New 2024 Dark Horse Premium and was told it was repainted

[DRKHRSE Hopeful]

Hello Everyone, I'm looking for a good number to call Ford Corporate... I tried to directly contact the Ford Motor Company user on this forum but haven't heard anything from them. Maybe I can't do that but I wanted to try. I bought a new 2024 Dark Horse Premium online from a dealer in Phoenix AZ. I live in Vancouver WA. I bought the car late Dec 2023 and took ownership when it was dropped off at my house. Okay you might want to grab a drink of some sorts because this post might be a little long. Sorry about that. Just looking for advice on what I should do next or just live with it. Thanks for reading the post.
Hello FMC,
This might not be the correct way to contact Ford, but I'm giving it a try. My name is Tim Frimberger, I live in Vancouver WA. I had a 2024 Dark Horse on order from a local Ford dealer back in Jul 2023. Got a call from them just before Thanksgiving saying they had a couple of Dark Horses and wondered if I wanted to come in a take a look at them... I said yes because I wanted to see one in person and they are the first in my area to get one in. I just wanted to look at them take some photos of the Blue Ember one on my way down to the coast for the weekend. I had ask my salesman to see if he could get pricing for another set of wheels for a Dark Horse with the Handling Package... So when I showed up, I texted him I was there and he said he was finishing up a Team meeting so I walked into the showroom floor and waited while I looked over the Dark Horse that was in there. Anyway, they tried to sell this car with three separate offers before I finally just left. Before the last offer, my salesman Manager came out and chatted with me about the car and then brought up my order. All along since I first place the order for my car, I was told I had an allocation for it. Now he's telling that I my order doesn't get picked up before the end of December that I would probably be cancelled since Ford said they were cutting their allocations down by 4...
Sorry for this long story but I wanted to say what I kind of been going through. Anyway, since I've been on this forum I've seen folks searching across the country for deals.... Well I found only one car that had the exact same options I wanted on my original order but with my secondary color from Camelback Ford in Phoenix, AZ. I had actually found this car in September when I started searching. I reached out to them and had a rude salesmen. The website said the car was still in transit, so I asked him if they had an ETA of arrival, and he said he couldn't get into the computer to give me that information. Then I asked about how they handle buyers from other states and that I was calling from Washington state.. He said he has list of people wanting to look at it and test drive so consider it sold... So I let it go and didn't think about again.. at least for a while..I kept an eye on it and it was in Transit for a very long time. One time while I was on the site one of those Text Messaging box popped up and said, Ask us about shipping.. Okay let me get back on track here. Anyway after the Manager said that my order would most likely be cancelled I started looking again. Went back to Camelback Ford and they still had the car but it was finally in stock... They were asking $93,140.00. The Text Message box popped again talking about shipping so I went ahead and asked, IF I was to purchase a Dark Horse Mustang from you, how much would it cost to ship it to Vancouver WA... They ask some more questions and said they'll reach to a Transportation company and get a price. 2 minutes later, and I get a phone call from a salesman name Gregg. We started talking and he said he'll get a quote and send it to me. He called me back and said he sent it and I opened the email and it was for $105,140.00. Shipping was $1500.00 I told him I wasn't going to pay that price for the car.... He got a little miffed when I said that and I told him I had a car on order already for $5000 above MSRP which was the cheapest anyone around here would do. He said he couldn't do $5000 but that his boss was working on offering someone $7500 above and if he could send me that offer. I said, an offer for which one, the $7500 or $5000 and he replied the $7500 and that he couldn't go the $5000. I said well thanks for trying but I'll look else where. No more then 30 seconds I get another call from Phoenix and this time I thought he said he was the Director of Sales and his name was Henry... He said one of his salesman said I was interested the car but for $5000 above... He said if he was to do this deal would we have a deal.... I said you would have a very very interested party for it. Next thing I know I'm getting another offer for $5000 above but a ton of addons. Anyway, we worked it out to where I wanted to be and said I would buy the car. So Purchased the car and had it shipped in an enclosed trailer. It was delivered Jan 2nd. I'm very happy with it... I took it to a shop that installs PPF and does Ceramic coating and detailing. They've been in business a long time and are very good. So while we were talking about what I wanted done and looking at the car, the guy said he hated to say this but the car has been repainted on the rear quarter panel of the drivers side. I am not a paint expert but he was really sure it was and also showed me overspray within the gas tank door. He said to take to a body shop to have them look. So I took it to three body shops, two of them were Ford and one was Ford Certified Body Shop... All three of them said the same thing that it was repainted. One shop said whoever did it, did an okay job but the other two wasn't impressed.... I reached out to Camelback Ford to ask if they did any body work it from maybe damage during the Transportation and Gregg insisted it was never worked on other then washing and detailing it. One of the Ford body shop the guy who looked it over said it could cost $3000-6000 or more to fix it correctly... but that Ford probably wouldn't fix it. Then he mentioned something about looking into seeing if Arizona has a 90 day return if the isn't what wanted... Well I told him I didn't want to do that because I might not be able to order another Dark Horse Premium with the Handling Package at the same price I paid for mine.
Again my apologies on the lengthy message.. Can you give me any advise on what my options are in my situation?

