Me vs Chrysler, I WON!!! sort of... WARNING, LONG!

I bought a 2001 Durango R/T about 2 years ago. Don't ask me why I bought a Dodge. Let's just say that topic is never discussed at our house anymore . Anyway, here's what I went through:

In 10 months I made 10 trips to the dealer. The CPU was flashed 3 times for spark knock and check engine light on. The filter, pump, and a couple of hoses were replaced in the emissions system. The rear differential, front differential, and transfer case were all replaced to get rid of a whinning noise at highway speeds. And, for some reason after they put the darn thing back together, the car would shake at highway speeds. I had the tires balanced 2 times and the whole thing aligned, and I could NOT get rid of that shimmy. And finally, I made 4 trips to 3 different dealers to fix a slipping transmission, non of them could fix the problem .

I called Chrysler 3 times. Once to ask for help with all of my problems (they said "Take it back to the dealer" ). The other two times I asked a Chrysler Engineer (I use that term loosely) a question. Each time I called I asked the same technical question in the same way, and I got a two different answers.

I didn't qualify for the Lemon Law in VA, because the vehicle had only been in the shop a total of 27 days when it reached 18 months old. The law says it has to be in the shop a total of 30 days or more by the time the vehicle is 18 months old . So I filed for arbitration against Chrysler, and the arbitration company thought I had a good case and agreed to hear me out. I met with an arbitrator and a local Dodge dealer rep, and pleaded my case about how I deserved a new car. Well the arbitrator agreed with me!! Chrysler had to let me purchase a brand new Chrysler product (MB not included ) at the MSRP and apply the MSRP of MY vehicle when it was brand new toward the purchase of the new vehicle. If you figure in how much I would have lost on trading in my troubled DUH-rango for a new car, I just saved about $8,000!! Not really worth all of the trouble over the past 10 months, but at least I didn't get completely screwed!

I had to CROW about this, and I figured you guys would like to hear about it. Oh, and if your wondering, we got a 2002 Durango R/T . I tried to trade it in for a Honda Pilot, but they offered me $12,000 less than what I paid for the new durango. And I can't afford to take a hit like that. Besides, the first durango had to be the bad one of the bunch, so this one's got to work out (I hope!).