Car / law experts - I need your help determing my next course of action extended warrany dispute

I hate this stuff and I'd be heading to arbitration out of principle. These lawyers are running a business. Arbitration will cost them money. He/She is simply trying to get you to walk right now at the lowest cost to them.

If it were me I would respond and tell them their options are:

- they find a mechanic that will complete the repairs and they have the car towed to that mechanic at their own cost

- they increase their offer to pay for a lightly used engine from the mechanic that you're currently at (get a quote first)

- head to arbitration

Worst case scenario, you head to arbitration where the arbitrator tells you that you're in the wrong for X reason and you need to take the last settlement that was offered. This may take you a little time, but you're out the time you've spent. The more likely scenario is that you'll get a better offer from the company or the arbitrator.

A consult with an attorney that specializes in this work may be worth the money in this case.

If you know that every Jeep you bought was junk, why did you buy another one? If you have been dumping money into your current lemon, why have you kept it so long?

Wise up and buy a reliable car. Maybe I've been lucky, but I've had Tacomas for a few decades and never spent a dime on repairs. Change your oil, keep the fluids checked and replace the tires.

I don't know what you can do as far as dealing with this warranty company. I never bought an extended warranty because I trusted that I was getting a reliable car.

If you aren't willing to buy a good brand, then buy something nice and ride it til the original warranty expires or buy a super cheap junker and ride it til it quits.

Um, Pearl Harbor.

Yokohama wrote:

Why didn't you buy a Japanese car?

If I were you, I'd gather up all your service records/receipts and prepare to fight it out through arbitration. If you've done the preventative maintenance, there really was very little you could do to predict a water pump failure. Sometimes they leak or the bearings start to make noise, other times the just shit the bed with no warning. If that's the component that started this mess and it's not excluded as a 'wear item' then you've got a good chance fighting them.

If you're going to fix it, I wouldn't look for the cheapest mechanic in town because you'll probably end up with shoddy work. If you trust the guy who has the car now, then keep it where it's at. Also, $7k is too much to pay for a used 3.7 (if it has that engine), but that may've been the all in cost for the swap.

Regarding what to do next, with an engine that need major work, your car may be worth ~$1,500 to some mechanic who will swap in another engine and flip it to make some extra money. If you take it to a junkyard you'll get much less. Assuming the total cost to repair will be $7,000 - $2,000 (warranty contribution if this doesn't go your way) = $5,000 out of pocket for your old car back. Or, you can take the warranty money + the salvage value and use it as a down payment on something else.

Which would you rather have? If it were me, I'd fight it out with the warranty company first. If that doesn't work, I'd get the car posted on Craigslist in order to cut my losses. May I suggest looking at a 4Runner instead of another Cherokee?

Good luck

Proud to drive American wrote:

Um, Pearl Harbor.

Yokohama wrote:

Why didn't you buy a Japanese car?

The US poisoned China with OPIUM, you White racist!

The Chinese murder their own people for profit. Just one of the things they do is take a young prisoner to the airport, kill him then harvest the organs and put them right on the planes for sale in foreign countries. They do many other bad things to their own people.

Ghengis Khan butchered huge numbers of Asians and Europeans. The opium was karmic payback. Karma is a bitch!

Proud to drive American wrote:

Um, Pearl Harbor.

Yokohama wrote:

Why didn't you buy a Japanese car?

Basically true. I've prided myself on always driving an American made car. I wasn't even going to support a company that was bailed out by the govt but justified buying the jeep as it was used.

There's no pride in a broken down car.

Americans are owners in many Japanese car companies. People from all over the world hold shares in "American" car companies. Get over yourself.

Do what "Not A Lawyer" said above.

These people simply want you to go away. They were always prepared to pay more than their first and second offer. Raise the bar.

Lawyer up. These kinds of people are much better hagglers than you are, because they do it all day long. But they don't want to go to court. They want you to go away.

Keep your car maintenance receipts and records.

Option 4

Keep pushing for a new engine

They woud not have increased their offer if they were not in the wrong

Was the car serviced according to schedule etc?

China is also fascist wrote:

The Chinese murder their own people for profit. Just one of the things they do is take a young prisoner to the airport, kill him then harvest the organs and put them right on the planes for sale in foreign countries. They do many other bad things to their own people.

Ghengis Khan butchered huge numbers of Asians and Europeans. The opium was karmic payback. Karma is a bitch!

Cinghis Khan did Barbarian Russia, India, Europe, Persia, and Eurphates a great favor by civilizing with Chinese culture and cleansing away vast populations of primitive human beasts.

rojo wrote:

Proud to drive American wrote:

Um, Pearl Harbor.

