2024 Mustang GT Quality Control

[RedSuxH8R]

Hey guys hope your all doing well. I just picked up my 2024 gt in mt82 and before signing the paperwork, I checked for the notorious panel gaps etc... upon inspection, the car was a total mess. I mean there was crack by the usb dash(interior) with scuff marks all over along with bumper being little misaligned with rear bumper having scratches as well as front splitter. Because I waited 4months, I just signed it and left the dealership. Waking up this morning, now I'm kinda upset, what you guys think?

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[DevilDog]

Sorry to hear your car arrived in that condition. If it were me, I'd have the scuff marks and scratches taken care of at a body shop or by a professional detailer. Sorry, I don't trust dealers for body work. I've been using the same body shop for for over 20 years. They do a ton of custom work. Their painter is absolutely amazing. I've even had him touch up scratches on our daily drivers. I wouldn't let anyone else touch my cars.

 

[richardmauro]

Just bought a DH and the issues I hear about are a turn off in these days- where is the engineering and quality control- ordering a new C8 and some of its issues are scary.

 

[DevilDog]

Just bought a DH and the issues I hear about are a turn off in these days- where is the engineering and quality control- ordering a new C8 and some of its issues are scary.

I've had problems over the years with just about every brand of car I've owned. Chevy, Ford, Mopar, Pontiac, etc. I had to have the lifters replaced on my '19 Z06 with 3,000 miles on the odometer. Admittedly, it gets frustrating at times because I take really good care of our cars. The oil had been changed 8 times on my Z06 when I sold it with 4,000 miles on the odometer. ( I know. Overkill, but that's just me.) I don't remember having as many issues back in the 60's and 70's, but cars today are much more technical. I have to go back to how cars are hyped to the public. Countless mini-teases and videos on how a particular make is the latest and greatest thing since sliced bread. While cars are much better today, they're also many more things to go wrong with them from a technological standpoint. If you're going to hype your vehicle as the latest and greatest, you'd better make sure you have all your ducks in a row before you sell it to the motoring public.

 

[Timry2]

I was one of the lucky few, the most i came across was a door seal not completely installed. All else was perfect

 

[smurfslayer]

Hey guys hope your all doing well. I just picked up my 2024 gt in mt82 and before signing the paperwork, I checked for the notorious panel gaps etc... upon inspection, the car was a total mess. I mean there was crack by the usb dash(interior) with scuff marks all over along with bumper being little misaligned with rear bumper having scratches as well as front splitter. Because I waited 4months, I just signed it and left the dealership. Waking up this morning, now I'm kinda upset, what you guys think?

I want to emphasize up front that I’m not trying to rub salt in an open wound, and I don’t mean to throw shade on you, and I don’t mean this as a personal attack. What I’m about to type is harsh, but should serve as a warning to other buyers / people with orders pending.

You should never have taken delivery of the vehicle, because now you own and are responsible for every problem. You have to get them all fixed on your dime and your time. Your last sentence says it all, you fell victim to a tried and true stealership strategy of wearing you down. In all my years of buying vehicles, the only transaction that was relatively painless was my 2017 Raptor, bought at MSRP from a locally owned stealership in Luray, VA. I did almost everything by text. I spent only 1 hour inside, if that and part of that was waiting for extra keys I bought. I spent 90 minutes on pictures, test drive, more pictures, inspection of known faults etc. I’m sure they were glad to be rid of us, but at least my truck didn’t die on the trip home.

We have the ‘what to look for check list’ out there for people to use - if you don’t use them, it’s like complaining about being sent to jail for speeding 120mph in a 30 zone because you didn’t pay attention to your speedometer, radar detector, tachometer, etc.

When your delivery is sub par, the most correct answer is to refuse delivery or to sign for the vehicle, tell the stealership to remedy the deficiencies and let you know when they are complete. They will be completed quickly and with minimal fuss - zero fuss to you.

Walk away. If you are absolutely unable, you develop a “we fix” list with the selling stealership. This is a subpar option. Don’t do this. Walk away instead. But, if you do this, make sure EVERYTHING IS DOCUMENTED on the we owe/we fix list. Don’t try to rationalize why you should go through with the process, this is a business transaction and if the asset you’re buying isn’t as expected, don’t go through with it.

Test drive it. Thoroughly. Even if you know you like it, do it anyway. Mistakes happen and you don’t want to be the guy who drives off the lot with a coolant hose that isn’t clamped, spewing coolant as you drive until you’re empty, overheating within 40 miles <-- this happened to a Raptor owner who confidently strolled in, signed papers, took the keys and drove off, no pre purchase inspection whatsoever. Several in fact.

We’ve all overlooked stuff, me included. Before I bought my Rap, about 10 years prior I drove off the lot in a car with a curbed wheel. luckily for me, they covered it.

If you ordered the car and you’ve been waiting on it, don’t be impatient. Tell the dealership to fix the issues FIRST. They will do it and they will do it much more quickly and with less drama because there’s sales money on the line. When it is repaired, fixed or updated :

Inspect the whole car again! Lot porters have been moving your car back and forth. Lot porters love to play around, especially with v8’s.

Now, inevitably, there will be a clarion call of people who will proclaim they’ve bought dozens of cars by just showing up, signing, driving off or had multiple vehicles delivered and never even bother to check them. I’ll bet at least some of them are being truthful.

You shouldn’t care about them, you need to do what’s best for you. If you don’t mind having your time and money wasted, more power to you. Go forth and live life with no judgment from me (not really). But, if you don’t like having your time and money wasted, put in some time up front to go over the car thoroughly before you sign and drive off.

This is a car, you’re not signing your life away to marriage. You can get another car.

