2013 Dodge Durango

While I was working in the field out of my Dodge Durango, I left the tailgate open all day for access to tools and water jug. That somehow screwed up the computer control of the lift gate, and at the end of the day it refused to latch closed. Cars have gotten too smart for their own good. I used rubber bungee-cords to hold the gate shut. Here's my comments on the subsequent repair experience.



The local Dodge dealer wanted $933 to replace the rear liftgate latch, comprised of $430 for the part plus 2 hours labor. The part can be found online for $260, and it's only three screws to remove and replace it. Severe over-charging. I rejected their estimate, and will do the work myself. But they still charged me a $200 diagnosis fee.

The dealer estimate, with 2 hours labor at nearly $200 per hour, and $438 for the part.



The part they're charging $438 for can be had for $260. Original equipment, not a cheap copy. A $178 price increase and 68% markup.



The new part. Nothing fancy.



The only difficult part is removing the interior liner on the liftgate. Then it's just three screws to remove, and unplug an electrical connector. And for this the dealer wanted 2 hours labor at nearly $400.



Doing it myself, I saved $670!

- John Rich, Katy, Texas

 

And you probably didn't do any collateral damage to the liner/panel and other associated parts. When the dealer I went to offered to replace one of the rear lights on the tailgate for free, I had like 4 techs looking around how to take the panel off. They ended up breaking the flange on one of those cups for manual opening/closing, they didn't properly reassemble the panel to the corresponding fastener and they did minor damage to the edge of the panel because they used a screwdriver rather than the appropriate trim tools. I went and got myself a nice trim and molding removal tool set for under $20.00 and fixed it all myself; they replaced the broken cup for free.