RANT - Over Jeep, their Dealers and FIAT

[1quick1]

Sounds a bit like my experience.


My local Jeep dealer is still on probation as far as I’m concerned.

I literally have a Jeep dealership a 10 min WALK from my house that I drive 10 miles out of the way to another dealership. After my experience with sales, finance, and insane "service" department they are essentially perma-banned in my mind. So I do the whole arranging a ride to bring me to and from the dealership 10 miles out of the way to drop it off and pick it up because the one I could easily just drop off and walk home in 10 minutes is incompetent.

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[MMalone]

What a mess. Sorry you have to deal with that bullsh*t.
If no lemon law...crank it up FCA as high as you can..an attorney may be necessary

@JeepCares either can't expedite parts or showed no interest in stepping in and helping when my dealership can't get me a new steering box for ATLEAST 3.25 months after they confirmed I needed one.

From my research, I can't blame the dealership. They can/will only do what the parts availability and financial incentives allow them to do. Apparently Jeep Corp is doesn't really give them the financial incentive to provide decent service.

My 5th jeep and I paid more for this one then all the others combined. Most likely will be my last as well.

same boat with you on the steering box. I have complained to the dealer since 2nd day after delivery, but I am placed at bottom of list. Even with jeep cares case

 

[Oncorhynchus]

I literally have a Jeep dealership a 10 min WALK from my house that I drive 10 miles out of the way to another dealership. After my experience with sales, finance, and insane "service" department they are essentially perma-banned in my mind. So I do the whole arranging a ride to bring me to and from the dealership 10 miles out of the way to drop it off and pick it up because the one I could easily just drop off and walk home in 10 minutes is incompetent.

Some people think “insane” is a positive attribute:

 

[Heimkehr]

I literally have a Jeep dealership a 10 min WALK from my house that I drive 10 miles out of the way [from] to [go to] another dealership. After my experience with sales, finance, and [the] insane "service" department, they are essentially perma-banned in my mind.

So, I [arrange] a ride to bring me to and from the dealership 10 miles out of the way to drop it off and pick it up. [The] one I could easily just drop off and walk home [from] in 10 minutes is incompetent.

I can only imagine the vehicle sales that your 10-minute-walk Jeep dealership is losing out on, insomuch that they're in Colorado. The geography in that State seems tailor-made for the brand.

 

[Oldbear]

Sorry for your pain. Sadly there are some dealers with pretty well every brand that are totally worthless. Hope they get you taken care of soon. Back in 2006 i traded my old TJ (which had been reliable as a rock for 9 years and over 100k miles) for a new, diesel Liberty. Loved the torque and mpg’s. 18 months and 30 k miles later i took it in t the dealership where i bought it for an oil change. They were the only people that had ever touched the Liberty and it had been trouble free. After an hour i asked how much longer will it be. Answer “another 30-40 minutes”. Ok, odd but Ok. (A trained chimp can do an oil changer in 45 minutes). 45 minutes later I’m back at the service desk. After much hemIng and hawing I’m told that ”whoever changed the oil the last time failed to put the crush washer on the drain plug, and then overtightened the plug so it wouldn’t leak. When we removed the drain plug it stripped the threads on the aluminum oil pan”. I said, well that would be YOU since you are the only ones to work on it. I’m then told they have to replace the pan! Oh yeah, and we have to order the pan AND pull the engine to replace it!!! Got my car back from the oil change 3 weeks later. Drov15 miles home. No PRobles, though i did note the the steering wheel wasn’t straight up and down like before. A day later. I started from home to Bowling Green (about 20 miles). Running 75 down the Interstate when every single idiot light comes on and every gauge drops to zero (while I’m still running 75!!!!). A hot call to Chrysler got me set up with a 5 star dealer 50 miles away to take car of it. My original dealer ”The Hone Of Legendary Service” per their ads, was not even a rated service center. Got my jeep from the second dealer in 10 days. First idiots had Crushed the wiring harness when they reinstalled the engine. Second dealer was good guy, replaced the entire wiring harness. Tech talking to me said that should take care of it. I said if it will make it to Bowling Green I’ll be fine. There’s a Toyota dealer in BG. Drove straight there and then went home in a new Toyota. I “should” have kept the Jeep, but i was so darn mad at the time I didn’t want anything to do with it. If the first dealer were to offer a new vehicle today for $5k less than ANY other dealer I still would not buy from them! (In thinking about their “Legendary service” I’ve realized that some Legends are in fact Nightmares...