 

[SSuperDave]

Smurfslayer speaks the truth. You have the right to ask that things be corrected to your standards if it is possible to do so. I personally cannot understand why, after a year of production, we are still seeing these issues. I can only assume that a combination of complacent union labor, supervised by those who have been told to avoid stirring the pot by holding the rank and file accountable is to blame.
I've had sales bring a car to service many times asking for something to be corrected before a customer will take delivery, and we have done so. And if its after hours, they issue a customer what we call a We Owe, which is a written document oulining what the dealer owes to the customer. To me, that is same as cash, I do the work and we bill sales.
My personal advice is to be persistent, but polite. Show your ass and you will get exaclty what you deserve and not one thing more. Something that I might have done as a courtesy to someone else, you will never see.
And regarding Raptors, during the pandemic when they were bringing $10-15K over sticker, we had a guy come in and make a deal, and when he got to finance, wanted to change the deal and demanded multiple add ons at no charge, and told the F&I guy that he would not sign until his conditions were agreed to. He said "y'all think about this and I'll be back at 2 tomorrow for my truck." Whe he got back at 2, the truck was gone, sold to the next person on the list, who had realistic demands.

 

[smurfslayer]

And regarding Raptors, during the pandemic when they were bringing $10-15K over sticker, we had a guy come in and make a deal, and when he got to finance, wanted to change the deal and demanded multiple add ons at no charge, and told the F&I guy that he would not sign until his conditions were agreed to. He said "y'all think about this and I'll be back at 2 tomorrow for my truck." Whe he got back at 2, the truck was gone, sold to the next person on the list, who had realistic demands.

And this is the rub negotiating on “allocation” vehicles. Shady, money grubbing folks will cancel the deal at the drop of a hat.

And they will drop the hat. In this case, it was over negotiating the market, but in all reality, he probably couldn’t afford the extra $$$ over MSRP and decided to self torpedo. Seeing a lot of Raptor R’s for sale now as the shine wears off and 11mpg reality sets in, along with $1400/month payments. The guys who dropped 30k over better love the truck because they’re not getting any more than 15k over right now and likely not even that.

Dark Horse is still being advertised at over MSRP by the high volume urban stealerships, and they can keep them. Someone with fúck you money will buy them, but I didn’t make it this far in life by burning money.

Lots of Raptor buyers at or close to MSRP during the scamdemic era had their trucks sold out from under them as I’m sure some of us have here. Or ordered them, to have the truck arrive and have “surprise ADM added” - or at least tried.

I wish Ford would pull future allocations from these scumbags.

One last thing I’d like to add on your own pre-purchase inspection. I asked my salesbot to have service put the car on a lift and do the traditional multi-point type inspection - look for leaks, loose connections, bolts, hoses, clamps, unsecured wires. They did and sent me a video. Even at (I think it was) 4800 under MSRP, they made enough to take a 3 week vacation to Tahiti and have money left over.

On the Raptor I crawled under myself and took my own pictures underneath ;-). The Raptor dealer was top notch, zero drama, no hard push on extras, soft ask on the ESP, soft ask on financing and that was it. Dark Horse wasn’t as pleasant for sure. I had a hard sell on extras and negotiated them down but not completely away. Paramount in my mind was, they could walk away from me and get someone to buy that car so I was torn between being a hard @ss negotiator, and holding the line, or accepting the pretty damn good deal for the car, just not perfect. I’m sure others out there have negotiated better than me, but again I got 4800 under MSRP so I walked away with the car I wanted, and they made a tidy profit. So all things considered: Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good or excellent.

Thanks @SSuperDave for the added insight !

 

[SSuperDave]

Well, the Raptor guy agreed to the price, then wanted us to send it to a local detailer dor ceramic, which costs $2,500 there (one of the techs said that buyers buddy owns that shop), We offered to send it out to another shop for $1,495 and he would not agree, obviously trying to steer it to his friend. He also wanted a $2K set of tires put on it and wanted to keep the takeoffs. Combined with just generally being rude and condescending to everyone he encountered, it was enough to cost him the truck. The next guy bought it with a smile and has been a good service customer as well. This was not a customer order, but one we received for stock, so no one had a claim on it.

At the end of the day, we are all trying to do a job and make money, and its galling when someone tries to dictate how much is "fair" for us to make. We can sell or not sell, and I take no issue with anyone who negotiates, its the smart thing to do. People raise hell when we ask $10K over for a hot item, but never say shit when we sell something for under sticker. College freshman economics teaches supply and demand, and I bet most of had that course. I don't understand why someone woudl pay that markup, they must want it pretty badly (more than I ever would)

We had one guy recently trying to trade an Expedition Max that he paid $10K over for and had financed about $7k worth of upside down from his last truck. He is now $37K!! unside down! At some point you just have to ride one into the ground and start over.
One of the finance guys told me he's had several people with payments in the $1600-1800 range for 72 to 84 months.. Its hard to believe that financial institutions are buying these notes.

I think there is a bubble fixing to burst soon...

 

[SSuperDave]

If any manufacturer is unhappy about added markups, believe me its not for your benefit. They sell us vehicles for a set price and don't give two fucks whether we make money or or sell at a loss. They are just pissed that extra profit is being made and they aren't seeing any of it. If there is anything that I've learned in over 5 years of working for Ford is that they don't care about the customer or the dealers. Don't kid yourself otherwise.

The easy solution for them would be to produce more vehicles. If they ran Flat Rock at anything approaching a normal production rate, there woud be plenty of cars and prioces would drop (ther's the old supply and demand thing again) They were shut down for one entire month this summer! What about all the people who ordered cars and either didn't get them or took forever? Where is Fords concern for them?

 

[RedSuxH8R]

I appreciate all of your responses.. I just wish ford would do a better job at QC.

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