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Buyer says Dodge dealer gave him wrong Charger, failed to notice for 2 months

Mistakes happen, and they happen all the time. But when that mistake means a customer doesn't get what he or she paid for, something's gotta give. That's what one Dodge Charger buyer claims he is trying to sort out with his local dealership. Two months after taking delivery, the owner (going by the user name Dakrbouncer4689 on Reddit) says he got a call from his local Dodge dealership reporting a little problem. He had ordered and paid for the Charger SXT (pictured above on the dealer lot), but was given a Charger SE instead. The SE being the lower trim level, this presented one set of problems – namely a $2,000 discrepancy in equipment, like a five-speed automatic versus an eight-speed, a 4.3-inch infotainment display instead of 8.4, heated seats, leather steering wheel, premium audio, remote starter and so on. The second set of issues is that the VIN number on the paperwork (including the registration and insurance papers) of course doesn't match that of the car itself. The dealer, having obviously made a rather large mistake, apparently called the owner in to sort out the mess, but according to the customer's account, things didn't go as smoothly. Instead of immediately working to address the problem, the salesman kept the owner waiting, acted like it was no big deal, and offered only to swap the cars with no compensation for the trouble. Fortunately, the manager proved more sympathetic and apologetic, and offered the customer three options: he could swap the cars (re-doing the tinted windows on the SXT that the customer had done on the SE and throwing in leather seats for free), he could keep the SE (with the dealership handling the paperwork, throwing in the leather seats, adjusting the price and refunding an extra $400), or they could cancel everything, return the car and part company. As we go to press, the Charger owner had yet to make (or at least share) his decision. But while the principle of caveat emptor makes us wonder how he managed to take home a different car from the one he paid for, clearly the salesman and the dealership made a pretty large mistake by presenting him with the wrong set of keys and letting him off the lot without double checking it all. News Source: Darkbouncer4689 via Reddit, World Car Fans Dodge Car Buying Car Dealers Economy Cars Sedan

Lackluster Dodge Dart sales trigger layoffs

Hidden amidst the overall very positive sales figures that Chrysler released earlier this week were a few disappointments, the biggest of which may be the Dodge Dart. While Dodge sales in general were down 11 percent from a year ago, the Dart's poor figures stood out from the rest - with 4,888 units sold, the Dart was down 37 percent in February.
It comes as little surprise, then, that the automaker has announced layoffs at its assembly plant in Belvidere, IL. According to The Daily Herald, Dodge will temporarily lay off 325 workers "to balance vehicle supply with current sales demand." Put more simply, there are more Darts than buyers at the moment...
We don't think the Dodge Dart is a bad car, but it's playing in a market that offers a few standout sellers, like the Chevy Cruze, Ford Focus, Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla. According to AutoPacific analyst Dave Sullivan, as quoted by The Daily Herald, "great incentives on the Dodge Avenger" are also partly to blame for the Dart's poor showing.

Camel-power and Challengers | Autoblog Podcast #510

On this week's podcast, Mike Austin and David Gluckman are in a huddle room, because the studio was already taken. We talk about the Dodge Challenger GT all-wheel-drive and who would want one. (And a correction we'll mention in next week's podcast - the trunk lid on the Challenger does wrap around vertically for a decent-sized opening.) Then David has a new performance metric to introduce, proposed by Nissan. The episode wraps up with the traditional doling out of Spend My Money buying advice, with an update on the feasibility of the one-year Ferrari financial plan. The rundown is below. Remember, if you have a car-related question you'd like us to answer or you want buying advice of your very own, send a message or a voice memo to podcast at autoblog dot com. (If you record audio of a question with your phone and get it to us, you could hear your very own voice on the podcast. Neat, right?) And if you have other questions or comments, please send those too. Autoblog Podcast #510 Topics and stories we mention Dodge Challenger GT Long-term Mazda MX-5 Miata Mazda CX-5 Nissan Camelpower The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho Used cars! Rundown Intro - 00:00 What we're driving - 02:11 Camelpower - 17:28 Spend My Money - 24:39 Total Duration: 44:17 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Feedback Email – Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show on iTunes Podcasts Dodge Car Buying dodge challenger gt