Got a newer Ford? Dont dent it....
- Thread starter lamanated
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sklunk
Gold Member
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- Southcentral PA
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I'll see what my wife can find out. I know most of the "bigger" names were okay with writing policies but she said they were forcing you to go to certified shops for the repairs (and we are in PA where you are supposed to be allowed to choose your shop so the companies are still arguing about it).
CJONE
Veteran Member
Lots of rumors and BS out there on these F-150's. They are considerably harder to dent than the steel ones were. The GM commercials would have you believe otherwise but as far as denting they are stronger. Piercing a hole in them is a different story as the commercials prove but who slams a sharp corner of a tool box into the side of their truck. We have 6 or more of them and have seen them take hits with no damage that the steel ones would crease or dent. Living in the rust belt, it is nice to know you won't be patching holes in 4-5 years. No issues with insuring any of our trucks or any of my friends that own them. CJ
Since Ford has sold 600,000 F-series so far this year, I think we would have heard more if there was a problem insuring them, or repairing them. There were several of these doom and gloom, 'aluminum is the devil', type articles a year ago. Guess what, the high insurance costs and repair fears didn't come true. There are just as many issues repairing the tissue paper thin steel panels as there are for aluminum. Methods are different between models and materials, but they all can be repaired.
KennyG
Elite Member
Just to keep this from being a "brand" argument, it appears GM will go to aluminum truck bodies as early as 2018 if they have been able to get a reliable aluminum supply.
roadhunter
Elite Member
Unfortunately many of these discussions end up being based on band and not facts. Ford guy gets defensive and it goes downhill from there. It's really about the body shops, not brand.
It really doesn't make much difference what brand it is at this point. The first companies to transition to aluminum will have a more difficult time as the body shop industry catches up with training and technology as well as investments in equipment to repair aluminum bodies. The companies who wait for 5-10 years will have an easier time as the repair industry will be more equipped to handle the aluminum at that point. I suspect we will see more manufacturers moving that way now that Ford has gone that route.
This paragraph sums it up quite nicely.
But whether your vehicle is made of aluminum or traditional steel, it’s important to take it to a qualified facility for collision work. “There’s roughly 33,000 known repair shops in North America today,” Richman said. According to him, about 15 percent of them have been certified by an OEM or I-CAR (Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair) for working with aluminum.
CJONE
Veteran Member
That is the thing with GM. They knock what others are doing then a few years later do it themselves. Remember the GM commercials slamming the "man step" in brand X's tailgate? Guess what they have in their bumpers. How about the "retro" look performance cars, Guess what they have now. I can think of a few more but why? To date I have owned more new GM vehicles but the way they are advertising now makes them look like a bunch of politicians. CJ
rustyshakelford
Veteran Member
Same way ram and Cummins slammed ford and gm for using urea and now they use it too. It's just instant ad tools with no consequences down the road
I think the AL will be of little concern in a few years and it'll be harder to find shops that do quality work on steel vehicles
Brett
tractorshopper
Veteran Member
Not so worried about the aluminum strength in the Fords. If buying one, I'd just make sure to get a rubber bed mat. The main turn off for me is really about the $. Was looking at 250's and 350's this weekend and was told at the dealership they are starting to bring in the '17's and they will be aluminum like the 150's. I'm thinking that has to drive the price up even more than they already are.
I recently did build your own on Ram, GMC, and Ford sites. I built all 3 with same specs pretty much and same trim levels. I found the 250/2500's in as close to apples/apples comparison as possible a little surprising. MSRP on Laramie Longhorn and Sierra Denali were almost identical. The Lariat was significantly higher than the other two.
I recently did build your own on Ram, GMC, and Ford sites. I built all 3 with same specs pretty much and same trim levels. I found the 250/2500's in as close to apples/apples comparison as possible a little surprising. MSRP on Laramie Longhorn and Sierra Denali were almost identical. The Lariat was significantly higher than the other two.
adventure bob
Platinum Member
Im totally confused by this thread... Do people think shops are beating panels to repair them? The closest thing your going to get to that without going to a custom car shop is the dentless guys. There are few if any accident repair shops that are going to have a guy panel beating with a hammer and dolly fixing dents in either AL or FE panels or reskining doors and beds. It simply costs WAY too much for a panel guy to do that kind of work on a common vehicle. In most cases their hourly charge is more than the new panel if they go more than about 45 minutes. If you have a very rare or very very old vehicle you MAY see a panel beater; your going to pay for it though. Your insurance is certainly going to balk at the hourly cost for a panel beater of even moderate skill versus simply replacing the panel. When the repair parts cost increase is considered with the increased cost of the vehicle they are not outrageous and are not significantly worse than they've ever been. With trucks approaching $60 to $65K parts cost have to go up.