My family rented a Dodge Grand Caravan from Marty Cancila's Dodge World in St. Louis. We picked the vehicle up Saturday morning, drove home, loaded the vehicle and began our journey to begin our vacation. Approximately 2 miles out of St. Louis, just across the Illinois state line, the tire blew. We pulled onto the side of the road and contacted the dealership. We were told to contact the Daimler-Chrysler roadside assistance program. After approximately 3 hours of waiting a roadside assistant came and changed the tire. At that point, we were left with no spare tire. However, the assistant did point out that even if we had a spare tire, the vehicle was unsafe to operate. She pointed out that the gasline was damaged and that we would be unable to put gasoline into the vehicle.
We decided to return the vehicle to Dodge World. After about thre more hours of waiting and explaining the situation to the staff, they miraculously came up with tha replacement vehicle. Actually, the vehicle that they gave us was in the rear of the parking lot and had been so the entire time. Well, after transferring the luggage from one vehicle to the other, we were off for a wonderful vacation and that frightening experience was behind us. We returned the vehicle to the lot and received a call the next day that the vehicle had a scratch on it and they needed to contact our insurance agency to place a claim; a case which I will dispute.
In the interim, I also learned that theyn placed a claim for the first vehicle with the blown tire. They have harassed us and also placed a claim against our agency without even notifying us. They actually tried this same maneuver last year, but we disputed the case. We are exceptionally careful with the vehicles we rent and, other then with Dodge World, we have never had a problem. I have no recourse and feel backed into a corner.
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