I ran into something this week that I have never heard of before and it seems so short sighted it is hard to believe. I bought a totaled 2009 Grand Caravan with 20,000mi from an insurance co. It was drivable with no mechanical or frame issues. I replaced the lift gate, rear bumper and left qt panel skin. I needed a second key so went to the Chrysler dealer in Salem, OR. They made the key but told me that because the van was rebuilt they would not warranty any parts that I would purchase for the van and that included the new key I bought from them. They said it was Chrysler corporate policy. I have owned over 100 Chrysler products over the last 50 years and currently own 7. I do all my own work on them and over the years a number have been rebuilt and in all that time I have never heard of this policy. I understand canceling the warranty on the vehicle when it is totaled but to not warranty any parts that you buy from the dealer for a vehicle that has been totaled just seems insane. You can buy aftermarket parts with warranty from many sources so why would you buy from the dealer and get no warranty. I have spent over a thousand dollars a year with the dealer for parts but no more. There are too many places selling parts that will warranty what they sell to deal with this kind of garbage from the dealer. In my experience Chrysler dealers have never had great service but corporate the few times I worked with them were fine but a policy like this makes me wonder about Corporate service attitudes. Oh well who needs them there are plenty of places to get parts.

 

I can kinda sorta maybe (not really) understand them not giving you the Chrysler warranty on service on a rebuilt vehicle, but I have a hard time accepting they would deny the warranty for parts. If you bought, say, brake pads from their parts counter and installed them in your own garage, they have no way of knowing you installed them on a rebuilt vehicle. But key fobs and WIN modules are a different animal as they need to have the VIN or the actual vehicle present to program. So maybe they get you that way, I don't know.

Call the other dealerships in your area and see if they tell you the same story. Heck, call dealerships in other areas too. I know there's a dealership in Warrenton - I drove by it a couple weeks ago lol.

 

Below is the reply from Chrysler. There are thousands of rebuilt vehicles that over their life need replacement parts and Chrysler is basically saying buy them from NAPA or someplace else not from us. What is really silly is a newer car can have major damage including frame etc. and not be totaled so after repair even the factory warranty is still in effect but an older car that because of age would need more replacement parts can be totaled with very minor damage and Chrysler obviously doesn't want their parts business. I have had other manufactures stand behind the new car warranty on a rebuilt car because the failure obviously had nothing to do with the accident. As a business person it seems crazy to write off a whole class of customers when your competition is more than happy to serve them.

Dear Clyde:

Thank you for contacting the Dodge Customer Assistance Center.

Mopar warranties do not apply to parts installed on a vehicle that has
had its odometer or emissions systems tampered with or disconnected, or
that has been declared to be a total loss by any insurance company, or
is rebuilt after being declared to be a total loss; or is issued a
certificate of title indicating that it is designated as ?salvage,?
?junk,? ?rebuilt? or words of similar import. Chrysler Group LLC will
deny warranty coverage without notice if it finds that a vehicle is
ineligible for warranty coverage because it has been salvaged or
declared a total loss as set forth in this paragraph.

Thanks again for your email.

Sincerely,

Christopher

Customer Service Representative
Dodge Customer Assistance Center

 

This is my original message to Chrysler

Original Message Follows:
------------------------
US Customer Service - Dodge Brand Site
Brief Description:
Chrysler policy of no warranty on parts purchased for a rebuilt vehicle Comments:

I bought a totaled 2009 Grand Caravan from an insurance co and repaired it. I needed an extra key so went to Roberson Chrysler in Salem Oregon to get a key. They did the key but informed me that since the van was a repaired total there was no warranty on any parts I would buy from Chrysler for it. I can understand canceling any warranty remaining on the van but to not warranty new parts purchased for it seems a bit strange. I own 7 Chrysler cars that I maintain myself and I usually spend over a thousand dollars a year on Chrysler parts from the dealer. Those parts are also available from aftermarket sources that will warranty their parts without any restrictions so it is easy to see where I will get my parts for my Chrysler cars in the future. Customers have many options and when they feel unfairly treated by one supplier they just go to another. Chrysler dealers are not known for great service which I can confirm from 50 years of owning Chrysler products. I had hoped that that was changing but a policy like this makes me despair that they will ever “get it”. So I still love my Chrysler cars but I’ll not be going to the dealer for parts in the future.

