Hi everyone, this is my first time posting here. We are in need of some neutral advice.

Our 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT has just had a transmission failure. And we are now embroiled in a finger-pointing battle between two insurance companies AND Chrysler.

Let me explain...last spring, we brought the van in for routine transmission maintenance. Tranny flush, etc. Everything was fine and clean. No signs of damage. The van is a V6 2.8L. We are the second owners. It was originally a rental van (apparently most used minivans are former rentals). It currently has about 71k miles on it.

My husband is impeccable with his vehicle maintenance. Actually, he is annoying with it. The vehicle has not been abused, as far as we are aware of (who knows what happened to it before we owned it).

Last summer, we were hit by a town worker. He was driving in the opposite direction of us and turned left, right into the side of our van. The primary impact was on the driver's side door, but there was also clear evidence of impact right smack on the front driver's side tire. I'll attach an image so you can see.

The insurance company chose to repair the van instead of total it. Over 11k of damage, apparently, was not enough. We were not pleased with the decision but were not in a position to fight. My husband was concerned about the impact to the drive train, seeing as how the van was hit on the front driver's tire. He requested a thorough lookover of the tranny. The dealership stated it was fine and there was no obvious signs of damage.

Six months later, my husband had a problem with the vehicle not engaging when he shifted into reverse. After that, the vehicle began to make a whine sound when it shifted into 1st gear. Then, the whine sound happened everytime it shifted up or down.

We brought it into the dealer and informed them of our concern that the transmission issue was related to the accident. We contacted the insurance company as well (both ours and the other driver's). Insurance companies want the dealer to state unequivocably that the transmission failure is because of the accident.

The dealer is stating they can't make that statement and, in fact, they feel that the accident could not have cause the failure based on the fact that the tranny seal was still intact and there was no fluid leak.

So I called Dodge and stated I expect that they will cover the cost to replace this tranny, as a 4 yr old, properly maintained tranny should not fail. Dodge said they wanted to help and would speak with the dealership.

The service dept at the dealership then turned around and told the claims rep that they felt the tranny failure *might* be related to the accident! Now they are again saying it's not related to the accident, but Dodge wants us to pay for a complete tear down of the tranny to explore why it failed.

IF they find a manufacturer's defect, THEN they will cover the cost of fixing the tranny. If not, we are out the cost of fixing the tranny AND the cost of the complete tear down.

Who here really thinks the dealer's service department is going to find a manufacturing defect that caused this failure? And who thinks Dodge is just trying to cover their rears and back out of any liability to repair this junk transmission?

Any suggestions, or thoughts on any of this? We're having a really hard time right now, as my husband fell at home two weeks ago and broke his leg and is out of work for at least three months (ie no income). We have money in savings, but gosh, we could really use that money to get us through this difficult time, instead of dumping it into a transmission that should NOT have failed so soon. We NEED our van back...our four kids are all still in carseats and have been homebound because we have no way of getting them out of the house right now.

Suggestions?

ETA: I can't figure out how to attach an image of the van. Sorry!

 

you can upload photo into like Facebook or Photobucket, and link the photo here with the Img tab.

so, car drives fine and Only makes whining noise in certain gear, right?
there are problem with the transfer gear on the 6 speed trans. If they tear it down and found out a bad bearing or something, the problem is going to be the trans itself.
If they found something Physically bent in the differential, the the damage is from the accident. There is no way to tell without tearing it down. as a dealership, if they tear it down, and no one agreed to pay for it, they will stuck with a Van with no trans park outside of their lot. They are just trying to protect themself.

But I got a feeling that the problem is the transfer gear bearing. I highly doubt they will find anything related to the accident.
besides, the insurance co said they will pay for it if the dealer can write a statement that said "this trans failure is cause by the accident." right??

 

We feel like Dodge is trying to wipe their hands of blame in this. If they tear down the transmission and do not find something that they would consider a manufacturing defect, we'll be stuck with the bill.

Here is the image of the van after the accident.

 

Has the dealer contacted Chrysler about your van yet?

Just from the facts, I would say no, it probably isn't wreck related. BUT by the picture I could MAYBE make a case with the inspector that the wheel being struck could have impacted a differential bearing and caused a later failure...but I don't know about 6 months down the road, maybe a few weeks. Double edged sword really because Dodge is probably going to distance themselves from it being that it was wrecked. IMO, the stupid Insurance company should have totalled it. $11,000...dang!

 

damm not even sure what the costs are there but here new out the door is like 19K. geez the insurance really did take you to the cleaners having paid 11k. that is very odd. cause here when the air bags deploy and that much cost they just total for safety reasons. you should of been more on them causes about that in the first place. but now may be too late other than burning it . j/k. well get in touch with dodgecares here user. he might be able to assist you. seems like the dealer giving you the run around and so is the insurance.

 

Oh gosh...we were so angry when the insurance company wouldn't total it. It gets better...we started the claim through our own insurance company and dealt vicariously with the other driver's insurance company. Because the other insurance company had to pay for a rental for us, we ended up dealing with his claim agent directly. After the van was repaired (a month later), the other insurance company told me they wanted to total the van, but our own company wouldn't. Apparently, there was some law here in NY that protects city employees. I don't know how to explain it, but basically, if a town or city worker is involved in an accident, his insurance company can't be sued, and only has to pay for the deductible. Something about protecting plow drivers. I don't know. But our insurance company thought they were going to end up paying this entire bill. Our homeowner's insurance guy told us that this particular law wouldn't have applied in this situation, but there was apparently some confusion.

Unfortunately, as frustrated as we were and as much as we did squawk about the whole thing, we were not in any position whatsoever to push things too far. We were in the middle of an 8 hour move, were living in a temporary rental home, waiting for a closing that took five months to go through and knew that we were NOT going to be able to go out and buy another van during that period of time.

We were surprised, ourselves, that the vehicle appraised as high as it did. We bought it for about the same cost as the total repair! But I guess that Cash for Clunkers program has driven up the price of used cars, so...who knows.

For now, we wait for the tear-down and see what it brings. I'm just pretty certain they're going to stick us and say they can't link the failure to a manufacturing defect and so therefore it's our problem.

It does help that we had brought it in for routine tranny maintenance just before the accident...and the tranny was clean then, so we'll see.

 

It may help to call Chrysler yourself. You don't have to wait for the dealer to do it or depend on them to do it. Wait for the diag and the estimate and see what they're willing to do on your behalf, if nothing, then call Chrysler yourself. It's actually surprising what they bend for out of warranty, even in this economy.

 

This is very true. Actually, we called Chrysler immediately after the dealership called me to tell me he couldn't link the tranny issue to the accident and that it would cost $3500 to fix. I didn't think Customer service would do anything other than the usual, "I'm so sorry to hear that, but there's nothing we can do" jazz and was pleasantly surprised when they indicated they wanted to help.

Unfortunately, Chrysler is the party that is requiring the tranny to be torn down to determine if the damage is related to a manufacturing defect. And they're the ones stating that IF it is, then they will cover the cost of the repairs. If not...then we are out of luck.

 

Well, that tear down and cost assessment is the norm on any warranty transmission repair now. They look for cost to repair vs cost to replace. In your case, the failed part, fluid condition and other things. There will be pictures e-mailed and forms filled out, etc. The fact that they are considering it tells me that you will more than likely get some sort of help, maybe 100%, maybe not, but at least some.

 

Well that's good to know. We need all the help we can get. My husband's loss of income for at least the next three months is a HUGE ouch for our family.

Here's hoping. :-)