Just wanted to say hi to all of you as a new member to this forum.

First, thanks to all the posts you guys have. I have been reading through them the last month or so and the information was invaluable in helping me make my lastest truck purchase, a 2003 F350 4x4, Lariat, 7.3L crew cab, fully loaded. Most of what I have been using are work service trucks, so I figured I would get me something different. (The Boss Needs a New Toy)

For those of you that like adventure stories heres one that your going to love.

Mine started on of all days July 4th. I was out with my wife and kids test driving Caddy's, (for my wife) when I got a hair up my butt and said, Hey lets go down to the Ford Dealership and see if they have any used trucks on the lot.

We head down to the dealership and they have, at what time I believed I wanted, a 2002 F350 V10, 4x4 xlt. I jump in this beast with the used car volture and we head off to the hilsl near the dealership. (no sense in test driving a 4x4 on the street) We get about 10 miles away from the dealership and the fnnn' truck runs out of gas, and I mean out in the middle of no where. To add insult to injury the volture does not have a cell phone so were calling my wife on mine, to speak to one of the guys at the dealership to get us some gas.

First they had no lot monkeys and they told us to call AAA. I look at the sales guy and tell him, Yeh, like triple a's going to bring us gas out here."

Finally they find some kid on the lot who was having a smoke break in the back and they send him up to us in a 5L Mustang, (2nd dealer mistake). About an hour or so goes by and this kid shows up in the Mustang, off roading it off course, full throttle, and pulls up too us and says, "Hey you guys are out of gas, huhhh. I need to go buy a gas can and get some gas, all be right back."

30 minutes later the kid shows back up with 1 gallon of gas. Remember this is a V10, and were out in the middle of no where. So, I am sitting there on the side of the road watching these two idiots trying to figure out how the gas comes out the can. It has a spring loaded spout. Finally I stepped in and showed them how it worked and I end up filling the truck. Oh, and because the can was so small we could only get about 3/4 of the gas in.

Finally we get the beast started and nurse it to the nearest gas station. Where by the grace of god we run out of gas again and coast into the island.

Needless to say I had a pretty sour taste in my mouth now that 2 hours of my 4th of July were wasted. To add insult to injury I end up wasting another couple of hours there dickering on price. Finally at around 5pm I tell these guys I am out of here just as they thought there were going to close the deal.

The story gets better.

That night after fireworks and bbq's I go on the autotrader.com and find the truck I am looking for in the San Francisco Bay area. Remember I am in SoCal. I call this dealer the next morning, Monday and haggle back and forth and get a fairly good feel for the whole deal. Tuesday morning I fly to the bay area and the dealer picks my up.

I knew something was wrong when we pull into the dealership and the trucks no were in sight. You would figure that a guy flys in to buy your truck that thing would look like the **** and be sitting out front, standing at attention, like a big erection.

I go into the show room and and the guy I am working with dissepears. About 10 minutes go by and I go looking for him and find him and three other guys out back having a smoke. I go up to him in front of the group and tell him I need to get going, I have a 6 hour drive back and want to start asap.

So another 10 minutes goes by and they pull the truck around from the back. Things dripping wet. I took a look in the bed and the bed was trashed. I mean it looked like they guy that owned this thing was hauling demolition concrete. One of my main concerns on buying a truck was it either had to have a very clean bed or a truck liner.

I open up the cab and theres coffee stains on the carpet. The back seat still has fast food all over it. The paint has brush scratches on it, etc...

For the yucks I take the thing for a test drive, might as well start waisting there time. (The only flights out are in a couple of hours, as I had already prepped myself prior to flying up here)

The up motion on the electric mirror control is broken, so the mirrows end up getting stuck looking at the pavement. I go check the remote control holder lid on the consule and the thing falls off in my hands. They had jerry rigged it in there.

The dealer General Manager now gets involved and were going back and forth on the issue of the bed liner. He wants to throw in a set of tires that came off the truck, that still had 50% were on. I just looked at him and said are you serious.

Then I hit him with the big one. I told him I was going to report them to the California DMV, State Attorney Generals office, California Department of Automobile Repair and to the Federal Trade Commission. He looks at me and says why. Then I go to explain to him that he falsly advertised a vehicle on the internet and because the AutoTrader is viewable across the country that violates interstate trade. The guy turned white as a ghost. Needless to say, I told them to get me back to the airport.

The following days I start doing my homework and decide that I am going to move up to a diesel. Unfortunately you can't find them used in SoCal and when you do there at a premium.

Finally I decide to start looking out of state. Low and behold I find a boat load of them in the midwest, Texas, etc...

I found exactly what I wanted in Texas and started working with one of the so called internet sales reps. His problem was he was the slowest guy in the world to get back to me. I ended up wasting 10 days going back and forth with this idiot. (I was not going to make the same mistake twice. I wanted a complete set of pictures, including the undercarriage, before I would even consider flying there)

So as I said 10 days go by and then on Saturday morning two weeks ago the idiot calls my office and leaves me a voice mail that one of the other sales guys sold the truck that morning. (Hey had my cell phone and did'nt have the ***** to call me direct) Irony is as far as I was concerned it was a done deal and I was planning on booking my tickets monday morning.

This time I started looking at not only the autotrader, but also Forddirect.com. I even started going to the dealer associations at each state and going from dealer to dealer.

Then on Wendesday night I am looking at the autotrader and end up at this used car lot in the Kansas City area. Funny thing is I was at this web sight about a week earlier and they had a F350 CC 4x4, Lariat, 7.3 but it was over priced.(Also I was not really interested in buying a truck from a used lot, and for that matter one in the middle of now where) I liked the color, blue with a silver accent, something you just don't see, however not my first choice. Anyways I am on this web sight and the price is dropped like $5,000.00 in front of my eyes.

Now I'm Curious. So the next morning I call this lot and talk with the owner. He tells me its not a normal sale. Its his best friends truck and he is doing him a favor by unloading it on the lot. Turns out the guy works for the Ford plant out there and every year buys a new Ford truck on his A plan. The only thing he uses the truck for is pullin a 5th wheel from spring through summer when he takes vacations. He has to unload the truck because hes financing two trucks now through Ford and its killing him.

Talk about being in the right place at the right time. I end up working out a deal in the next couple of days, confirm that the truck has the proper California emmission sticker, (still need a 50 stater even though we don't smog the beasts)

Long story short I fly to Kansas City last Monday and I am in and out in an hour, driving home in my new truck, which buy the way had only 14,000 miles on it. Bottom line I ended up getting this thing for $8,500.00 under private party resale. Its in perfect condition. Still has that new leather smell inside. Frankly I don't think anyone has ever sat in the back seat.

I can assure you I will be a frequent poster here, and I am looking forward to my new family.

Again, thanks for such a great sight.

Patrick,
The Watersurgeon, Inc.

 

Welcome to FTE! Glad to see you finally got a good truck for all your effort.It seem like the more hassle you get you often end up getting a better deal in the long run.I think you will like it here, the moderators are GREAT and you can find out anything you want to know. Nice to meet you.I usually hang out in the Ranger forum but I'll probably run into you in the talkie forums.