Mark Dodge Thread

[monkeypunch]

Mine got to MD today. Flying down on the 14th to get it. Excited for this process to be finished.

 

[Nova90]

For those of you who have had your trucks shipped to you, how did you pay the carrier? I just got off the phone with MD and they said cash on delivery to the carrier. Do we actually have to pay in cash or do cashier's checks/money orders work as well?

Paid in cash...handed the driver an envelope of cash

 

[KWKSLVR]

If available where you live, check GiveMetheVIN.com; I used them a couple of weeks ago for my 21 Silverado and they were $5.5k higher than CarMax, $6.5k higher than Vroom and Carvana.

I reached out to GiveMetheVIN and they're already replied asking, "what would it take to buy your Ram?"

 

[Duckfan1967]

For those of you who have had your trucks shipped to you, how did you pay the carrier? I just got off the phone with MD and they said cash on delivery to the carrier. Do we actually have to pay in cash or do cashier's checks/money orders work as well?

Glad you’re getting your truck soon, looks like I’m a couple weeks behind. Mine is almost to port Allen. Too bad we couldn’t have gotten a deal on shipping up here!

 

[Darksteel165]

If available where you live, check GiveMetheVIN.com; I used them a couple of weeks ago for my 21 Silverado and they were $5.5k higher than CarMax, $6.5k higher than Vroom and Carvana.

Just tried givemethevin. Their offer range was 30,610-32,617. Carmax was at 37,500.

I really hate where I live...

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Just tried givemethevin. Their offer range was 30,610-32,617. Carmax was at 37,500.

I really hate where I live...

Have you looked at what something similar is going for locally, either at dealerships or on local markets? Might be one of the times it's worth the hassle of selling privately.

 

[CObiomedtech]

Paid in cash...handed the driver an envelope of cash

Same. Better him driving around with $1500 cash instead of me.

 

[Darksteel165]

Have you looked at what something similar is going for locally, either at dealerships or on local markets? Might be one of the times it's worth the hassle of selling privately.

I have an ad on Autotrader, and its only dealerships and scammers on there.
A dealership wouldn't even tell me what ballpark offer they were in just the typical "come on down"

I think i'm going to slap a for sale sign on my truck when I drive around at this rate

 

[TSL]

So my truck got to MD in just over 6 weeks of placing the order, which was well above my expectations. That's where the good news seems to have ended. I mentioned earlier that Aaron called me to say there were some scratches on the truck. I got another call today with more details : seems there was another vehicle ( a Charger I think ) on the transporter from Port Allen and somehow it got a broken rear window. No idea how. Evidently my truck was under it and broken glass rained down on top of it ! There's some scratching on the hood, on the roof, on one of the doors, on the plastic surround of one of the rear view mirrors and on the front bumper. It's now at a body shop and Aaron estimates it could be a month there. Mainly because they need to order replacement parts - the scratched plastic parts need replacing. The hood, roof and door panel will be painted. The body shop guy is evidently a buddy of Aaron;s and wants to be sure the job is done right, especially since Stellantis is paying for this. It could be touched up, but its a better job to do the entire impacted panels. ( I had personal experience of this once : one of my kids drew a nice picture in the dust on the door of one of our cars. But she drew it with a rock off the driveway Nice smiley face and all. Then she went to dust it off and had an "oh sugar" moment. The body shop finished up painting the entire side of the car, not just that door. He said it was the only way to blend it. Especially since vehicle was a few years old at that point. )

But I digress, back to the truck: my sense is Aaron is on top of this and being proactive. They could have used a touch up pen and shipped me the truck and then shrugged when I noticed it and said "I dunno, it must have happened on it's way to you". But he's not. He sees it and he wants it fixed and made right. He told me to hold off on the financing for now ( so my good for 30 days quote from my credit union might expire unfortunately)
He did tell me that, given this, I do have the right to cancel the order without impacting my deposit. But if I place a new order, prices have gone up. While I ordered Jan 15th, I actually got Dec pricing because that's when I started the conversation with MD. And it'll be a longer wait for a new build vs getting this one sorted out.
I don't think the scratches are massive and that I'll probably have a few on it myself by the end of the summer after a few camping trips out to the woods, but Aaron wants to deliver a factory-pristine vehicle to me. And in fairness that's what I've paid for and should get.
What would you guys do ? I guess it does come down to personal preference. I know some folks on here are detailers when it comes to paint finish, but I'm not really one of those folks myself.
I guess I could ask for an additional discount or other sweetner to the deal to compensate for the delay !

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

So my truck got to MD in just over 6 weeks of placing the order, which was well above my expectations. That's where the good news seems to have ended. I mentioned earlier that Aaron called me to say there were some scratches on the truck. I got another call today with more details : seems there was another vehicle ( a Charger I think ) on the transporter from Port Allen and somehow it got a broken rear window. No idea how. Evidently my truck was under it and broken glass rained down on top of it ! There's some scratching on the hood, on the roof, on one of the doors, on the plastic surround of one of the rear view mirrors and on the front bumper. It's now at a body shop and Aaron estimates it could be a month there. Mainly because they need to order replacement parts - the scratched plastic parts need replacing. The hood, roof and door panel will be painted. The body shop guy is evidently a buddy of Aaron;s and wants to be sure the job is done right, especially since Stellantis is paying for this. It could be touched up, but its a better job to do the entire impacted panels. ( I had personal experience of this once : one of my kids drew a nice picture in the dust on the door of one of our cars. But she drew it with a rock off the driveway Nice smiley face and all. Then she went to dust it off and had an "oh sugar" moment. The body shop finished up painting the entire side of the car, not just that door. He said it was the only way to blend it. Especially since vehicle was a few years old at that point. )

