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Lemon Law Rights / What Would You Do?

roaniecowpony

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Here in CA, we have the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and most/all the major manufacturers have agreed to follow the arbitration process of the BBB. 20 years ago, I bought a new truck that leaked diff fluid on the brakes thru the axle seal on one side. It would pull pretty hard to the opposite side under heavy braking. I bought the truck to tow a horse trailer. I never towed with it because of this condition during the year I had it. I took it in 3 times to get fixed. After the 3rd time it didn't get fixed, I contacted the BBB and set an arbitration hearing date. At the hearing, I produced the work invoices and gave the hearing arbitration judge a ride to demonstrate the problem. When we returned from the ride, the judge immediately ruled in my favor for buy-back. The manufacturer's rep pleaded with me to allow them to have their engineer evaluate it, instruct the dealer on the fix, and provide me with a 100,000 mile (not standard by that maker at the time) driveline warranty. He said I could take it to the dealer of my choice and they'd work with that dealer. I chose the nearest one, notified the manufacturer rep and took it in. When I picked it up, I asked if the manufacturer had been in contact with them. Nope. When the axle leaked again, I filed another BBB case. The mfr rep pleaded again for an opportunity to fix it. The arbitrator said it was my option, but not necessary. I declined. The manufacturer was ordered to buy back the vehicle, including the total costs of the purchase with dealer fees, taxes, etc.. It did not cover insurance, fuel, oil, or my camper, which I removed. I can't recall if it covered finance interest and fees.
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jeepmikey

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Trade it in somewhere. Everyone there needs a beating. No use in wasting any additional time with them.
The irony in this is throughout flagging these issues and being given a case #, @JeepCares communicated would make sure all was set and someone would reach out before the appointment. No one reached out, and now I’m being told the dealership is a separate entity under separate ownership and take it up with them.

Getting these issues fixed when Jeep corporate is back, going to enjoy the remainder I have with this Rubicon and moving onto something else. Jeep officially lost a lifelong enthusiast and owner today.
 
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jeepmikey

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I didn’t want to go that direction but most likely will. Thank you for the information.

Here in CA, we have the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and most/all the major manufacturers have agreed to follow the arbitration process of the BBB. 20 years ago, I bought a new truck that leaked diff fluid on the brakes thru the axle seal on one side. It would pull pretty hard to the opposite side under heavy braking. I bought the truck to tow a horse trailer. I never towed with it because of this condition during the year I had it. I took it in 3 times to get fixed. After the 3rd time it didn't get fixed, I contacted the BBB and set an arbitration hearing date. At the hearing, I produced the work invoices and gave the hearing arbitration judge a ride to demonstrate the problem. When we returned from the ride, the judge immediately ruled in my favor for buy-back. The manufacturer's rep pleaded with me to allow them to have their engineer evaluate it, instruct the dealer on the fix, and provide me with a 100,000 mile (not standard by that maker at the time) driveline warranty. He said I could take it to the dealer of my choice and they'd work with that dealer. I chose the nearest one, notified the manufacturer rep and took it in. When I picked it up, I asked if the manufacturer had been in contact with them. Nope. When the axle leaked again, I filed another BBB case. The mfr rep pleaded again for an opportunity to fix it. The arbitrator said it was my option, but not necessary. I declined. The manufacturer was ordered to buy back the vehicle, including the total costs of the purchase with dealer fees, taxes, etc.. It did not cover insurance, fuel, oil, or my camper, which I removed. I can't recall if it covered finance interest and fees.
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Litfuse

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I’m convinced JeepCares is nothing but PR hype and advertising. I imagine if you talked to any dealership, they neither heard of JeepCares or they are annoyed by it. My wife is in advertising and her team came up with a similar concept for a major tire brand. It was all marketing hype. Nothing about better service.
 

Muzzle of Bees

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The irony in this is throughout flagging these issues and being given a case #, @JeepCares communicated would make sure all was set and someone would reach out before the appointment. No one reached out, and now I’m being told the dealership is a separate entity under separate ownership and take it up with them.

