The driveshaft carrier bearing fell out of my 2011 Laramie the other night, and a friend of mine who owns a tow service and automotive shop clued me in that extended warranties can usually have service performed at non-dealer shops. After getting approval from the warranty provider to do the repair, my friend said that I would need to call CRA for the tow approval. Upon calling, the operator told me that he would "try" to send the tow job to the shop doing the repair, but that they have to go through their preferred list first. He also said that I would be responsible for anything over $100 of the towing bill.

Here's where the bad part comes in. Even though my truck was in a rural Arkansas town, there are at least 50 (probably more like 100) tow services within 20 miles (including the shop doing the repair) of where it was located. They sent the job to a wrecker service 60 miles away, and I ended up on the hook for $98.50. If they had sent the job to my friend's shop (or any other shop in town) it would've been under $100 for the tow. In other words, not only would I have not had to pay anything, THEY would have saved money as well.

My conclusion is that if you are not near a big metro area where there is guaranteed to be a close service provider available it is cheaper to arrange your own tow.

 

Should have called Chrysler first instead.

 

Sounds about right. The only thing the operator you talked to was "trying" to do was get as much money out of you as they can.

 

jkeaton: I don't think calling them first would've changed the fact that they sent someone from 60 miles away instead of someone local.

bearclaw: Except it would've saved them money to call someone close. They came up short on the deal, too.