a brand new automobile that has mismatched tires. So back out to the dealership for a tire swap.

Now for the dent - they fix it, best work I have ever seen.

Then I'm back at the dealership for the glass, they send me off to the local glass shop for the glass repair. The technician explains he would need to drill small holes into the windshield to repair it. He recommends a replacement. So I go on standby while I figure what to do about the glass damage.

Now the paint damage - There is nothing the dealership can do about it but repaint the entire Crossfire. I go on standby while I figure what to do about the paint.

THIS IS WHERE IT GETS REAL WILD...

OK the dealership realizes I am very unhappy with my Crossfire. So they come to me and offer me a settlement. The deal is I take $1,000.00 dollars cash and forget the paint chips, and they replace my damaged glass with OEM Mopar glass. I say "what the heck I'm tired of knocking that around", and I signed off on the deal.

Last week on or about Nov 28th I turned my still NEW Crossfire(1,100 miles on it) into the dealership for a few small warranty repairs, and the OEM Mopar glass replacement. I got it back yesterday, on Dec 6 (one week, give or take, later). The windshield was General Motors PPG glass (insurance replacement type), and so was the R/S door glass. So right now TONIGHT I got a new 2005 Crossfire with two different types of glass installed, GM PPG and Mopar OEM SafeGuard. Now that’s a Crossfire worth showing off. Hooah The dealership is now telling me they got the right glass on order, and they want me to bring the car back so the glass can be reinstalled again.

I wonderwhat should I do. IMO the dealership broke the agreement when they did not install the OEM glass, which means I'm free to demand a buy back, or another Crossfire. All I know for a fact is "The purchasing of a Chrysler Crossfire has truly become a task of labor and pain for me."

December 8, 2005 I spoke with the New Car General Manager and he hangs up on me. All I wanted was an e-mail address so I could send the dealership and e-mail stating the wrong glass had been installed. I figured a phone call would not be legally binding.

December 9, 2005 at this time I am speaking with a Chrysler customer rep who is at this moment trying to contact the dealership. She comes back on the phone and has now forwarded my complaint to Chrysler headquarters (I wonder what that means? lol)

The Crossfire runs great – no mechanical problems to really speak of – people suck up to me so they can set inside of it – I love my Crossfire, but the more I let the dealership try and fix my Crossfire the more they screw it up, what do you think the odds are I’ll get another Crossfire, as in buy back, from Chrysler? I see little chance, and I doubt I'll keep a car with glass that does not match.

Reply in whatever manner you desire, I’m going to e-mail this thread’s link to DaimlerChrysler’s Customer Assistance Center.

Moral of the story, "Sometimes the cover is more important then what’s inside the book."

 

Seems to me... buddy, you need to take someone with you... when you buy a car.

 

That sucks. But, you paid $29K for it. Since you can find them on e-Bay for less than that, unloading it would be a money losing proposition. Thus, I think unless you are willing to take another hit in the pocketbook, you are stuck with the car for a while. In the future, I recommend taking your time to buy a car such as this. The dealerships cannot unload these things, so they are not going anywhere. You probably could have taken the car home for a night before buying. Also, they should have given you a pick from the cars in inventory. I did the deal, before I chose my car (they had several of the same trim level on hand). But, it's too late for that.

I recommend getting the front touched up, if the chips bother you. $1,000 ought to cover a nice cosmetic respray of the bumper and hood. Nobody will notice the non-Mopar glass. Everything else (engine, powertrain, brakes, tires, chassis) is pretty much new with the low mileage you reported. You should have plenty of good years ahead with the car, despite a rocky start. I say, drive it and enjoy it. That's why you wanted one originally, right?

As a service to other Chrysler owners (and yourself), I recommend that you do the following:

1. Note the dealer name and town on this forum
2. Write a letter summarizing the above to the chamber of commerce in that town, the Better Business Bureau, and DaimlerChrysler.
3. Send a copy of that letter to several major auto magazines. If you are lucky, one of them may publish it

I think if you take the above steps, this dealer will be a lot less apt to screw anyone in the future.

 

Firebase,

I did a quick search of your past posts and maybe I'm just missing it but what is/was wrong with your car? (read one post on some spots but would assume that is not all of it based on the above replies).

 

There appears to be something wrong with this thread...

Something is missing...

 

Indeed, he had a long diatribe earlier in the day which was removed. I'll respect his privacy on that one. If he wants to share his experience, he can always change his mind and repost.

 

ok...then why just leave a moral of the story...with no story.

 

Truthfully, this is NOT the place to discuss morals. Consider all of the immoral things these cars inspire:

A. Lust: Did you honestly test drive anything else? Do you miss your trade in? Do you care that your payments add up to that of two Neons?
B. Envy: Ever been asked, "Wow! You own a Crossfire?"
C. Temptation: at every curve in the road, and on every straightaway
D. Sloth: Count up all those wasted minutes at work you spent staring out the office at your baby in the parking lot.
E. Gluttony: Count the bottles of wax in your garage. I have at least four different kinds, all at least half full. The search for the perfect gloss never ends. Count all those quarts of oil in the sump. Take a look at that mileage. You've got to consume a lot to feed this baby.

