A Question About Towing a 21

[steve dunham]

I drove stripped down vehicles , both work and personal for most of my life
Since I am approaching 70 and come to the realization that I won’t Live forever
I want a vehicle with a few luxuries
I bought the truck I bought because it was the one I wanted and my next truck will be even better equipped.
If a salesman can sell me a loaded truck then more power to him

[escape artist]

Hi: All... Back in the "Good old days" when I was in the business the sls. mgr's. motto was "Sell what you can see... don't see what you can sell"!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Oldtimer]

That’s why salesmen don’t like me I tell them what I want and don’t want n when they tell me they can’t find it anywhere but try to show me something close, I ask them how long does a special order take pisses them off

[cpaharley2008]

FWIW, several years back, I asked a car salesman why all the new vehicles on their lot were tricked out with all the fancy factory options and there were no simple, stripped-down no-frills models on their lot. He told us every option adds to their profit, and most people will give in and buy a vehicle with all those options when that's the only choice they have in front of them.

There is a lot of truth that statement, while working as an accountant, I had complete access to the dealers books and paperwork. Sometimes a dealer will even take a loss, knowing at the end of the year there was a kickback. As a general rule, if you can get the vehicle for it's base price, you have done a good job in negotiating, as the rest of the markup was profit.

[salmo7000]

Originally Posted by War Eagle

My wife and I walked into the local Ford dealership with our dream F-150 tow vehicle all spec'ed out on a spreadsheet printout (including NO moon roof). Salesman said he'd need to special order it. While I was inside with the salesman entering our specks into his computer, my wife walked in the door saying she had found EXACTLY what we were looking for (even the color, but plus a navigation system) buried a couple rows deep in their vehicle inventory lot. We signed the paperwork, wrote a check, and picked it up the next day after they had detailed and serviced it for us. Ya just never know until you go look!
FWIW, several years back, I asked a car salesman why all the new vehicles on their lot were tricked out with all the fancy factory options and there were no simple, stripped-down no-frills models on their lot. He told us every option adds to their profit, and most people will give in and buy a vehicle with all those options when that's the only choice they have in front of them.

Yeah totally, I was all set to buy a F-150 and realizing my local dealer did not have a vehicle already in stock that had the specs I wanted, I went in prepared to order one exactly the way I wanted it. The salesman clearly wanted to sell me a truck that was already on the lot and proceeded to try to convince me I really didn't need the spec's I wanted, and that he had several on the lot that would do "just fine". It did not appear the guy was well-versed in the concept of payload capacity, also the trucks already on the lot had a ton of stuff I didn't want and didn't want to pay for. Well, ultimately I walked when it became obvious I was going to pay close to MSRP to special order the truck I wanted, no deals to be had there. I bought a Chevy instead and had a much better experience. Just got a bad feeling about the whole F-150 thing, although absolutely I think if one can be had the way a person wants it, they are a great truck with capability to spare for towing an Escape!

[Fox hunt]

i love the stupid moon roof and i got most options- once i decided it was going to be my only vehicle. I love the comfort of my F150.

[Iowa Dave]

The first thing I say to the salesman is “You work for me” and second, “you get one trip to the sales manager.” That’s why my wife does the negotiating. Walking away is your choice and letting them know there are other dealers around is good too. When they point out how far it is to another dealer I let them know I’ve driven 44 miles on logging roads to go to get a chicken dinner and miles mean nothing to me. My quiet daughter who is a merchant for a manufacturer is a tough negotiator. I called her up one day and asked her what she was doing. She said she had just bought some zippers. How many I asked? 44,000 was the reply.
Tell them what you want and what you don’t want, they will find it if they get hungry enough.
Iowa Dave

[gbaglo]

Tagged along with my buddy who was looking at Kia Soul for his wife. The dealer wanted $200 for nitrogen-filled tires ( and they all had nitrogen-filled tires ). I looked it up and found an article that said air is 78 per cent nitrogen. My buddy figured he could get green valve caps for a couple dollars. The more information you have, the better armed you are.

[Chotch]

Originally Posted by Fox hunt

i love the stupid moon roof and i got most options- once i decided it was going to be my only vehicle. I love the comfort of my F150.

If the option fits, get it 👍😎👍

[MikeS]

Originally Posted by salmo7000

Yeah totally, I was all set to buy a F-150 and realizing my local dealer did not have a vehicle already in stock that had the specs I wanted, I went in prepared to order one exactly the way I wanted it. The salesman clearly wanted to sell me a truck that was already on the lot and proceeded to try to convince me I really didn't need the spec's I wanted, and that he had several on the lot that would do "just fine". It did not appear the guy was well-versed in the concept of payload capacity, also the trucks already on the lot had a ton of stuff I didn't want and didn't want to pay for. Well, ultimately I walked when it became obvious I was going to pay close to MSRP to special order the truck I wanted, no deals to be had there. I bought a Chevy instead and had a much better experience. Just got a bad feeling about the whole F-150 thing, although absolutely I think if one can be had the way a person wants it, they are a great truck with capability to spare for towing an Escape!

