Not Sure If We Made The Right Choice…

[Dusty19]

So my wife and her dad purchased a 2017 Expedition Limited from a smaller franchise dealership here in Arizona. They have flagship branches through the state for almost all major brands.

The branch we purchased from however, sells what I think are their “wholesale” vehicles. It’s a little double wide trailer with a small dirt lot off a main road.

The price for the vehicle was fair ($23,000). Their Doc fee was insanely cheap ($300) compared to most here in our state. They DID mandate add ons of -

Tint
Data-Dot
Smart Sheild

Totaling $1,800 in additional to bottom line. We negotiated and had them split the cost, and paid $900 OTD for the “add ons”.

Total price OTD for the vehicle was $26,615. We’re happy with the cost and the general condition of the vehicle, except just a few things that made us go “hmmm…”

Vehicle was purchased in Washington as a rental for the first year, then sold at auction and purchased private party here in AZ and driven by that owner it’s whole life up until we got it. Carfax says no salvage or accidents. Has history of service records.

1) Upon arrival, we noticed vehicle was FILTHY. Yes, it sat on a dirt lot. We didn’t mind at first. But getting inside, it was coated in dust and had dirty footprints all over the place. The sales person informed us the sales manager had been driving this vehicle around for a while. He had put over 1,200 miles on it. It was also on empty. The gas light was about to come on. When we asked about having fuel put in after purchasing, they promptly replied “no, we can’t do that”. I was baffled.

2) Paying way over normal cost for Tint and other bs add ons, we noticed the tint or windows are scratched to hell. Almost every window. Probably from rolling the windows up and down with dirt/dust all over the vehicle. Wife didn’t notice until she got home and looked closer. She claims we have a “warranty” on the tint, but I’m wondering if that’s true or not. I can’t find anything in our contract. Windshield also seems to have some sort of clear tint on it as it’s very blurry.

3) Dealer only had ONE key, and that key either is NOT the original, or the actual key inside the fob was never cut. It’s just a blank key. It’s useless. They said there is nothing they can do and won’t pay for a new one or a second one. We’re looking at another $200-$600 depending on if we go generic w/ locksmith, or buy factory from ford…

4) Vehicle has some weird bright pink paint/crayon on the inner door and you can also see where something was written on the driver window and washed off. It’s like stained into the window. Does anyone know wtf this is?! Looks like body shop markings or salvage yard markings, but Carfax shows no history of either.

5) The detailer that cleaned the vehicle for us at the dealership (after we purchased it) snapped off two clips that hold the drivers seat control panel on, so now we have a flopping panel on the seat. They said they will “try to have their interior guy” fix it next week. Not sure how that’s going to work.

6) I JUST walked out and noticed there is a lug missing on the passenger front wheel. I had to drive to the parts store and buy a new lug and have our tire shop put it on and check the rest of them for fear of them being loose…

7) This is just a personal thing, but the black on black with chrome interior is definitely not my favorite. Getting bad glare off the chrome bezels around the vents on the dash, and the shifter. The front seats have splattered stains “baked” into them. No matter what I try, I can’t wipe the stains out and the leather is looking very cracked and aged around the seat edges. Plastic in the cockpit area is very “creaky” and seems cheap.

Can anyone shed some light on the pink crayon thing maybe? I’m wondering if we should be concerned or be demanding anything from this dealer aside from them fixing the poor tint and the drivers seat control panel?

I’m kind of having buyers remorse with this limited because before my wife purchase it, I found a private party 2015 King Ranch Expy that was $8,000 cheaper down the road from us, had all service records, in mint condition, but my wife and her father refused to even go look at it because it had 10,000 more miles on it… I much prefer the interior of the king ranch over the black on black limited.

 

[Dusty19]

Here pictures of some of what I mentioned along with the king ranch that I thought was a better option

 

[Dusty19]

 

[JimR_TN]

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of required add ons for a used vehicle. That would bother me more than the empty fuel tank, dirty vehicle or key. I mean I wouldn’t have accepted the vehicle dirty with an empty gas tank, but the add ons sound like BS. Especially if the tint job was of poor quality.

 

[Dusty19]

I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of required add ons for a used vehicle. That would bother me more than the empty fuel tank, dirty vehicle or key. I mean I wouldn’t have accepted the vehicle dirty with an empty gas tank, but the add ons sound like BS. Especially if the tint job was of poor quality.

Yeah I agree. I was pretty upset when she came home and told me everything, then said they purchased it anyways.

