A MAN is so fed up with his lemon car he’s offering people on the internet a chance to destroy it for him.

Sunshine Coast man Ashton Wood has launched an online campaign for strangers to bash, break and even set fire to his $49,000 Jeep Cherokee.

The Jeep was bought new in 2010; he claims it has done only about 50,000km, has been towed four times and has had 20 defects requiring constant maintenance.

Mr Wood said the car was trouble right from the moment the paperwork was signed.

He says before he even got it out of the dealership the car stalled and the fuel line fell off, pumping diesel all over the car yard.

media_camera The Jeep has had myriad issues injust four years. Pic: Ashton Wood

For Mr Wood that should have been the sign that maybe this wasn’t a match made in heaven, but the dealer reassured him and told him he could pick it up the next day.

Deflated, he left the car yard and headed home in his old vehicle.

Thus began four years of “hell”.

“We spent $49,000 on this one and to be honest I should have seen the signs when we were at the dealership,” Mr Wood said.

“I should have torn the paper work up and run a mile, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt.”

Here’s a list of what has gone wrong with the car according to Mr Wood:

* Fuel Line fell off (at the time of getting handover in the showroom!)

* Loss of all climate controls (twice)

* Rattling in drivers door,

* Clock couldn’t keep the correct time (for two years)

* Bash plate hanging off

* Turbo inlet manifold cracked (tow truck required)

* Rain sensor failed

* Major coolant leak inside vehicle (tow truck required)

* External mirrors getting loose all the time (it has special screws so Mr Wood can’t tighten them)

* Ignition failure (tow truck required)

* Faulty seat belt tensioner,

* Heater exchange cracked behind dashboard,

* Starter motor intermittently running after the engine has started (has been replaced but keeps doing it)

* Drivetrain Control error (tow truck required)

* Wipers intermittently coming on when driving in dry conditions

* Rear strut leaking oil and had to be replaced ...

“See why we want to burn it?” said Mr Wood.

media_camera Ashton Wood regrets ever buying the $49,000 lemon.

Mr Wood says he has tried to go through all the correct channels to sort the situation out, thinking surely Chrysler would replace a faulty vehicle. Wrong.

“We have gone through all the proper steps. 1. We engaged the dealer; 2. The importer; 3. The Office of Fair Trading (who tried to mediate on our behalf without success); 4. I personally flew to Melbourne and attended a 2 hour mediation with my legal counsel and theirs without success; 5. I made countless phone calls and sent countless emails to the importer; 6. We even raised a case with the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal where they assisted me with a mediation session, still without success.

“After two hours of mediation with my solicitor and theirs, they offered me a free battery and a one-year warranty on the car; I said you are kidding aren’t you?

“My solicitor wrote them a pretty abrupt email and they came back to me and offered $22,500 for the car.”

He says he could sell it privately for $28,000, but “I have a fundamental issue with selling my problem to someone else and I know if I let Jeep buy it off me for $22,500 they are going to sell it and make money on it, which is even worse.”

So, with his back against the wall, Mr Wood said he had only one option and that was to destroy the car.

A Jeep spokeswoman said the company had been working with Mr Wood to reach a “fair and equitable settlement”.

They also disputed the car’s mileage, saying it had done between 30,000km and 40,000km, not 12,000km.

media_camera Mr Wood is letting everyone know about his car from hell.

“I am going to raise a Kickstarter campaign (for $22,500) for two reasons; I would like to get some money, I owe $31,000 on the car, I am going to make a loss,” Mr Wood said.

“And it has become a real principle thing for me, if I raise the money that Chrysler was offering me, then that’s what I will take and I will pay the difference I owe on the car and I will destroy it.

“I am not taking any more offers from Chrysler now, if they came back to me tomorrow and offered me $50,000 I would not take it.”

You can sponsor the destroying of the car from as little as $12 (which will get your name written on it in permanent marker) to taking the destroyed mess of the car home with you for $7,000.

If you want to take part in the destroying of the Jeep, head to Kickstarter.

Mr Wood also has web page and a Facebook page set up for his campaign.

At time of writing he’d raised $1400.

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