If he can't, tell him you want to talk to someone with the last name "Ford" and you won't stop until you do.

 

If you want a new / different truck - as I would in your case - you're in for a long battle. On the dealer / manufacturer's side is an accepted legal principle: "Let the buyer beware." On your side is the manufacturer's warranty - which you want to explore right down to the fine print. The things that finally sealed the deal for me to get a new truck came down to the following:

- Persistence: Be polite, but be firm and relentless.

- Knowledge: Understand the warranty, your rights and your options.

The conversation that really got the ball rolling for me involved the dealership General Manager and the Body Shop Manager. The GM offered to repaint my entire truck for free. I then looked at the Body Shop Manager and said, "I'll go for it if you can guarantee me (in writing) that the respray will meet all factory specifications for gloss, thickness, hardness, corrosion resistance as well as having no overspray or masking lines that would give away the respray." The Body Shop Manager looked at the GM and said, "You know I can't do that. Find him a new truck."

I should note that the dealer took the truck with the defective paint job in on trade for the new truck. They dolled it up and put it directly on the Used Car Lot with absolutely no paint work. The truck sold and is still running around twenty years later. It looks like hell, but the new owner apparently didn't notice or care.

 

Sorry, but you're 100% wrong. The warranty most Body Shops offer is lifetime for the current owner. The best you can hope for with a Body Shop respray - if you spend around 10 grand - is a perfect cosmetic paint job. It in no way will meet all of the OEM specifications. And there is no way that Ford will authorize a ten grand respray. I'll go as far as guaranteeing that any good Used Car Manager will be able to tell your truck was repainted in about 30 seconds if it's a dealer authorized respray. Guess what that will do for resale value.

 

Great information! Thank you. I really like the line about guarantee in writing that it matches all of the factory specs.

I mentioned the diminishment of value yesterday but the Ford rep denied that there would be an issue with that. He stated that dealer was recognized as being as good as factory which I just do not believe at all.

 

Hoping to hear back from

'fordservicerep' on here.

 

They repainted my 08 after $8k in damage on the right side. I had overspray and missed rough spots (not buffed) to prove they can’t match factory paint quality. Now I will say the paint is all that suffered. The repairs were perfect other than the paint.

 

At the end of the day, once it's repainted it is a used vehicle worth substantially less, and I did not pay all that money for that sort of vehicle.

 

Good luck. Please update this as things progress.

 

If most people ever saw the process a new vehicle goes through for prep and paint, they wouldn't believe how complex it is. There is simply no way that a dealer body shop can duplicate it. I'm sure the Ford rep - no disrespect - has never seen it either.

And as for "diminished value," you hit a very, very important point. Most people don't even think about it. Then they find out down the road when they go to trade and the manager comes in holding a marked CARFAX report. I'm in the process of claiming it right now for my truck after it was side swiped while parked in a parking lot.

 

One of the Discovery channel shows did an episode on automotive painting and I believe it’s on Ford Trucks 04-08. I will see if I can find it. It was fascinating to watch.

 

And that won't show you half of what goes into it. For instance, did you know that Body Shop personnel cannot wear certain deodorants? Because there's a possibility that a chemical in them will screw up the finish. Yea, they go through that kind of trouble in a Collision Shop. Not!

And the reason they go through so much trouble to assure a good paint job is that a bad one costs a bloody fortune to fix.

 

At 3:55 Tommy (Operations Manager) called me to tell me that my requests of yesterday (no deductible on ESP and compensation for diminished value) were going to have to be passed up the chain and that person would not be in until Monday. Tommy said I could expect a call back on Tuesday.

He tried to very quickly get off the phone and I would not let me, I told him that I have continued to do research on the matter, and that I had come with a perfect statement to set my expectations for this process IF we go through with it.

I totally stole your line 2stroke....

"I'll go for it if you can guarantee me in writing that the respray will meet all factory specifications for gloss, thickness, hardness, corrosion resistance as well as having no overspray or masking lines that would give away the respray."

Tommy said "There is no way that I can put anything in writing on the behalf of a dealership that is doing the work"...

I said "Correct, because it DOES NOT match what the factory does so it looks like you all are going to have to replace the truck."

He said "This does not meet Fords qualifications for a lemon lan so we are going to have to look outside the box on this one."

That is where we left the conversation.

They are definitely stalling, but I think they are realizing that I am not going away.

Thoughts?

-Dennis

 

They are doing exactly what they did with me. And to tell you the truth, I'd do the same thing if I were on their side of the fence. What they're hoping is that they can convince you - by wearing you down - that a re-spray will solve all of your problems. (They'll also want you to sign off on everything before the re-spray is completed.) Unfortunately - for all of the reasons I've already noted - it won't work and all you'll end up with is a half *** painted brand new truck. And it will be worth exactly what a truck with a half assed paint job is usually worth. So keep fighting for what is rightly yours. You've got plenty of time.

 

I have not yet made the first payment on the truck, but it is due. Should I call FORD finance and inform them of the situation and hold the payment until this is resolved? Does making a payment on the truck make it easier for them to say that they are not replacing it or is it irrelevant?

 

I wouldn't get behind on it. If they end up doing a trade you don't want the negative hit on your credit.