Transport truck damaged my Mach-E before delivery!

[MellowJohnny]

Sigh @Ford Motor Company ...

After seven months and one week, my MME came in yesterday to my dealer (Santa Margarita Ford here in California). My appointment to pick it up was today at 3pm but now the dealer will need the MME until Friday for body shop repair. I'm booked Friday so will have to pick it up on Saturday.

What the actual F**K! To say I'm disappointed is an understatement.

The damage is on the nose is to the right and left of the pony. Here is the worst one:

My Dad was an insurance adjuster for over 30 years and, though he's been gone since 2013, his advise all my life on new cars would have been, "Don't accept it. Even painted it will never look right."

I'm going to demand that @Ford Motor Company replace the nose with the pony vs. living with it being painted. Anything else I should do?

Certainly sucks, but it could have been worse!

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/damaged-in-transit-to-the-tune-of-20k.18432/

If it were me I'd begrudgingly get it painted and enjoy the car. I refused delivery, but the damage was far far greater than yours.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

I understand how you feel. Mine was delivered with the front lower-trim piece gouged from taking it on/off a transport ramp a little. The dealer had it fixed the following day, let the paint cure, and then I picked up the car the day after (so a 2-day delay in delivery).

This sort of thing happens enough that there is an established process for it.

As the car works through the transportation system to delivery, each party receiving the car is supposed to check it before accepting. Whoever has possession of the car (whether they did the damage or not) when the damage is discovered is responsible for the repair costs.

The dealer is REQUIRED to attempt a repair using the lowest cost option (e.g. if sanding and painting is cheaper than ordering a replacement part then they are REQUIRED to attempt this). The party responsible for the damage has to eat the bill.

The car MUST be in showroom new condition when delivered to you. A car which still shows evidence of damage is not acceptable. If after attempting a repair, you can see evidence of the damage, then they will order a replacement part. But that replacement part will ALSO need to be painted. They will only do this if the repaired part still shows evidence of past damage.

The damage always looks worse than it really is because it's a plastic part. Once sanded down the gouge will be minor and easily filled. Once repainted you will almost certainly NOT be able to tell (I could not tell that my car was repaired ... it absolutely looked perfect.)

 

[MachMEIA]

Mine was damaged but not this bad. You could see where the transport companies tie down strap flapped against the pains and where someone rubbed right up against it. I didn’t notice it until I got home and had it under better lighting. Luckily it wasn’t bad enough that it needed a repaint. I took it to a detailed and he buffed it out along with correcting all the other paint issues from the factory. Looks better than when I got it!

I told the dealer in my followup call to talk to the shop guys and have them pay closer attention. The paint issues should have been found and there was still dust from Mexico all over the vehicle.

 

[EdD323]

Found out late yesterday (after my post) the name of the body shop and they're a top-notch one. The dealer sales manager also called to "talk me off the ledge" as I was pretty agitated. I now have confidence the 'nose grill' will be painted well and look good.

I am looking forward to a Rapid Red Premium AWD ER delivered from the same dealer in a couple months. That’s why I am extremely interested in how they deal with you! I can imagine how frustrated you are. It sounds like the damage was in transit, hence not from the dealer, and they are making a good faith effort to correct it. So far, Santa Margarita Ford has treated me well. So far. The guy I am working with, Matt, is EV friendly and ordered one for himself. We’ll see. I’m going to put a fake grill wrap on the nose anyway, but I won’t accept anything less than a zero defect car either.

 

[sborsch]

I am looking forward to a Rapid Red Premium AWD ER delivered from the same dealer in a couple months. That’s why I am extremely interested in how they deal with you! I can imagine how frustrated you are. It sounds like the damage was in transit, hence not from the dealer, and they are making a good faith effort to correct it. So far, Santa Margarita Ford has treated me well. So far. The guy I am working with, Matt, is EV friendly and ordered one for himself. We’ll see. I’m going to put a fake grill wrap on the nose anyway, but I won’t accept anything less than a zero defect car either.

Yep...Santa Margarita Ford is a decent dealer. The only thing that does get to me is this: I have to be the one who initiates 99% of all the communications. One would think that — after the recall, a month delay in production, the MME being damaged in transit and (as of today) one week at the body shop — the dealer would be all over me like white on rice.

Can't help but come to the conclusion that this dealer, like pretty much every dealer out there, is doing the bare minimum they can in the hope that some of us will get frustrated or mad and cancel our order. That way they could flip it with a $5k to $10k ADM!

Like I said at the outset, this experience has soured me on @Ford Motor Company a bit.

 

[sborsch]

UPDATE Tuesday, 8/2/2022:

• Yes, today was formerly the "worst case" scenario on getting my MME delivered, but it is STILL not at the dealership and probably won't be there for 1-3 more days (at this point I have near-zero trust I'll ever see the damn vehicle).
• My sales guy—who is apparently now putting forth some effort to get this transaction to finally close—has told me that "the body shop is still waiting on the front camera" (the sensor?) so who knows when THAT will come in.
• My sales guy also indicated he'd call the body shop Wednesday (tomorrow) morning and possibly have the car ready Thursday, August 4th. I told him last week that we cannot do it on Thursday due to prior commitments, so it looks like Friday might work?

What a clusterf**k. Yes, it's likely that the body shop didn't get around to the car for awhile, had to order parts and paint them, and when the camera/sensor comes in install everything back together.

When I inspect the MME I hope I don't find other damages.

Also, in a world where FedEx can deliver next day, why does a sensor part take God knows how long to appear? Am I being unreasonable that "minor damage" to be repaired should take 8-10 days?

In any case 99% of the enthusiasm I felt when ordering the MME is gone.

 

[Pioneer74]

When my F150 arrived at the dealer, the back bumper was all scraped up. Both end caps needed to be painted and the plastic top piece needed to be replaced. It took 2 weeks to get the part.

These days things are taking longer. And, I hate to say it, but if you're not excited about picking up the car when it's finally done, I think you should walk away. You'll never be happy with it. Every time something minor goes wrong it will bring you back to what is happening now.

My wife leased an Edge about 2 years ago. I was signing the paperwork when she was with the salesman going over everything. It had some electronic issues, that had I known about them, I never would have signed until the issues were fixed. We left that day with a service appointment. The first month we owned it the dealer had it 3 weeks.

Ask her about that Edge and she'll tell you it's the best vehicle she's ever owned, but she can't wait to get rid of it.

 

[sborsch]

When my F150 arrived at the dealer, the back bumper was all scraped up. Both end caps needed to be painted and the plastic top piece needed to be replaced. It took 2 weeks to get the part.

These days things are taking longer. And, I hate to say it, but if you're not excited about picking up the car when it's finally done, I think you should walk away. You'll never be happy with it. Every time something minor goes wrong it will bring you back to what is happening now.

My wife leased an Edge about 2 years ago. I was signing the paperwork when she was with the salesman going over everything. It had some electronic issues, that had I known about them, I never would have signed until the issues were fixed. We left that day with a service appointment. The first month we owned it the dealer had it 3 weeks.

Ask her about that Edge and she'll tell you it's the best vehicle she's ever owned, but she can't wait to get rid of it.

Nah...not gonna walk away. Price is $2k less before price increase and 2023 models will go up even higher. I'll get the car and see how I feel as some time has gone by. Can always flip it six months down the road.

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