Thanks for lending me your ear.

Tim

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[Lidsoff]

Going to be blunt with you about what I know but do take it with a grain of salt. If it was done before dealer possession they may not even know. As PDI on cars is done in a quick hurry and techs don't care enough as long as it's good for the road. On the other hand, if it was carrier damage and was reported by the dealer you bought your vehicle from there would be a sense of a " paper trail ". Since the bill would be pushed up to Ford in a manner. I wouldn't be surprised if the dealer you bought from tried to weasel out of taking responsibility in such a case and isn't going to tell you. Hopefully, Ford will listen. If not when you get that survey from them if you haven't already filled it out BOMB em'. You'll get a phone call and what you need from the dealer most likely after that.

 

[MichaelKael]

I’d go through Twitter/X, they’re usually pretty responsive…
I’d assume that if it had to be repainted at the factory, it wouldn’t have been that noticeable, so assuming something happened somewhere on it’s “Flatrock-Arizona-WA” trip, so the dealer would most likely be aware, and trying to take advantage of a remote sale to get rid of something on site buyers might have noticed and tried to get fixed ot negociated around IMO

 

[MJS54]

Hello Everyone, I'm looking for a good number to call Ford Corporate... I tried to directly contact the Ford Motor Company user on this forum but haven't heard anything from them. Maybe I can't do that but I wanted to try. I bought a new 2024 Dark Horse Premium online from a dealer in Phoenix AZ. I live in Vancouver WA. I bought the car late Dec 2023 and took ownership when it was dropped off at my house. Okay you might want to grab a drink of some sorts because this post might be a little long. Sorry about that. Just looking for advice on what I should do next or just live with it. Thanks for reading the post.
Hello FMC,
This might not be the correct way to contact Ford, but I'm giving it a try. My name is Tim Frimberger, I live in Vancouver WA. I had a 2024 Dark Horse on order from a local Ford dealer back in Jul 2023. Got a call from them just before Thanksgiving saying they had a couple of Dark Horses and wondered if I wanted to come in a take a look at them... I said yes because I wanted to see one in person and they are the first in my area to get one in. I just wanted to look at them take some photos of the Blue Ember one on my way down to the coast for the weekend. I had ask my salesman to see if he could get pricing for another set of wheels for a Dark Horse with the Handling Package... So when I showed up, I texted him I was there and he said he was finishing up a Team meeting so I walked into the showroom floor and waited while I looked over the Dark Horse that was in there. Anyway, they tried to sell this car with three separate offers before I finally just left. Before the last offer, my salesman Manager came out and chatted with me about the car and then brought up my order. All along since I first place the order for my car, I was told I had an allocation for it. Now he's telling that I my order doesn't get picked up before the end of December that I would probably be cancelled since Ford said they were cutting their allocations down by 4...
Sorry for this long story but I wanted to say what I kind of been going through. Anyway, since I've been on this forum I've seen folks searching across the country for deals.... Well I found only one car that had the exact same options I wanted on my original order but with my secondary color from Camelback Ford in Phoenix, AZ. I had actually found this car in September when I started searching. I reached out to them and had a rude salesmen. The website said the car was still in transit, so I asked him if they had an ETA of arrival, and he said he couldn't get into the computer to give me that information. Then I asked about how they handle buyers from other states and that I was calling from Washington state.. He said he has list of people wanting to look at it and test drive so consider it sold... So I let it go and didn't think about again.. at least for a while..I kept an eye on it and it was in Transit for a very long time. One time while I was on the site one of those Text Messaging box popped up and said, Ask us about shipping.. Okay let me get back on track here. Anyway after the Manager said that my order would most likely be cancelled I started looking again. Went back to Camelback Ford and they still had the car but it was finally in stock... They were asking $93,140.00. The Text Message box popped again talking about shipping so I went ahead and asked, IF I was to purchase a Dark Horse Mustang from you, how much would it cost to ship it to Vancouver WA... They ask some more questions and said they'll reach to a Transportation company and get a price. 