Basically true. I've prided myself on always driving an American made car. I wasn't even going to support a company that was bailed out by the govt but justified buying the jeep as it was used.

Most Toyotas and Hondas are every bit as American made as your Jeep. Look it up.

I am not blaming but pointing out what probably went wrong.

It is well known that Jeep and other Chrysler products consistently rank near the bottom in the industry for quality and reliability. These vehicles take a lot of maintenance to keep running, and are not going to last in the hands of someone who knows nothing about what it takes.

However, you do bear some responsibility here. As a consumer, you can make better judgements than "this Jeep looks good and it's American" if you hope to avoid the situation you are in now. The information is out there if you make the effort to find it. Both about vehicle maintenance, and the probable quality of the vehicle you are considering.

Rojo, Here is a link for an attorney on a really great site called, Jalopnik. He's always on there writing articles and answering questions.

Coincidentally, Jalopnik has one of the better communities and message boards around. Check that out as well and see how a messaging and registered users can bring enthusiasts together in a constructive way..

You need to ascertain whether you've done the routine maintenance that might lead to this sort of failure. If you don't have the receipts, call your mechanic and ask them to send you a list of everything you've had done.

If you haven't done the water pump/belts and it was called for, you're basically screwed. Take their best offer and walk away.

Have you followed the NYT series on arbitration clauses? A lot of companies get to choose the arbitrator who will rule in their favor pretty often. True, it will still take them time to go through the process, so when you're disagreeing over a couple thousand dollars it might be wroth it to them to settle, but still, I say take the $ and run.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/business/dealbook/arbitration-everywhere-stacking-the-deck-of-justice.html?_r=0

rojo wrote:

The thing that bothers me is if I take their offer it seems like I"m letting them get out of paying me what I deserve. Yes I may not be able to prove all of the maintenance as I don't keep every single receipt and it says "You must perform the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance including keeping receipts for services from the date" but ultimately it's on them to prove my negligence.

(Disclaimer: I'm no lawyer.) If the contract you willingly signed had this maintenance and receipt clause in it, surely they've got reason to fight you if you can't produce receipts and records. Isn't that one simple request going to be their proof of your negligence? It sounds like you were sold a terrible car, but it also sounds like you aren't totally blameless here.

From a practical standpoint, I don't see why you'd want to keep a car that is costing you so much in maintenance (unless you can fix it yourself). Get their settlement as high as you reasonably can without sinking too much time into the effort and buy something more reliable. If you're concerned about a German or Japanese car: WWII ended 70 years ago, and those countries have not been enemies for a long time. No one who made the political decision to fight WWII is still alive. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi Arabian. Did/do you boycott their oil in your Jeep?

rojo wrote:

Proud to drive American wrote:

Um, Pearl Harbor.

Basically true. I've prided myself on always driving an American made car. I wasn't even going to support a company that was bailed out by the govt but justified buying the jeep as it was used.

I only buy cars made in central Ohio. That's why I drive Hondas.

extended warranties are bad deals (this aimed more at anyone else not to get suckered into them).

http://www.clarkhoward.com/beware-buying-auto-repair-service-plans-older-vehi

On a side note, I was offered extended coverage on some electronic device I bought a while back. The warranty was almost as much as a new device. I consider this to be a tax on fools.

arbitration has risks wrote:

Have you followed the NYT series on arbitration clauses? A lot of companies get to choose the arbitrator who will rule in their favor pretty often. True, it will still take them time to go through the process, so when you're disagreeing over a couple thousand dollars it might be wroth it to them to settle, but still, I say take the $ and run.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/business/dealbook/arbitration-everywhere-stacking-the-deck-of-justice.html?_r=0

I practice in consumer law. My clients are not giant companies. We do not bother with arbitration unless it is a really embarrassing case or something that was the result of a bad policy and could result in multiple claims if there was a public record. The credit card arbitrations are notorious. But the arbitrators that work for AAA, JAMS or other big associations are generally terrible about just giving a straight defense verdict against a consumer. They always throw the consumer a bone and often split the baby.

As for extended service contracts and warranties, they only make sense if you do not have enough credit to be able to ride out a major repair bill. These products should really just be viewed as a way to reverse finance repair bills. The only other reason to get an extended warranty is if you have a very long loan term. If you go for a 60 or 72 (never do 72) on a used vehicle, you will be underwater if you get hit with a big repair in the first two or three years that you do not want to invest in. An extended warranty would save the day. Otherwise, if you have enough equity, you can just trade out the car for a new one if the economics of a big repair bill do not make sense.