Best Dealer for Warranty Work in the SF Bay Area?

[GCecchetto]

Hello;

I live about 20 miles south of San Francisco and am curious if any of you can point me towards a competent dealer for some warranty work? Honestly, my 2014 Ram (the 4th Ram I have owned) is by far the worst vehicle I have ever owned. Constant electrical problems, 4 recalls including one that has them cutting and welding on my frame (that will work wonders for the rust preventive coating on the frame. If I could give this truck back to dodge I would in a heartbeat. Anyway, I only have another 4500 miles before I am off the bumper to bumper warranty and need to make a concerted effort to get Dodge to make this truck right, otherwise I'll sell it and cut my losses. I know it's going to be a money sink once it's off warranty. I'm a huge cummins fan, and really like the having live axles at both ends on coil springs, but if Dodge can't make this right, that's it, no more. Ford burned me once on a vehicle like this 25 years ago, and I have never even considered buying another. My experience with Dodge is now feeling a lot like that.

Thanks

 

[AnOldBiker]

I was one of the families that left California when I retired. And all the time I lived there I found a dealership is a dealership, and when a mechanic left one place, they just went to another. But when I needed a dealership for warrantee work, I was talking to a guy who had an older Dodge with a diesel and he recommended a dealership in another town from where I lived. Turned out he was right. He had experienced a couple dealership and found one that was worth doing business with.

Saved me the stress of going through the ordeal of what he had been through. I lived in Southern Calif. so I don't know of any i your area. Might be worth finding someone that owns a Dodge that is a bit older and shoot the bull with them on this topic.

 

[GCecchetto]

Well, I can certainly try that, but like I said, this is my 4th Ram, the first one was a 95, so I've been around. Problem is, the good dealers were closed when Chrysler went through the last restructuring.

 

[MJWenrich]

Sag, who contributes frequently on this forum may chime in but if not try contacting him on the message board. I believe he just retired from a bay area dealership.

 

[sag2]

Since I retired I have not kept track of the technicians and where they are. As far as the track bar recall, very few trucks are going to have a cracked bracket weld. You can take a look at your bracket and see if there are any cracks. If it is not cracked, no one is going to weld on the frame. And in the slim chance it has a crack FCA is dispatching a weld team to the dealer to perform the welds so I would not have any concerns if I had an affected truck.
Not sure what your other concerns are but if they are related to diesel engine performance there are just not a lot of 6.7 trucks in the bay area compared to the valley. If they are concerns not related to the engine most of the dealers have pretty good technicians that have been around a while that are more than capable of repairing your truck.

 

[Steve Martin]

GCecchetto,

Have you tried the Redwood City dealer...I’ve had my 13 in there for a few things and had good luck. Most recently they replace the steering shafts and the entire steering column for a clunking I had somewhere in the steering. I also had good luck with the Burlingame dealership. Burlingame dealer changed my entire radio unit when the screen was going black. They tried multiple re-flashs and decided to just replace entire unit. I had to take the truck back to Redwood City a couple times for the steering issue, but they finally got it fixed when they decided to change the entire column. I learned that you have to take the technician who will be working your truck out for a test drive. After the technician would hear the problem with me in the truck, it seem to get fixed. Hope this helps...
Steve

 

[GCecchetto]

Since I retired I have not kept track of the technicians and where they are. As far as the track bar recall, very few trucks are going to have a cracked bracket weld. You can take a look at your bracket and see if there are any cracks. If it is not cracked, no one is going to weld on the frame. And in the slim chance it has a crack FCA is dispatching a weld team to the dealer to perform the welds so I would not have any concerns if I had an affected truck.
Not sure what your other concerns are but if they are related to diesel engine performance there are just not a lot of 6.7 trucks in the bay area compared to the valley. If they are concerns not related to the engine most of the dealers have pretty good technicians that have been around a while that are more than capable of repairing your truck.

Well, the recall notice I have says they weld on a new bracket if the existing one is cracked. If the bracket is not cracked it will be reinforced. It then goes on to say that because a welding team will need to be scheduled it can take a while to schedule the work. This isn't word for word, as I don't have the recall notice in front of me, but the point is that regardless of whether or not the bracket is cracked, something is being done to the truck if it's in the affected VIN range.