2 minutes later, and I get a phone call from a salesman name Gregg. We started talking and he said he'll get a quote and send it to me. He called me back and said he sent it and I opened the email and it was for $105,140.00. Shipping was $1500.00 I told him I wasn't going to pay that price for the car.... He got a little miffed when I said that and I told him I had a car on order already for $5000 above MSRP which was the cheapest anyone around here would do. He said he couldn't do $5000 but that his boss was working on offering someone $7500 above and if he could send me that offer. I said, an offer for which one, the $7500 or $5000 and he replied the $7500 and that he couldn't go the $5000. I said well thanks for trying but I'll look else where. No more then 30 seconds I get another call from Phoenix and this time I thought he said he was the Director of Sales and his name was Henry... He said one of his salesman said I was interested the car but for $5000 above... He said if he was to do this deal would we have a deal.... I said you would have a very very interested party for it. Next thing I know I'm getting another offer for $5000 above but a ton of addons. Anyway, we worked it out to where I wanted to be and said I would buy the car. So Purchased the car and had it shipped in an enclosed trailer. It was delivered Jan 2nd. I'm very happy with it... I took it to a shop that installs PPF and does Ceramic coating and detailing. They've been in business a long time and are very good. So while we were talking about what I wanted done and looking at the car, the guy said he hated to say this but the car has been repainted on the rear quarter panel of the drivers side. I am not a paint expert but he was really sure it was and also showed me overspray within the gas tank door. He said to take to a body shop to have them look. So I took it to three body shops, two of them were Ford and one was Ford Certified Body Shop... All three of them said the same thing that it was repainted. One shop said whoever did it, did an okay job but the other two wasn't impressed.... I reached out to Camelback Ford to ask if they did any body work it from maybe damage during the Transportation and Gregg insisted it was never worked on other then washing and detailing it. One of the Ford body shop the guy who looked it over said it could cost $3000-6000 or more to fix it correctly... but that Ford probably wouldn't fix it. Then he mentioned something about looking into seeing if Arizona has a 90 day return if the isn't what wanted... Well I told him I didn't want to do that because I might not be able to order another Dark Horse Premium with the Handling Package at the same price I paid for mine.
Again my apologies on the lengthy message.. Can you give me any advise on what my options are in my situation?

Thanks for lending me your ear.

Tim

Tim, you definitely need to contact Ford. I will tell you that I was once told by my dealership (15-20 yrs ago) in Virginia. That if a vehicle arrives with any damage (from the carrier, etc.) and it did not exceed $3,000 to repair…the dealership did not have to inform any customer interested in the vehicle (even if it was a special order)…I would imagine that threshold is probably up after all of these years (maybe $8K or less). Of course Ford will re-imburse the dealership for repairs. But I don’t like the fact that they did not have to tell the future customer. But then, they would have to sell you a damaged vehicle at better price (sort of like the scratch and dent sales at appliance stores). Call/write Ford Corporate…that will get Camel Ford’s attention for sure. Mark (VA Beach)
BTW, ordered my DH through a dealer allocation and so far no word as to a production date…very frustrating.

