As we reported last month, the combination of winter weather-related body damage and a couple of service problems forced us to send our long-term Dodge Intrepid into the Pointe Dodge body shop in Detroit for repairs.

When we dropped the car off at the body shop, we were told the bodywork would be completed in four to five days. The car would then be transferred to the service department, where service repairs would be finished. The body shop technicians would remove, replace, repaint and reassemble the damaged front fascia, fix the dent in the lower driver's door and repaint its lower edge, and remove the old red scuff mark on the rear fascia for us, all to the tune of $1,060.60.

Dave Ferguson, the Pointe Dodge customer service manager, received the car on Feb. 26, looked into the illuminated "check engine" lamp, fixed the slipping transmission, repaired the inner panel of the left-rear door and restored the inoperative 12-volt power point in the console. Ferguson promised that the car would be ready by March 3.

Our Detroit-based news editor began calling Pointe Dodge on March 1 to get an update, but was unable to get through to a live person in the service department. After leaving several messages that were never returned and calling incessantly, we finally reached Dave Ferguson in the late afternoon of March 10, a full week after the car was supposed to have been ready for pick up. Ferguson explained that the car was not ready because he was waiting for parts that had to be ordered. The Intrepid's catalytic converters had to be replaced and he claimed that, because the car is from California, it needed special converters. Our editor challenged this, wondering why it didn't have the same converters as any other Intrepid, and reminded Dave that FedEx ships anything overnight anywhere in the country. Dave promised to follow up.

Five days later, we were still waiting to hear back from the shop. After calling the dealership and explaining that we were coming to get the car-repaired or not-they somehow managed to get the repairs completed by the end of the day on March 15.

Happily, the front fascia of the Intrepid looked great, but there was a small sanding scuff on the left rear door and the car was dusty and dirty. The "check engine" light was out, the transmission was no longer slipping, and the 12-volt power point was working. The inner rear door panel was reattached, but still loose. Paperwork revealed that mechanics had found a transmission cooling line was loose and leaking a bit at the radiator, so it was tightened and the fluid was topped off. The check engine light illumination was caused by a failure of an emissions-control part, which had also caused the contamination of the catalytic converters and related sensors. A TSB (a service procedure outlined in a Technical Service Bulletin) was performed on the car's PCM (Pollution Control Module). All service repairs were covered under the warranty.

The car looks and runs great now. Later this month, the Intrepid travels to New York City. The Clor family says they'll miss its functional interior room, huge trunk, spunky V6 and sporty sheetmetal.

Current mileage: 17,809
Best Fuel Economy: 16.3 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 16.3 mpg
Body Repair Costs: $1.060.60 (replace and refinish front fascia, repair door dent)
Maintenance Costs: None
Problems: None