0bnxshs, I'm glad to hear you had a more pleasant experience than I did with my lemon and hopefully everything goes smoothly and you're able to get into that new truck quickly.
After numerous service visits it was actually one of the service managers at my local dealership that gave me the direct phone number for FCA case management. I'm not sure what the differences are between California and Florida when it comes to lemon law vehicles but as far as I know, the dealership couldn't directly help me with the buyback. Since it is a consumer protection law dealing specifically with a manufacturers warranty I had to involve FCA (the manufacturer). I did make a request to FCA twice to either buy back the vehicle or simply replace it but they denied it both times. That was the only reason I had to involve an attorney. And boy did they change their tone fast!
Again, I'm happy you were able to get everything done through the dealership. I wish it had been as easy for me but in the end, I was still happy with the results! Good luck!
Actually, the dealership only notified FCA that I was interested in a reacquisition. I had to email the Service Manager from the middle of the Amazon River to even get any further information about the it; I had no idea how it worked and only knew the name of the FCA rep. Found out that the problem must be repaired first before anything further can happen. That happened after I had returned. Everything else has been handled by either FCA (who had to agree to the reacquisition) and now is in the hands of a third party. While the processes are similar ("reacquisition" vs lemon law) the end result is the same; FCA must "buy back" the vehicle if they lose arbitration and pay your reasonable legal costs. I don't think there is much difference between FL and CA in their lemon law processes, but I know (through our family members who are attorneys) if a vehicle manufacturer "reacquires" a vehicle, it doesn't get noted as such on a title. A lemon law buy back does get "branded" as such. That greatly reduces it's re-sale value, if it can be sold at all, and sometimes manufacturers prefer to avoid the cost and "branding" if they can. I think most states' lemon laws are based on the federal Magnuson Moss Warranty Act. And yes, a letter from an attorney often does change the tune of whomever the letter is addressed to.
The "reacquisition" is handled by a third party. Impartial Services Group (ISG) used to handle this process for FCA and was bought by Stericycle sometime not long ago. My replacement truck is about 3 weeks away from being built and so I am driving my current truck. It has been fixed and I have not seen the original problem again, but it took a long time to accomplish.
Anyhow, once FCA has agreed to "reacquire" a vehicle or you begin the lemon law process because they won't, the dealer is basically out of the loop. You are lucky that you got the FCA rep's phone number; I only know the name of the one here. It's this person who actually decides what gets covered under warranty and/or whether FCA will "reacquire" a vehicle. I'm sure they answer to someone above them for these things but this the local FCA person the dealers work with for warranty issues.
I've been on a roller coaster with this whole thing since early October. Right now the ride is slow but smooth. Would my original problem reoccur now, it'd go topsy-turvy in a hurry. Hopefully all I have to look forward to is the unloading (of my current vehicle) and enjoyment of my new vehicle in about a month's time.
Hope whatever your process is, I hope it goes smoothly, if not quickly.
