Beware the Orange Cones

[MachHI]

Geico just notified me that rental coverage will end on 11/24 meanwhile Honolulu Ford is still waiting on a part to come in to complete repairs. Service advisor said she'll be able to provide a loaner if the MME isn't done by then though.

I only see a tiny dent in the A/C condenser which won’t affect operation. I don’t think that needs to be replaced especially if the A/C was still working afterwards. Labor seems high. Dealer might be gold digging here somewhat.

Honestly I was thinking the same thing, but figure that's the insurers inspector's job.

Yikes!
I think that when I finally get my MME, I will just stay windward side!
Do you have recommendations on which dealer seems to have the strongest service department, specific to supporting the MME with routine needs?

Accident happened in the Kahekili contraflow
I initially went with Honolulu Ford because I was able to get them to agree to no ADM when I purchased the MME. Whereas Cutter and Windward wanted $4-$6k respectively. I miss the Mr Chun days before Honolulu Ford became a Lithica though as I had a few different Fords over the years and no issues when he was the owner. I've found Cutter to be a bunch of clowns, and Windward overpriced, so unless Honolulu seriously pisses me off I guess I'm sticking to them. Wonder if they will open a Model-E dealership at some point in Hawaii.

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[Monke]

Wife bought a touch up kit before the accident and I was doing 5-6 coats and would still have a small divot in the middle of the chip hole.

Yep. The paint also looks more like an Oxford White. You need to apply the clear coat but it does not look right. It will also soften the good paint and it does not really stick with the base paint. The clear coat will just peel off.

 

[Monke]

About your car rental situation, an insurance company from the party that rear ended my pickup truck told me that the rental benefits would expire on a certain day. I told the insurance agent that the car had not been fixed but I was informed that the rental benefits based on the amount of works needed for my truck. So, told the agent that the car would have to be fixed before I returned the rental or I would rent a car myself and took the insurance company to a small claim court for rental fees. Guess what the truck was fixed when I was on the way to return the rental. I was mad so I filed a claim for my carbon fiber license plate frame and the insurance company sent me a check. I could have file a diminished value claim but pandemic happened so I just let it go.

This expired rental benefits happen to my co-worker. He was mad so he told the insurance company to come and pick up the rental from his driveway and he would rent a car and bill the insurance company. The rental was picked up and returned to his driveway after a single phone call.

 

[MachHI]

Still waiting...
Geico wasn't going to make any exceptions regarding rental but Honolulu Ford came through with a loaner of a Ford EcoSport. Reminds me of a 4 door golf cart but gets me from point A to B.

 

[MachHI]

Still waiting...
Just noticed last week that the loaner that Honolulu Ford provided has had expired registration for 11 months and an expired safety check for 2 months
Texted the service manager a couple of times last week with no response.

Last night Honolulu Ford Sales offered me $33k in trade in value for the Mach-E if I bought a F150 Lightning that someone didn't claim, this was on top of a $12k ADM. When I pointed out the ADM was higher than posted on my Ford order he essentially said they can make the ADM anything they want and Lightnings have been selling for $30-50k ADMs. The sales manager also told us we could get $100k for the Mach-E if we sold it ourselves ?

I hate car dealerships.

 

[Reign of Ravens]

When I pointed out the ADM was higher than posted on my Ford order he essentially said they can make the ADM anything they want and Lightnings have been selling for $30-50k ADMs. The sales manager also told us we could get $100k for the Mach-E if we sold it ourselves ?

$30-50K ADM?! That has to be an exaggeration. I still have no idea how there are so many high-end vehicles around this island with the cost of living being what it is, but I can't believe people here would be OK with spending that much on top of the base price. Did you tell the guy you know he's BSing because it's an F-150, not a white lifted Tacoma? ?

I slipped my repair by - maybe because Ford corporate was involved in this one. Dropped the car off, about six days later I get an email from Ford that they know what the issue is, have ordered the part, and hopefully in about one week I will have my vehicle back. About one hour after getting that email I get a call from the dealership saying that they're wrapping up work on it and I can pick up this afternoon. I thought I misheard but nope, apparently they either had the part or got it in next day. So that was a pleasant surprise.

