My step-nephew (Is there such a thing?) has several irons in the fire, including buying salvage cars and fixing them up. That is, paying a shop to fix them up. He trusts them to do it right because his own mother is driving one of them.
A Jeep. Not a WWII jeep like a jeep should be, but a car of some sort.
The steering locks up, and by golly there was a recall on that year and model for bad rack and pinion.
However when
When the Jeep dealer was called, he looked up the VIN and since it wasn't listed, he said "No free repair".
If the VIN isn't listed as a car that deserves a free repair, but it clearly has a bad rack and pinion, doesn't that mean that either the records got messed up and it never got the repair it was entitled to, even though it's not on the list, OR maybe it was repaired and they used one of the first set of bad rack and pinions, so the new one was no good either. Is there a third possibility?
What are the chances she can convince them to fix it under the recall? How would yu go asbout doing this?
(I realize now that I didn't post this, because I was going to loook the car up in Carfax or Bumper.
Carfax is no longer free; it's not even cheap.
Does anyone know anything about Bumper. Is its information as complete as Carfax? How could that be?
Also they have a two-level introductory price, iirc $2 and $10. What is the difference? .... Maybe they've gotten rid of that in the last 3 weeks. Now it's $1 for 7 days. I have to find the vin, in my suitcase somewhere.
Did you sign up with NHTSA to be notified of all recalls for YOUR particular car? They notify you perhaps a month before the dealerships send out notices. I got two about the Takata airbags. Made an appointment immediately and there was NO wait for the replacement.
Definitely a third possibility. Perhaps the rack was not defective, but damaged??Also a car that is totalled and repaired (a salvage title) has NO WARRANTY. As dor recalls, they apply only to those cars specified in the recal. MAYBE her car will be recalled next year, or 2 years from now, so keep the reciept. If it is recalled after the repair she can claim ew-imbursement
My sil wasn't happy with me for taking the Mustang for a 3 hour test drive. Expecially since the Jeep is undrivable, but she hadn't told me the Jeep was undrivable. When I found the Mustang was possibly for sale, I expressed interest, but after she got mad, I didn't ask her how much she was charging or why it was salvage. Nor do I know why the Jeep was salvage.
My brother had one of those salvage cars and it was beautiful, inside and out. A big Lincoln, I think, or Continental if they still make those. But the AC didn't work well. When I was there, I tried to recharge it but it didn't take much freon and it didn't help. Months or a year later, my brother told me that the front part of the AC duct was not connected to the rear part, something to do with the collision that it had been in. Some mechanic found the problem and did fix it, although I don't know how. It worked then but I'm not sure if it was jerry-rigged or not.
So my brother did without decent AC, in Florida or Texas, for months or more than a year. That's the kind of hidden problem that means I won't buy the car from her unless it's cheap. But my SIL will probably want 80% of the not-a-salvage price.
I don't have it in front of me, but they are still covered by safety recalls. It's common for dealers to tell people that they are not, but it's certain that they are.
Good point. I'll tell her. BTW, she says that sometimers the steering wheel won't turn. Too risky to drive it.
I'll look it up as soon as I find the VIN. Maybe it will say that it was fixed alreay.
No, but my cars are 7 years or older when I buy them.-- The last one was
12 --, and I do look at what recalls the car has after I buy it. And in all cases, the recalls have been for non-critical, even non-important, things or I knew they'd been fixed. I don't think many flaws take more than 7 years to show up.Cool.
Do it anyway. It's free. My 2013 airbags were recalled in maybe 2018 and 2020.
You have a point. They won't send me "helpful" emails in addition, will they? I'm trying to cut down how much email I get.
Not so far. If you're worried about that you can just feed in your VIN and see what comes up.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.