posted 11-19-2002 01:26 PM                  

If you check your owner's manual warranty booklet, it defines the warranty start date on page six. It basically says that the warranty coverage begins the earlier of, when the car is put into service, or when the car is titled. This means that if the car was entered into the service garage computer for anything prior to the sale of the car, the "In-Service" date is established at that point. In your case, that date is 10/27/00. For me it was 9/8/97.

When I purchased the car, I was told that I was buying a new car with full 3yr 36K warranty. I made sure that this was noted on my sales agreement, because I had my doubts about the validity of this statement. If you look at your sales contract, you should have the box marked "includes new car warranty" checked. If this is not the case, you will have a difficult time getting it.

I took the car in for warranty work about a week ago and was told by the service manager that the car was no longer covered by warranty. I then went to discuss the issue with my salesman, who didn't quite know what to do. He subsequently went to discuss it with the owner, who reluctantly agreed to live up to their contract. I think had I not had it in writing, I would have been SOL. They offered to purchase the best Chrysler Pre-Owned Vehicle Plan for me at their cost. The plan is for 3years and 50K miles from date of purchase, and basically includes everything the new car warranty includes. It does, however, have a $50 deductible for each warranty visit. I agreed to accept the plan, because it allows me to get warranty work done at any Chrysler dealership, even though I plan to take the car my selling dealer as long as it is convenient for me. I told them that I was not going to pay the deductible for the work they were doing because I had a contract that said I had full warranty. They were dissed, but agreed this time. My hunch is that I will have this disagreement with them every time the car goes in for warranty work, and I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. But I also suspect that (as someone else pointed out) I have them by the short hairs.

So far, we have had a courteous relationship, and they have treated both me and the car well. We'll see what happens down the road, but at least I do have a warranty package. In my case, I believe I got a great buy on the car and the warranty just iced the deal. I would have bought the car without it, but they don't need to know that.