So yeah. I'm going to take the Used Car lot I bought my Dakota at to small claims court.

Here's the Situation.

During the warranty period I went back to the dealer saying there as a noise in the steering. I thought it might have been the power steering pump, the rack or a ball joint/tie rod issue, but I am not an expert. They took the truck to their shop, did not give me any work order, nor did I sign anything stating they could work on it. They took the truck to their shop, and called me a couple hours later stating the ball joints needed to be greased. I didn't think anything of it and said great, its fixed, I'll just grease the joints every oil change.
It came time for the oil change this week and I went under the truck with my grease gun to grease the joint and I come to find out the ball joints are sealed number one, and number two, the upper joint on the driver's side is seeping grease like a blown boot.
Now, this morning I dropped the truck off at the dealership and I had them check the whole front end because it was starting to make the noise again. They called me a few hours later stating that all 4 ball joints had pin holes in the boot that many private shops put in to grease the joints. However, these are sealed joints. They are not serviceable per manufacturers recommendations. I may not be an expert, but I'm not an idiot. If a sealed joint is starting to make noise, you replace it. You do NOT poke a hole in the boot and grease it.
Now, the truck is getting all 4 new ball joints, done at the dealer (because I want OEM parts and don't have the time to do this myself) at the tune of just under $1000.

Now don't get me wrong this truck is great. I have not had any problems with it other than this issue.

My problem is that when I brought the truck back to the used car lot they took it over to their shop, performed 1. Unauthorized service and 2. Wrecked all 4 ball joints. Here's the other part of the problem. I've got everything I need from the dealer stating what they found and what the service manual states. Basically that they ****ed up and in doing so, they are costing me $1000. However, because I did not sign a work order, I do not have written proof they they serviced my truck. I do however have 2 people that both know I dropped the truck off there. One is my fiance, and the other is a buddy of mine. I can't remember the exact date I dropped it off, but I remember what the aprox. mileage was on my truck.

So guys, got any advice for me? I'm going to try and see if I can get it written down that they looked at it, but I have a feeling I won't.

 

man that sucks. i think A witness is enough and someone isn't just going to sue a shop for no reason. But You don't have proof that they did it for all you know the previous owner did the damage. Which is the issue I see.

 

what kind of idiots put holes in a ball joint that is sealed? thats ridiculous, i dont blame you for suing them.

 

maybe see if you can take in a mechanic that can explain to the judge how the used car place ruined your ball joints.

 

^^ That's an idea. I just need to figure out how to prove that they worked on my truck. I'm thinking about going up to the shop that did it and asking them to write down on that they performed maintenance on my truck. Maybe I can talk to the tech. Idk, maybe I can go up there and be like I'd like to talk to whoever worked on my truck and maybe he will come out and say that yes he greased the joints.

Oh and I know they put the holes there. I was under my truck before they worked on it. I saw that the joints were sealed, but it didn't click in my mind when they said they greased them. Brain fart moment. Anyway, when I was under there the grease was not coming out of the joint like it was a couple days ago. When I was under there the ball joints were tight and no grease was coming out. After they greased them, a couple days ago i went under like I said and there was grease all around the bottom of the boot.

 

Well I wish you good luck on this
my pap did a thing like this last year about his 07 jeep grand cherokee it was making a whining noise in the front end about a week after he got it he could hear it getting louder so took it back told dealer that something in the front axle was whining first they told him all grand cherokees do that so he insisted that they do something about it and they supposedly did something but after 50miles of driving it came back(didnt even make it home) so he took it back once again and they told him once again that they all did it so he said either put a new axle in it or im giving it back they put a new one in and a week later it started to clunk while turning plus it was still whining. so he called and they said bring it in and we will put a new axle and steering components since he has had problems with it and cause the one that is in there was a used one(which is bs if you ask me) so before we took it over I got out his dermal and made a few marks on the axle it self and along with some other parts turns out they wernt even doing anything. After 6 months of complaints and many letters/phone calls to the dealer they finally went to court and and he got a new vehicle of his choice had to be a equal or lesser value of what the jeep was.

 

^^ Glad that worked out well for him.

let's hope it goes well for me too.

 

when it comes to prooving that you were there, dont you have a reciept or anything from the work they did? Even if they didnt give you a receipt, they should have a record of your truck being there, although getting them to give you the info could be a problem.

 

thats rough dude... basically i would just try to find some sort of written document that says that your truck was there on XY date for XY matinence. Have you already told the dealership you are taking them to court? if not, go to their service center and say something like you want to have all the records of things that have been done and need paperwork for the service that they did for you. Then you can take it to a mechanic and have him look at the damage and see whats what.

good luck, you shouldn't have to pay for their **** up

 

These trucks are famous for eating ball joints for lunch. Mine is going in for tires and probably ball joints next week. Get taken care of before they take care of themselves.
I hate to rain on your parade, but I think you will be on the loosing end. You have nothing in writing that the dealer performed any work at all, nothing to show that it was the dealer that poked holes in the boots, and you allready have a truck that, stated above, eats ball joints for lunch.
That being said, was there any sort of warranty on the truck when you bought it? That might be your advantage in small claims court. The dealer had a warranty and did not fulfill his obligations to it.
Good luck and keep us informed.