 

[roket]

if that over spray is a factory defect, the good news is that it can be fixed under warranty according to GSB 23-7003

Non-warrantable Conditions

• Surface rust and deterioration of paint, trim, and appearance items that result from use and/or exposure.
• Dents, dings, scratches, nicks, chips, punctures, bird and/or bee droppings, tree sap, road salt.
• Normal paint deterioration due to exposure.
• Underbody surface rust on frame or chassis components on vehicles reported as sold.

Warranty Conditions

• Bumper under-chrome defects; thin or peeling chrome.
• Paint runs, over spray, sags, blistered / peeling paint.
• Excessive dirt specs in paint.
• Thin paint, orange peel.
• Wavy sheet metal, file, grinder or weld marks.
• Outward sheet metal dents.
• Surface corrosion with no impact present is covered under the New Vehicle Warranty. The Corrosion Warranty also covers surface corrosion on aluminum body panels, however steel body panels would require sheet metal perforation caused by naturally occurring corrosion.
• Iron oxide (rail dust) or acid rain.

...As PDI on cars is done in a quick hurry and techs don't care enough as long as it's good for the road...

this isn't always true, the PDI guy at my dealer is very thorough with his inspections, once even caught a part of a vehicle that was misbuilt that i totally missed

Tim, you definitely need to contact Ford. I will tell you that I was once told by my dealership (15-20 yrs ago) in Virginia. That if a vehicle arrives with any damage (from the carrier, etc.) and it did not exceed $3,000 to repair…the dealership did not have to inform any customer interested in the vehicle (even if it was a special order)…I would imagine that threshold is probably up after all of these years (maybe $8K or less).

every state has a different threshold for what qualifies as transport damage that needs to be disclosed. Arizona's is 3% of sticker MSRP, not including glass, bumpers, and tires if they've been replaced with OEM or equivalent parts. looks like Virginia might just be a straight 3% of sticker MSRP. if every single new vehicle had to have a disclosure due to any sort of transport damage, just about every other or every 3rd Ford would have one

 

[Ryunker]

