Just picked up our Mineral Grey 2011 Durango R/T on Friday. So far, we love the vehicle, but there are a few oddities I have noticed. I asked the dealer not to wax it because I was going to be doing a full detail and didn't want the additional step of removing their wax. While detailing, I found:

• a staple through the rear bumper, just above the exhaust tip.
• the exhaust tips are not lined up..the one on the drivers side is 1-2 inches forward of the passenger (dealer says this is normal).
• a broken tab on the sill plate on the passenger side, allowing the plate to fall off quite easily.
• broken tabs on the jack cover in the storage compartment.
• A bolt that holds the ground effects on was completely unscrewed. The self contained nut that is threads into was stripped. I had to retap and re-install
• one half of the lower grill is loose and rattles
• two spots that look as if someone touched up the paint with sand paper
• Orange rust looking sludge leaking from the center caps of all 4 wheels
• Also noticed this weekend that there is a "thump" in the steering wheel during some braking and going over bumps

I was a little surprised at the fact that it had over 600 miles upon delivery. The dealer told us it was a dealer trade, and they drove to pick it up. The dealer they got it from was 20 minutes away. Must be a lot of test drives. But...my wife said that is the car she wanted (she drives the hemi...I drive the Jetta). I got employee pricing plus $6750 off in rebates for a total of about $12,500 off MSRP, so maybe I shouldn't complain too much.

 

Welcome and congrats on your new ride! For the rebates seems like you got a very good deal, some of the issues you listed take it to the dealership to get it taken care of. On my part I'm **** on buying vehicles over the years and my experience I always tell my sales rep to make sure they give me a vehicle with the odometer should read under 20 miles, thoroughly prep and inspected before they hand the keys to me and the last one do a walk around. Usually I go in the morning since I know I'll be in the dealership pretty much the whole day looking over the vehicle and doing the paperwork, it worked for me ever since I've been buying brand new vehicles and encountered very minor issues.

 

congrats! you need to do a little research on that truck man. sounds to me like you bought another dealer's problem child... more than likely someone purchased it and before it was titled gave it back (probably to get into a different one because the dealer couldn't or didn't fix it to their satisfaction) this happens alot. i saw it happen with a "give back" Hyundai genesis sedan i bought. dealer just traded it away and put me in a new one.. whoever got that one got a car with a serious vibration at hwy speed from driveline they couldn't fix. car had 120 miles on it and i owned it for a full day. 600 miles? someone had that for more than a week i would bet.

with 600 miles on it that's EXACTLY what they did.. be prepared to go back and get out of it. sounds like one you are in love with today and will be begging to get out in a month.. everything you described shows someone has "owned" that one for a bit. good luck. demand they do the research and put it in writing that the durango WAS NOT originally purchased and returned..

 

I agree with Tonycrew, with 600 miles on it, you need demand answers. Regardless of how good the deal was that you got, if you decide to keep it, it should be an informed decision on your part and not because someone stuck you with it.

 

X3 here. Get a different one.

 

The tailpipes should be even and tucked up under the bumper. The exhaust tips on my Citadel were uneven, it turned out that the pass. side muffler had been pushed(our guess is during transport) so that the pass. tailpipe extended further than the driver side. Had dealer straighten it out as best as they could, hardly noticeable now.

 

How would I go about finding the history? I looked up the shipper information and found that it was originally delivered to another dealer in my area at the end of June. Carfax shows three records (I haven't paid for carfax, so it does not show me what they are). I assume the records are 1> delivered to original dealer 2. Traded to selling dealer and 3. Registered to me. I am guessing at these, though. Does anyone know if original dealers are included on carfax? I hate to spend the $35 if thats all it is.

 

I just talked to the original dealer that had the vehicle. They took delivery from Chrysler on 6/28/11. They traded to the dealer I purchased it from on 8/31/11. There records indicate there was no prior sale, but did show that it had 500+ miles on at the time of the trade. I was told that the vehicle was used as a tester for people that were interested in purchasing Durangos.

I am not opposed to the miles, I am surely going to add more to it quickly. I just want to be sure I didn't buy someone else's lemon.

What are your thoughts on 500+ miles of test drives? I can't complain, both the original dealer and the selling dealer allowed me to take vehicles home overnight (adding 80-100 miles each) on test drives to be sure the vehicle met all of our needs.

 

I have seen cars before that have a lot of miles on them that are brand new. They did have paperwork with them saying that they were selected for testing and they were still new and the warranty would be extended by 1000 miles or whatever was on the car after testing.

Maybe your vehicle was used for a magazine review or something.

 

Wow! I was abou to close a deal on my first R/T. Dealer got it on a dealer trade about 25 miles away. It showed up dirty (I asked not to have it washed since I hand wash all my cars) looked like it had been driven in mud. I also noticed it had 500 miles on it. Red flag, my first thought was a demo car and about 10 different people including the sales guys saying "lets see wht this baby can do!" I was not comfortable paying for a "brand new" SUV that was not IMO brand new. Went to another dealer and picked one up with 50 miles on it....

Take yours back!