Got Rear-Ended, Need Advice

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sik jmps

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Hi all, I'll try and make this brief but it's not a simple situation (I guess).

I have a 2018 SCREW 802A. I'm in California. I waited six months for my order from Laurel Ford in Montana last year. I love it. I was driving to work last Tuesday and got rear-ended in a multi-car accident on the freeway. Huge bummer. Traffic had come to a stop in a normally free flowing area and some person or persons (didn't see it) didn't see or wasn't paying attention and ran into the back of a bunch of stopped cars at highway speed.

The most important thing is that everyone is okay, even the woman who was in the Civic that took the brunt of it and her vehicle was about 50% it's original size.

The bad news is that my Raptor, while it was the least affected of the 5 vehicles, got hit pretty hard. It's drivable (because it took the hit crazy well, all things considered), but it needs an entire new bed assembly (bed also made contact with the cab and there is some frame bending behind the rear axle.

My body shop is really good, highly recommended and reputable. I took it in the day after the accident. He tried to order parts, including a bed assembly, but apparently when he put my VIN number in the parts system, Ford isn't selling full bed assemblies for my VIN number. When he started calling his contact for Ford Parts, apparently he was told that my truck falls in a group of VINs called "Phantom Raptors" that are a unique set of parts that don't fit with all of the other parts for other Raptors. I have no idea how true or legit this is, but this is what the body shop was told and he relayed to me. He then looked for used parts and couldn't find any. He also asked via a Ford Dealer for any special request availability and was told there isn't any.

Anyways, that means the only choice for a repair would be for a body shop to assemble a full bed from panel parts. Because this is the new aluminum style bed, it would have to be glued and pop riveted (the OEM way to assemble if it's not factory welded), so my bed would have pop rivets all around the bottom, inside the wheel wells, etc. Moreover, it likely wouldn't have the factory fit and finish of an 11 month old truck. Maybe I'm being unreasonable, but I'm really disappointed about this potential "solution"; the truck isn't even a year off the line and the accident wasn't my fault, it seems there should be a factory bed assembly out there for me.

My body shop also didn't buy the Ford pop rivet gun, so he's not even going to be able to do the repair if there isn't an actual bed assembly. He's still chasing down every info lead he can for me, which is awesome.

I started asking some of my mechanic friends what to do and they all recommended I reach out to Ford Performance, so I did.

Here's what I've already done:
Ford Performance on Facebook pointed me to Ford Service. I called the general Ford number and tried to get redirected to Service. That was a waste of time, but it supposedly got escalated to a regional Service Manager. Waiting to hear back on that.

Body shop guy also called the inspector for my insurance company who is going to reach out to any contacts she has to try and find a bed assembly and/or another good, reputable shop with the Ford pop rivet gun.

My local dealership that did the courtesy delivery doesn't have a body shop, so they're not involved. The order dealership is a few states away, so I haven't looped them in.

It's been almost a week and I have no idea when/how my Raptor is getting repaired. Also it's bumming me out driving it around, not to mention I'm slightly concerned that I shouldn't be driving it long term with the frame even minorly bent, though the body shop guy says it's fine.

So... any advice? Does this story make sense? Does any of it sound like I'm getting bad info? Any help or contacts to chase down would be appreciated.
 

GCATX

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"Phantom Raptor?" I would just order Raptor bed and be done with it. It sucks, but I guess that's the risk we all run, going up and down the road.
 
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sik jmps

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"Phantom Raptor?" I would just order Raptor bed and be done with it. It sucks, but I guess that's the risk we all run, going up and down the road.

My understanding is that my truck is from a run of Raptors that were between parts changes and that the bed assemblies for trucks before or after that run do not fit. Apparently that's where the "phantom raptor" name came from, but once again I'm hearing all of this from the body shop guy who is hearing it from his Ford Parts contact who's hearing it from???
 

8WOOD

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Damage on more than 3 sides of the vehicle, frame bent... =totaled
 

Raptorguy1

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My understanding is that my truck is from a run of Raptors that were between parts changes and that the bed assemblies for trucks before or after that run do not fit. Apparently that's where the "phantom raptor" name came from, but once again I'm hearing all of this from the body shop guy who is hearing it from his Ford Parts contact who's hearing it from???
If this is true and Ford didn't disclose it, seems they should be responsible.
 

Jake17

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body shop guy is FOS
dump the wrecked military grade aluminum POS...get a f'n new truck
 
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8WOOD

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What window lickers think when they hear “military grade”: BADASS

What military grade actually means: Mass produced by the lowest bidder who then can’t turn a profit and then cuts corners to save more money.
 

SilverBolt

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Your body shop is full of shit. No such thing as a "phantom Raptor". There are no body changes from 2017-2019 Raptors. They likely do not sell a complete Raptor bed. You will need the regular F150 bed and have to install the Raptor bedsides. The rivets the factory uses are called self piercing rivets and do require a special tool. The tool in it's simplest form is over $10k. Not likely to find a body shop that has one. Pop rivets is likely how they are designed to be repaired.
 
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