whole story on my truck ( so far)

[Tolson93]

Some of you will know parts of the story i would think. As i have posted a few posts about my truck so far... So i ended up getting a 2003 dodge ram 1500 with the 5.7 Hemi. It has 148k for miles and i thought ran good. It was scheduled to go in for a repair, which was covered by the dealer because i knew of the problems and was only minor....

Two days before i brought it in for those simple repairs..... It started blowing out white smoke...

Long story short after waiting a little over two weeks to hear from the dealership, they had to machine the heads or at least that is all i know at this point. They started saying they would pay for half of the total cost since i only had the truck 23 days..

Half of the cost was 1,800$!!! so at the moment i am gettting so frustrated with them... the dealership finally called back and said they are trying to figure out something . whether it be payments or what .. i do not know yet, ill be going in tomorrow.

So i have to say i had some bad luck on the purchase of my very first vehicle! its a frustrating situation.. i feel i should not have to pay anything but i bought it as is.. Family members are telling me now to try and get rid of it because ill have more problems, like transmission next. I dont know, sorry for the long post just thought someone would be interested in my ordeal.. any input or help would be awesome.

 

[chedched]

"AS-IS" is the killer. The dealer doesn't have a crystal ball. I'd like to think they had no idea something was going to crop up. Did you have it inspected by anyone before buying? Was everything fine until the white smoke? Did they give you an explanation of what failed? Did they do the work then tell you that you owe for it? Did they ok the dollar amount with you before work was performed?

 

[Tolson93]

"AS-IS" is the killer. The dealer doesn't have a crystal ball. I'd like to think they had no idea something was going to crop up. Did you have it inspected by anyone before buying? Was everything fine until the white smoke? Did they give you an explanation of what failed? Did they do the work then tell you that you owe for it? Did they ok the dollar amount with you before work was performed?

Honestly everything was fine until white smoke.. took them two weeks to fix it and yeah they never called to tell me what happened.. just went and fixed everything and said i owed half ( was their first proposal of helping me out). then called me when it was done.. i made the mistake of not having it inspected before buying. Now two days after all that was done a check engine light is on p0440 which was on before and they were supposed to take of it. ALso, there is something that sounds like a exhaust leak or something like that.. they did manifold bolts, all new gaskets. so I dont know what to do , sucks, wish i could just get a new vehicle cause this is such a headache. I do like the truck though..

 

[johnnysart]

Might have to take them to court if they don't pay for the whole thing to be fixed. You should not have to pay for anything those damn crooks.

 

[VirginiaDrifter]

Might have to take them to court if they don't pay for the whole thing to be fixed. You should not have to pay for anything those damn crooks.

Am I missing something here? He bought a 10 year old truck with 148k miles "as is", and when it breaks down, the dealer is supposed to fix it for free?

Sorry this happened Tolson, but to me, it sounds like you rolled the dice and lost. It is always a gamble when you buy a older vehicle with a lot of miles.

My 2 cents

Ron

 

[White Beauty]

Am I missing something here? He bought a 10 year old truck with 148k miles "as is", and when it breaks down, the dealer is supposed to fix it for free?

Sorry this happened Tolson, but to me, it sounds like you rolled the dice and lost. It is always a gamble when you buy a older vehicle with a lot of miles.

My 2 cents

Ron

What you missed is it was within the 30day period where dealer is responsible..... that period is to make sure they didn't sell you a lemon.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 4

 

[Tolson93]

yeah it just sucks since it was my first vehicle i am paying for ever.... i owe like 7200$ plus some payments for the cost of the repair.. if something else goes wrong i do not even know if its worth it to keep putting money into it if i have too. Wish there was someway i could just sell it get all my money back and not be in the hole, and start over with a better truck. Learning the real world the hard way i suppose haha.

 

[NWRQC]

Am I missing something here? He bought a 10 year old truck with 148k miles "as is", and when it breaks down, the dealer is supposed to fix it for free?

Sorry this happened Tolson, but to me, it sounds like you rolled the dice and lost. It is always a gamble when you buy a older vehicle with a lot of miles.

My 2 cents

Ron

Nope, you are correct, "As is" is just that. Feel bad for the OP, but it's on him to check out the vehicle.

What you missed is it was within the 30day period where dealer is responsible..... that period is to make sure they didn't sell you a lemon.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 4

I do not believe that the "30 day" period that you are referring to is very common. As far as I know (at least in the state I live in) when you buy "as is" it is as is. There is no buyer remorse, once you sign and drive you own it. Lemon laws only apply to new vehicles, not new to you vehicles.

 

[VirginiaDrifter]

Nope, you are correct, "As is" is just that. Feel bad for the OP, but it's on him to check out the vehicle.



