rust doesnt form that much in 2 weeks. i would fight them on this. it has been going on for quite some time now. well before your warranty expires
I've gone down this path with both Ford and the Dealer I bought my Raptor from and it's been very disappointing.
I've been reluctant to post any of it, but for what it's worth here is the full rundown:
After finding the rust, I contacted (Danvers Ford) the Dealer to see what options I had and they basically did nothing. They had no problem taking my $54,000.00 when I bought the truck, but when it came time to stand by me as customer or behind the truck they sold me, they couldn’t be bothered.
So I had to deal with Ford directly, since the Dealer wouldn’t do anything. Ultimately, I needed the Service Manager and the Body Shop Manager at the Dealer, to now act on the claim I made with Ford. In which they basically just sat on, despite my countless phone calls all of which were never returned. I eventually had to complain to Ford again about them, so they would actually DO something.
Now here comes the fun part, I had initially gone down to Dealer to have them submit a claim to Ford on my behalf. The Body Shop manager wanted nothing to do with me, he cut me off every time I tried to ask a question or give him any info. He took a bunch of photos of the truck, maybe 2 of which were the affected area and that’s it. At best he spent 5 minutes doing this and not once did he even look at the rust. He never called me back and when I finally got a hold of him he said Ford rejected the claim because the truck was out of warranty.
So now that I've re-started the claim process, Ford is now relying on the Dealer's estimate for the repair and it's cost. Yes, an estimate done by someone who didn't even take the time to actually see what the issue was or where it's possibly coming from... Based on what the Dealer submitted to Ford, the total cost to fix rust is $1,500.00 and Ford will now pay $700.00 of the total cost.
I haven't seen any estimate and I'm dealing with Ford Customer Service now, so I ask some pretty basic questions. Does the repair address the root cause of the rust or is this just going to fix the cause? Ford’s response, “the estimate is to fix only the rust that’s present and no, it’s not going to fix the root cause”. So, I asked "if the root cause of the rust isn’t addressed, isn’t it just going to come back again in a year or so?" Long silence on the phone, then “I’m sorry, the estimate is for the rust only…”
The next question I ask, can I have the repair done by a more reputable Body Shop. Their response, "No, the Dealer is certified for the repair, so they would have to do it in order for Ford to cover their half of the cost."
As you can imagine, I am not confident in either the Dealer's estimate (which isn't going to fix the REAL problem) nor I'm I confident in their ability to do repair.
So I bring the truck to my family’s Auto Body Shop, both of my uncles have been in the business for over 35 plus years and have done everything from straight up collision work to full-blown restoration work. One of my uncles also teaches Auto Body at the regional tech school, so I trust them and value their opinions. At first glance both agree the issue is manufacturing defect, specifically in the way two roof panels were treated and seamed together. They said this sometimes happens with doors, the panels aren’t coated properly when they’re welded at the seam. Eventually moisture gets between the panels and they being to rot from inside out. To really track it all down, they’d need to cut into the roof and that is a very cost prohibitive repair. At this point they basically tell me that I got a “lemon” and there was no way I or even the Dealer could have stopped this from happening. They also said that this is something that if not handled correctly, would be an issue for the life of the truck and the Dealer’s estimate of $1,500.00 doesn’t even scratch the surface on what the true cost of the repair would be. In the end their recommendation is to just trade the truck in and walk away. They’re also more than familiar with the Dealer’s Auto Body shop and the kind of work that comes out of it and said the truck would never be the same if I let them attempt to fix it…
So that's where I'm at, neither Ford nor the Dealer will stand by the products they sell or their customers which really sucks...
