1998 Dodge Grand Caravan - I bought a car at the Auto Nation sale in Villa Park on September 18. The sales went through Joe Madden Ford, a dealer member of Auto Nation. I spent a substantial amount of money for a 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan. By the night of

1998 Dodge Grand Caravan - I bought a car at the Auto Nation sale in Villa Park on September 18. The sales went through Joe Madden Ford, a dealer member of Auto Nation. I spent a substantial amount of money for a 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan. By the night of September 19 it would not start.

Joe Madden Ford

Ogden Ave and Belmont (Finley Road)

Downers Grove IL I bought a car at the Auto Nation sale in Villa Park on September 18. The sales went through Joe Madden Ford, a dealer member of Auto Nation. I spent a substantial amount of money for a 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan. By the night of September 19 it would not start. In fact, based on the alarm system it took quite a while for me to open the car door. I bought the car with a little more than 82,200 miles. The next day my husband called the Joe Madden salesman to tell him about the problem. The salesman told him to "just pull the alarm wires out".

My husband could not locate any such wires. The salesman then told him to just try and jump the car; this was not a successful tactic. When I called in the evening, upset that I still had a non-running car in the driveway, I said that I wanted to cancel the check (I had paid in full) and forget the whole thing. The salesman then told me that I could, at my own cost, have the car towed to the dealership and that I was to write a note on the car telling the service department to not take any repair activity until talking with him - he intended to disconnect the alarm system. In fairness, I did buy the car "as is", but I bought it in good faith believing that any car for that much money should at least run for 36 hours. I was fortunate to have an auto club that I called and who came to tow the car. They started the car by using a large battery charger and said that I should have a new battery and have the car looked at for a muffler. I had a new battery and new muffler/tailpipe put on the car by a muffler mechanic in my neighborhood, but did not have an opportunity to use the car for a day or two. I did not take it to the dealer because the man from the auto club also indicated he did not believe there were any wires that disconnected the alarm system. The car ran during a couple of errands and I drove it into the city of Chicago on September 25. The entire car shut down and would not start when I came out of a church that was at least 20 miles from my home.

I had the car towed to my regular mechanic who told me that the alarm system was built into the electronic system in the car and he replaced it and I paid for it. Within a few days, the rest of the electronics stopped working in the car but I was able to drive it to my mechanic. I contacted Joe Madden Ford and they responded by calling to say we could work something out that was satisfactory. This was during the period I had no car since the part that had to be obtained to fix the car had to be ordered and that Dodge did not make. We arranged for a visit to Joe Madden Ford. They offered me a car that did not have the features I needed and was not a fair trade. I was told that I could take it or leave it and that it ran. Since I had already invested a significant amount of money and would be paying even more to get the car back and they would get a totally repaired car. They would not compensate me in any way for the repairs I was having made to make the car run. I did not accept the offer. Subsequently, my mechanic told me that he was sure the electronic problem had been happening for a long time and when he put in the proper part, the car registered 86,000 miles.

I contacted Auto Nation and Joe Madden Ford again. They sent an email asking what I thought was a fair deal. When I responded that I would accept the cost of my repairs and $159 in lost wages for a total of $1950, they never responded. If my mechanic had not been honest and helpful, the cost of the repairs could have been much higher but I must say that Fuller Service Center in Hinsdale IL is a wonderful place to do business. I wouldn't trust my cars to anyone else. Linda Q

Darien IL

Q, Linda

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