I got a trade assist from ford for my truck that had a piston slap engine (99 F-150 SC XLT 5.4L). The dealer I bought it from originally had dragged his feet for the three preceding months, and still had not asked for the offer. I finally had to contact ford myself. Their offer was a $2,500 trade assist, or replace the engine and give me a 5/60 esp warranty. I went down the trade assist road because I didn't want my first new vehicle to turn out to be something that had been torn down and put back together.

The idea was that the ford rep would ask the dealer to sell me the new truck at invoice. Sounded good to me - I just had to "deal" with the dealership. My original dealer offered me $16,500 in August for the 99 (12,000 miles, imaculate, very pretty truck, bad motor). I was insulted. They said the purpose of the trade assist was to compensate for the vehicle's diminished value. Compensate whom? I pointed out that the vehicle was under warranty, and that the engine would be replaced by ford after the trade. I wrote a letter of complaint to the dealership general manager, and copied the BBB, state attorney general, and the ford customer complaint department listed in the owner's manual. I haven't received a reply in a month.

After I got the low offer for my truck, I went to another dealership, one where a friend of a friend works as a salesman. They (namely the sales manager) told me they would order me a new truck, without any obligation on my part, and give me between $18,500 and $19,000 for my old one. I placed an order.

When I went in to take delivery of the new truck, the used car manager said they'd give me only $17,500. Shame on them for lying to me. But then again, if lying was illegal, every car dealer in the United States would be in jail. Naturally, I complained, and they chalked it up to market conditions. They said they could buy one like it at the dealer auction for $15,000 to $16,000, and that it was a sweet deal for me to be trading up two model years for $4,000. It was the same BS I had heard at the other dealership. I started to walk away, but I decided that I didn't want to deal with replacing the engine in the 99. It had been long enough coming for me to get this big problem resolved.

I got them up to $17,750. Add in the $2,500 trade assist and I got $20,250 for my '99. Oh, and I bought the new one for $500 over invoice at $24,065. The only equipment differences between these two trucks is that the 2001 XLT comes standard with a leather wrapped steering wheel, a CD palyer, and the overhead console. The remaining differences between the 99 and 01 XLTs had been purchased as options on my old one (remote, 4 wheel disc abs, etc.)

So, from my experience with this, here is the bottom line. I bought a new 99 sc 5.4 with a piston slap motor, drove it for 14 months and put 14,000 miles on it, got a $2,500 trade assist from ford, and spent another $4,000 to trade up to the same truck two years newer. Plus all the BS of having a dishonest service department from the get go.

By the way, the new truck is much quieter and smoother. It has 500 miles on it now. So far just a little tick in the right side of the engine. I've heard from this web site that that may be normal injector tick. I guess we'll see.

I believe that ford knew what was going on with this deal from the moment I complained. Ford will tell you that they can only ask a dealer to do certain things, but they do have the power to influence dealer decisions in a major way. No dealer wants to look bad in ford's eyes. When it comes to money, ford gets the dealerships to do their dirty work, and in the process the company doesn't look nearly as bad. They've been in bed together for all these years, so why would either turn their back on the other?


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01 F-150 SC, XLT, 5.4L, Medium Toredore Red, short bed, tow package, black tubular Ford running boards, rear slider, 3.55 ls, bug deflector, etc.


[This message has been edited by 505 (edited 10-10-2000).]

 

505-

I'm assuming based on the prices that you are talking about a 2wd? I have a 99 4wd with slap and leaking head gasket, and the dealer has never offered me a trade assist. Did they offer you that just because you complained? I wanted to trade mine in on a 2001 SuperCrew, and they would only give me $18000 trade, on a truck that wholesales for about $22k...

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firstimeFord
99 SC 4x4 5.4 3.73LS

 

Yes, firstimeford, mine is a 4x2. My trade assist was offered to me by a ford employee (I asked for but never did get anything in writing from ford). The dealership only promised to ask for the trade assist from ford, and so when they didn't deliver on their promise, I contacted ford myself. Your best bet is to talk with ford directly if you can find out who is the right person. I got the name and number from the service manager where I bought the truck. That was like pulling teeth! Ford doesn't really want to be contacted directly by customers; they seem to leave the dirty work to the dealerships. The one I dealt with was the regional service rep who is based in CO, but seemed focused on NM. I don't know if she covers any other states too.

I share your frustration with being offered a shameful trade-in value for your truck. I think that because my truck had some other problems with the door windows and related rattles that were separate from the piston slap, that may have played into their decision to make a trade assist offer. The ford rep had looked at the truck's warranty repair history, and so she knew that I had taken it in several times for different stuff. The piston slap problem was the big thing that sort of pushed this over the edge. I hope that helps.

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01 F-150 SC, XLT, 5.4L, Medium Toredore Red, short bed, tow package, black tubular Ford running boards, rear slider, 3.55 ls, bug deflector, etc.

 

Can you say Ford/Firestone are in enough hot water to boil enough eggs to feed Asia. seems to me if enough ppl filed lawsuits against fords bad service things would change. Or do we have to die to get something done?

 

Thanks for the info 505, I am still trying to trade mine in as I don't want a "remanufactured" engine in my new truck. I told them if I had known I would end up with a rebuilt engine in my new truck, I would not have paid $30k for it! I think I'm crazy trying to buy another Ford if they depreciate that much, but there doesn't seem to be anything else out there that compares. I have had 6 previous Toyotas and never had ANY warranty work needed, and I keep trying to like the Tundra, but I am a previous T100 owner and don't see much difference.

Hopefully I can get a dealership to give me more trade once I get the new engine, otherwise I will have to sell to some poor, unsuspecting person, which I really don't want to do.

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firstimeFord
99 SC 4x4 5.4 3.73LS