wowzers!

I would bet that most of us are no longer in a position to buy new;
In the last handful of years, the pricing has jumped so much, that you might think it was a daily escalating rate;
This is pretty crazy.

BUT;
The story's headline is woefully misleading;
The non-Dodge service shop misdiagnosed the issue;
The story title adds the cost of the legitimate fix to the misdiagnosis fix - which only a complete idiot would do.

Unfortunately, vehicles are often engineered to expire at around the same mileage they have.

Regarding the misdiagnosis;
My observation is that this is typical for newer vehicles which often require proprietary diagnostic equipment;
These secondary shops often lack access to the proper diagnostic equipment;
Add to this another ever-present problem with the service industry - we have a chronic problem of technicians no longer know how to properly diagnose - they rely WHOLLY on their scanning device(s) which often causes a diagnosis, which when completed doesn't fix the original issue.

The Pacifica owner is apparently cheap;
Yup, that reads like a dig, and that was on purpose.

They sent it to a second rate shop (these shops usually have a lower hourly rate than dealers);
They must have suspected that shop as doing a misdiagnosis, because they then then sent it to a dealership (incase you missed it, that means they ended up paying for a diagnosis twice).
Then they went to the press to complain;
Now that they went to the media, they have confirmation of the dealership's diagnosis via Dodge corporate - and their reply to the (admittedly expensive) fix is "this isn't worth it".
And there-in lies the proof that they cheap - I don't think my guess is unreasonable that they went to the press, hoping for a free repair.

The alternative to repair is buying new;
I am pretty sure that buying a new vehicle would be a whole lot more expensive than the proper fix.
Odds are buying another similar used vehicle would also cost about the same as the repair - this is a six model year old vehicle, and as such should still retain some value.

it would only make sense to me for them to fix their van;
They know this vehicle, and unlike buying a used vehicle to replace this one, they know any of the quirks ect that this vehicle might have... 
Plus they could buy a replacement vehicle, and find themselves back into the same position when the next vehicle nears 250k km's.

-- Edited by unruhjonny on Friday 8th of March 2024 04:46:18 PM

I agree, many dealer techs rely on software to fix problems, if the computer doesnt tell them whats wrong, they are lost. And the systems in modern cars have numerous computer run components and relays, they are a can of worms to figure out.

My neighbour has a mint 2017 VW, had a problem last fall with all his dash warning lights on, car was driving fine, 35,000 kms, no warranty, he bought it new and it was heated garaged since new.

I have a BluDriver scanner that works off my phone, $100 or so off Amazon, scans codes and gives some limited data. Dealer said he needed a new electronic dash, $800. My scanner said it was a right rear abs sensor. It was a right rear abs sensor. He coaches the $800 repair and still needed the abs repair.

The abs sensor is a part of many sensors, it inputs to wheel speed, in the vw the low tire pressure, then flows into stability control, cruise control, automatic transmission data, who knows what else. Low battery voltage can also trigger all your dash lights.


Honda puts minimal battery power in their vehicles to save weight/fuel. My wife has a 2013 crv, bought used, it had a crappy little battery in it. In searching online, some people had these batteries replaced on warranty at 3 months old back in 2013, in about 2014, the dealers started putting a group 24 in them , due to replacing so many of the original size batteries in so many vehicles, many more than once in a year, on new cars. Original battery does not have enough reserve capacity imho. These weak batteries resulted in no start issues and many weird electrical problems.


A group 24 is what Carl told me to put in my 63 Parisienne btw. I put one in the crv.