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hwyman3

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  1. I remember hearing that as well. At first the writers balked at the idea, but when they started reading some of the actual calls departments ran, the writers were like, "We couldn't make this stuff up in a million years!
  2. Baltimore City has been Ram for the past few years. Seems that around here (Metropolitan Washington/Baltimore region) Freightliner is the big winner.
  3. Joe, I am in agreement, especially when it comes to the Volunteers in Fire and even EMS. Not only did you find many Ford C-Series chassis engines and L-Series tankers in many a volunteer fire station, but there was also many times an E-Series Ambulance sharing the same apparatus room. Ford had the ambulance market practically to itself. I know a few apparatus salespeople from my days in EMS who told me they never thought they would have a hard time selling their ambulances on an E-Series. At my own volunteer house, our last Ford ambulance was purchased in 2004, and last Ford product (Expedition) was 2010. The last 4 Ambulances have been 1 GMC Topkick and 3 Freightliners. Now the only way to go diesel for Ambulances is wither pickup cabs (F-Series, Ram, etc.) or mediums (International, Freightliner). The last ambulance we purchased a couple of years ago, an F-series was heavily considered, but there were two big concerns that caused our station to go Freightliner again. First, many at the station were concerned because of Ford's "Remove the cab to service the engine" operation. I didn't see that as a huge concern, since that has been the policy at least as long as the 6.7 Powerstroke has been around and hasn't caused problems. Second was the turning radius. Freightliner has a tighter turning radius that F-Series or Ram. For these applications, that is a HUGE deal.
  4. At the time we bought it, we had brought on a new guy who were were going to make a painter. After we get the van, he up and quits. Funny thing is when he filed unemployment, he told them he didn't feel confident that he would have a job with us much longer! The Transit was what was available at the time, and it was a good deal for our plan. It has been a good van for the most part. We just put tires on it about a month ago and got about 45k out of the Hankooks that were on it. They are horrible in the snow.
  5. Several other contractors in the area do it, not the smartest thing I've seen but they do it. Some prefer vans for carrying around their tools. Others get utility bodies on cutaway vans, for that the E-Series still works.
  6. We currently have a 2016 T-250 in our small fleet. We purchased it in 2017 and it was a retired U-Haul van. We couldn't beat the price on it, it had 15k on the clock and we got it for around $25k with the bulkhead installed. A similar van new would have been around $40k. It's been a decent van, but if we replaced it, we would go with the Chevy as well. Biggest drawback we have experienced is the Transit can't tow. Our employee who uses the van loves it, but needs to get another truck to use our 10,000lb dump trailer. Our only other option, for now, for a van that can tow is the Nissan.
  7. In this real-world situation, that is exactly what Ford was prepared to do, keep it tied up in court until they bled the family dry. The exact scenario GearheadGrrrl described.
  8. In the end, yes, but they have enough lawyers to bankrupt you during the court process. Through appeals, they can keep it tied up for years, to Ford, not that big a loss, to the small dealer, they can't afford the fight. The laws may be written iron clad, the problem is enforcing them.
  9. 100% illegal, but Ford has enough lawyers to bankrupt you while you are in court. Ford does have ways to pressure the small dealers. Maybe Ford holds back shipments of popular models, maybe Ford cuts allocation to the smaller dealer.
  10. I was just a little surprised. Our spec included the service body as we have the dealer coordinating that with the upfitter. Since I know many dealers have preferred upfitters they work with, we specified a Knapheide, Reading or similar 6 compartment service body. One dealer did talk to his rep from EBY Truck bodies in Pennsylvania, but they could not build to our spec. He then reached out to Reading, but we never heard back from him. I do realize when it comes to a commercial customer, I am a REALLY small fish in a huge pond. If my regular dealer was still around, they would have gotten the sale. Ford seems to be pushing out these small town dealers where families have built a relationship with. I know the only constant is change, but I wonder if they really looked at what their business plan truly costs. We are a small business, and we like to work with other small businesses when we can. I know it's clichéd, but there is something about doing business with a person rather than just being another number.
  11. It wasn't one dealer, it was several dealers. We reached out to many dealers within the states of Maryland and Virginia, within a 150 mile radius. Ford really seems to be taking it's loyal customers for granted. A couple of weeks ago, I attended the All Ford Nationals in Carlisle, PA, one of the largest Ford shows in the country. Ford's display was very lacking. There were 2 Broncos there for you to see, but none of the upcoming products. No Maverick, No Lightning. I would think that with such a large congregation of Ford faithful, they would at least try to peak our interest with at least a Prototype or 2.
  12. My company recently put out a one-ton dually service body for bid. We had a long standing relationship with a local Ford dealer and our small fleet (5 trucks) are all Fords. However, with the small, local dealer going out of business, we put it out for bid. Here are a few of my observations: GM is still phoning it in. Both Ram and Ford allow you to build a chassis-cab truck online. That is not an option for Chevrolet or GMC. This is one reason no General Motors dealers were invited to bid. We did not get a huge response to our request for proposal. Granted, it was for only one truck, but we do not purchase cheap trucks. The Ford spec was for a Lariat and the Ram spec was for a Larimie. The Ram dealers were slightly more responsive, but the lack of response from Ford was deafening. At the end of the day, we ordered a Ram truck back in February, and should be delivered in about a week from now. To be honest, with the business fleet, and my personal garage of Ford vehicles (5 I own personally, 5 for the business), it really felt Ford was no longer interested in having me as a customer. Besides the lack of marketing to the commercial buyer, they also don't make it very easy to purchase from them.
  13. I really miss those 9000s! One of my favorite Fords!
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