Your car pick up experience: Inspection, Issues/not, Wash/not, test DriveFront Plate?

Reading about 'some' member's body panel fitment, hood alignment and rattles (while driving) issues, it makes me want to do a thorough inspection. I am sure these issues are far from the norm. But if the car you ordered and patiently waited a few months plus to get, happens to have a problem, then it is not an anomaly to you. ;)

Not that I expect any problems on my V6 051A Convertible, but If I did find an issue, my first choice would be to not take possession until they were corrected (Especially since my dealer is 1.5 hours away, it would be a REAL inconvenience to bring it back). I would think the dealer might be more motivated to fix, fix quicker and even possibly do a better job fixing, if you had not signed the papers and paid them already. But that is just a theory.:shrug:

1) Has anyone asked to inspect (and drive?) the car before doing the paperwork? If so, any issue with dealer with this request and leaving you to check it over thoroughly?
2) For those who asked for their car not to be washed, did you feel it was a challenge to inspect it dirty? Was any concern the dirt might have covered any issues out weighed by concern of possible damage by their washing?
3) If you had issues, was the fix(es) satisfactory?
4) If you had issues with the dealer washing your car, what were they?
5) Any details on if you car was available earlier or later than your EDD?
6) Comment on any of the poll questions that you'd like to relate more about to the community or any other concerns not mentioned.

Thanks for any feedback you are willing to give on your pick up experience at your dealer. I had none of these thoughts when we picked up my wife's Prius Plug In last year, but do to the dealer's distance and scattered reports of (early?) build issues, closer inspection at delivery is on my mind.

Great thread. Hope Ford reads the results & the comments because, I for one have never had a good experience with a Ford dealership. Can't wait to get my car so I can respond to the poll. Hopefully they'll all be good responses.

PS: Think you could add something about a dealer badge/logo being installed? It seems most people on here are requesting there isn't one installed.

I would be glad to add choices for that or other info. But I'd need someone to tell me how to revise a poll. I cannot discover how to do that. When I select EDIT, I only see a window to edit my post after the poll. If there is a 'Poll Edit' link, I am blind and missing it.

I have no idea.

I believe only an administrator can change a poll once it has been started.

Scorpion said:

I believe only an administrator can change a poll once it has been started.

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EDIT: WOW. that was fast! Thank you moderator!

Now all we need is to draw the forum members that have taken delivery out of their new cars to help us still in the queue out with their experience.
Feel free to invite our luckier buds over to share. I mentioned this thread over on the 'Dealership detail (wash/don't wash) thread and the Front Plates thread. Pass it along. :ford:
(if that is allowed on this forum. Some don't like that)

I was contacted by a Moderator who volunteered to add to the poll. Kind of long list already, but I guess we might as well make it as complete as possible. ;)

I requested to choices be added: Dlr allowed the delete, Dlr did not allow the delete

All depends on the relationship you have with your dealer and the size of the dealer. I shopped around before ordering and found that large dealers were less likely to make exceptions to their regular protocols, and more people were involved in the prep of the car making it difficult for all requests to make it to the right people. I settled on a small dealer who treated me like a king. Anything I asked for they took care of in spades.

Let the dealer know what you want. No need to be confrontational or threatening with comments like "I won't take delivery if..." Remember, on average these cars sit in the lot for about 1 week before finding a new home. So the person who gets hurt more when walking away from a deal over "little things" is the customer. Of course, if you're mistreated, I wouldn't hesitate from walking away.

I took delivery at night. I didn't test drive and I wasn't able to give the car a keen inspection. Dealer told me to drive it around for a week and come on back if anything was amiss. He offered to write down that offer, but it wasn't necessary... like I said, I had a great experience.

My car hasn't been delivered yet. However, I will do a full inspection and test drive prior to signing anything.

I honestly had been waiting for six months for my car and just wanted to get in and drive it as soon as possible. I didn't look for issues with it; I didn't even walk around to the passenger side of it. Just got in and drove off with a big grin on my face.

The dealer did ask me three times if I was sure I wanted them to drill the front license plate before he had it done, so that was cool (although I don't really see the point of not having it drilled). I did ask not to have any dealer badging and they didn't do any (aside from a license plate frame which I immediately replaced).

The only issue was a poor interior cleaning/detail but I planned on going through it anyways so no biggie. My car has some swirl marks though and 19 miles before it got to the dealer, who knows what happened haha.

I rushed to the dealer to look over the body panels and make sure the dealer didn't drill the front bumper. Then during the process checked everything else out.

I had a fabulous dealer experience. By far the BEST car-buying experience I've had - and if I add them up, I've probably bought 15 new vehicles over my lifetime. Sam Pack 5-Star Ford in Carrollton, TX. Nope, I don't work for them, just a very happy customer.

I looked for an EB, at the three dealers in my area, on the WEB. The main dealer, 18 miles from home had two GT's, the dealer in another city 14 miles from home only had a GT, and the furthest dealer, 30 miles from home had the EB with the interior combo I was looking for.

I drove there on a Saturday morning. Met a salesperson, and took the car for test drive. It was sitting outside, but was clean, inside and out. It had a few miles on it, and I liked the color combination of Magnetic and Saddle. I did a complete walk around with the salesperson, after the drive, checking the paint and finish. This was at 0930 in the morning.

The dealer looked at my 2013 SHO, made me an offer, which I countered. He accepted, and they took the Mustang to be serviced, fueled (Premium) and cleaned up. While the paperwork was being done, the salesperson took me back to Parts, where I ordered the Spare tire kit. The parts department discounted it. I then went to see the Finance Manger, and told him I was handling everything with my Credit Union and I didn't want any of his add ons. I signed the paperwork, and went out front again to pick up my license plates (they transfer to the new car) and to check everything had been removed from the SHO. I met the folks in service and was reminded my first oil change was free.

They brought the Mustang around to the front door, and I did another walk around, shook hands and left at 1145. No money changed hands. Oh, and I drank their free coffee which they brought to me. All in all a very good experience, with a dealership I had never dealt with. I had always purchased my Ford cars from the large dealership closer to home.

I currently have 1700 miles on the car, and I am extremely happy with it.

Chameleon said:

I rushed to the dealer to look over the body panels and make sure the dealer didn't drill the front bumper. Then during the process checked everything else out.

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So were you following it in transit and new when it arrived at your dealer or did you dealer give you a cal that it was coming in so you could meet it at the truck before it was touched?

Lucky Mustang 'already receivers' above (and below ) ;)
If you would check off the boxes in the Poll at the top of this thread that apply to your experience, it would be helpful and appreciated.
Thank you.