My guess is your experience was based on the salesman you dealt with more than the brand. I walked into my local Ford dealer and said I wanted to order this specific F-150 and handed him the specs. He fumbled around on the computer for awhile but ultimately produced the order form for me to double check all the options. I left a deposit and I had the truck around a month later. The discount off MSRP was similar to what they were offering for in stock trucks.

[MikeS]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Tagged along with my buddy who was looking at Kia Soul for his wife. The dealer wanted $200 for nitrogen-filled tires ( and they all had nitrogen-filled tires ). I looked it up and found an article that said air is 78 per cent nitrogen. My buddy figured he could get green valve caps for a couple dollars. The more information you have, the better armed you are.

I once told a dealer trying to sell me on the nitrogen fill that I preferred to run 75-80% nitrogen mix. He had never heard of that option.

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by Oldtimer

That’s why salesmen don’t like me I tell them what I want and don’t want n when they tell me they can’t find it anywhere but try to show me something close, I ask them how long does a special order take pisses them off

Well, I'm on day 47 of a "30" day wait for my special order F 150. The expected delivery date moved from the 9th to the 18th. I'm leaving for Winnipeg for the Boler rally on August 2nd. Going to be hard to get 1000 non towing miles before I leave!

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

Well, I'm on day 47 of a "30" day wait for my special order F 150.

They're probably trying to source some US aluminum.

[tractors1]

Wifey wanted a particular car with specific options and a certain color - no close matches at the biggest dealer in Oregon. Salesman took us to his office, logged onto the dealer shipping status, and within 2 minutes found a near-perfect match en route by railcar to another dealer across the country which was for inventory (not previously sold.) He made a couple of phone calls and in another few minutes that car was re-routed to us and we picked it up a week later.


THAT'S a great sales guy.


The only extra option was an upgraded stereo to a Bose setup with a bunch of speakers and a kick-butt subwoofer. Wifey was very pleased!

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

They're probably trying to source some US aluminum.

They roll the sheet metal for Ford here in Oswego, and I see the trucks with ingots still heading from the port to the rolling mill a couple of times a day, so I suspect so far it is coming across the lake.

[MikeS]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

They roll the sheet metal for Ford here in Oswego, and I see the trucks with ingots still heading from the port to the rolling mill a couple of times a day, so I suspect so far it is coming across the lake.

Jon - Did you call Ford directly and ask the status? If you have the VIN they can pull up info. My salesman was of no value to me after I placed my order and in fact I called him to tell him the dealership had it onsite.

[captfrog]

May I offer this opinion, we have a 21’ Starcraft ultralight weighing 4500 basically empty, so figure closer to 5,000# when hauling down the road. We had been using a Honda Pilot (rated for 5,000#), but never felt comfortable, especially when hill climbing and seeing the tach climb and hear the trans screaming a bit. So, we now have a 2018 Chevy Colorado, 4wd, crew cab, short box. This is the Z71 Off-road with trailing package and Duramax diesel. It is rated for 7,700# and to make this reply a little shorter, we couldn’t be happier. I usually set the cruise at 65 mph and the engine loafs along about 1,800 rpms. Something you may want to check out and consider! Hope this helps!!

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by MikeS

Jon - Did you call Ford directly and ask the status? If you have the VIN they can pull up info. My salesman was of no value to me after I placed my order and in fact I called him to tell him the dealership had it onsite.

I check the web page every day - Ford Custom Order Tracking | ordertracking.ford.com & enter the VIN. You want to check it out - the VIN 1FTFX1EGXJKE83763

And I should add my salesman has been great. Calls or texts at least once a week, daily now that it is getting close.

[rotorbudd]

took your advice and I just did the build online for a 2018 COLORADO
4WD Crew Cab, Short Box Z71 and it's showing a 6200 lb. GVWR.
What am I missing? It's got the duramax and tow/haul options.
This truck looks very promising, Of i can get it speced right I'll go test drive one.
edit; I see I wasn't looking at tow ratings

[MikeS]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

I check the web page every day - Ford Custom Order Tracking | ordertracking.ford.com & enter the VIN. You want to check it out - the VIN 1FTFX1EGXJKE83763

And I should add my salesman has been great. Calls or texts at least once a week, daily now that it is getting close.

Well I can’t offer advice if you are on top of it!!

I checked my paperwork and it looks like it took longer than I thought. Ordered 5/5 and dealer had it on 6/18. Note that it was during the time production was down due to the supplier fire.