Damage on new delivery

[BobbyMarks]

Take the offer.. Remember, when dashes are installed at the factory, they go into the vehicle as one unit. I seriously doubt the dealer can remove it in one piece.. they don't have the machinery to slide it in and attach.

Do not have the dash replaced unless absolutely necessary. Think of all the nuts and bolts and if everything doesn't go together just right.. squeak/rattle city!!

Agree, BUT I had my A/C evaporator replaced twice during the same job. No squeaks/rattles...... no nothing.

BM

PS: I take the offer after seeing the huge dent!!!

 

[SickSix]

Out of curiosity, I called a different dealer to get a price quote on just the parts to replace the dash... $2150 (retail) before tax. I know the dealer wouldn't pay retail if they were to replace the dash, but I know true cost is still a lot more than $500. I'm guessing labor would be another $2000 at least, so a $500 offer to make me go away is really low. Definitely going to see if they will come up on the offer now, we'll see this afternoon when I go back over.

 

[blwnsmoke]

Out of curiosity, I called a different dealer to get a price quote on just the parts to replace the dash... $2150 (retail) before tax. I know the dealer wouldn't pay retail if they were to replace the dash, but I know true cost is still a lot more than $500. I'm guessing labor would be another $2000 at least, so a $500 offer to make me go away is really low. Definitely going to see if they will come up on the offer now, we'll see this afternoon when I go back over.

Ford's cost is far less then that. Based on that retail, dealer cost would be roughly $1,500. Take the same markup off that at a minimum for Ford's cost and they are in the $800-$900 price at the most. It would also be warranty labor rates, not retail labor. $80 an hour roughly.. Id say a good estimate would be a $1,500 repair out of Ford's pocket.

See if they will give you a Premium ESP instead.. much better value IMO then a check.

 

[182RG]

Let shop monkeys tear it out and replace? No.

 

[cwescapexlt4x4]

well, seeing how "large" the dent is.... not sure i'd really be pushing too hard and expect Ford to pay.

 

[Tech By Trade]

Make the buggers pay, They would bend you over the barrel for a dime. You know it.

 

[SickSix]

Well, I was able to negotiate enough for them to throw in 4 free oil changes and tire rotations, 10% my next parts order, plus the original $500. Not great, but not too bad either. Thanks everyone for your opinions and suggestions.

I also talked to a guy at a body shop (not at the dealer) and he said he may be able to fix the dent for about $50.

 

[blwnsmoke]

Well, I was able to negotiate enough for them to throw in 4 free oil changes and tire rotations, 10% my next parts order, plus the original $500. Not great, but not too bad either. Thanks everyone for your opinions and suggestions.

I also talked to a guy at a body shop (not at the dealer) and he said he may be able to fix the dent for about $50.

I wasn't thinking about that but I bet you a paintless dent removal guy could get that out. Put a little hot glue on it, little puller attachment, pop it out and then peel the glue right off. Had 6 little dents pulled out of my truck that way.. the glue peels right off after so it wouldn't cause any damage.

 

[sheltonfilms]

I also talked to a guy at a body shop (not at the dealer) and he said he may be able to fix the dent for about $50.

DO NOT DO IT.

The dash is a "foam in place" shell. The outer skin is heat formed with excess material cut away. Then placed in a device that "pre cuts" the underside of where the passenger air bag goes.

This skin and a plastic substrate is placed in a "foam in place" tooling press and foam is injected between the two.

This could be a manufacturing defect where not enough foam filled the area or there was a really hard hit to the area. I've seen both and the lack of foam was the higher occurring defect.

Either way the foam is compressed or there is a lack of. The only way you could fix this is to inject a filler material into the dash between the skin and substrate. This would leave a hole and if you put to much filler material in you're going to have a bulge.

I've seen this process when I was the ****pit (dash) engineer at Kia.

The only way we repaired these defects was to replace the dash panel. We eventually switched to replacing the whole dash to insure higher quality.

Trust me if we could have repaired the defect in place we would. It takes time to replace a dash even at the plant. Some guys could do it in less than 2 hours (only a select few could do it this quick). That's removing a door, seats, and center console along with draining coolant and recovering refrigerant.


Save 50 bucks and a headache and just leave it alone.

For more on FIP see the link below:

http://www.epw.com/custom-rim-tooling-capabilities/fip-tooling/