25 Ford Ranger XLT with damage from factory

[Deleted member 1486]

Ordered my 25 Marsh gray ranger in March of 2025. Unit was built in July put on hold for weeks. Delivered in August then due to do airbag recall took delivery first week in October. Did finalize paperwork 6 pm on a Friday it was getting dark no time to look at vehicle until Saturday morning. Dent on left front door body line, overspray on left front door with tape line showing, fish eyes on multiple locations of on hood, debris in paint on tailgate, moldings loose. Ford quality control blew it if there is even such a standard anymore. Ran paint meter on panels left front door 6.7 mils all other panels consistent 4.5 5.0. Needless to say damage occurred in Dearborn Michigan and they tried to fix it but Ray Charles painted truck. This is my 5th ranger and Ford quality has taken a turn for the worse in my opinion. Truck is at Ford approved body shop with 77 miles on it. The body shop said they have horrible stories about F 150s,250s etc which shows that Ford is not focusing on quality. To all of you reading this walk around your vehicle during delivery process yes nothing is perfect but spending 60,000 dollars it needs to be damn close to perfect.

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[DutchRanger]

That sux... what did the dealer tell you?

 

[Deleted member 1486]

That sux... what did the dealer tell you?

Ah the dealership. We are very sorry for this issue please take your vehicle to a Ford authorized body shop for approval to be repaired.

 

[JimG]

Wow. I would tell them, and I mean demand, they take the vehicle back and give you a new undamaged truck. That is what you bought. Check with a lawyer but I doubt they can sell you a damaged vehicle without disclosing what the damage was. You don’t know how much damage there was. Somebody fixed the truck proved by the difference in paint thickness. Now you should take the hit for diminished value. That alone could be $5,000. That is total BS that they would sell you a vehicle that is damaged. I don’t know how they could not have know. I’m sure Ford has video of vehicles being loaded and leaving the plant. You bought a wrecked truck that was not disclosed. The dealer doesn’t want to take the hit so now he’s expecting you to. Ask for a $10,000 refund. They will offer you free oil changes or some other crappy compensation. Good luck.

 

[ColeTrainsRR]

Wow. I would tell them, and I mean demand, they take the vehicle back and give you a new undamaged truck. That is what you bought. Check with a lawyer but I doubt they can sell you a damaged vehicle without disclosing what the damage was. You don’t know how much damage there was. Somebody fixed the truck proved by the difference in paint thickness. Now you should take the hit for diminished value. That alone could be $5,000. That is total BS that they would sell you a vehicle that is damaged. I don’t know how they could not have know. I’m sure Ford has video of vehicles being loaded and leaving the plant. You bought a wrecked truck that was not disclosed. The dealer doesn’t want to take the hit so now he’s expecting you to. Ask for a $10,000 refund. They will offer you free oil changes or some other crappy compensation. Good luck.

They wont have to disclose anything for "diminished value" if it happened before it was titled. its shady for sure but my understanding is there is little that can be done. Mine had a notification by the shipping company of damage. Thankfully it was just a scratch on the fender flare and easily replaced just after delivery.

 

[CACTUSGREYFX4]

When I got mine took about 1/2 hour to look it over and even had them take it into shop and put it up on hoist so I could check out underneath as the stories of rust. Mine was all clean.

 

[Onceaneagle]

My salesman is a former Ford mechanic. He puts what he sells on the lift and goes over everything, then does the same with every customer. He has caught factory damaged paint and metal work, bed liner and paint overspray, rough paint, loose wires, damaged moulding, missing access covers. He says 99% are good but that 1% of vehicles have defects due to many factors to include who had a bad day at the plant.

Ford has a record of every person in the team who built your truck. As per the owner who posted here about a gash in his new Ranger cab only discovered by an after market detailer, you can get it fixed or take it back and demand a new truck. Your dealer should be taking it to get fixed and giving you a free loaner. Heaven help Ford if my new RR bought on lot or ordered has ANY issue from the factory. We are dropping a lot of money and we expect a perfect vehicle at delivery.

You can demand to speak with Ford's regional sales rep, not just your dealer. Check your State consumer protection laws. You can also call your State AG and file a consumer complaint, for record.

What your dealership owner, not the sales manager or sales, should be explaining to you in person is why they did not find any of this in THEIR pre-delivery inspection, and who was the person or persons who performed that pre inspection, and who detailed your truck for delivery who said nothing? You need names because at this point everybody involved is probably playing Bart Simpson "Not me, man." You paid for dealer prep.

 

[Deleted member 1486]

Wow. I would tell them, and I mean demand, they take the vehicle back and give you a new undamaged truck. That is what you bought. Check with a lawyer but I doubt they can sell you a damaged vehicle without disclosing what the damage was. You don’t know how much damage there was. Somebody fixed the truck proved by the difference in paint thickness. Now you should take the hit for diminished value. That alone could be $5,000. That is total BS that they would sell you a vehicle that is damaged. I don’t know how they could not have know. I’m sure Ford has video of vehicles being loaded and leaving the plant. You bought a wrecked truck that was not disclosed. The dealer doesn’t want to take the hit so now he’s expecting you to. Ask for a $10,000 refund. They will offer you free oil changes or some other crappy compensation. Good luck.

