Helopilot
Full Access Member
So my wife likes my 18 so much she has to have one for herself. Earlier this week I happened to notice one sitting on a showroom floor at a dealership about an hour and a half away from us so I went in and found that it is outfitted exactly the way my wife wants one ordered. I brought my wife back to take a look and she wants the vehicle. I will not pay the dealer markups that still seem common and this dealer does not have a markup, but they will not come off of MSRP. We decided to just suck it up and go with MSRP, so the salesman moved the vehicle to the "delivery" area so we could look it over. While walking around it we noticed a minor scratch on the driver's side rear door, but it appeared to be minor enough that it could easily be buffed out. Unfortunately for the dealer, when the truck got parked in the "delivery" area that door was positioned directly in the bright sunlight and that same area where the scratch was located showed 4 or 5 paint defects from the factory. They took the truck into their body shop and the manager there said that it looked like the defects were from the primer coating and the shadow black paint was shot over the top of it. The salesman and sales manager said we could take the truck and then schedule a repair date to bring the truck back for repairs. We pointed out that there was absolutely no way we were signing papers and taking ownership of a vehicle that had a known issue that had not been taken care of. The manager left the vehicle in their body shop and told us that the shop was going to repair and reshoot the entire door and we could come back after the repair was made and look it over again.
That brings me to today. The vehicle should be coming out of the paint shop today and the salesman wants us to come back out and look at the repair and then buy the vehicle. We pointed out that the vehicle now had a paint repair and while we probably would not be able to tell the door had been repaired, most any body shop or paint shop person would be able to tell it had been repainted. Even without being able to tell visually there will always be a warranty claim in Ford's system for repairing and repainting the door and that is attached to that VIN. We suggested that perhaps the value of the truck could be less and the sales price of the vehicle should reflect that. The dealer will not budge off of the MSRP. I know that if we walk away from the purchase the dealer will put the vehicle back on their showroom and it will sell to someone else in a week or two at most, the way our market is around here.
What I am wrestling with is this:
If the vehicle is painted properly, and I have no doubt it will be, the door should hold up as well as the rest of the vehicle paint. If the dealer came off of the price and I felt we were getting a little bit of a deal I would just take the vehicle because my wife would be in the Raptor right now. Walking from the deal is the right choice is what my head tells me (and is backed up by a friend who owns a body shop). If I pass on the truck I am going to order from the local dealership that I got my Raptor from this past November. The GM there tells me that he has an allocation and I am looking at 6-8 weeks to get the truck.
Thoughts?
That brings me to today. The vehicle should be coming out of the paint shop today and the salesman wants us to come back out and look at the repair and then buy the vehicle. We pointed out that the vehicle now had a paint repair and while we probably would not be able to tell the door had been repaired, most any body shop or paint shop person would be able to tell it had been repainted. Even without being able to tell visually there will always be a warranty claim in Ford's system for repairing and repainting the door and that is attached to that VIN. We suggested that perhaps the value of the truck could be less and the sales price of the vehicle should reflect that. The dealer will not budge off of the MSRP. I know that if we walk away from the purchase the dealer will put the vehicle back on their showroom and it will sell to someone else in a week or two at most, the way our market is around here.
What I am wrestling with is this:
If the vehicle is painted properly, and I have no doubt it will be, the door should hold up as well as the rest of the vehicle paint. If the dealer came off of the price and I felt we were getting a little bit of a deal I would just take the vehicle because my wife would be in the Raptor right now. Walking from the deal is the right choice is what my head tells me (and is backed up by a friend who owns a body shop). If I pass on the truck I am going to order from the local dealership that I got my Raptor from this past November. The GM there tells me that he has an allocation and I am looking at 6-8 weeks to get the truck.
Thoughts?