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Jeep Dealers Caught Tacking on Unnecessary Charges in "Today" Show Exposé

6K views 14 replies 15 participants last post by  Infowar 
#1 ·
Jeep Dealers Caught Tacking on Unnecessary Charges in "Today" Show Exposé

We've all heard the horror stories about women who take their cars into a mechanic to fix a minor problem, only to be charged outrageous fees for non-existent or small issues. A national news program went undercover to get the scoop. After placing hidden cameras at several dealerships, the show's decoy was overcharged for service work.

The MSNBC "Today" show sent a producer with a functional, out-of-warranty 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee to five New York-area Jeep dealerships. Before sending her on her way, the network hired a mechanic to install a faulty air conditioning relay, so warm air would blow out of the unit. This problem would cost you about $100 to fix.

When the producer took her Jeep to four of the five garages, mechanics found the faulty relay, but they tacked on extra services to the bill. When the show interviewed third party repair experts, they said these extra services were considered unnecessary. At one dealership, the producer was told her air conditioning compressor had blown up and it would cost $2,000 to fix.

But hopefully some good will come from this news segment Chrysler spokesman Gualberto Ranieri issued a statement to MSNBC: "I can assure you that we are investigating this case."

More: Jeep Dealers Caught Tacking on Unnecessary Charges in "Today" Show Exposé on Autoguide.com
 
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#2 ·


We've all heard the horror stories about women who take their cars into a mechanic to fix a minor problem, only to be charged outrageous fees for non-existent or small issues. A national news program went undercover to get the scoop. After placing hidden cameras at several dealerships, the show's decoy was overcharged for service work.

The MSNBC "Today" show sent a producer with a functional, out-of-warranty 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee to five New York-area Jeep dealerships. Before sending her on her way, the network hired a mechanic to install a faulty air conditioning relay, so warm air would blow out of the unit. This problem would cost you about $100 to fix.

When the producer took her Jeep to four of the five garages, mechanics found the faulty relay, but they tacked on extra services to the bill. When the show interviewed third party repair experts, they said these extra services were considered unnecessary. At one dealership, the producer was told her air conditioning compressor had blown up and it would cost $2,000 to fix.

But hopefully some good will come from this news segment Chrysler spokesman Gualberto Ranieri issued a statement to MSNBC: "I can assure you that we are investigating this case."

More: Jeep Dealers Caught Tacking on Unnecessary Charges in "Today" Show Exposé on Autoguide.com

And that's why its called a stealership.
 
#4 ·
I wouldn't characterize this as being unique to Jeep dealerships or any brand for that matter. It's a rampant problem throughout the whole auto repair industry. Always has been and I don't see anything changing.

Bernie
 
#5 ·
This ^^


poeple just dont know these days ... and sadly enough, most businesses will take full advantage of that. My neighbour had his cutouts welded in and the shop tried to tell him it took 6.5 hours @ 95$/hour .. total bill after tax of 691.60... I volunteered to make the trip down to the shop to set things right. ended up refunding him $500 for " additional work required for install " :rolleyes:



We live in a twisted world.
 
#7 ·
My buddy works at Chrysler dodge jeep dealership and a few months ago a new manger started and he had a huge meeting about how this dealer need to up sell basically wanted them to find 100hrs worth of labour a week on customers cars that had came in for regular maintaince... Everyone was pretty pissed this new guy wanted to do this


Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app
 
#11 ·
They don't like to tell the public, but most dealerships give commissions to the service staff based on the number of dollars they generate. Sell more unnecessary service work and get a fatter check. Capitalism at its finest. Buddy of mine who was a straight-shooter got fired for not gouging people enough!
 
#12 ·
I used to have an 08 wk with a crazy sound system in it one time I brought it there cause I broke something in the sun roof it cost 100 bucks while still under factory Warrenty then next time for same reason n not under factory Warrenty but still under my extended Warrenty it cost 1100 stealership luckly i didn't have to pay it
 
#13 ·
The first car company that comes out and DOESN'T HAVE DEALERSHIPS will win my business. Tell me WHY we need a middleman? We can take our vehicles to plenty of authorized factory maintenance facilities for warranty work... but WHY, with just about everything these days mail-order-direct, do we need a middle man? Thats all the dealership is.. they don't make the product, they don't warranty the product, all they do is sit there with a ridiculous grin on their face while you buy a product that they have NOTHING to do with, and pocket a large lump sum of cash in the process. They're more useless and unnecessary than Realtors.

I'd like to order my vehicle directly from the manufacturer, at a rate that reflects what the dealer actually pays, plus all the back-end incentives we never see. And even arrange financing and delivery, all from one simple website. What a revolutionary idea!

And for those of you that insist on havin to take a test drive... well how about you just either find a friend who already has one... or you can go buy from a manufactuer that keeps its stealerships. If you think the concept of a dealership justifies a 10 minute test drive, then you can keep them.

Get rid of the dealers, price of new vehicles drops between 5000 and 10000 per. It will also make factory authorized maintenance centers COMPETATIVE and completely revitalize smaller auto maintenance places that could be authorized to do factory work... making thousands, if not millions of small business more viable.
 
#15 ·
It's not just a dealership thing. You get the same gouging at standard select service companies like Aamco, Jiffy Lube, or even the local "Joe's auto shop." Unfortunately, it's hard to trust any auto shop. If you find one you can trust, always go there.

I go to a shop here in Phoenix which is the only place I'll take my SRTs to too unless it is a Dodge/Jeep recall and I have to take it to the dealership. I've got a 2007 Charger SRT and a 2010 Jeep SRT and I won't take them anywhere else.

When my wife's car was pissing fluid all over my driveway, I took it to them and they could have just as easily told me it was an engine main seal for $2500. But they said it was a blown strut and fixed them for less than half of what the dealership wanted when the strut had a small leak.

I got real lucky with finding my mechanic but there are a few mechanics out there that get their return business by treating people right. Good luck.

Steve
 
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