 

[MJWenrich]

I was at a dealer in the valley last week and had more of the recalls done. Up to eight now with the track bar being the last one and incomplete. They say the parts are not yet ready but there will be a team that goes around to the dealers to make the modification. According to them, on all trucks whether you have a cracked weld or not. With a four wheel drive mine looks okay having the second plate welded for support in that area. I'm disgusted as well with ram because I have had all these recalls and the dead pedal issue. But I guess it depends on heavy you want to tow and how close you live to a dealer. It also may be that the other two are having their share of problems. I always want to buy American and with our trucks being assembled out of country, I may sell my heavy trailer and buy a Toyota Tundra. At least it's assembled here. So I hear.

 

[GCecchetto]

GCecchetto,

Have you tried the Redwood City dealer...I’ve had my 13 in there for a few things and had good luck. Most recently they replace the steering shafts and the entire steering column for a clunking I had somewhere in the steering. I also had good luck with the Burlingame dealership. Burlingame dealer changed my entire radio unit when the screen was going black. They tried multiple re-flashs and decided to just replace entire unit. I had to take the truck back to Redwood City a couple times for the steering issue, but they finally got it fixed when they decided to change the entire column. I learned that you have to take the technician who will be working your truck out for a test drive. After the technician would hear the problem with me in the truck, it seem to get fixed. Hope this helps...
Steve

I agree, it's best if you can actually talk with the mechanic, and ride along with him, or better yet take him for a ride, but I've not had any dealer in the bay area allow me to do that. I've taken to videoing the event when they occur so I can show them what was happening since the issue are largely intermittent.

Relative to the Redwood City dealer, I honestly just discounted them immediately because they are so new and don't even stock any HD trucks. That said, they would be the easiest dealer for me to deal with from a geographic standpoint. I could drop the truck off and walk over to the train station and be on my way to work.

 

[GCecchetto]

I was at a dealer in the valley last week and had more of the recalls done. Up to eight now with the track bar being the last one and incomplete. They say the parts are not yet ready but there will be a team that goes around to the dealers to make the modification. According to them, on all trucks whether you have a cracked weld or not. With a four wheel drive mine looks okay having the second plate welded for support in that area. I'm disgusted as well with ram because I have had all these recalls and the dead pedal issue. But I guess it depends on heavy you want to tow and how close you live to a dealer. It also may be that the other two are having their share of problems. I always want to buy American and with our trucks being assembled out of country, I may sell my heavy trailer and buy a Toyota Tundra. At least it's assembled here. So I hear.

We have a large fleet of Duramax powered Chevy's at work and they have been very reliable. Certainly none of the electrical problems my truck has had. I believe the HD GM product is built in the states. The only thing keeping me with Dodge is the cummins and live axles, but if this crap continues, I'll be giving the Cummins powered Tundra a serious look when it come out. In the last seven or so years, I have put a lot of miles on two FJ Cruisers and a Tundra without a single warranty issue. The Tundra didn't handle my camper as well as I would like, so I decided to go back to dodge and have been regretting it.

 

[SnoKing]

We have a large fleet of Duramax powered Chevy's at work and they have been very reliable. Certainly none of the electrical problems my truck has had. I believe the HD GM product is build
t in the states. The only thing keeping me with Dodge is the cummins and live axles, but if this crap continues, I'll be giving the Cummins powered Tundra a serious look when it come out. In the last seven or so years, I have put a lot of miles on two FJ Cruisers and a Tundra without a single warranty issue. The Tundra didn't handle my camper as well as I would like, so I decided to go back to dodge and have been regretting it.

I saw a FJ tow a about 20-22 foot travel trailer the other day. Look a bit scary. FJ was down in the rear and trailer was down in the front. SNOKING

 

[Regcabguy]

The new Nissan HD is getting a good review in the newest Four Wheeler internet edition.

 

[GCecchetto]

The new Nissan HD is getting a good review in the newest Four Wheeler internet edition.

Yep, I was reading that. I really believe Toyota builds a better truck though. Hopefully my truck will get sorted and allow me to get back to being a happy Ram guy. I have an expedition camper I built for the truck, well I actually built it for my Tundra so the fit isn't anywhere near as nice on the Ram, and want to do some mods to the truck for the camper, suspension lift, floating air bags on the rear suspension, bumpers, AEV snorkel, etc, but I'm holding off. Don't want to put any money into the truck until I know if I'm going to keep it or not.