 

While interesting points (and I have to agree to be in violation of some of your points above )...what are you talking about???


All I was saying is that FireBaseD guy just left the quote in his revised post:

Moral of the story, "Sometimes the cover is more important then what’s inside the book."

 

Sorry but revised my opening thread entry, to include I'm emailing this thread's link to Chrysler.

hooah

 

Fire...I have an '04 Coupe Limited. I drive the heck out of mine. Just rolled over 35k, much like you I bought mine used with 7k on it. I thought that was a good deal too, until my car has spent more time in the shop than it has on the pavement. Just got it back a couple of weeks ago because Chrysler had to replace the entire engine because the oil filters that were originally used actually broke down when you pushed synthetic oil through them. This in turn started pushing the filter fibers through engine along with the oil and at first the lifters beat the crap out of themselves, so they replaced them, that took a week. Then the cylinder walls were scratched to heck and the engine started losing compression, not to mention the clacking noise that was going on while you were just cruising through town, so they replaced the whole engine. It took the technician a week to build a new one from the ground up, but they had to have the car in the shop with the new engine because it is not as simple as dropping the engine into the compartment.

Today, I had to take the car back in because one of my headlights (low beam) went out. They replaced the bulb but when you close the hood, the bulb goes out. They told me that it was a simple fix that they could find the short and everything would be ok. They called me at the office this afternoon and told me that they were going to have to replace the wiring harness.

Chrysler is being no help on any of these issues. The service department waited until Customer Service was closed for the day and they expect me to pick up the car in the morning and drive it on one headlight until the new wiring harness comes in, somewhere between the next 7 days to possible the next three weeks. they are not sure when. Did I mention that my headlights still don't work correctly??? So I sympathize.

At least the dealership hasn't hung up on me yet...

 

SaxMan - Call or go back to the dealership and tell the General Manager this story. Let him know your Crossfire is no longer safe to operate after dark on a public right away. Let him know that you plan to hold his dealership responsible for any collisions or injuries you may incur due to the poor quality work performed on your Crossfire by his service department. Tell him due to the poor quality work performed on your Crossfire by his service department you are riding around in an automobile that should be "Unit Down Waiting for Parts" and you expect another automobile to be furnished to you at no charge, un till your Crossfire is properly repaired. Dealerships cannot break your crossfire, making it unsafe to operate, and expect you to get by the best you can.


Also enter the last eight digits of your VIN under my thread https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9215 , I'll email Chrysler and let them know I support you and as a Crossfire owner I expect them (Chrysler) to help fix this saturation, and I sure others will also. Others from this forum have contacted Chrysler on my behalf and just today the dealership called and wants me to bring my Crossfire in for the glass repair again, this time it was all "Yes Sir" and "Mr.".... I'm telling you folks this emailing Chrysler, and doing the following, works. Under Briefly describe: Cute and paste: United Chrysler Crossfire Owners.

 

You're sounding like a "jailhouse lawyer" with your statement of holding the dealership responsible.

How can you hold the dealership responsible when the vehicle operator decides to drive the car with a known safety issue? They'll laugh you out of court. If you want to use the safety issue, take the car back and do not drive it until it's fixed.

 

Ben47 do you think the dealership would want to go to court for any reason? The idea is not to take the dealership to court, but to make them feel responsible for your safety, or to give them reason to think "maybe we should get the car back into the shop and fix it before something does happen." It's called influence, or misinformation, it's all we have unless we do hire lawyers. No one really wants to hire a lawyer, all we want is for our problems to be taken seriously and the automobile repaired.

 

I agree 100% with holding the dealership responsible for the proper repair of a vehicle, but do it in a smart way.

Re-read what you wrote as I responded to your comments above, in which you were talking about holding a dealership responsible because someone is driving a car with a KNOWN safety issue. To me that means going to court if something happens. Using that approach goes in one ear and out the other as well as showing ignorance. Bottom line is... if a driver decides to drive a car with a KNOWN safety issue, it is his fault for driving said unsafe vehicle. It all goes back to taking responsibility for your own actions.

Be straight forward, take the car back, tell them it's a safety issue and put the car out of service. Operating a vehicle with a KNOWN safety defect is the responsibility of the driver, not the dealership.

 

should have waited for the carfax report, impatience is no good...

 

I agree... If the automobile is a unit down it should be parked at the dealership where it was broken and awaiting parts. I am not recommending anyone drive a Crossfire or any other automobile that does not have brakes. hooah what I said was "you expect another automobile to be furnished to you at no charge, until your Crossfire is properly repaired." Your right I may have taken the long way around to get there.

 

In this case I would say that the service department is to blame for even suggesting that you drive the car with a known safety-related problem. Maybe it was just an honest oversight or maybe they were being stupid but when they said that they crossed the line. Of course, the correct response to that advice would have been to say that the car is not serviceable (assuming you need to drive at night) and you will not drive it The factory warranty provides for a service loaner so if the service dept is telling you that the car will be awaiting parts for three weeks then it should be a no-brainer. Stick to your guns and tell them you want a loaner vehicle. Yes that new SRT-8 sitting on the lot will do just fine.

Funny coincidence: When an aircraft is not in serviceable, the US Air Force refers to it as a "Red X".