So, our Jeep Libby hasn't fared too well this year. Those of you who have been reading for a while might remember us raiding a fru-fru neighborhood's fountain to limp the car home when the water pump failed this summer. That was irksome, more so because Chrysler was not thrilled to pay for the water-pump even though it was under warranty. The company went on to claim zero responsibility for all the things the water-pump took out when it went, leaving us on the hook for 3/4 of the cost of fixing their initial incompetence. Way to stand behind your products, guys. Is it any wonder the import market has you running to the government for hand-outs and protection? Had that same thing happened with a Honda, I've no doubt they would have sent a VP to commit sepukku on my doorstep in penance.
But enough of that irritation, it's ancient history at almost six months old. And, after all, we have a new Chrysler calamity to deal with now. A couple weeks ago our check engine light came on. So I took it in, but it was a transmission code and their 'transmission guy' was already working on someone else's car. Fine, whatever. Tony and I had discovered the battery was leaking at the negative terminal when we initially checked under the hood to see if we could diagnose the light. So they replaced that since I was there, ordered a new battery harness, and made appointment number two for a couple days later when Mr. Transmission didn't have anything better to do.
Appointment two came and went with them keeping the Jeep all day but returning it unrepaired because changing the battery destroyed the record of what caused the transmission to light up the instrument panel. What?? Are Laurel and Hardy my service guys? If this was something they knew about, why didn't they wait to change the battery? Ok, i was mildly irked at the inconvenience, but whatever. We had the replacement battery harness still on order and tech recommended a long drive to get the light to go on again anyway. Actually, he recommended he have one of his guys take it and run around in our Jeep all week, but I declined. If anyone is driving the car we paid for, it's us. The tech can go to Avis like everyone else. Anyway, the day the harness came in the light came on again. Bingo, we get appointment three made.
Appointment three seemed to start out uneventful. Then the shuttle driver scampered off leaving me sitting at the dealer's for an hour. I got grumpy. Nervous tech produced a Buick 300 from some nether region and gave it to me as a loaner, without so much as a check of my license. I guess he could tell I was pretty much done at that point. But I dutifully trundled off in the thing, assuming we would get the call later that day. Nope. Next day, as I running around on the Triumph because I just didn't want to deal with that beast of a loaner, the Tech called Tony at home explaining how the entire transmission was shot and that Chrysler wouldn't pay for any of it because we were 306 miles out of the drive-train warranty. WTF? What a surprise, since they tried to refuse payment on what was completely covered only a few months prior. But I was still astounded by the absolute unwillingness to take any responsibility for their product. Tony, however, was just pissed. He had already started hitting import car sites and asked what I thought of the Honda Element. The image of James May cheering that there was a possibly cool Honda in the world sprang to mind, but I wasn't in any shape to have a coherent answer. So I told him we'd talk about it later.
On the way home, I decided to pop by the dealer in full (SWAT) riding gear and have a discussion with the tech. After a coming to an understanding that taking care of a completely failing transmission three hundred and six miles out of warranty was not indeed 'slippery slope syndrome that would have customers with half a million miles on their cars trying to get free service', Tech realized making the phone calls again was probably the least unpleasant option for him. So he swore to call Chrysler as well as division manager again and do everything possible to get them to honor the warranty- which I assumed meant we'd get a 50/50 split offer at some point just to make me go away. Which, frankly, I don't think is good enough for as little as we've done with the car and as well as we've maintained it.
But now, I don't even know if I want to push the deal. While surfing our options last night, I came across the VW Tiguan, which is a dumb name, but i'm enough of an science-fiction geek I would just call it Tegan and be done with it. For the GTi engine, I can overlook a lot of silliness. Tony is also intrigued by them, and we're deciding if it's worth spending money in one big chunk for a shiny new import or a few grand at a time the way Chrysler expects us to. Meanwhile, I'm stuck in limbo with that giant Sherman tank named for dead Spartans and wondering just what it is Washington wants to save about these companies anyway.
My dad loves his Honda Element. The only weird part is riding in the back seat you can't see out the front because the seats are high.
Posted by: Peter | January 29, 2009 at 01:29 AM
Oh dear! If YOU can't see from the back seat, there's no hope for the rest of us except maybe looking underneath them... ;)
I think Tony might be sold on the idea of European motors now that the VW came into the picture. Plus, I haven't entirely given up on the Jeep- tech might still come through for me. Ha! Sometimes even I have to laugh at my redonkulous optimism in the face of bureaucracy.
Posted by: Stephanie | January 29, 2009 at 09:18 AM