Im going to flush all fluids and put new filters on it and have it inspected by a local shop for piece of mind.

I love fords, I have always wanted an F-250/350, but I’m nervous this vehicle was abused and being at 92k miles, we might have some large maintenance bills or repairs that just got passed on to us…

 

[JasonH]

As someone that purchased a fleet vehicle, I advise caution on those windows. My vehicle has scratches from where it spent time someplace with ample sand, likely a beach, and the window channels were not adequately cleaned. They're actually deep gouges in the glass. Once or twice, the debris shifted and I could hear the windows screaming out for relief. You'll want to get the channels cleaned to prevent further damage.

Regarding the crayon, check for a slightly raised edge in the paint on the body panels, or sign of screws having been removed like abrasions to the head. Repaint is usually fairly obvious if a panel was replaced. It might just be some sort of inventory number.

The Expedition does have very poor quality plastics. I strongly considered getting a Navigator as my next tow vehicle because the interior on the Expedition has such crappy materials. Not sure what Ford was thinking here. All my Honda's has nice soft touch plastics or fake leather in the areas you physically touch.

You can buy a key fob online and have a dealership program it. I paid $90 to have this done, but you may have to call around because the cost can vary. I purchased fobs on ebay. There's a tiny number where the key slots into the fob that can be used to match up the correct fob type. Once you have two keys you can program additional ones, but I think the key limit is four on the Expedition. I don't recall for certain because I have two Fords that use the same fob type.

The lugs swell. Make sure you can get a socket on all of them, or else you might have issues if you ever get a flat.

Apart from a good detailing and having a competent mechanic go over it, theres not much else you can do unless you plan to return it. I suggest putting 5k aside for repairs, just in case. Some people have no issues with the vehicle, and some people have many issues.

 

[Dusty19]

As someone that purchased a fleet vehicle, I advise caution on those windows. My vehicle has scratches from where it spent time someplace with ample sand, likely a beach, and the window channels were not adequately cleaned. They're actually deep gouges in the glass. Once or twice, the debris shifted and I could hear the windows screaming out for relief. You'll want to get the channels cleaned to prevent further damage.

Regarding the crayon, check for a slightly raised edge in the paint on the body panels, or sign of screws having been removed like abrasions to the head. Repaint is usually fairly obvious if a panel was replaced. It might just be some sort of inventory number.

The Expedition does have very poor quality plastics. I strongly considered getting a Navigator as my next tow vehicle because the interior on the Expedition has such crappy materials. Not sure what Ford was thinking here. All my Honda's has nice soft touch plastics or fake leather in the areas you physically touch.

You can buy a key fob online and have a dealership program it. I paid $90 to have this done, but you may have to call around because the cost can vary. I purchased fobs on ebay. There's a tiny number where the key slots into the fob that can be used to match up the correct fob type. Once you have two keys you can program additional ones, but I think the key limit is four on the Expedition. I don't recall for certain because I have two Fords that use the same fob type.

The lugs swell. Make sure you can get a socket on all of them, or else you might have issues if you ever get a flat.

Apart from a good detailing and having a competent mechanic go over it, theres not much else you can do unless you plan to return it. I suggest putting 5k aside for repairs, just in case. Some people have no issues with the vehicle, and some people have many issues.

Funny you mentioned the lugs as I just got back from our tire shop and had a conversation with the rep there about them. I’m purchasing a set of solid steel ones from Discount Tire after the rep told me how the OEM ones “round out”. Apparently Toyota, ford, Lexus, and a few others all use these cheap hybrid/composite lug nuts that are prone to breaking/stripping.

The key part, we plan on doing exactly what you mentioned. We’re eyeing up some on eBay/Amazon and will get them programmed and cut.

The windows I am calling and demanding they fix it regardless of if it’s the actual window or just tint. We basically paid $900 for “window tint” on this thing through them (mandatory add ons), but reading their brochure it does say it’s lifetime warranty so it’s going back.

The paint and panels look good so far. I see one tiny paint pen touch up on the front of the hood, but nothing else obvious. Just really weirds me out with the writing inside the door and on the window like that… reminds me of a body shop or savage yard.

 

[tacoduck]

You are in a big, safe, capable vehicle for $26k. If you want perfect, drive to the Ford dealer and buy a new one for $80k.
I’m too cheap to buy new, and a 2017 expo is a heck of a value at your price point. I drove a 2017 expo that was a rental and it was fantastic. Unfortunately it was stolen out of our driveway.