Granted, it wasn't flawless. Due to some special needs on my end, Ford spoke with the dealership and said they'd give me another Mach-E as a loaner. I was surprised and also felt it was too good to be true. Sure enough, they wanted to give me a Chevy Cruze, I think it was. So I stuck with the original plan of taking the Enterprise rental that Ford was offering, and Ford was apologetic about the miscommunication.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

$30-50K ADM?! That has to be an exaggeration.

It's Hawaii, but yes it's still an exaggeration. Most dealers out here are very cognizant of what the same car will sell for in California and try not to exceed that value plus Matson Shipping. Cause we will fly there and buy it and ship. Honestly, I may have bought my last vehicle from a Hawaii dealership.

 

[MachHI]

The sales consultant was Angel who also told me last year that no matter what I would be paying an ADM on my Mach-E, I did not. I would not choose to work with him, ever. Essentially I knew it was more BS from him but it did result in me reaching out to Mark Sherlock GM of sales who called me this morning and assured me I would only pay the $5995 ADM listed on the Ford Website when I ordered the Lightning and also sent me an email so I have it in writing.
While I had him on the phone I asked about the expired tags and safety on my loaner, wish it was another Mach-E but more like an oversized golf cart called an EcoSport, and miraculously got a call from my service advisor a couple hours later. Still waiting on a part to be delivered and she told me to bring the loaner in to get the tags updated and they would pay for a lyft to and from work.

$30-50K ADM?! That has to be an exaggeration. I still have no idea how there are so many high-end vehicles around this island with the cost of living being what it is, but I can't believe people here would be OK with spending that much on top of the base price. Did you tell the guy you know he's BSing because it's an F-150, not a white lifted Tacoma? ?

Granted, it wasn't flawless. Due to some special needs on my end, Ford spoke with the dealership and said they'd give me another Mach-E as a loaner. I was surprised and also felt it was too good to be true. Sure enough, they wanted to give me a Chevy Cruze, I think it was. So I stuck with the original plan of taking the Enterprise rental that Ford was offering, and Ford was apologetic about the miscommunication.

It's Hawaii, but yes it's still an exaggeration. Most dealers out here are very cognizant of what the same car will sell for in California and try not to exceed that value plus Matson Shipping. Cause we will fly there and buy it and ship. Honestly, I may have bought my last vehicle from a Hawaii dealership.

I was thinking about finding a CA dealership that wasn't charging ADM and get it to Long Beach for shipping. Between airline tickets and shipping I'm guessing it would only be $1-2k and could save $4k in ADM ?

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

The sales consultant was Angel who also told me last year that no matter what I would be paying an ADM on my Mach-E, I did not. I would not choose to work with him, ever. Essentially I knew it was more BS from him but it did result in me reaching out to Mark Sherlock GM of sales who called me this morning and assured me I would only pay the $5995 ADM listed on the Ford Website when I ordered the Lightning and also sent me an email so I have it in writing.
While I had him on the phone I asked about the expired tags and safety on my loaner, wish it was another Mach-E but more like an oversized golf cart called an EcoSport, and miraculously got a call from my service advisor a couple hours later. Still waiting on a part to be delivered and she told me to bring the loaner in to get the tags updated and they would pay for a lyft to and from work.





I was thinking about finding a CA dealership that wasn't charging ADM and get it to Long Beach for shipping. Between airline tickets and shipping I'm guessing it would only be $1-2k and could save $4k in ADM ?

I'm doing this from memory so it may be a bit off. Right now the "standard" Hawaii Island ADM is $800 on all cars (and all dealers). That's going up to $2000 (if it's not already there). There may be exceptions for high in-demand vehicles such as the Lightning where it could be higher but I'm not sure.

