Sometimes, people buy vehicles that turn out to be lemons. No one likes it, but it happens. When you buy a car at a dealership, you want to know you’re driving home the vehicle you expected. One recent event occurred where the owner of a Dodge Demon didn’t get what he thought he was getting, so now he’s suing.

CarComplaints.com recently laid out the gist of the lawsuit and what makes it so odd. It also reveals whether the ultimate fix actually helped. So, what happened?

The crux of the Dodge Demon lawsuit

The plaintiff is a Dodge Challenger SRT owner who purchased his Demon model for $166,618 in August 2018. He claims he was not told of the ongoing hood scoop problem that other owners complained about in March 2018. 

Complaints from those owners state the inserts would buckle, sag, and bulge. That would cause cracks, chips, and paint damage that would eventually rust, making their vehicles uglier than when they’d bought them.  

This problem would decrease the value of this expensive car. The fix for it, however, has caused even more problems for owners. 

What makes this case so strange?

When the owner purchased the vehicle, he was under the impression that his Dodge Demon produced 840 hp and that the hood’s scoop would stay in good shape with normal use. 

Soon after he bought the Demon, he learned that the engine really produced only 808 hp and that he would need special parts to get the 840 hp that he was led to believe it already had.

But he had to pay $250 for the parts to install on his Dodge Demon to get what he paid for at the dealership. Plus, he learned he would also need to use racing fuel to reach the 840 hp mark, which he said he was also not told about. 

After all of that, the thrill of driving his new Demon dissipated when he found out the hood scoop on the car warped. The worst part is that it happened after he drove the car for only 20 miles. He hadn’t had it very long. 

When he inquired at the dealership where he purchased the Demon, he was told there were no repairs to fix the scoop’s warping. One year later, he found out that Dodge’s parent company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, had issued a service bulletin for that very fix. 

Was it really fixed?

So the service department at the Fiat Chrysler dealership took in the man’s Dodge Demon and supposedly fixed the issue. However, the lawsuit claims, once he got it back from the shop, the problem was worse than before.

The finish on the hood didn’t match the rest of the car, and the scoop insert was installed poorly, with drill holes evident. Even after the repair, the new insert began “bowing.”

Now, every time the owner drives his vehicle, which isn’t all that often anymore, the insert pops out of place. He has to push it down to get it back in place every time he drives it. 

Because no one ever informed him of the warped hood scoop problem or paint issue, the owner filed a lawsuit in California district court. He might not have wanted to spend $160,000 had he known what he was in for.