At this point I have pushed and it is in the body shop. When completed I will assess the work. Then we will pushed the dealership and return vehicle.
Thank you for your reply

 

[Deleted member 1486]

My salesman is a former Ford mechanic. He puts what he sells on the lift and goes over everything, then does the same with every customer. He has caught factory damaged paint and metal work, bed liner and paint overspray, rough paint, loose wires, damaged moulding, missing access covers. He says 99% is good but that 1% of vehicles is due to many factors to include who had a bad day at the plant.

Ford has a record of every person in the team who built your truck. As per the owner who posted here about a gash in his new Ranger cab only discovered by an after market detailer, you can get it fixed or take it back and demand a new truck. Your dealer should be taking it to get fixed and giving you a free loaner. Heaven help Ford if my new RR bought on lot or ordered has ANY issue from the factory. We are dropping a lot of money and we expect a perfect vehicle at delivery.

You can demand to speak with Ford's regional sales rep, not just your dealer. Check your State consumer protection laws. You can also call your State AG and file a consumer complaint, for record.

What your dealer's owner, not the sales manager or sales, should be explaining to you in person is why they did not find any of this in THEIR pre-delivery inspection, and who was the person or persons who performed that pre inspection, and who detailed your truck for delivery who said nothing? You need names because at this point everybody involved is probably playing Bart Simpson "Not me, man." You paid for dealer prep.

Well said thank you for your reply. All in the works.

 

[Onceaneagle]

Well said thank you for your reply. All in the works.

Please keep us informed and best wishes for getting this resolved to your satisfaction.

 

[crawford]

sorry this happened to you. i think many vehicles are damaged in transit or before we take delivery. my friend at work had a honda that had significant bumper damage. the dealer wanted him to take delivery but he refused and he had to wait until another one came in with options he picked. his damage was really obvious and not something you only notice when you get home. i don't think this kind of damage shows up as an accident though so at least you don't have to worry about that?

i had a 2020 black lariat. i really loved that truck. when i took delivery i was excited and didn't notice the paint. when i got it home i started to wax it. i found many white spots in my paint. the roof had a spot where it looked like they painted over some tape. i brought it back to the dealer and all they did was touch up the white spots with that touch up pen. they never tried to fix the spot on the roof and because i only saw it when i was up there i just left it. i kind of got over the paint and only noticed the paint imperfections when i was waxing it again. yes i was being too nice about it all.

i bought a 2025 carbonized grey in august. i inspected it more closely this time before i drove away. this one had pretty much perfect paint. i did notice a small spot on the tailgate and passenger door when i was doing my first wax job on it but it isn't enough for me to bother to try to get the dealer to fix it. maybe when i take it in for first oil change i will show them and see what they will say. i don't really expect them to do much as using the touch up pen on my 2020 wasn't a real fix in my opinion.

so paint issues aren't really anything new given that i had more issues with my 2020 than my 2025. but it really does suck to pay so much for a new truck and find any paint issues let alone what you described with yours. i hope it works out for you and that you are happy with your ranger in future.

Edited to say that i love the marsh grey colour. i was very close to getting this colour. it was on a different dealer's lot and had everything i wanted except the spray in bed liner. i know i could have bought it and had the spray in liner done after but i went with the carbonized grey at another dealer because 1) i like carbon grey too, 2) i didn't need to worry about getting the spray in liner done and 3) i managed to get them to knock a lot of money off my tonneau cover and mud flaps and also they took some off the MSRP even though employee pricing was on.

 

[Fawnbuster]

That sux... what did the dealer tell you?

I wouldn't have accepted the truck, thats crazy.

 

[TwoTone]

Wow. I would tell them, and I mean demand, they take the vehicle back and give you a new undamaged truck. That is what you bought. Check with a lawyer but I doubt they can sell you a damaged vehicle without disclosing what the damage was. You don’t know how much damage there was. Somebody fixed the truck proved by the difference in paint thickness. Now you should take the hit for diminished value. That alone could be $5,000. That is total BS that they would sell you a vehicle that is damaged. I don’t know how they could not have know. I’m sure Ford has video of vehicles being loaded and leaving the plant. You bought a wrecked truck that was not disclosed. The dealer doesn’t want to take the hit so now he’s expecting you to. Ask for a $10,000 refund. They will offer you free oil changes or some other crappy compensation. Good luck.

You'd be wrong, this has been beaten to death on dozens of forums.

 

[crawford]

I wouldn't have accepted the truck, thats crazy.

i suspect that is easier said than done unfortunately

 

[JimG]

They wont have to disclose anything for "diminished value" if it happened before it was titled. its shady for sure but my understanding is there is little that can be done. Mine had a notification by the shipping company of damage. Thankfully it was just a scratch on the fender flare and easily replaced just after delivery.

I never said the dealer would have to disclose the diminished value. I did say there would be diminished value. Unless everything off the books, none the less if there is damage fixed by a shop that records the vin, that will show up on car fax. If you were looking at 2 similar trucks and one has been wrecked and the other hasn’t, which would you buy. I certainly wouldn't buy the wrecked one. Get an appraisal on a 25 RR that is perfect. Then get another appraisal and say there was minor damage that was fixed. See which one is worth more. There all laws in Florida that may provide legal protection on this. A lawyer would know what he can do. If the dealer is legit they would want to make it right. Anyway I know we all want him to be taken care of!

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