Doing the math: Cost for round trip airfare to either LAX or SFO: Between $500 and $1000. Call it $500. Hotel room near the airport (SFO) $250 (safe mid to lower range hotel number). Shipping on Matson to Honolulu: $1600 ($2150 to the neighbor islands). Total cost: around $2350 excluding meals, cabs, Uber/Lyft, etc. Dealers know or should know these amounts. It can be a simple financial decision, how much is buying on the mainland going to save you? Or you may have reached the end of your rope with the local dealers and decide it's worth the hassle. The latter is where I'm at.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I was thinking about finding a CA dealership that wasn't charging ADM and get it to Long Beach for shipping. Between airline tickets and shipping I'm guessing it would only be $1-2k and could save $4k in ADM ?

This is also why I'm not considering buying another Ford BEV until the fixed pricing program kicks in in 2024.

 

[bruceski88]

Need to get my Mach-E blessed or something. Since getting it in January I've chipped the windshield 2x and have about 8 paint chips on the hood. I bought the tri-coat thinking it would be more durable but seems to chip if you look at it sideways. Thing got even worse the past week though as a pickup truck pulled in front of me on the freeway with a king size mattress and boxsprings in it. Right as I'm saying "that doesn't look tied down very well" the boxspring goes airborne I make an evasive maneuver but the wind blows the box spring into our path and scuffs the lower right bumper of the car. On Monday though we are driving through a contraflow area with a lot of cones and a dually on our left chips an orange traffic cone and sends it flying into out path with only enough warning that I start touching the brakes. I hit the cone at about 35-40mph at first I thought nothing of it as it's a plastic traffic cone but then I start randomly getting the pre-collision assist flashing and the car keeps attempting to break when there is noting in front of me. I pulled over to take a look and the resulting damage seems like it's going to get expensive. It smashed the panel in front of the pre-collision assist radar and broke the bracket that held the radar as well as messing up the air vanes. Local dealer called me about 30 minutes after dropping it off and told me to notify my insurer cause the repair costs were racking up but I've still to get a total estimate.
I started getting a warning that the "Pre-collision assist not available sensor blocked" as well as pre-collision randomly going off so I shut off the auto breaking feature to get it to the dealership.

My wife ran into a flying 5 gal empty paint bucket. Similar damage, but we were lucky as the holder that you show was not damaged. I could just remount the sensor. Just fixing the exterior damage was about $3K. Insurance paid everything and was not counted as an at fault accident.

 

[MachHI]

Finally got the Mach-E back on Friday
repairs took from October 10 - Dec 30 for hitting an orange cone

Now I will see what the resell value is and make way for the Lightning.

On an unrelated note reached out to other dealerships to do some comparative pricing and Windward Ford stated "At this time our "mark up" on the lightning is only at 9995. You'll notice that we have the lowest markup between the 3 Ford dealerships here on Oahu." ?

Cutter hasn't even bothered to respond.

 

[Guss-E 2021]

These cars are rock magnets.

The PPF industry must be in on this. I bet Ford gets all kinds of kickbacks for adding "rock magnets" to the car and funneling business to detailers. Bastards!!!

Seriously though, I really think I might have to get PPF on the front end sooner than later.

 

[Guss-E 2021]

Tri-coat paint is extremely thick and soft. I think it gets chipped easier that thin paints. I heard that it is hard to do a touch up work because of how thick the paint layer is.

You are correct my friend. I have small (1cm) cat claw style scratch on the rear hatch. Body Shop said it was not worth them doing because of the tri-coat which required them repainting the entire panel to insure a color match. I actually bought the Ford OEM Cyber Orange touch up kit for it just have not sat down and applied it yet.

 

[MachHI]

You are correct my friend. I have small (1cm) cat claw style scratch on the rear hatch. Body Shop said it was not worth them doing because of the tri-coat which required them repainting the entire panel to insure a color match. I actually bought the Ford OEM Cyber Orange touch up kit for it just have not sat down and applied it yet.

I ordered the Touch Up Direct kit for the Tri Coat metallic white, looks like I applied white out

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