Truck dealers for diesel pickup

[res308]

I may or may not go through with this, but I'm thinking about getting a tractor (about a 50 horse) with implements, and if I do I'll need to get a truck to pull it with, plus maybe pull a cattle trailer later on. My current worn out half ton ain't gonna work. 

I'm looking at 3/4 and 1 ton single wheel diesel pickups with crew cab and standard bed. I've narrowed down to Ram and GMC. 

Seems like most of these dealers out here are pricing at msrp or a good bit above. I'm not doing that.  

I've found one Ram dealer in Louisiana that sells at a pretty decent percentage off of msrp. 

Do y'all know of any good dealers within a reasonable distance of middle TN?

[Darrell]

Have you looked at AutoTrader.com?  Lots of dealers list new vehicles on there, and you can set a mileage limit for your search.  I found a car I was looking for in Atlanta a few years back. Good luck!

[felinesNfreedom]

I don't know of any really. I used carfax and autotrader to find my ram and ford. I need a turbo replaced and don't really trust my local dealer to do it.

[LangdoniousRex]

There are no good dealers anywhere in this country. That said, the best you can do is negotiate hard with dealerships closest to you. Long term, it's the best solution. When you inevitably have to bring it in for warranty work or a recall, if you didn't buy the truck at the same dealership you are getting service at, they will purposefully make you the lowest of priorities and treat you accordingly. The short term savings isn't worth the long term headache with these new vehicles. 

[res308]

Well, on another note, do y'all have any recommendations on which trucks and which type of truck setups? Keeping in mind that this will be my only vehicle so it'll be a daily driver as well. 

Edited Tuesday at 05:13 PM by res308

[LangdoniousRex]

My tow rig is an old F800 with a flatbed and integrated 5th wheel powered by a 12V Cummins. Cheap and easy to fix, parts are plentiful, and it has pulled everything I've thrown at it. She ain't pretty or luxurious but she gets the job done. 

[OldIronFan]

2 hours ago, LangdoniousRex said:

There are no good dealers anywhere in this country. That said, the best you can do is negotiate hard with dealerships closest to you. Long term, it's the best solution. When you inevitably have to bring it in for warranty work or a recall, if you didn't buy the truck at the same dealership you are getting service at, they will purposefully make you the lowest of priorities and treat you accordingly. The short term savings isn't worth the long term headache with these new vehicles. 

I have never run into that and I have gone to South Carolina, Louisville Kentucky, and Cincinnati Ohio to buy vehicles. I rarely have a vehicle serviced at the dealer I bought it from. Always found some good deals looking 100 or more miles from home. 

Dealerships make money off the manufacturers warranty no mater where the vehicle was purchased. The book hours and rates don't change based on where the car was sold. Since most dealer service departments operate fairly independently from the sales side, including financially, they could care less where a car was originally sold. 

Dealerships make more money selling used inventory than new inventory. They also make more off the financing, supplemental warranties, and dealer add on services than they do off the sale of new inventory. 
Bottom line is the actual sale of a new vehicle independent of all of the above is probably the lowest income generator and thus the lowest priority of the dealer. What they really want is to sell you undercoating, extended warranties, fabric protection, and finance plans. Those are their real products, they just happen to be attached to a big chunk of metal and plastic you have to buy first. 

You can negotiate a good deal locally but I have found better luck shopping online, negotiating a sale via phone one I found what I wanted, and driving or flying to go finalize and pick it up. Saved thousands doing that and it is easier to back them off of all the "extra" crap when you are well outside their region with your own financing. 

I once had an engine replaced under warranty at 32,000 miles, just inside the factory warranty. Did not purchase it at the local dealer but I did have it serviced there. I bought it new on the other side of the state, cash deal no financing and no supplemental warranties. Local dealer had done the oil changes since I drove it home from point of purchase and they had zero issues replacing the motor when it spun a bearing. it was not really their decision anyway. They had to run it through the regional warranty manager for the manufacturer to approve the warranty claim. They got paid the same by the manufacturer for the work and the OEM sent them the engine to install. 
Dealer service is the important part of that equation and why I have my work done at the dealer or dealer approved service location while it is still under warranty. When they have the records of regular maintenance and it was performed inhouse it is harder for them to deny a warranty claim for poor maintenance or owner neglect. Once it is out of warranty and I am footing the bill it is either in my garage or at trusted local independent shop. 

[LangdoniousRex]

8 minutes ago, OldIronFan said:

I have never run into that and I have gone to South Carolina, Louisville Kentucky, and Cincinnati Ohio to buy vehicles. I rarely have a vehicle serviced at the dealer I bought it from. Always found some good deals looking 100 or more miles from home. 

Dealerships make money off the manufacturers warranty no mater where the vehicle was purchased. The book hours and rates don't change based on where the car was sold. Since most dealer service departments operate fairly independently from the sales side, including financially, they could care less where a car was originally sold. 

Dealerships make more money selling used inventory than new inventory. They also make more off the financing, supplemental warranties, and dealer add on services than they do off the sale of new inventory. 
Bottom line is the actual sale of a new vehicle independent of all of the above is probably the lowest income generator and thus the lowest priority of the dealer. What they really want is to sell you undercoating, extended warranties, fabric protection, and finance plans. Those are their real products, they just happen to be attached to a big chunk of metal and plastic you have to buy first. 

You can negotiate a good deal locally but I have found better luck shopping online, negotiating a sale via phone one I found what I wanted, and driving or flying to go finalize and pick it up. Saved thousands doing that and it is easier to back them off of all the "extra" crap when you are well outside their region with your own financing. 