I do not believe that the "30 day" period that you are referring to is very common. As far as I know (at least in the state I live in) when you buy "as is" it is as is. There is no buyer remorse, once you sign and drive you own it. Lemon laws only apply to new vehicles, not new to you vehicles.

This has always been my experience. "As is" means.....well,....."As is".

 

[chedched]

The issue I have is with the service department. They performed work with no estimate given then told you your share was half. Half of what? How do you know you aren't paying the whole bill?

If you did infact pay (or are paying), you take that truck right back there and demand the exhaust leak be repaired. If they have the balls to make you pay, I would demand it be done right.

In my opinion, YOU PAID THE WHOLE BILL. I work in a dealership, I know what they did and it's wrong. Did you ever receive paperwork describing the work they did? Is this a Dodge dealership?

 

[Panama_Red]

$1800 for half huh.. This is the problem with dealerships.. You could get a rebuilt long block 5.7 for $3000 shipped. But $3600 to machine the heads sound like a better deal to them, maybe I should say for them...

I got my truck a few months ago and they gave me that BS 3 month 3000 mile 50/50 "warranty" which means they pay half. The problem with stuff like that is their half cost more than it would cost to just get the work done elsewhere. Now most other places (not all) are just going to tell you straight up at a point you'd be better off spending your $$ on a rebuilt engine since it costs less and doesn't have 148 thousand mile on it.

They get those heads done you still have 148 thousand miles on the bottom half of the engine. Keep in mind anything past 100K is a crap shoot to buy this is why they don't warranty them past that.. They all run great until there is a mechanical failure on them and then they don't run..

That is all hindsight at this point, so it does little for you. Get out your paper work and examine the hell out of it, is there any implied warranty? What are your state laws? Dig into it.. Do they have to cover anything for a certain time frame required by your state? If they do they will try and put you off until that time fame is over.

Last resort if you have no recourse let them know how unhappy you are and you feel they ripped you off.. I once got a truck that the odometer had been replaced and they sold it to me as actual mileage, I found the proof brought it to their attention they tried to blow me off.. I told them OK I am going to home depot to get a few sheets of plywood and some orange paint to make a GIANT sign as big as I can fit in the bed and I'll be spelling out what happened on that sign and parking the truck on the street out in front of the dealership.. I had a new truck the same year with more options and less mileage within 48 hours..LOL...

Do your own foot work be as hard on them as they are being on you..

My last bit of advice is don't buy things you cant afford.. Credit is BS.. it is the reason everything costs so much, because everyone can get it on credit.. Credit just makes a dollar worth less than a dollar should be worth.. You'd be better off buying a POS ride that gets you from point A to B and saving actual cash to get what you want when you can afford to do so. You'd be amazed at how much better of a deal you can get with a handful of cash..

 

[Tolson93]

The issue I have is with the service department. They performed work with no estimate given then told you your share was half. Half of what? How do you know you aren't paying the whole bill?

If you did infact pay (or are paying), you take that truck right back there and demand the exhaust leak be repaired. If they have the balls to make you pay, I would demand it be done right.

In my opinion, YOU PAID THE WHOLE BILL. I work in a dealership, I know what they did and it's wrong. Did you ever receive paperwork describing the work they did? Is this a Dodge dealership?

Yeah , I have a reciept showing the stuff .. and it is a dodge dealership. How does a exhaust leak occur ... I mean they did work around the engine with the heads and manifold gaskets... I noticed today that where my a/c thing is next to the alternator u can see where a bolt was supposed to be and there was a fresh break.. nothing big its small but saw that too..

 

[RamSport13]

Just curious, what did you sign when you dropped the truck off at the dealership? If you signed a blank form, you basically gave them permission to do what ever they wanted to do. On a used vehicle you should always put a ceiling on the dollar amount that they can do work on your vehicle, that way they have to stay in contact with you while they work on it.

When you picked up the truck, did you actually see all the old parts that they pulled out and replaced? If not, you really don't know for sure if they honestly did the work. You always hope that dealerships are on the up and up, but I can name a few that try to stick it to you quickly, especially on a used vehicle.

Since they did work on the truck, if you are seeing things like the bolt, hearing an exhaust leak, they should correct it. Their work should be under warranty.

 

[Tolson93]

Well the salesman got back with me. I have to take the truck in to have them look and determine if I need to leave it there. At least they aren't dodging my messages I've left. Ill update when I find out more, going in tomorrow morning before work.

 

[Tolson93]

UPDATE: Went back in there and it is broken manifold bolts, looks like they will fix that and a new manifold gasket for no cost. Finally starting to have some relief with this truck