I haven't had to take mine to the dealer enough to really get a feel for which one will be my "go to" and I'm almost out of the B2B warranty. I feel for those who have to make enough visits to actually get an opinion.
Back in early 2000's when I was stationed in Lemoore, CA with my 1999 Dakota R/T, I would drive 1/2 hour further than the closest dealer just for the service. First warranty issue I ha with the truck, which was self induced, but didn't tell dealer that, was leaking output seal on transmission. Caused from me being young and dumb and purposely, and successfully, trying to jump the truck over a small hump in the road. Took it to closest Dodge dealer 10 minutes from my house. Took it there Friday morning, said they wouldn't be able to get to it until Monday morning. Said I needed a vehicle to drive. No loaner, they said to just keep driving my truck and bring it back Monday morning. It was leaking bad enough that by Monday morning it barely made it to the dealer. It actually killed the engine at one stop light like if I didn't let the clutch out in a manual transmission. They called me up that afternoon and said it was fixed. They replaced the pinion seal and topped off the fluids. Left dealer, and before I even got out of town it was leaking again. Turned right around and dropped it back off at dealer. Three days later I get a call saying the yoke was damaging the seal, and when they took transmission apart to replace the yoke they found every clutch plate in the trans was burned up(no ****). Said they have to replace the whole transmission and gave me a rental to drive. Gave me a time frame. I was working night shift at the time. The smday they initially said it would be ready I didn't get a phone call. Drove to dealer after work and it was sitting outside in service parking lot. Used my spare keyfob to unlock the truck. When I opened driver door it popped pretty badly as I opened it. Then I noticed a crease on inside door panel. Closed the doors locked it up and went home. First thing the next morning, got up early and drove to dealer to talk to manager. In the way there the service manager called to say it was ready. I asked if he had looked at the truck himself. He said no and asked what was wrong. I told him I was almost there and we can talk when I get there. He met me outside at my truck and started apologizing. The tech that did the work "forgot" to shut the door on truck as he backed it off the lift and tweaked the hinges and damaged the plastic door panels. One more week in rental for parts, since the first door panels they ordered were wrong and body shop to repaint the new hinges. Oh, yeah, and when I dropped the truck off the gas tank was almost empty. Finally pick truck up and fuel gauge was still on E and O DTE on trip computer. Luckily there was a gas station not even a block from dealer. Pull in an proceed to pump in 22.5 gallons into a 22 gallon gas tank. Never went back to that dealer again. Ended up in a first name basis with service writer at the father dealer, and they were very mod friendly and always looked forward to seeing what else I had done to the truck when I would bring it in.
Back in early 2000's when I was stationed in Lemoore, CA with my 1999 Dakota R/T, I would drive 1/2 hour further than the closest dealer just for the service. First warranty issue I ha with the truck, which was self induced, but didn't tell dealer that, was leaking output seal on transmission. Caused from me being young and dumb and purposely, and successfully, trying to jump the truck over a small hump in the road. Took it to closest Dodge dealer 10 minutes from my house. Took it there Friday morning, said they wouldn't be able to get to it until Monday morning. Said I needed a vehicle to drive. No loaner, they said to just keep driving my truck and bring it back Monday morning. It was leaking bad enough that by Monday morning it barely made it to the dealer. It actually killed the engine at one stop light like if I didn't let the clutch out in a manual transmission. They called me up that afternoon and said it was fixed. They replaced the pinion seal and topped off the fluids. Left dealer, and before I even got out of town it was leaking again. Turned right around and dropped it back off at dealer. Three days later I get a call saying the yoke was damaging the seal, and when they took transmission apart to replace the yoke they found every clutch plate in the trans was burned up(no ****). Said they have to replace the whole transmission and gave me a rental to drive. Gave me a time frame. I was working night shift at the time. The smday they initially said it would be ready I didn't get a phone call. Drove to dealer after work and it was sitting outside in service parking lot. Used my spare keyfob to unlock the truck. When I opened driver door it popped pretty badly as I opened it. Then I noticed a crease on inside door panel. Closed the doors locked it up and went home. First thing the next morning, got up early and drove to dealer to talk to manager. In the way there the service manager called to say it was ready. I asked if he had looked at the truck himself. He said no and asked what was wrong. I told him I was almost there and we can talk when I get there. He met me outside at my truck and started apologizing. The tech that did the work "forgot" to shut the door on truck as he backed it off the lift and tweaked the hinges and damaged the plastic door panels. One more week in rental for parts, since the first door panels they ordered were wrong and body shop to repaint the new hinges. Oh, yeah, and when I dropped the truck off the gas tank was almost empty. Finally pick truck up and fuel gauge was still on E and O DTE on trip computer. Luckily there was a gas station not even a block from dealer. Pull in an proceed to pump in 22.5 gallons into a 22 gallon gas tank. Never went back to that dealer again. Ended up in a first name basis with service writer at the father dealer, and they were very mod friendly and always looked forward to seeing what else I had done to the truck when I would bring it in.
