Morning Steve, Bill and the rest of the SoCal peeps

 

Really? Is this sumptin' new or has this ever happened before?

Mornin' all, you too George.

 

Hey, I come up with this stuff all by myself.

 

It's been summer here for Months!

 

It's purt' near always summer down in Az.

 

I'm lost, Can you help me find my my my my my O My!

 

Ahhhhh, to be eight years old again...

Pop

 

Don't you guys ever sleep in California?

How are your guys over there, I sure seems like summer over here.

NumberDummy, I plan to look at an Excursion tomorrow after work. They are asking 21,400 for a 05 4x4 (don't know engine size yet).
I plan to offer 15,000.

Do you think they will bite? Eco cars are selling like hot cakes here!

 

Selling well here too..which is good for some dealers, very bad for others.

Make an offer, the worst they can say is no. Don't be fooled by the so called KBB retail figures, these behemoths aren't going anywhere, so deduct at least 20-25%.

Full sized pickups and SUV's are jammed on lots all over SoCal, both new and used...Dodge is just giving them away...I can buy a Hemi QC for 17, without a Hemi, for 15. Regular cab for 10...these are NEW.

But who wants a Dodge? Not I, and from all the (crying) dealer full page ads (big Memorial Day sale so succesful we're holding it over [yeah, right]. Free 20 gallon gas card just for taking a test drive = which was NOT in the ads for the Memorial Day weekend..what does that tell you?), no one else wants one either....and ChryCo may go Chapter 11 pretty soon...ppl in the know are saying by the middle of July.

There goes the Lifetime Warranty, down the tubes. The same ppl are saying Chapter 11 will lead to Chapter 7...bye bye ChryCo...the only thing worth saving is Jeep.

2007 Expy's are 15.5-16.5 (depends on the mileage, 15.5's have around 28K on the clock) here at one local mega-dealer. I looked at three yesterday, but discovered that it won't clear the garage door, because my driveway approach is too steep...so I'm SOL.

Same mega-dealer that has the Expy's has used 2008 Dodge Durango's with Hemi's for 15.9, but who wants one? One of the piles had 12K on the clock.

 

Is FoMoCo doing okay these days. I know their trucks have taken a sales dive, but is the car side doing better.
Ford passenger cars have come along way in recent years, yet are these cars hitting the targeted markets.

I heard recent rumors about FoMoCo getting rid of the Mercury line as a cost cutting efforts. It seems like drastic means come to drastic measures. That's business!

I'll keep looking for low priced extra large SUVs, just because I like deals!

 

Not one Mercury model is selling well, in fact they aren't selling worth a hoot. They're nothing more than rebadged Fords, but what will happen to the Lincoln Dealers if they drop Mercury?

Back in the late 1960's, Ford tried as an experiment, two stand alone Lincoln dealers, one was in Beverly Hills. It went belly-up within a year, and those were the days when the only real competition was Cadillac, Jaguar and Mercedes.

The Edge, Focus, Fusion and Escape (especially the hybrids) are selling like hotcakes here, the Taurus is a total failure. Sales are less this year than they were last year when it was called the 500. And the Taurus is a far better car than the 500 ever was. Since Ford isn't advertising it...it's no wonder it's a failure.

Full sized pickups, Rangers, Expy's and especially Explorer sales are terrible.

Explorer sales the past several years are now less than Grand Cherokees, that hasn't occured since 1992.

How is Ford doing? The companies profits since the 1990's have mostly come from full sized pickup and Explorer sales, so what does that tell you?

Automakers make most of their profits from parts sales, so if the vehicles aren't selling...

Ford is in far better shape than Chrysler, and GM is also biting the bullet. The Silverado and Tahoes aren't selling worth a damn.

The GMC version sales have hit the toilet, especially Yukon sales, which are the worst seller of any GM product including the fuddy-duddy's favorite car, Buick..which has the worst resale value of any car sold in the US.

 

I just bought a few OEM products from my local Ford dealer.
Not high dollar items, but needed items - an EGR, air and fuel filters for our Windstar. I do admit I get other replacement parts from chain auto part stores.
Yet, some of these chain store parts are the same parts that Ford uses,
Bosch and Niehoff (spelling).
My Motorcraft oil and oil filters come from Walmart.

Does Anchor supply Ford with engine mount parts? It sure seems just like OEM to me.

Parts suppliers may see more business with people getting there smaller cars more fuel efficient.

 

You can buy parts from FTE Ford dealer parts dept sponsors usually at around 25% off the actual Ford suggested retail price = MSRP (btw: most dealers jack prices up 30% today), but then there's the shipping charges, which to the Islands, are prolly pretty high.

Dunno who Ford buys their parts from today, a lot of stuff is made by others regardless if it sez Motorcraft or Ford on the label.

Years ago we had bad issues with new batteries sold over the parts counter.

Ford was then buying them from the same outfit that made them for Sears.

The Sears Die Hards were cheaper, and had a better warranty, but both batteries were crap.

We called them the "Miracle Battery."

If one lasted a year, it was a miracle!

 

Morning Steve, Bill and the rest of the SoCal peeps

Steve here is a live one for you,,, https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...a-problem.html

 

Just what you need, Darren - another vehicle.