Getting these issues fixed when Jeep corporate is back, going to enjoy the remainder I have with this Rubicon and moving onto something else. Jeep officially lost a lifelong enthusiast and owner today.
I understand. Salesman are like politicians during election time. I follow actions, not words.
 

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OldGuyNewJeep

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@jeepmikey - sorry to hear that you’re having to deal with all of this. Wranglers are supposed to be fun!

Which CT dealership asked you the “smart question?” I purchased mine from Fitzpatrick’s in Ansonia and they have been terrific. Granted, I’ve only gone for one service appointment (frame weld recall), but the service advisor was really very good. I can’t recall her name, but she’s down to earth and very personable. Anyway, maybe worth a phone call to see if she’d be more amenable to helping you?
 

TrailTorque

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First off I feel for you and your family having to deal with this. People are supposed to be happy when they get a new vehicle!

That being said this is the way I look at things in your situation what I would do. Which was your original question.

JeepCares didn’t produce.
Dealership 1 didn’t produce.
Dealership 2 didn’t produce.

That’s (3) strikes.

I personally would write to corporate.

If that doesn’t work, I’d get a lawyer to write to corporate or at minimum get a lawyers guidance.

Should you have to do this? No

Will you have to do something to rectify your situation? Yes

Better get started and good luck!! Keep us posted!


EDIT:

I forgot to address your Lemon Law question:

In terms of the Lemon Law, it is doable and a member on here has already received his new 2019 JLU. I believe his was just a buy back but I’m sure it was headed to the Lemon Law stage which is why I assume the dealership bought it back to avoid legal fees.

Anyways, the Lemon Law varies by state. It is a STATE law. Each states Lemon Law is written differently. For example Florida’s Lemon Law is different slightly in comparison to that of California’s Lemon Law. While generally the same, there ARE differences.

GENERALLY SPEAKING, any nonconformity, or combination of nonconformities, which substantially impair the use/value/safety of a new vehicle and which is/are not repaired within a reasonable number of attempts as defined in YOUR states lemon law, may entitle you to lemon law relief, consisting of a new car or full refund of the purchase price of the vehicle in question.

It’s really best to speak to a lawyer though that is licensed in YOUR state for the very best advice in reference to YOUR states Lemon Law.

Your lawyer however, will want as much evidence of this as humanly possible. This is why most people never go this route (because it is exhausting). You’ll need several dealership visits which prove that the same issues still exist after each repair attempt. Now I say dealership, but, you could simply go to an auto shop nearby. But if I was your lawyer I would want you to go to the dealership because that makes the case SO much easier and less likely for any defense attorneys avenue of approach.
 
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jeepmikey

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First off I feel for you and your family having to deal with this. People are supposed to be happy when they get a new vehicle!

That being said this is the way I look at things in your situation what I would do. Which was your original question.

JeepCares didn’t produce.
Dealership 1 didn’t produce.
Dealership 2 didn’t produce.

That’s (3) strikes.

I personally would write to corporate.

If that doesn’t work, I’d get a lawyer to write to corporate or at minimum get a lawyers guidance.

Should you have to do this? No

Will you have to do something to rectify your situation? Yes

Better get started and good luck!! Keep us posted!
Thanks guys - appreciate everyones notes. Here's the thing - the fairing issues, gap issues, truly all issues are essentially fixes by any Jeep dealership ordering the parts and simply replacing them. One of the bigger issues quite frankly is the fact that before the Jeep was even registered when I was checking in the assumption made from the minute I got there was the steering dampener needs to be replaced. Now, I'm not saying it doesn't have to be replaced - but from day 1 with maybe 50 miles on the odometer the steering has been very, very loose. I made clear it was loose to the point it has tons of play, and now the death wobble. Any place I go they can fix the dampener, but I'm not convinced that after 1-2 minutes on a lift today the technician truly diagnosed the steering issues other than assuming the dampener needs to be fixed. I hope I'm proven wrong, but I'm fuming not only at the treatment to date but knowing the dampener being replaced will most likely not be the end of my steering issues.