I once had an engine replaced under warranty at 32,000 miles, just inside the factory warranty. Did not purchase it at the local dealer but I did have it serviced there. I bought it new on the other side of the state, cash deal no financing and no supplemental warranties. Local dealer had done the oil changes since I drove it home from point of purchase and they had zero issues replacing the motor when it spun a bearing. it was not really their decision anyway. They had to run it through the regional warranty manager for the manufacturer to approve the warranty claim. They got paid the same by the manufacturer for the work and the OEM sent them the engine to install. 
Dealer service is the important part of that equation and why I have my work done at the dealer or dealer approved service location while it is still under warranty. When they have the records of regular maintenance and it was performed inhouse it is harder for them to deny a warranty claim for poor maintenance or owner neglect. Once it is out of warranty and I am footing the bill it is either in my garage or at trusted local independent shop. 

I've had a completely different experience. Purchased car in Florida, needed warranty work here in Tennessee and Iowa. First TN dealership jerked me around for 11 days over a warranty replacement condenser. Transmission blew up in Iowa. Spent 4.5 months at the dealership waiting for manufacturer to approve the claim despite ample evidence to prove it was a system failure. Second TN dealership the entire A/C system needed replacement. Waited 7 weeks for use of a courtesy car as I required one at the time. All of this has happened within the past 2 years. The last TN dealership was super pushy trying to get me to trade in my car in something I had zero interest in and practically admitted that if you didn't buy the car from them that they DGAF about you when it comes to service. Let's just say this is the last modern vehicle I will likely ever buy as my self-maintained 20+ year old ####boxes are more reliable and I can yell at the service manager all I want when the work isn't done right.

[peejman]

2 hours ago, LangdoniousRex said:

I've had a completely different experience. Purchased car in Florida, needed warranty work here in Tennessee and Iowa. First TN dealership jerked me around for 11 days over a warranty replacement condenser. Transmission blew up in Iowa. Spent 4.5 months at the dealership waiting for manufacturer to approve the claim despite ample evidence to prove it was a system failure. Second TN dealership the entire A/C system needed replacement. Waited 7 weeks for use of a courtesy car as I required one at the time. All of this has happened within the past 2 years. The last TN dealership was super pushy trying to get me to trade in my car in something I had zero interest in and practically admitted that if you didn't buy the car from them that they DGAF about you when it comes to service. Let's just say this is the last modern vehicle I will likely ever buy as my self-maintained 20+ year old ####boxes are more reliable and I can yell at the service manager all I want when the work isn't done right.

What vehicles were these that needed engines, transmissions, and AC replaced under warranty?  Those are the 3 most expensive systems in most cars. 

[MacGyver]

6 hours ago, LangdoniousRex said:

There are no good dealers anywhere in this country. That said, the best you can do is negotiate hard with dealerships closest to you. Long term, it's the best solution. When you inevitably have to bring it in for warranty work or a recall, if you didn't buy the truck at the same dealership you are getting service at, they will purposefully make you the lowest of priorities and treat you accordingly. The short term savings isn't worth the long term headache with these new vehicles. 

This is contrary to how a modern dealership actually works.

A modern new car dealership is actually 3 businesses in one.

1. the business of selling you a new car (maybe $1000-$1500 in it for most dealerships - some make significantly less)

2. the business of finance and insurance - how are you going to pay for the car and what products can we sell you for it - (around $2500 for the average dealership - some significantly more - some significantly less). Whether or not you buy products - if you don't bring your own financing you're likely getting an interest rate that's marked up to "what the customer will bear" and the dealer splits this with the bank.  This is 50% of profit in some dealerships

3. the business of servicing your car (maybe thousands of dollars over the life of a car)

Now - what you need to know about each of those things is that each of them has a manager - and they have a compensation plan that is results driven.  A service manager doesn't care if you bought a car from them.  They're thrilled you're in their shop instead of where you bought it - because they're making money when you service your car there.

Likewise, the F&I manager doesn't care the first thing in the world if you just negotiated the best deal in the world on that vehicle.  They make their money in lining up financing and selling you warranties, gap insurance, wheel and tire protection, etc.

So, all that to say - if you're a part of the new car ecosystem - it's good to have a working relationship with a dealer near you.

[LangdoniousRex]

1 hour ago, peejman said:

What vehicles were these that needed engines, transmissions, and AC replaced under warranty?  Those are the 3 most expensive systems in most cars. 

Same vehicle. Blue Oval. As of this moment, it still hasn't cracked 30k miles over 6 years of its existence.

[Grayfox54]

I spent most of my career working in fleets. I've seen and worked on just about every brand of pick-up made. Nothing holds up better than a Ford. GMC/Chevy is pretty good. Ram is a piece of junk. 

Frankly, with all the government mandated emission garbage they're forced to hang on them, nobody has a good diesel anymore. None of them hold up well and cost a fortune to repair.  One look under the hood will scare the poop outta ya. 

If I was in the market for a good, hard working diesel truck, I'd look for an older Ford 350/450 with the 7.3 diesel engine. Even if you had to rebuild it from the ground up, you'd have a better truck than anything they sell these days. 

[TGO David]

22 hours ago, felinesNfreedom said:

I don't know of any really. I used carfax and autotrader to find my ram and ford. I need a turbo replaced and don't really trust my local dealer to do it.

It's a shame that Beans' Diesel no longer does service.  They are just down the road from you in Woodbury.  Maybe they have recommendations of who can do the service you need, though.

 

[felinesNfreedom]

On 6/26/2024 at 8:38 AM, TGO David said:

It's a shame that Beans' Diesel no longer does service.  They are just down the road from you in Woodbury.  Maybe they have recommendations of who can do the service you need, though.

 

Yeah man. It sucks that all those guys stopped servicing trucks after the EPA cracked down on shops a few years back. I will give them a call and see if they know of anyone, thanks.