Regarding the writing on the doorsill, I’m guessing it was the rental company marking it for service completed. I wouldn’t let it bother me too much.

 

[drbr0b0tnik]

When I bought my used 2015 expy back in 2020, the drivers side seat control panel was missing. But the dealer had ordered a new one and was just waiting on the part to come in to install it. I would imagine that what they should do, not sure what their interior guy is going to rig up to “fix it”.

Just curious, was this a Bill Luke or Earnhardt? Fellow Arizonan here. I bought mine up at Camelback Ford.

 

[Maxine the Max]

So my wife and her dad purchased a 2017 Expedition Limited from a smaller franchise dealership here in Arizona. They have flagship branches through the state for almost all major brands.

The branch we purchased from however, sells what I think are their “wholesale” vehicles. It’s a little double wide trailer with a small dirt lot off a main road.

The price for the vehicle was fair ($23,000). Their Doc fee was insanely cheap ($300) compared to most here in our state. They DID mandate add ons of -

Tint
Data-Dot
Smart Sheild

Totaling $1,800 in additional to bottom line. We negotiated and had them split the cost, and paid $900 OTD for the “add ons”.

Total price OTD for the vehicle was $26,615. We’re happy with the cost and the general condition of the vehicle, except just a few things that made us go “hmmm…”

Vehicle was purchased in Washington as a rental for the first year, then sold at auction and purchased private party here in AZ and driven by that owner it’s whole life up until we got it. Carfax says no salvage or accidents. Has history of service records.

1) Upon arrival, we noticed vehicle was FILTHY. Yes, it sat on a dirt lot. We didn’t mind at first. But getting inside, it was coated in dust and had dirty footprints all over the place. The sales person informed us the sales manager had been driving this vehicle around for a while. He had put over 1,200 miles on it. It was also on empty. The gas light was about to come on. When we asked about having fuel put in after purchasing, they promptly replied “no, we can’t do that”. I was baffled.

2) Paying way over normal cost for Tint and other bs add ons, we noticed the tint or windows are scratched to hell. Almost every window. Probably from rolling the windows up and down with dirt/dust all over the vehicle. Wife didn’t notice until she got home and looked closer. She claims we have a “warranty” on the tint, but I’m wondering if that’s true or not. I can’t find anything in our contract. Windshield also seems to have some sort of clear tint on it as it’s very blurry.

3) Dealer only had ONE key, and that key either is NOT the original, or the actual key inside the fob was never cut. It’s just a blank key. It’s useless. They said there is nothing they can do and won’t pay for a new one or a second one. We’re looking at another $200-$600 depending on if we go generic w/ locksmith, or buy factory from ford…

4) Vehicle has some weird bright pink paint/crayon on the inner door and you can also see where something was written on the driver window and washed off. It’s like stained into the window. Does anyone know wtf this is?! Looks like body shop markings or salvage yard markings, but Carfax shows no history of either.

5) The detailer that cleaned the vehicle for us at the dealership (after we purchased it) snapped off two clips that hold the drivers seat control panel on, so now we have a flopping panel on the seat. They said they will “try to have their interior guy” fix it next week. Not sure how that’s going to work.

6) I JUST walked out and noticed there is a lug missing on the passenger front wheel. I had to drive to the parts store and buy a new lug and have our tire shop put it on and check the rest of them for fear of them being loose…

7) This is just a personal thing, but the black on black with chrome interior is definitely not my favorite. Getting bad glare off the chrome bezels around the vents on the dash, and the shifter. The front seats have splattered stains “baked” into them. No matter what I try, I can’t wipe the stains out and the leather is looking very cracked and aged around the seat edges. Plastic in the cockpit area is very “creaky” and seems cheap.

Can anyone shed some light on the pink crayon thing maybe? I’m wondering if we should be concerned or be demanding anything from this dealer aside from them fixing the poor tint and the drivers seat control panel?

I’m kind of having buyers remorse with this limited because before my wife purchase it, I found a private party 2015 King Ranch Expy that was $8,000 cheaper down the road from us, had all service records, in mint condition, but my wife and her father refused to even go look at it because it had 10,000 more miles on it… I much prefer the interior of the king ranch over the black on black limited.

I should probably stay in my lane here, but the first red flag I saw was, why is your wife buying vehicles with her Dad and not you?! You don't have to answer. Not our business, just something to think about. Do you not like the vehicle because it's crappy or because you were left out of the purchase?