not sure what you mean.

the warranty package details in multiple pages of fine print what is covered and not covered. The dealer has no influence on what is covered. The dealer diagnosis the problem. the part is either covered or not as detailed in the contract the warranty company sells.

 

What I mean is that there are many instances, more than you would think, where FCA has declined to cover an item for various reasons, abuse, neglect, fluid changes, etc. This also happens with aftermarket contracts, but with them we CAN swing the questionable claims. With FCA, we have almost no influence to swing such a decision anymore. Our problems with them have just surfaced in the last year or so. It's almost like they've gone on a money grabbing expedition.


To some of these customers, ONE CLAIM can be the difference between losing the car or keeping it.

 

i guess fiat corporate has to make back some money. Unfortunately, its on the backs of the dealership and technicians.
The warranty flat rate cut backs are another surprise forced on the dealers....0.1 hrs per hour of every job.

I just did a warrranty job that pays 3.7...i looked up the customer pay time for the same job 9.7hrs.

 

One of these (decades) there will be a class action.


THIS is a prime example of why a service dept's attitude and expedience towards factory warranty VS aftermarket or no warranty is considerably different. The "warranty" labor time carries over into factory extended warranties as well. This is the number one underlying cause when it comes to bad CSI ratings. It's just swept under the rug as a non-issue and brushed aside as part of the solution for raising CSI scores and initial quality index. If they would just step up and eliminate warranty time from extended contracts, it would help the cause immensely.


The customer needs to be aware of this, even they perceive it to have no effect on them.

 

you may have called it. I heard legal action is in the works.

 

I suspect that FCA is in a cash flow crunch. The company is unable to fund development or have enough spare parts on site for quick repairs. FCA gambled in the ecodiesel and is hemorrhaging money keeping them on the road with all of the emission problems and blown engines. On top of that, FCA is being sued for the ecodiesel not meeting EPA standards. The EPA is holding up the release of the 2017 ecodiesels until they test them for the cheating discovered in the VW scandal. Since Bosch is complicit in the VW cheating and is also used in the ecodiesel, I suspect there is more than just smoke there. God forbid that FCA is also caught cheating as they will not survive.

I was ready to buy a 2016 or 2017 Ram but my last experience with a repair on my 2009 and all of the bad stuff going on convinced me to wait. I may be switching brands if FCA does not clean up their mess soon.

 

If you have a Factory extended warranty, it dictates that FCA parts are used. The problem is the availability of those parts. Anything they make on the contract sale gets eaten up by rental charges. Then...there's the other problem. The dealers end up eating a lot of that rental for the sake of customer satisfaction. No matter which direction we go, our CSI surveys get **** on because of FCA's INCOMPETENCE.


This parts issue eats into my out of warranty pay also. BUT, if we use aftermarket parts, then there is no labor warranty. Also, the parts dept loses their numbers they need to aspire to hit for bonuses and incentives. I have touched on the subject of approaching NAPA or another parts distributor that has service center agreements to cover labor on a failed part and help mitigate the customer pay losses from dummy FCA's backorder issue. I don't think we would have the volume for it to benefit them. For example, I needed 2 PCMs this week on 2005 models. They have both jumped to $1,275 list price AND are on backorder. Oreilly got me ONE of them for $375..in 2 days....with software installed. It's a joke.


It's absolutely disgusting the tactics FCA uses to extort from and blame direct to the dealers. Just last week, they denied an $1,800 claim because one of the time clock stamps on the labor flag was PM instead of AM. This is just a small example of the Bull**** they are resorting to in order to cover their financial failures.


Starting next year, there are some new and even more ridiculous claims processes being tweaked. What you're all going to see is powertrain and warranty appointments being blown off in droves. Don't be surprised if your dealer tells you they are 2 or 3 months out. It will be to punt you to another dealer so they can take it up the wazzou with your warranty claim. It's the only option they have left us with and that they cannot control.

 

the ecodiesels are a flop. They should have gone with the nissan cummins engine. They let the licencing expire and nissan snatched it.