My 2003 Liberty Sport Lemon Story

[Jeeplemon]

Hello - I feel it's important to relay my story to those who are considering buying a Jeep. This is for informational purposes only & is not intended to upset any Jeep owners. I know several Jeep owners that are happy, but my experience was a complete nightmare!

I bought a new '03 automatic in VA & the car was in for service at 280 miles due to excessive vibration at regular driving speeds. It was a complete nightmare & Daimler Chrysler would not budge to correct the issues. The "5 star" dealer I bought from gave me the run aroud & I drove a rental more than I did my new car for the first 3 months. They were more interested in "fixing" the vehicle than getting me one that worked! Of course, noone buys a new car with the expectation that it will be in the shop & require several major repairs, so you can imagine the frustration with this situation.

After several trips to the service department & 5 different service attemots at departments in my area, they finally discovered a Manufacturing defect in the Ring & pin, which they changed out. Also there were defects in the front & rear axle which were also changed. The car was out of service for several days & actually qualified for the Lemon Law in my state.

I pursued the Lemon Law, but I found out that it is entirely up to Daimler Chrysler's District Rep to make the decision. He didn't budge & avoided me. I documented everything and ended up with a file 1.5 inches thick. They kept side stepping the problem & rarely returned phone calls.

Most car makers have an arbitration panel for such cases, Daimler DOES NOT,nor do they participate in the BBB online. The General Attorney was involed, but nothing came of it. I even purchased the extended warranty...Be leary of the Warranty also, as it's handled by a 3rd party.

I finally hired a lawyer & then realized the amount of money it would cost to pursue, so I dumped the car & bought a Honda. I lost about $4,000 by making the switch, but the frustration involved was intolerable.

I do know some happy Jeep owners, but my experience with them has been terrible & I will never buy from them again. It is really a win or lose situation & the luck of the draw. I was VERY unlucky. I've talked to other owners with similar problems, & the gamble of getting a good vehicle from them seems like a risk I wouldn't take, nor suggest to anyone.

Unfortunately, online review forums are my only redemption. Hope this helps!

[TObject]

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

At least they tried to fix your jeep. The local dealer here refused warrantee repairs on my jeep, after they saw scratches. "You took it off-road, we do not warrantee abuse".

Good luck with your Honda. I hope it doesn't break on you, I heard, Honda service departments are even worse than those of Jeep.

[Jeff Weston]

Sorry to hear of your problems. As far as I'm concerned, Chrysler can take those 5 stars and shove them up their ... I too did not get the most stellar treatment on warranty repairs and never once regretted not getting an extended warranty. As for Honda service, so far in my experience, they make Jeep seem good.

[Jeeplemon]

Let's face it...no matter where or what you buy, if there is a problem, good luck getting results. It's an unfortunate state of affairs when the term "Customer Service" means nothing once you've already bought the item...it's the ol' bait and hook!

I'm sure every state...every dealer...every customer is different, but I can only speak for my situation & just thought it was important enough to share!

I'm not saying that my Honda experience will be any better, but I also don't anticipate having to bring it in at 200 miles, deal with numerous recalls, alert bulletins or pay good money for something that's been causing a non-stop headache.

Ever notice why foreign car dealers don't need to offer the incentives such as Zero percent, $5000 cash back just to move their products? Simply because they are better...even if they are built here...there are different standards...different tests & methods & different Quality Assurance requirements.

p.s. never buy an Emachine either....nightmare #2~

[William]

My wife's car that we recently purchased had discount financing and 2k off. It's a foriegn car.

[Jeeplemon]

William -
What is your point...I'm not saying the incentives don't exist...they are rare...so how's the Kia? It doesn't change my story or experience. And...why did your wife buy the foreign car?

[TObject]

Jeeplemon,

William did not purchase a Kia. He purchased a Lexus.
This is something his wife likes, so they got it. William likes jeeps, so he has one. You have a Honda, and if you want somebody to tell you that you made a great decision by switching from Jeep to Honda, you will probably have better luck on one of the Honda enthusiast forums. Most of us have jeeps here, therefore we are biased.

[Croaker]

Originally posted by Jeeplemon

Ever notice why foreign car dealers don't need to offer the incentives such as Zero percent, $5000 cash back just to move their products?

William -
What is your point...I'm not saying the incentives don't exist...they are rare...so how's the Kia? It doesn't change my story or experience. And...why did your wife buy the foreign car?

Sure seems that's EXACTLY what you said in the first quote. Did I read it incorrectly?

[speaceman]

I've found that my level of frustration with a car is directly related to my dealing with warranty issues and how helpful the dealership is, irregardless of how bad or the good the car involved is actually constructed or works.

I had a sentra that only had a couple of minor things break on it, but I never had any luck at ANY of the nissan dealerships I went to either in LA or SD. It was a frustrating experience.

I had a ford mustang that was probably about as reliable, but had poorer delivery fit and finish. The difference in my perception of the mustang was I lucked out and found the one good Ford dealership in SD and the one good one in LA. As a result, I liked the mustang much better and still think to this day it was a better car overall car.

I admit my bias in chosing that way, but there it is.

Unless you're talking about Lexus or acura, or even other luxury marques like cadillac, all dealerships for all car brands pretty much suck across the board.

I would have tried my hardest to find a dealership that had a decent service department before I took the $4000 wash on selling the jeep.

Of course, I didn't have to deal with your level of frustration, so it's easy for me to say.

I can say that I've been to every Nissan dealeship with in a 30 mile radius in LA , from when I used to own my sentra, and 3 or 4 down in S.D. It was only after visiting all of them that I gave up in trying to find a good dealership.

[Tumbleweed]

I had a '99 Dodge Dakota pickup, xtra cab 4x4; that I really liked. Looked good, ran liked a raped ape with the 318, and got decent mileage. Bought new at a five star dealer. After 6 months, kept having auto tranny problems, burning fluid and slipping. Took it back to the dealer four times for "we can't find a problem". Lasted one more week before it went back to them on a tow hook. While it was being unloaded-walked across the street to the Chevy dealer and bought one of theirs. Had to bring the sales manager over to Dodge to appraise my trade in! He happily took it since it was under warranty. Lost several thousand dollars surely, but saved a bunch of headaches.
Note: That Dakota, minus the trans problems; was probably one of the best vehicles I have ever owned.

[speaceman]

That's interesting. We had a friend that had a durango with the same exact tranny problem as you described and the same exact response from the dealership.

She managed to get it bought back under the lemon law.

She also loved it and would have liked to keep it, aside from the tranny problem.

You'd think Daimler/chrysler would make sure their dealerships weren't avoiding warranty work since it sours people from considering another car in the future.

It makes no sense to me.

[William]

Originally posted by Jeeplemon
William -
What is your point...I'm not saying the incentives don't exist...they are rare...so how's the Kia? It doesn't change my story or experience. And...why did your wife buy the foreign car?

It's not a Kia. You said that foriegn cars rarely get a discount or incentive. I've found that to be strictly non true. So, in effect, this portion of your story is incorrect.

She bought the foreign car because she liked it. It had features, and looks that were pleasing to her, and the value was there.

My Jeep, aside from the exhaust has been trouble free on it's orignal parts. Now parts that I've installed or maintained, well, that's a different story.

With that, I would also mention: usually, it's not a great idea to buy something it's first model year out. Just an observation, not rooted in to much fact.