Thanks for the additional advice. Jim--I will be interested to hear how your shipment goes. Ed and Jeff--FedEx and UPS are always my preferred shipper. I have always been a big fan of UPS since I worked for the University Mail Services when I was a student at the University of Michigan. UPS never let us down no matter what we were shipping. In my current line of work, my customers and my company use both UPS and FedEx hundreds of times per day for time critical packages and they never fail.
Unfortunately, neither of them ships vehicles. I have opened an auction and so far it would appear that I have only received automated bids because they are all much higher than the automated quote feature. If the auction does not go well, I will probably try out the name your price feature. We shall see. I don't need to get the car back here tomorrow but hopefully by the middle of March. Looks like a new (remanufactured) engine due to an oil pump failure but I will wait to see what my local Chrysler dealer says first. I think they guys in MN were jerking me around because they knew that my son was stranded and I could not be there to see the vehicle first hand.
They called me on Saturday and said that they had dropped the oil pan and there was no sign of engine damage--just sludge build up that had clogged the oil pick up tube and siezed the oil pump. The guy's exact words were "The good news is that we dropped the oil pan and there is no sign of any engine damage so it will just require a new oil pump and pick-up tube." Estimated cost of the job was $1,250 but the parts would not be in until Tuesday. I ran that by the mechanic who works on all of my cars and he said that it sounded correct and that the price was not bad based on the amount of labor involved to change the two parts on a Dodge 3.9L V-6. So I authorized the work.
Then a different guy calls this afternoon and says that they were tearing the car down so it would be ready for the parts tomorrow and they discovered metal shavings and other signs of engine damage in the oil pan. When I told him what his guy said on Saturday, he pretty much said that he did not know about all that and that he did not think they pulled the oil pan on Saturday--so somebody is lying to me. But he had gotten a couple of quotes for a remanned engine and the cost would be between $5,000 and $5,500. I told him to put the truck back the way it was when my son brought it in and I would have it picked up. Now they want to charge me $264 when they told my son that the diagnosis would be no more than $134. They are supposed to call me back tomorrow to work things out. No way in hell am I paying for their mis-diagnosis because had they told me the engine was shot on Saturday, I would have not authorized any work.
I checked with the parts manager at my local dealership and he can get a remanned engine for $1,600 that they would retail for $2,100. The dealership in MN is quoting 20 plus hours of labor and between $2,400 and $2980 for the engine. I am not a certified mechanic but I changed an engine on my friends car--there were three of us who had no idea what we were doing--and it did not take anywhere near 20 hours. And yes, the car did run! Anyway, had these guys played it straight, they would have gotten my business. I don't care if it costs me more to get the car back here and have the work done locally. At least, I know it will be done by guys who are honest and do good work. Sorry to vent but I had to get it off my chest.
Tim
PS--I will keep you posted on the progress of the auction.
