Hello,

So my fiance and I were recently in the market to buy a new vehicle. We wanted to get something a bit bigger than the Kia we owned. My fiance fell in love with the Dodge Caliber. It wasn’t quite in our budget to get a new vehicle…but we visited a local used dealer…who believe it or not had just bought an 07 Caliber! It had only 17k miles!

There is a joke about the ideal used car being the one that’s owned by an old person that drives it only to the grocery store…well this was close! We were told by the dealer that he had bought it at an estate sale. The vehicle had been bought new from a local dealer, by a 77 year old man to go fishing with his grand-kids. Well in 3+ years he put only 17K miles on it! The vehicle had been checked out by 2 different mechanics and was in IMMACULATE condition.

The car had a 3 year 36 thousand mile warranty…but the dealer believed so much in the quality of the vehicle (as did we) that we opted not to extend the warranty. Our thinking in buying a near new used vehicle, is that there wouldn’t be any catastrophic repairs to make, because Dodge makes a high quality product. When the dealer doesn’t even push a warranty…you know you’re getting a good vehicle! (or so we thought)

Well 6 months later the check engine light comes on, so we take it to the local dealership (Stew Hansen’s Dodge in Des Moines Iowa) and they tell us the entire transmission is shot and needs to be replaced…and although it’s basically a brand new car…sorry it’s out or warranty!

So we appeal to their common sense, that this is obviously outside the otherwise high quality standards that Chrysler-Dodge represent, to which they half-heatedly agree…and offer a ‘co-pay’ or 70…which I believe anybody with any understanding of vehicles would still believe is unacceptable for a near brand new vehicle with 25 thousand miles!

I have tried for days now to appeal to Dodge-Chrysler’s common sense…that although this is slightly out of warranty, this does not (or should not) represent an otherwise quality vehicle. My very first car was a Dodge Status..my sister and her husband both currently drive Dodge’s and my fiance’s family has owned 3 Dodges in the past. I have never had an instance when I did not feel Chrysler-Dodge meet even basic quality standards…but I’ve been shut out, leaving me just plain confused that they won’t step up, and in this day in age try and keep me as a loyal patron.

Perhaps I naively believed that Dodge was better than just their guarantee…but all I’m hearing from them now is "you know what…we just don’t make great cars…and you shouldn’t drive one outside of their warranty"

A warranty of course is about ‘presumed risk’…and if my Caliber had been owned by some crazy moto-cross racing dude who took it off-roading, and towed his bikes, and had thrown on 80K miles…we wouldn’t have bought it! Because the presumed risk is pretty high….but when you’re shown documentation that the ONE previous owner was an elderly man, who unfortunately didn’t get to enjoy the vehicle for as long as he should have…but put no extreme wear and tear on it…that risk is VERY low! There is no fathomable way we believed Dodge-Chrysler would make a product…that under these circumstances would need a transmission replaced at 25K.

Upon doing some research I learned the 07 Caliber’s were some of the first to use the "Jatco" transmission. A technology bought from Japanese manufacturer Nissan, and implemented into Dodge-Chrysler products. Well there are wide-spread reports of their first generation not being of great quality, which is why the 2.0 version was implemented in the subsequent years. Funny thing is…Nissan offered an extension on the warranty of this transmission up to a 10 year 100,000 mile guarantee on all vehicles using it. Why is it that Nissan can step up and understand their may have been something faulty with the transmission…but Dodge-Chrysler just refuses to do the right thing?

I keep seeing all these new commercials for Dodge and Chrysler. They’re flashy and have rapper Eminem, and try to persuade us that the company has turned over a new leaf…but I’m not sure I like this new ‘hip’ dodge-Chrysler…maybe I liked them better before when they actually took care of me as a customer

-Robert Dopf
Robert-Dopf@hotmail.com
515-991-1888

My 1998 Honda Civic had a transmission slip. Right now the shop has quoted me between k to .1k to get the tranny rebuilt somewhere else. He says everything inside will be replaced, and to add to that, the auto tranny will come with a 3 year 36k warranty. The person I spoke with says he could have been mistaken and it could have been a 60k and not 36k.

Also, how will I know if the tranny will be rebuilt properly? I don’t want a half past 6 job, I want a quality rebuild where everything is replaced.

The k includes hauling and installation.

Thanks

My 1998 Honda Civic had a transmission slip. Right now the shop has quoted me between k to .1k to get the tranny rebuilt somewhere else. He says everything inside will be replaced, and to add to that, the auto tranny will come with a 3 year 36k warranty. The person I spoke with says he could have been mistaken and it could have been a 60k and not 36k.

Also, how will I know if the tranny will be rebuilt properly? I don’t want a half past 6 job, I want a quality rebuild where everything is replaced.

The k includes hauling and installation.

Thanks

About 4 months ago I bought a 2005 Nissan Murano from a local Nissan dealer. The salesperson kept trying to push the extended warranty on me and I gave in and bought it. Now my car is leaking green fluid from the front end, is this automatic transmission fluid or antifreeze? I’m now starting to believe the salesman knew about this problem and tried to keep it quiet, but didn’t want it to be that big of a financial burden on me so he pushed for me to buy the warranty. If it is the transmission is it even worth getting fixed or should I buy a new car. Obviously I wouldn’t buy another car from this dealer or another Nissan, but I have heard stories about new transmissions being put in and not lasting long at all.
Also, does anyone have any ideas on what the problem could be?