I'm glad you've had such a positive experience. I guess it all depends on what part of the country you're in.

My friend is the service manager of the dealership where I purchased my last two trucks and according to him, service departments are not making much money doing warranty work. The get paid according to an established reimbursement schedule from the manufacturer. Similar to the old flat rate manuals but a lot more complicated. You come in with a bad injector, a trashed turbo or maybe a leaking axle seal - no problem. The manufacturer tells them what parts they MUST replace and what additional parts they MIGHT need to replace and how many hours of labor the job should take. They fix your truck and make a few bucks. The ones they hate are when you come in complaining of funny noises, vibrations, or funny smells (remember the Explorer fiasco - exhaust in the cabin that they refused to acknowledge until cops started to pass out and police departments started parking their Explorers?). There are no trouble codes and they have a limited amount of reimbursable time to find the problem. They aren't making money on those complaints. Of course, they make plenty of money on out of warranty repairs and routine scheduled maintenance along with tires, batteries, etc.

What they ARE selling is customer loyalty. If they appear to go out of their way (at least to you) to take care of the vehicle you bought from them you'll come back to them the next time and talk them up to your family and friends.

My experience is that all dealers will do warranty work on a vehicle that you didn't buy from them, particularly if you're away from your home area out on the road. They'll also do the warranty work on your vehicle even if you're from the local area. They have to. They wouldn't keep their franchise for long if they refused you. Just don't be surprised if the first available repair appointment is three weeks from Tuesday and they need to keep you truck for a week or so while they wait on parts.

The dealership where I bought my last two trucks is a half hour away and in the next state but had absolutely no problem ordering exactly what I wanted and they searched local stock up to 100 miles away first even though they had a yard full of F150's that were ALMOST what I wanted. All of my local dealerships (one is 5 minutes away) only wanted to push what was on their lot and had a pile of excuses about why they couldn't put in a "special" order.

 

The very first thing you should do...forget price...availability...shipping charges...road trip...is...DOES THE TRUCK IN OHIO HAVE CALIFORNIA EMISSIONS CERTIFICATION FROM FORD??? If it doesn't...you're in for a big surprise when you visit your local MA DMV and they reject your registration application. MA REQUIRES CA EMISSIONS CERTIFICATION...and...OH DOESN'T. You may be setting yourself up for an expensive lesson...DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE!!!

 

BIGKEN
Do I ask the OH dealer to provide CA emission cert for the vehicle if it does have one? I just compared the window sticker of the OH vehicle with a MA vehicle. The Greenhouse Gas, SMOG, and CO2 rating are exactly the same. Thanks

 

The car emissions should be called out on the window sticker. Mine is list as an option. My truck is coming from WA

 

I completely missed that one! Yes, both MA and WA do require CA emissions! I don't know if there's a way to get around it.. here in CA, you CANNOT register a non-CA vehicle as a CA resident. No way to get around it!

Don't know if there's a fee you can pay to get around it in both WA and MA.. here in CA, we used to have to pay $300 "smog impact fee" but the feds said that was unconstitutional so CA simply made it impossible.

Always look for CA EMISSIONS on the window. If it has that, then it should have that sticker under the hood!

 

Get on their website...pull up the truck you're interested in...you will see "View Window Sticker". About halfway down on the first column of Optional Equipment you will see "California Emissions"...No Charge. The dealer can not provide you with a CA Emissions Certificate...it's stamped on the Certificate of Origin...the "title" that Ford gives the dealer.



No way around it in MA either...no way...no how...unless the truck has California Emissions Certification listed as Optional Equipment...you WILL NOT register it in 12 states across the country.


https://www.treehugger.com/cars/othe...s-off-epa.html

States that border CA Emissions states often order CA vehicles in order to be able to sell in CA Emission states.

 

Does the vehicle you`re interested in share the "same" emissions requirements of your home State? If so, continue reading below.

In 2016, I purchased my F150 Lariat from another State. Yes, you can arrange and pay to have it delivered but in my opinion, that`s a lot of wasted money so i`m not going to tell you how to spend your money if you want to go that route. With that being said, what I did was to find a rental car company that`s close to the dealer in the State where I made my purchase and I rented a car from the same rental company in my State. I picked the rental car up on Friday afternon, got up early the next morning and drove to the rental car company in the State where I made my purchase and they drove me to the Ford dealer dealer. Total rental cost was $35.00 dollars. About two hours after I dropped the rental car off, I was driving home in my new truck.

 

I did looked into this option. It cost almost $300 for a rental from Enterprise from MA to OH for 1 day. The daily rental cost is only $60 but Enterprise charge a Drop fee which is $209. That being said, I think this is still the cheapest option.

 

I just pulled the window sticker and it does have CA emission. You taught me something new today. Much appreciation.

 

Wow, rentals are very pricey in the northeast. I`m in the southeast and I drove from north GA to Mobile AL.
I don`t even want to think about how much a delivery company in the northeast would charge.

 

Glad to be of assistance...I'd hate to see someone stuck with a vehicle that couldn't be registered. My assumption is that the dealer is near the PA or MI borders...or...swapped the vehicle in from PA or MI. I find it hard to believe that you can't find one closer to home to save you all the trouble and expense of figuring out how to get it home. What makes this truck so special??? Try the True Car website...if you haven't already. You may save some time and money.

 

I just tried True Car as you suggested. It doesn't provide enough filters to really narrow down what I'm looking for. I did sit down with a local dealer to look for my build but he couldn't find anything. I don't know how far out he search. I decided to go onto Ford website and search for the truck myself. I started with MA and work my way into all the NE states, NY, NJ, and PA. When I got to PA, that's when the search result yield the OH dealer, just over the PA border.

There's really nothing special about the truck. It's a combination of the front bench seat with a moon roof which make it an odd ball. My wife just loves the panoramic roof and I'm in the dog house. I figured this may not get me out of the dog house but it certain can't hurt.

 

Have a friend or relative give you a ride down there or check out the rate on a Greyhound bus. Good luck...

 

Sounds like this might be coming together for you but, a word of caution about the option that your wife loves.

No, it`s doesn`t happen to all owners but there have been many owners of F150`s with "panoramic roof" problems and you can read about said problems on here and other places. I`m sure the vast majority of owners have never had a problem with theirs but I just wanted to give you this info before you make your purchase.

Have a great weekend.