The reality of aluminum body panels.

dodge man · Feb 6, 2015

Its easy to unbolt a hood, throw it out and put a new one on. Its not so easy to do that with a door skin or quarter panel.

s219 · Feb 6, 2015

fordmantpw said:
How is that different than today with the F150 and Mustang (and other vehicles I am sure) having an aluminum hood? Do they just replace them or have that part repaired elsewhere?

That's what I keep asking, as a former and current owner of cars with big aluminum parts (hoods, roofs, trunks). Our previous car with an aluminum hood was repaired (i.e., repair and not swap) after an accident with a deer, and the body shop didn't blink an eye. Repair costs were inline with any other bodywork I have had done.

fordmantpw · Feb 6, 2015

dodge man said:
Its easy to unbolt a hood, throw it out and put a new one on. Its not so easy to do that with a door skin or quarter panel.

I get that, but they don't just throw away every hood because of a ding or scratch that needs a little work. 'Oh look, this hood has a ding in it. It's aluminum, so better just throw it away!' No, it doesn't work that way!

s219 said:
That's what I keep asking, as a former and current owner of cars with big aluminum parts (hoods, roofs, trunks). Our previous car with an aluminum hood was repaired (i.e., repair and not swap) after an accident with a deer, and the body shop didn't blink an eye. Repair costs were inline with any other bodywork I have had done.

Somebody gets what I'm saying!

Diamondpilot · Feb 6, 2015

fordmantpw said:
I get that, but they don't just throw away every hood because of a ding or scratch that needs a little work. 'Oh look, this hood has a ding in it. It's aluminum, so better just throw it away!' No, it doesn't work that way!

Somebody gets what I'm saying!

I do. I have stayed out of this thread for a reason other than my post where I posted "ACTUAL FACTS".....

I took the time and called my insurance man and used my 2012 Ecoboost Super Crew as a baseline against a 2015 F150, Chevy Silverado, and Ram. End result was the F150 was actually cheaper than the GM and Ram.

Chris

fordmantpw · Feb 6, 2015

Diamondpilot said:
I do. I have stayed out of this thread for a reason other than my post where I posted "ACTUAL FACTS".....

I took the time and called my insurance man and used my 2012 Ecoboost Super Crew as a baseline against a 2015 F150, Chevy Silverado, and Ram. End result was the F150 was actually cheaper than the GM and Ram.

Chris

Yeah, it appears actual facts are not that important when you have all this conjecture and 'what-ifs' floating around.

JDgreen227 · Feb 6, 2015

Diamondpilot said:
I do. I have stayed out of this thread for a reason other than my post where I posted "ACTUAL FACTS".....

I took the time and called my insurance man and used my 2012 Ecoboost Super Crew as a baseline against a 2015 F150, Chevy Silverado, and Ram. End result was the F150 was actually cheaper than the GM and Ram.

Chris

Might be splitting hairs here, but can you say the COLLISION part of the premium was cheaper for the 2015 F-150, or was it just the total premium? Sorry if I am stepping on your toes but my brother purchased a 2014 F-150 because his agent told him the premiums for a 2015 model were going to be higher.

fordmantpw · Feb 6, 2015

JDgreen227 said:
Might be splitting hairs here, but can you say the COLLISION part of the premium was cheaper for the 2015 F-150, or was it just the total premium? Sorry if I am stepping on your toes but my brother purchased a 2014 F-150 because his agent told him the premiums for a 2015 model were going to be higher.

In general, insurance on a '14 MY vehicle will be slightly higher than a '15, just because it is worth more. The link I posted a couple pages back showed actual increases for '15 F150's over previous vehicles. It was generally a few bucks / month higher. Granted, these weren't '14 F150 - '15 F150 increases, just general increases for moving up to a '15 F150.

Diamondpilot · Feb 6, 2015

JDgreen227 said:
Might be splitting hairs here, but can you say the COLLISION part of the premium was cheaper for the 2015 F-150, or was it just the total premium? Sorry if I am stepping on your toes but my brother purchased a 2014 F-150 because his agent told him the premiums for a 2015 model were going to be higher.

Have no clue and don't care. All I care is what I like and what it cost me at the end of the day. The 2015 was about $60 more per year than my 2012. To me that is reasonable.

Chris

dodge man · Feb 6, 2015

I'm not sure, but I don't think working a dent out of a alum. panel and repainting it would be that much different than a steel one. I think its when it come down to replacing one, in particular one that doesn't bolt on that the alum. costs more.

JDgreen227 · Feb 6, 2015

Diamondpilot said:
Have no clue and don't care. All I care is what I like and what it cost me at the end of the day. The 2015 was about $60 more per year than my 2012. To me that is reasonable.

Chris

Yes it is reasonable but sorry I did not make my post more clear, I was simply wondering whether the collision premium for a 2015 F-150 was much more than for the 2014 model. My insurance company (AAA) bases premiums in part depending on what it costs to repair a vehicle.