When I bought my first "new" car, a Dodge 024 four speed w/ manual trans, I kept telling the dealer every time I brought it in for maintenance that I heard a strange noise in the transmission when the vehicle was out of gear idling...for the 2 years it was under warranty, they kept saying I was hearing things and it was nothing to worry about. The day after my warranty was up, they told me they heard a faint noise in the transmission when the vehicle was idling out of gear (same noise I complained about for 2 years) and that it was a problem with my 2nd syncromesh gear...they wanted my vehicle in the shop for 4 days at a cost of 2800 bucks to make the repair. I opted to take the car to the Plymouth dealership across town for a second opinion...while I was there, I told them the story about how they told me for 2 years I was hearing things, and the day my warranty was up how much it was going to cost me to repair it. The service manager at the Plymouth dealership got on the phone right away and called Chrysler and relayed the story of my problem to them...they told the Plymouth dealership to make the repair and they'd pick up the tab, with exception of a $280 part...which they did, and they completed the job while I waited.

Needless to say, when my wife wanted another vehicle I went to the Plymouth dealership. The moral of the story: There's people who will try to rip you off at every turn, and there's people who are willing to treat you humanely...the trick is trying to find out what color hat they're wearing.