I have my truck in this morning for a front end alignment after the leveling kit this weekend, and they called me a while ago to tell me that they were having a problem with one of the adjustments on the lower control arm (it was frozen and wouldn't budge). After working on it for awhile they didn't have any luck and the bushing ended up stripping out... and the usual fix was to replace the lower control arm - at a cost of $800 just for the control arm!

Now these guys have always done right by me and they could tell I was pretty shocked, so they looked around some and found that they could order a replacement bushing and press it into the arm for $86 - the down side is that the part won't be in for two days.

The dealer (Goldstein Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Latham NY) knows I need my truck back for a meeting out of town tomorrow, so they rented me a car at no cost to use until they finish the repairs on my truck. Not sure about anybody else's experiences, but these guys are some of the best service people I've ever worked with.

 

no experience with them from me.... but what kind of rental car did you end up getting.

 

It is nice to know that there are still some dealers out there that try to do right by their customers.

 

Yea, I lucked out finding these guys. Anyone in the Albany area would do well to deal with them, at least my experiences with them over the past year with both my truck and my GF's Jeep have been nothing less than outstanding.

I had to laugh, when I had the Jeep in last time I asked them to swap the steel winter wheels for the aluminum summer ones, and because they are two different styles of wheels I had to rig up two different 3rd brake lights... all you have to do is unplug one set of quick-connects and plug in the other one. Anyway, I had the winter rims put on at a crappy tire shop last fall and apparently the guy was too stupid to realize this so he CUT THE WIRES and spliced it back together with tape! My Dodge dealer fixed this when I had them changed back, and charged me like $12 to do it. When I made a joke and protested the price was too high, the service guy (Morgan, top notch fellow) said "Really? If you think so I'll take it off the bill the next time you come in!" And he was serious!

These guys really are first class! Unless I get a Yugo as a rental...

 

They broke it they need to pay for it. I recentley went in to get my clockspring changed out. When I got the truck back the Steering wheel was not on straight so I brought it back and they told me that they had a hard time taking off the steering wheel and really had to pry to get it off. They replaced the steering wheel free of charge and gave me an 09 dodge QC 4x4 for a rental. I would make the dealer pay for it. They should know better then to strip the bushing. They should've stopped before that happened and brought you out to look at it and had you make the call. If they didn't do that then it is there fault and they need to pay. Just my .02

 

I thought about that, but they *did* call me before they heated it or really wrenched on it to get the go-ahead... and what other option do you have? It's gott get done, and as long as they didn't attack the thing with a sledgehammer first before seeing if a lighter touch would have worked I can't find fault. I chalk it up to "s%$t happens"... They also could have just sold me a new control arm instad of finding a new bushing to press in and I wouldn't have known the difference, so I can't complain.

 

I have no idea about this...lol

 

I gotta agree. Given your prior experiences with them, I'd have no problem paying the $86 for the bushing.

A good shop is honestly hard to find these days (especially a dealer!). No sense getting on their bad side for $86, you'll pay much more than that the next time you need something.

 

You first mistake was taking your truck to the stealership for something that was not covered under warranty.

 

No doubt their rates may be a bit higher than a smaller shop, but I can trust them to give me a fair shake, and stand behind their work - and to me that's money in the bank.