Beware of the "small" stuff

In 2001 we bought a new Grand Caravan ES with with all the bells and whistles. What we've found out is that the quality of the bells and whistles is pretty poor. So far with only 68K miles we've had to replace a power window motor for $250 and a whole power seat assembly for $465. Note the power seat assembly is all one part with 3 motors and all the operating hardware. Our power seat motors were fine, but something was jammed causing the seat to only move 2 notches. The dealer says they can only replace the whole thing.

When I communicated with Dodge they sent a kiss off letter. Both things occurred just after warranty. I kept the seat assembly to find out what really went wrong and to remind me to avoid Chrysler products in the future.

Buyer beware.

That's really a shame, this all happened just after the 3 yr bumper to bumper warrantee expired? Sounds like the engineers designed it perfectly.

Funny how that works, isn't it? The tranny let go in our old 1996 Gr ES right after 7/70 warranty expired. Believe me, you don't want that bill...

We bought the 7yr/100,000mile "Bumper-to-Bumper" plan for $2,600 when we bought our loaded '96 GC for $29,000. Three years later at 111,000, the tranny/torque converter blew.

A word to the wise: Dodge wouldn't sell YOU something if it weren't profitable for THEM.

BTW, the "Bumper-to-Bumper" thing is a load marketing B/S. There were plenty of things that broke inside the cabin, all plastic, like the CD storage unit door, that was NOT covered by the plan. It cost us $40.

I agree, warenties are only around to make them money. Why do you think they don't cover ANY brake components!

Extended Service Warranties are a RIP OFF! I tried to get a Rack and Pinion covered on a car that was only 4 years old, and they wouldn't cover it because the cause of the problem was from a broken bolt. The bolts are not covered in these warrranties, voiding any damage that is caused from them. It's a loop hole that they have, and yep! it's in the fine print. Who actually sits there and reads all of the fine print in these contracts when we're excited with our new cars, and just want to get the paperwork finished. That's why they give you this paperwork almost at the end of the transaction. They know that people won't sit there for an hour to read the fine print.

You're better off paying for the repairs as they happen than paying thousands on these bogus warranties. They burned me once, shame on them, they burn me twice, shame on me!