Hi


This is my first post. I have been a member of the M5 Board for over a year and a half with 600 posts. I hope to rack up my posts and get knowledge on my new truck. I just got a 2003 Dodge Dakota yesterday, I was shopping around for a 2002 Toyota Tacoma quad cab originally. I stumbled across the black 2003 4x2 black qc that I own now, it has 55k miles on it black with black leather. It was advertised in the auto trader for $15,500 and I ended up getting it for $14,650 with 72 months financing no money down.
I didn't get a chance to look the truck over much because it was dark when I got there. Here is a list of the problems it has that I can see once I got it home. It had the passenger side door lock mechanism has either fallen into the door or something because I can't get a key in there its just an open hole with what looks like a tumbler in there. I also have an issue with the wipers, if I hit the switch to turn them off they turn off right where they are, they do not return to the bottom position. Do you guys know what I need to get that fixed? I was driving around today and the check engine light came on, kinda sucks, wonder what that might be? I have a left side speaker that is definitely blown. This is a really crazy one here, every once and a while I get in the truck turn the lock to unlock the door to get in and as soon as I open the door the alarm goes off. Well I don't have any remotes that came with the truck so I don't even know how to turn it off. I have to usually jump in as fast as I can and start it. Does my truck have a remote alarm?? This sucks because the neighbors are going to hate me. I figure besides these small issues the truck is pretty cool. What should I know about this truck being new and all. I am planning on doing some work to the front of it. Perhaps get a new bumper cover and headlights. Gonna get some new rims and tires perhaps 20's. Thisnking about fixing up the back bumper too, more or less making it a cool street truck. Anyone know where I should start looking?

Thanks

TC

 

honestly it sounds to me like all this stuff should have been fixed before the deal went thru ,but since you have it there had better be a warranty with it and all should or better be fixed for free
for it being a 03' with low miles none of this should be happening ,you may want to spend the i think it is 12 dollars for a 1 time carfax check and make sure it hasnt been a theft recovery or a totalled truck then rebuilt or something
just my $.02

as for the remotes there should have been 2 with the truck and they are the only thing that will disarm the alarm besides removing the fuse for it till you get them

 

car dealers suck. I don't think I have much of a fight against them if i bought it "AS IS"

 

first off the truck was broken into, pull out the lock and stick a screw driver into the tumbler to unlock the door. second never buy a vechicle at night. the delay in the wiper motor is shot. time for a new one. as far as the alarm is, do the lights and blinkers flash or is it just a blarring noise? if its just a blaring noise look for the aftermarket horn and pull the wire. if it is from the factory go to the dodge dealer and give them the vin, number and they can get new remotes for you. forget about factory speakers, they are junk. check engine light could be a number of things, loose gas cap, bad o2 sensor,

 

Thanks

 

a few years back i got rooked on a 91' ford F-150 4x4 that only had 52000 miles on it
i didnt check it over like i normally do simply because of the milage ,but low and behold i came home after doing the title work and all that and found the lower radius arm bushings where shot along with numerous driveline parts .
i did the carfax.com thing and found out the vin # came back as a 91' 2 wheel drive from a ohio fleet company ,that was register in Pa in 99 as a 4 wheel drive
i bought this with a 3 month warranty but with the bad vin and all that i threatened with a lawyer and all that and got me another 91' which was loaded to the hilt but had 131000 on it

but the moral of this story is the fact with a 2003 i do believe you are still covered under the lemon law it goes back 5 years from new if i am not mistaken so you are protected even though you bought it "AS IS"
its as simple as going back and bitchin' and tell them this crap isnt right and so on and so forth and tell them you want it fixed and thats that or take the truck back your not spending 15000 + for a truck you need to stick a cpl hundred bucks into right off the bat ,i could see it if was a 93 and not a 2003 this is just wrong simple as that

BTW:Superdak05 is right it most likely was broken into or like i said it was a theft recovery bought at auction for a quick sale

 

Here is the only problem with that. I used thebroken lock and windshield wiper to leverage the sale. They actually discounted about $900 off the price they had advertised. He told me he was only maming about $150 off the sale. Im sure hes lying, but I'll take it in to a dealership to get the check engine light looked at.

 

Man even though the guy took off 900 the dealership is STILL making a killing off you. When i got my Dakota they wanted 8k upfront, i talked them down to 7.4k and by the time it was said and done i ended up paying them 10k..... fing outragous... i tell you.

But my truck is so worth it. I love my baby. Insurance it eating me alive though.

 

Ya i took a crap in my pants when he told me the amount financed. I told him a payment I wanted and he was like ya we can do that. i was expecting him to be able to get a 60 month term max and that would have put the truck under 14k. They did me at 72 months, so I had to haggle the price down when i went to pick it up. It was a tough one. They called in the heavies but I think I did ok. I got them down from their internet price of $15,500 to $14,600. Not a great steal but I did good considering it was last minute haggling. He said the internet price was already really low, Im sure hes only got about 12k in it

 

Just a tip on the alarm, when it goes off next, just shut the door and put your key in the lock turn it all the way forward then turn it all the way to the rear of the truck, this disables my factory security system. I do this all the time because my remote batteries are dead.