 

[GeeGuid]

Just ordered my 21 JLUR (Pentastar 6-speed) and you guys are scaring the hell outta me

 

[RagTopDeluxe]

Just ordered my 21 JLUR (Pentastar 6-speed) and you guys are scaring the hell outta me

Go for it.

I went through hell with my ‘19 JLR because of the bad steering. It was eventually bought back. Despite that, I got a replacement JLUR and *love* it! It makes me smile every time I see it in the garage and I love driving it.

There are some issues and some bad dealers, but the Wrangler is so much fun.

 

[Forestdawg]

I wouldn't be too worried. Lot of Jeeps on here with little to no issues. My biggest take away from this is finding a good dealer that provides good service.

 

[KingBlotto]

Just ordered my 21 JLUR (Pentastar 6-speed) and you guys are scaring the hell outta me

Same here

 

[Amaruq]

Just ordered my 21 JLUR (Pentastar 6-speed) and you guys are scaring the hell outta me

Same here

lol. People seek out a place to find answers/vent when something is wrong. They do not do the same when everything is perfect. This means you will read all the bad, and never see all the good - which becomes a lopsided viewpoint.

@YippieKiYayMrFalcon let us know about Ed voyles - they are the closest to me, but went all the way to Buford to have my steering box done where I purchased. Wasn’t disappointed but it’s a hike.

 

[aldo98229]

I’ve owned Jeeps for over a decade: in my experience, encountering issues isn’t that rare. It is not a matter of if, but when; and the level of customer care has gone downhill since FCA took over, particularly in the last 5+ years.

There seem to be many reasons: Jeeps are selling left and right and dealer service departments can’t cope; while FCA loves to make big fat profits, it continues to show total disregard for customers and for the customer experience; despite jacking up prices every month, FCA doesn’t put any effort towards improving the ownership experience; Fiat quality is not the best; etc.

Indeed, finding a good dealer is key. But your chances of finding one keeps shrinking

 

[Mikeoso]

Seems to me...design, oiginal build quality, and parts availability are on FCA. EVERYTHING else is on the dealership, not FCA.

We have to seperate the lists and deal with the true culprits. Yelling at FCA wont do a thing about stupid service techs, and yelling at the dealership wont do a thing about a crap build.

 

[Spartan99]

Both Chrysler and Fiat are the crappiest companies in the automotive industry. It’s no surprise when their products and service fail. Buying a Jeep is a gamble because it sucks if you get a bad one. Jeeps are like Harleys in that they’re fun and cool but often times they’re total pieces of junk.

 

[Crimpcap]

WOW! As I get anxious and tired of waiting for Bronco, reading posts like this helps calm me down.

 

[Dkretden]

Seems to me...design, oiginal build quality, and parts availability are on FCA. EVERYTHING else is on the dealership, not FCA.

We have to seperate the lists and deal with the true culprits. Yelling at FCA wont do a thing about stupid service techs, and yelling at the dealership wont do a thing about a crap build.

Not true, IMO.

Dealerships DO NOT have a god-given right to sell Jeeps. They sell them under a ‘franchise“ agreement that allows them to sell and warranty-service the Jeep (or other FCA product) IF they maintain certain standards of quality, etc.

FCA can penalize dealerships and/or pull the franchise for dealerships that are not performing. BAD DEALERS exist because FCA lets them exist.

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