On 08/02/2022 My 2020 RAM 3500 LIMITED failed during travel in an intersection in the DFW area. I was not certain how to deal with this as I felt this is a fairly new truck and should not have just died in the middle of the street with only 20 months of use and 31k miles.
Immediately I called a tow company to have the vehicle moved to the nearest dealership. After evaluation, the dealership informed me it was a fuel pump system failure (HPFP) in conjunction with a manufacturer recall (Y78). The entire fuel system failed and must be replaced, parts will take some time, making no promises says the service department.
Generally, the truck is under warranty and I was not worried. However, that changed when the service department informed me the truck will not be repaired or returned to me for 12-14 weeks (minimum), waiting on parts.
What am I supposed to do? (buy another truck?) or just sit at home and wait for RAM to issue the parts to repair this truck all the while the warranty and related services run out and the truck depreciates.
The service advisor said RAM is only releasing minimal parts and it will take approximately 14 weeks to get parts in, possibly much longer! I asked for a loaner vehicle and reimbursement for my towing expenses. No loaner vehicles are available for this extensive of a repair even under warranty and towing is at my expense (no BS here, not kidding, RAM does not give a hoot about my issue or yours for that matter).
Summing it up, my truck is now no longer in my possession, the truck is completely disabled at the dealer lot and I am required to make $1400/month payments on the $90,000 truck while the vehicle continues to depreciate in value and suffers for lack of proper and regular care while sitting on the dealer lot.
I travel frequently towing a large 5th wheel, I will never depend on RAM again as this could have been worse stranded on the side of some Interstate with no support from RAM Customer Care or their so called warranty specialist. Can anyone imagine paying this kind of money for a truck to have it fail and have the dealer tell you 14+ weeks for parts!
Today is 08/22/2022 and nothing has changed. I have a truck that is under warranty, repairing the vehicle within a reasonable time would have been acceptable, especially since I would anticipate a loaner vehicle noting the truck is under warranty.
Nothing. No repair, no loaner and no re-imbursements.
I purchased a brand new truck for reliability and stability and had always considered Dodge RAM as the leading choice. After this issue, I certainly will trade this truck for a different brand as I have lost total faith and trust in the "Ram Cares" department.
This is a new vehicle under warranty and only 31k miles on it since purchase 20 months ago and I am now stuck making payments on a truck that is either a total loss or will have been the result of considerable damage after several months of waiting to have this vehicle returned to my possession in working order. Very disappointed with Dodge Ram and the dealership handling this repair.
The HPFP is a problem for all 2019 and 2020 trucks. Any person living in Texas will experience the worse customer care, unless you consider 14 weeks minimum a reasonable time to fix a fairly new RAM truck.
90,000 dollars does no more to insure reliability that 10,000 does for a used vehicle. The psychology of "I spent $X" for that vehicle, and it should ..... you fill in the blanks.
As an ex-dealership tech for GM/Ford for 27 years of my 47 year career, I have clear memories of overhearing (who didn't) a frustrated customer loudly voice exactly your view. Going back 25 years, in the service aisle of say, GMC/Pontiac dealer where I worked, I frequently was within earshot of an angry customer shouting at the top of his/her lungs... "I paid 42,000 dollars for my Suburban" (the equivalent in today's money of about 85 grand) "And It should not have a transmission failure at 40K miles!!!". as an example..
Keep in mind, they made it a point that their expectation was that spending a fortune somehow insured that a major failure would NOT occur. And OH BOY!, they wanted to make damned sure everyone within earshot knew how much they had paid for the vehicle. (never mind they towed their pop-up behind it in overdrive instead of direct drive because "it doesn't weigh that much!")
Truth is, the amount you pay/paid for a vehicle is irrelevant. Inside knowledge on my part from that era was as follows: The subjective human element had a (probably still does) part in dealer warrantying a vehicle which includes vehicles just out of warranty, or the diligence given if it still is in warranty.
I witnessed Many times where the Service manager would look at records to see if the customer had used our service department's maintenance and repair facilities. (IOW, were they spending with us?, which should have nothing to do with it.)
It's an end run around Magnuson-Moss act of 1975... in MY opinion, and a major element in my getting out of the politic-ridden environment of stealerships.
I was in awe of all the subjectivity involved in who got warranty coverage and who was denied just by that standard... "Do or did they spend money with us?".
Recently, one of my long-time customers had the dreaded cam/lifter failure on his 2019 Chevy Silverado. He had 2,000 miles beyond drivetrain warranty on the truck, took it to the dealer for maintenance for the express purpose of ensuring that coverage would be galvanized by using the dealer service dept., yet they still quoted him many thousands of dollars to fix.
Dealer refused any consideration, and stood by "You must pay full boat!" Customer called me in a panic!
I told him that I wasn't sure anymore, since I'd been out of that scene for just about 2 decades, but that he might get some warranty consideration from calling the 1-800 number reference listed in his owner's manual for customer care. (you know, that book in the glove box which NOBODY ever reads!)
He called that number, and since he's been a Chevy Bow-tie afficionado for 35 years, they covered it with an 1800 dollar co-pay, which he was happy to do.
Inasmuch as I'm now light years away from that adversarial environment, I do not know what has changed since I left my last Stealership in 20 years ago. That place actually adopted the business model parallel to that of a national tire/repair store whose motto of the past was "Where the rubber meets the road"). We techs were given a checklist of items to be checked and admonished that we were to "Sell service" in clear violation of that manufacturer's mandate about warranty customer care. We were told that if we did NOT tender a filled out sheet with EVERY work order we would be financially dinged! (An illegal tactic in Texas, but whose watching? And who has the moxy to turn them in to the Texas workforce Commission?) After all, greed was the end-all goal.
I have bought one new truck from another dealer since, in 2008 (An F150 Lariat Crew Cab). I tendered it once for warranty repair of an HVAC actuator failure. The dealer declared "No problem found". Knowing human nature, and people's egos, I asked that service writer if I should come down their and do their job of diligence, to which his ego-centric side kicked in and he defensively said it wasn't necessary. He called me a couple of hours later, and, miraculously, they had found the problem and fixed it!
Among other stories of horror from customers and my own witnessing and personal situations over the years, I decided (for me) that because I was/am a Certified Master ASE Tech, I'd buy an older truck and fix things on it, thus saving tens of thousands of dollars in debt on a new truck, while the damned thing broke no differently than an old used one.
My mentor was a Rolls-Royce Master. His parking lot had millions of dollars of vehicles in his parking lot at any given time, broken to varying degrees. What did he drive? A Moped, Mazda pick up, and a beautifully restored (by his hand) 1960 Silver Cloud II.
He used to preach to me how buying a new, expensive vehicle should be an act of passion tempered with one's ability to afford the act, and to keep expectations in check as to a machine. Rollses were hand made, yet they still broke down, and the repair bills were of themselves one reason the cars were a rich person's folly.
In closing, there is no "perfect" answer. I realized years ago that a vehicle is NOT an asset; It is a financial liability which breaks AND depreciates. Either way, it sure as heck beats walking, riding a bicycle, or owning a mule or horse! Peace!