 

Wow, that's lame. I have my reasons for staying away from rebuilt cars, but I know there are people who fix up totaled cars as a hobby. I think it's ridiculous that Chrysler would implement this type of policy on parts.

I wonder if one of the mods can move this from the Caravan forum to a general forum, since it sounds like this policy would apply to all Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, and Fiat vehicles in North America.

 

Look at it like this and you will understand.

A dealer can not write up warranty addendums for every type of accident or damage caused from whatever. So it is easier to just write a general one to cover everything no matter what.

Sure, in most case buying a part and replacing it should not hurt any kind of warranty, but there are people out there that make a living buying totaled cars, rebuilding them, then reselling them. Where do they need to get most parts? Directly from the dealer. Sure you can get brakes, radiators, water pumps, pulleys, etc from aftermarket vendors. But what about computers, heads for a specific engine, or internal parts for the engine. The dealer only in most cases.

So these companies tha buy and rebuild purchase a set of heads for a couple thousand. To rebuild an engine on a car that front end damage. They replace the heads but do not notice the block is cracked. They complete what needs to be done, start running it, the crack gives way seizing the engine thus possibly damaging the heads. The company now has to look at a whole engine replacement and will want to try and get some money recouped from the heads. That is an expensive loss to the dealer.

Most of these rebuilding places are nonASE cert techs, doing jobs out of their own garage or a barely legal business place. They spend as little as possible and make the cars just pass state inspections to get rebuilt titles.

Safety comes into play on more sophisticated parts and the dealers want to be protected. In your eyes, a totaled car might not have any further damage than you think, but the dealer can't take those chances. Everything works together to make a car safe and road worthy. If the dealer is not 100% sure they will protect themselves. Americans are sue happy over here if you did not notice.

So the writing on the warranty of parts may sound a little weird, but I can understand it for those reasons.

 

KRZY.BMET Your reasoning would be fine if they did it for all damaged cars but they don't. A new car can have major damage and not be declared a total and if over its life it has several accidents it will be repaired each time and still have a clear title even though it has had much more damage repaired than many totals. On the cracked block idea if the head was defective it has no relevance to a cracked block. Either the head is defective or it isn't. If you bought a head when you needed a block that is your problem wither the car is wrecked or not. No warranty is going to cover the fact that you bought the wrong part. For quite a number of years I owned and managed a combination Auto parts store, body shop, and mechanical repair shop and for many years have done both mechanical and body repair. That includes insurance work as well as rebuilding totaled cars. Depending on who is liable for the repair many totaled cars have less damage then cars that are repaired without being totaled and if the car is a few years old they can be totaled with very little damage. Very few parts are Dealer only and even those can be found used with a warranty without going through the dealer. My only point is that when the new part is extremely unlikely to be affected by any other repair and is available from many other suppliers who will warranty their parts it is amazing to me that the dealer would just write off that business when there are millions of rebuilt cars on the road. It is not that hard to tell if a part is defective or failed from normal wear or abuse. Interestingly my parts store sold many parts to dealers for them to resell. One time I had a lady come in looking for a muffler for a Volvo. I offered an after market made by the OEM supplier but she decided she wanted a Volvo muffler so she went to the dealer who promptly called us and bought the muffler from us for the same price we quoted her they marked it up 100% and put it on her car.

 

I do a ton of repairs on cars like this. Most come from little independent car lots.

As for things like static parts, typically there aren't any issues that come up. The key is a bit over the top IMO.

But for electrical parts like control modules, that have multiple hardwired inputs/outputs from other pieces, there are just too many unknown variables when dealing with a wrecked/rebuild.

Same goes with engine parts/moving parts. You never know what other bent, damaged or misaligned parts will contribute to the premature failure of another part.

IF the dealer had the chance to inspect the car prior to making a call on the part warranty, one might have better luck. That would be the way we would handle it. I would never want to lose a customer who is legit. It's the operations that do things like attach a brake caliper with a giant ziptie, replace one head and JBweld the other, or weld the steering gear to a bent cradle that are the liability danger.

Concerning the official Chrysler policy...With the thousands upon thousands of refurbished, flooded, totalled $hitboxes on the road these days, a blanket policy IS a way to deter most headaches on their end, and in many ways deter the more shady faction from fleecing the general public.