Also, blaming the wheels and tires I did not agree with. Jeep / Mopar should not be selling products if there are going to be issues with them. I'm running stock suspension, Mopar wheels with the beadlock vanity rings (not true beadlocks) with K02s.
 

WXman

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The issue here seems to be all related to a terrible dealership.

So, the solution seems simple. Find a better dealership.

As far as lemon law arbitration goes, FCA does that through NCDS. But good luck, because you usually have to provide detailed records of service visits, and most states require 3-4 attempts at correcting each issue before you are eligible.

http://www.ncdsusa.org/consumers/automotive-warranty-disputes/
 

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jeepmikey

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Someone on the forum was able to provide 2 e-mails for FCA directly, just sent a long e-mail with all issues and step by step details of what happened today. At the end of the day, I simply do not want to go back to the dealership where I was today - at same time it's now an issue of having to start this whole process all over again. I'm not convinced the dampener is the issue given the fact the tech said the dampener needed to be replaced before he even put it on a lift and drove half a mile down the road with me.

At this point I'm leaving to go out east tomorrow for New Year's, will have to resolve everything when I get back with a new dealership and simply let everything run it's course. Nothing else to do but TRY to enjoy the Jeep at this point.
 

Spartan99

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DW was going to happen eventually. The dealerships aren’t going to deal with it since it can be one of a million things and they’ll lose money on it. Do this: get the wheels balanced and have the entire front end retorqued. Since the dampener is shot, replace it. It’ll go out again when something goes wrong and the dampener steps in to minimize the vibrations, and when that happens, rinse amd repeat. Your Jeep’s fineyou just got lucky with the early dw.
 
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jeepmikey

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DW was going to happen eventually. The dealerships aren’t going to deal with it since it can be one of a million things and they’ll lose money on it. Do this: get the wheels balanced and have the entire front end retorqued. Since the dampener is shot, replace it. It’ll go out again when something goes wrong and the dampener steps in to minimize the vibrations, and when that happens, rinse amd repeat. Your Jeep’s fineyou just got lucky with the early dw.
Agree on all these points. Truly, one of the reasons why this all was a larger issue is the play in steering wheel and how loose the steering wheel is. I can be driving down the highway at 70mph, move the wheel 2 inches left to right and still be driving in a straight line. Between that, the DW and all of the horror stories I'm hearing of welds coming apart it simply makes you think something larger is happening.
 

TXRubicon

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@jeepmikey I would suggest opening a case with Jeep Wave customer care if you haven't already (https://www.chrysler.com/webselfservice/JeepWave/EmailPage.html). I had an issue where the dealer marred the drivers side seat on delivery and though the dealer probably would have handled it with enough prodding, I decided to hedge my bets. I opened a case with Jeep Wave and within a day I had a case number and a case owner. It took Jeep a week to authorize the repairs and get me priority scheduling for the service. The dealership was super cool with it since it took the burden off of them to get corporate approval for the rental car and repair and what not. It was a very easy process, and they took good care of me. Hope this helps.
 
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jeepmikey

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@jeepmikey I would suggest opening a case with Jeep Wave customer care if you haven't already (https://www.chrysler.com/webselfservice/JeepWave/EmailPage.html). I had an issue where the dealer marred the drivers side seat on delivery and though the dealer probably would have handled it with enough prodding, I decided to hedge my bets. I opened a case with Jeep Wave and within a day I had a case number and a case owner. It took Jeep a week to authorize the repairs and get me priority scheduling for the service. The dealership was super cool with it since it took the burden off of them to get corporate approval for the rental car and repair and what not. It was a very easy process, and they took good care of me. Hope this helps.
This is super helpful, thank you.

I wonder if Jeep will make me go through the whole process over - I.E. have to get the Jeep reinspected from scratch at a new dealership or if the parts can simply be ordered and installed by a new dealership...
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