Hello Everyone, I'm looking for a good number to call Ford Corporate... I tried to directly contact the Ford Motor Company user on this forum but haven't heard anything from them. Maybe I can't do that but I wanted to try. I bought a new 2024 Dark Horse Premium online from a dealer in Phoenix AZ. I live in Vancouver WA. I bought the car late Dec 2023 and took ownership when it was dropped off at my house. Okay you might want to grab a drink of some sorts because this post might be a little long. Sorry about that. Just looking for advice on what I should do next or just live with it. Thanks for reading the post.
Hello FMC,
This might not be the correct way to contact Ford, but I'm giving it a try. My name is Tim Frimberger, I live in Vancouver WA. I had a 2024 Dark Horse on order from a local Ford dealer back in Jul 2023. Got a call from them just before Thanksgiving saying they had a couple of Dark Horses and wondered if I wanted to come in a take a look at them... I said yes because I wanted to see one in person and they are the first in my area to get one in. I just wanted to look at them take some photos of the Blue Ember one on my way down to the coast for the weekend. I had ask my salesman to see if he could get pricing for another set of wheels for a Dark Horse with the Handling Package... So when I showed up, I texted him I was there and he said he was finishing up a Team meeting so I walked into the showroom floor and waited while I looked over the Dark Horse that was in there. Anyway, they tried to sell this car with three separate offers before I finally just left. Before the last offer, my salesman Manager came out and chatted with me about the car and then brought up my order. All along since I first place the order for my car, I was told I had an allocation for it. Now he's telling that I my order doesn't get picked up before the end of December that I would probably be cancelled since Ford said they were cutting their allocations down by 4...
Sorry for this long story but I wanted to say what I kind of been going through. Anyway, since I've been on this forum I've seen folks searching across the country for deals.... Well I found only one car that had the exact same options I wanted on my original order but with my secondary color from Camelback Ford in Phoenix, AZ. I had actually found this car in September when I started searching. I reached out to them and had a rude salesmen. The website said the car was still in transit, so I asked him if they had an ETA of arrival, and he said he couldn't get into the computer to give me that information. Then I asked about how they handle buyers from other states and that I was calling from Washington state.. He said he has list of people wanting to look at it and test drive so consider it sold... So I let it go and didn't think about again.. at least for a while..I kept an eye on it and it was in Transit for a very long time. One time while I was on the site one of those Text Messaging box popped up and said, Ask us about shipping.. Okay let me get back on track here. Anyway after the Manager said that my order would most likely be cancelled I started looking again. Went back to Camelback Ford and they still had the car but it was finally in stock... They were asking $93,140.00. The Text Message box popped again talking about shipping so I went ahead and asked, IF I was to purchase a Dark Horse Mustang from you, how much would it cost to ship it to Vancouver WA... They ask some more questions and said they'll reach to a Transportation company and get a price. 2 minutes later, and I get a phone call from a salesman name Gregg. We started talking and he said he'll get a quote and send it to me. He called me back and said he sent it and I opened the email and it was for $105,140.00. Shipping was $1500.00 I told him I wasn't going to pay that price for the car.... He got a little miffed when I said that and I told him I had a car on order already for $5000 above MSRP which was the cheapest anyone around here would do. He said he couldn't do $5000 but that his boss was working on offering someone $7500 above and if he could send me that offer. I said, an offer for which one, the $7500 or $5000 and he replied the $7500 and that he couldn't go the $5000. I said well thanks for trying but I'll look else where. No more then 30 seconds I get another call from Phoenix and this time I thought he said he was the Director of Sales and his name was Henry... He said one of his salesman said I was interested the car but for $5000 above... He said if he was to do this deal would we have a deal.... I said you would have a very very interested party for it. Next thing I know I'm getting another offer for $5000 above but a ton of addons. Anyway, we worked it out to where I wanted to be and said I would buy the car. So Purchased the car and had it shipped in an enclosed trailer. It was delivered Jan 2nd. I'm very happy with it... I took it to a shop that installs PPF and does Ceramic coating and detailing. They've been in business a long time and are very good. So while we were talking about what I wanted done and looking at the car, the guy said he hated to say this but the car has been repainted on the rear quarter panel of the drivers side. I am not a paint expert but he was really sure it was and also showed me overspray within the gas tank door. He said to take to a body shop to have them look. So I took it to three body shops, two of them were Ford and one was Ford Certified Body Shop... All three of them said the same thing that it was repainted. One shop said whoever did it, did an okay job but the other two wasn't impressed.... I reached out to Camelback Ford to ask if they did any body work it from maybe damage during the Transportation and Gregg insisted it was never worked on other then washing and detailing it. One of the Ford body shop the guy who looked it over said it could cost $3000-6000 or more to fix it correctly... but that Ford probably wouldn't fix it. Then he mentioned something about looking into seeing if Arizona has a 90 day return if the isn't what wanted... Well I told him I didn't want to do that because I might not be able to order another Dark Horse Premium with the Handling Package at the same price I paid for mine.
Again my apologies on the lengthy message.. Can you give me any advise on what my options are in my situation?

Thanks for lending me your ear.

Tim

Ok Tim, you were very pleased with the car before detail shop brought it to your attention. So how really bad is this defect? Two body shops quoted very high prices to fix it, shops are in the business to profit. Can and should you remain happy with the car? Well only you can answer that.

My post / opinion is coming from a very similar situation. Ordered my car on opening day 3/27/2023 still no Vin nor schedule.

Found same car, same color at a dealer 1,300 miles away and purchased the car long distance. Ordered transport, car to be delivered last Wednesday but the transport vehicle broke down and delivery postponed close to a week. This day is the expected delivery date between 9:00am and noon. Car is Blue ember and having the car delivered to the detail shop at my local Ford dealer to get an alignment done and to clean it up a bit before I take it home. Did find it for msrp, but that was 3k more than my original order plus the $1,300 shipping too.

I expect surprises in the weeks to come as these are "mass produced" cars. I get it big price tags are a reality on these.

What do you desire/believe/expect Ford to do? What outcome would make you happy again?

