What to watch out for when taking delivery

[jenjc]

Hello everyone,

We expect to take delivery on our Ice Blue Metallic FFE some time this week. Yay!

The dealer doesn't have vast experience in selling FFEs and has acquired the car from another dealership in Lousiana.

From your experiences taking delivery, what are the sorts of things I should look out for that might result in an "oops"?

Thanks!

Jenny

 

[davideos]

Very good question. Here's my list...some from experience, and some from this forum.
- Check the mileage. If there is excessive miles, ask the dealer to knock off .50/mile.
- If this was a demo car, the warranty starts when the car is put in service. So if it has been on the lot for several months, your warranty may be a bit less than you expect. See if they will add an extended warranty at no cost.
- Check for small damage. After I took delivery of mine, I noticed what looks like someone closing the passenger door on a seatbelt buckle. There's a small dent and scrapped paint in the door jamb. Also, there is a barely noticeable scratch on the emergency brake as well as the clear plastic covering the gauges. Just take your time and look it over really good.
-12V battery check the voltage with the car off. The battery delivered with the car is not of very good quality and if it sat on a lot for awhile, may have been overly depleted. With everything off, you should read somewhere between 12.5 and 12.8. If it is around 12.0, its life is somewhere around half gone.
- Make sure all your accessories are present: A stack of Manuals, 2 keys, floor mats, air compressor with can of fix-a-flat attached, the 120V charging adapter, and a plastic tray in the center arm rest.
- Front License plate centering. Some dealers install a front license plate holder. Although there is a dimple in the bumper where these holes go, the dealers don't always do a good job with centering. If you don't intend to use the front license plate, ask your dealer to not put one on if it comes without one.

That's all I can think of.

Best Regards.

 

[WattsUp]

Make sure they deliver the car fully charged, so that you can actually drive it away without waiting 3 hours for a charge at the dealership (assuming they have a charging station).

Sometimes, the dealers are so used to gasoline cars, it doesn't occur to them to charge the FFE before delivery. They may not realize that the car might only have tens of miles of range available if it has been significantly discharged, and perhaps not enough for you to drive home.

 

[WattsUp]

After I took delivery of mine, I noticed what looks like someone closing the passenger door on a seatbelt buckle.

Haha... same thing probably happened to me (driver's door though). I caught the scratch during delivery and they touched up the paint on the spot. Since the scratch was hidden inside the door jamb, it was fine. I was more concerned about the exposed metal and wanted it protected from the elements.

It's kinda strange though. Since owning this car for nearly two years, I've never had any trouble with the seatbelt buckles having a tendency of being caught in the door. Never happens.

 

[airborne]

I second the checking of all accessories present, expecially coming from another dealership. The more hands that touch it, the more things tend to end up missing. We only recieved one key, and when we went back to have the other key made/programmed the key blade in the Fob had not been cut, so another return trip to the dealer.

Get a good timeline of when the releasing dealer will provide the MSO to the aquiring dealer. We did not recieve our permanant plate and registration for more that 2 months. Normally, I would not care but here in AZ, we could not get our Alternative fuel plate which allows single occupancy HOV lane access. Here is what happened: leased the car on Friday, funded by Ford Credit on Monday, 10 days later our dealer paid releasing dealer for car, 2 months later our dealer still had not recieved MSO. Without MSO, the dealer cant register vehicle. Hopefully you dealer paid for the car up front and they already have the MSO.

 

[davideos]

Since owning this car for nearly two years, I've never had any trouble with the seatbelt buckles having a tendency of being caught in the door. Never happens.

I never have a problem with it either!

 

[EVA]

Make sure you get the right kind of plates. In Illinois we have EL plates - for electric cars. They are completely different from standard plates. Research what your state has - don't let the dealer give you standard plates if you have electric vehicle plates. Trust me, to get them changed later is a lot more work than you'll ever want to put in.

Inspect the paint very closely. Look for any scuffs or scratches. The dealer will fix them. Walk all the way around the car, look everywhere at the paint. The good news, if they don't have the car charged - you have time to really study the car.

Spend all the time necessary to learn My Ford Touch - it is a pain in the rear to learn at first. Spend the 30 - 60 minutes they count to teach you how to use it. Pair your phone with them in the car. Make sure you have NAV if you purchased it. That is an SD card they plug in. Turn NAV on and use it.

The air compressor and charging kit are all in the bottom of the organizer under a fairly well hidden panel in the rear. It is easy to miss the tab to open it.

 

[studio460]

I literally crawled around my car on my hands and knees to inspect for any paint damage on the lower fenders/bumpers from curbs, etc. I didn't have a lot of choice since local inventory on my preferred color/options seemed to be extremely low among all surrounding dealers.

When I almost bought a black FFE two months ago (later, I changed my mind to Oxford White), I looked at three or four black FFEs on the lot, and all three had a hood alignment issue. If you're bound to accept the car as-is (due to availability), you can at least use these kinds of nits as additional negotiating tools.

Also, when buying a brand new car, just before you sign is the best time to negotiate for "free" stuff. Ask the salesperson to "throw in" some accessories. I got mine to throw in a full set of splash guards (retail: $112, plus tax). Ask for the charging bag or cargo net, too (my salesperson gave me his personal cargo net). You can also ask for a big discount (i.e., dead-cost-to-dealer) on any Ford parts you may need/want. Sales people are often in a good mood once they have the sale, and often comply with these types of requests.