 

[Dena]

I didn't have time to read everything because I need to get ready for work but a quick note. Most car carriers are pretty reputable and will report any damage to the car during shipping so you can take it to a good shop for repair. However that is costly to a carrier so some have paint shops that can do quickly repairs at a much lower cost to the carrier. Damage sometimes happens. Fluids drip from the car above, open carriers risk paint chips or vandalism and sometimes the cars aren't spaced correctly so they rub during shipping.
I am pretty sure that Ford would like to know about this because if they have a carrier that damages cars during shipping and hides the repairs, it's mark on their reputation. That carrier will soon find they need to find other victims.

 

[REV745DH24]

I am a bit surprised they would hike the price up on you for the re-paint, whose fault was it, it should be the manufacturer, not you! You should only pay the msrp price and nothing more! I paid for my DH at msrp for a fully loaded for a tad less than 72k! Don’t blow the funds anything above the msrp! Unless you think I am crazy!

 

[Ryunker]

Ok Tim, you were very pleased with the car before detail shop brought it to your attention. So how really bad is this defect? Two body shops quoted very high prices to fix it, shops are in the business to profit. Can and should you remain happy with the car? Well only you can answer that.

My post / opinion is coming from a very similar situation. Ordered my car on opening day 3/27/2023 still no Vin nor schedule.

Found same car, same color at a dealer 1,300 miles away and purchased the car long distance. Ordered transport, car to be delivered last Wednesday but the transport vehicle broke down and delivery postponed close to a week. This day is the expected delivery date between 9:00am and noon. Car is Blue ember and having the car delivered to the detail shop at my local Ford dealer to get an alignment done and to clean it up a bit before I take it home. Did find it for msrp, but that was 3k more than my original order plus the $1,300 shipping too.

I expect surprises in the weeks to come as these are "mass produced" cars. I get it big price tags are a reality on these.

What do you desire/believe/expect Ford to do? What outcome would make you happy again?

Car came in today at like 4:30pm. They shipped it enclosed, I did not even walk around it, just dropped it off for an alignment and wash job.

 

[DRKHRSE Hopeful]

Congrats Ryunker on your delivery...hopefully theres no issues with it. My DH was delievered too in an enclosed trailer but it arrived late in the afternoon, dark and raining.. Enjoy your ride

 

[RJV15]

Well I told him I didn't want to do that because I might not be able to order another Dark Horse Premium with the Handling Package at the same price I paid for mine.

This statement really limits your options. Either try to return the car, or learn to live with the respray.

Post some pictures of the resprayed quarter panel. If you couldn't tell it was resprayed , then its probably "good enough" , and I doubt you'll have Ford or a dealership fork over 6k to make it "perfect".

 

[DRKHRSE Hopeful]

This statement really limits your options. Either try to return the car, or learn to live with the respray.

Post some pictures of the resprayed quarter panel. If you couldn't tell it was resprayed , then its probably "good enough" , and I doubt you'll have Ford or a dealership fork over 6k to make it "perfect".

Evening RJV15, the car is in Exclusive Films shop getting the PPF done to the front end. When I go there tomorrow, I'll have the person who noticed it take photos of the area that was repainted and oversprayed areas... and post them... He and the 3 body shops all said they would have it repainted... Yes that is their job and maybe push that, but I happened to know someone that works at one of the body shops and she over heard conversations from the two guys who looked at my car. Both of them are REAL Mustang guys...

 

[SAL-E]

Is this car going to be a show car? If so, then I would continue.

If it is going to be a driver, or even a weekend car, and you can't see the problem, then why bother, IMHO. I notice that the only issue mentioned is paint overspray in places you have to intentionally look for to see. No mention of body repair issues, so it probably had a scuff or scratch that they elected to repaint to fix. I wouldn't bother personally. They could actually make things worse

Your car, your decision.

 

[ZBOBMAN]

To me the bottom line is Did you get what you paid for?

 

[Upacurb]

I would push 100% to get a resolution

The issue is when you do go to sell or trade in- you will take a MASSIVE hit on value because part of the car was repainted- repainted panels have a huge effect on value- specifically on performance cars -

I know we all say we will keep cars forever - but we all know the truth lol

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