But I digress, back to the truck: my sense is Aaron is on top of this and being proactive. They could have used a touch up pen and shipped me the truck and then shrugged when I noticed it and said "I dunno, it must have happened on it's way to you". But he's not. He sees it and he wants it fixed and made right. He told me to hold off on the financing for now ( so my good for 30 days quote from my credit union might expire unfortunately)
He did tell me that, given this, I do have the right to cancel the order without impacting my deposit. But if I place a new order, prices have gone up. While I ordered Jan 15th, I actually got Dec pricing because that's when I started the conversation with MD. And it'll be a longer wait for a new build vs getting this one sorted out.
I don't think the scratches are massive and that I'll probably have a few on it myself by the end of the summer after a few camping trips out to the woods, but Aaron wants to deliver a factory-pristine vehicle to me. And in fairness that's what I've paid for and should get.
What would you guys do ? I guess it does come down to personal preference. I know some folks on here are detailers when it comes to paint finish, but I'm not really one of those folks myself.
I guess I could ask for an additional discount or other sweetner to the deal to compensate for the delay !

I'd see if they'll pay for PPF or at least ceramic to help protect that paint. I asked them not to even wash it because I didn't want those swirl marks to deal with, so I'm probably the wrong person to ask, but no way I'd take a brand new truck with that kind of damage for new truck money.

 

[KWKSLVR]

So my truck got to MD in just over 6 weeks of placing the order, which was well above my expectations. That's where the good news seems to have ended. I mentioned earlier that Aaron called me to say there were some scratches on the truck. I got another call today with more details : seems there was another vehicle ( a Charger I think ) on the transporter from Port Allen and somehow it got a broken rear window. No idea how. Evidently my truck was under it and broken glass rained down on top of it ! There's some scratching on the hood, on the roof, on one of the doors, on the plastic surround of one of the rear view mirrors and on the front bumper. It's now at a body shop and Aaron estimates it could be a month there. Mainly because they need to order replacement parts - the scratched plastic parts need replacing. The hood, roof and door panel will be painted. The body shop guy is evidently a buddy of Aaron;s and wants to be sure the job is done right, especially since Stellantis is paying for this. It could be touched up, but its a better job to do the entire impacted panels. ( I had personal experience of this once : one of my kids drew a nice picture in the dust on the door of one of our cars. But she drew it with a rock off the driveway Nice smiley face and all. Then she went to dust it off and had an "oh sugar" moment. The body shop finished up painting the entire side of the car, not just that door. He said it was the only way to blend it. Especially since vehicle was a few years old at that point. )

But I digress, back to the truck: my sense is Aaron is on top of this and being proactive. They could have used a touch up pen and shipped me the truck and then shrugged when I noticed it and said "I dunno, it must have happened on it's way to you". But he's not. He sees it and he wants it fixed and made right. He told me to hold off on the financing for now ( so my good for 30 days quote from my credit union might expire unfortunately)
He did tell me that, given this, I do have the right to cancel the order without impacting my deposit. But if I place a new order, prices have gone up. While I ordered Jan 15th, I actually got Dec pricing because that's when I started the conversation with MD. And it'll be a longer wait for a new build vs getting this one sorted out.
I don't think the scratches are massive and that I'll probably have a few on it myself by the end of the summer after a few camping trips out to the woods, but Aaron wants to deliver a factory-pristine vehicle to me. And in fairness that's what I've paid for and should get.
What would you guys do ? I guess it does come down to personal preference. I know some folks on here are detailers when it comes to paint finish, but I'm not really one of those folks myself.
I guess I could ask for an additional discount or other sweetner to the deal to compensate for the delay !

FWIW. I waited 7 months for mine to be built and another month before it got to MD and I was able to get it. I have nothing negative to say about MD, Aaron or any of the staff and I interacted with 5 or 6 of them throughout the entire purchase process. In my opinion, if they fix it right then it should be fine. This is arguably nothing different than they'd do during inspection if they found a manufacturing flaw (replace parts/redo paint/etc) before shipping the vehicle out. If it's me, I'm less concerned with the repair and more concerned with reordering a vehicle and likely having to pay new, higher prices for it. Part of the paperwork we sign essentially says that you're agreeing to any minor touchups the dealership needs to do before you take delivery (I admittedly don't remember where I read that and I don't have all the paperwork in front of me).

I want to keep mine as nice as I can for as long as I can, but at some point woods are going to be involved too and damage is inevitable. I understand someone that pays for a full PPV job being anal retentive about it all, they 100% should be. But for me, it's just not that crucial. I'm not going to damage anything intentionally, but I just look at scratches as part of life.

I know it's only been 1 interaction, but I really do think that Aaron does his absolute best to take care of his customers. That's a REALLY hard thing to do with the volume that they turn out. My only nitpick is that when I picked mine up, I thought the exterior could have been a little cleaner. However, it rained all day and I immediately hit the road for a 8 hour drive home. It's not like it wasn't going to get dirty anyway and I think it'd be a total prick move to blame the weather on them. With all of the positive stories about MD on this forum, I personally think they've earned the benefit of the doubt as well as good faith trust to do the right thing. And yeah, it's easier to say that when it isn't MY truck that needs some repairs but I couldn't be more impressed with how my interaction with them went over 8 months.

 

[GeorgiaBoy]

FWIW. I waited 7 months for mine to be built and another month before it got to MD and I was able to get it. I have nothing negative to say about MD, Aaron or any of the staff and I interacted with 5 or 6 of them throughout the entire purchase process. In my opinion, if they fix it right then it should be fine. This is arguably nothing different than they'd do during inspection if they found a manufacturing flaw (replace parts/redo paint/etc) before shipping the vehicle out. If it's me, I'm less concerned with the repair and more concerned with reordering a vehicle and likely having to pay new, higher prices for it. Part of the paperwork we sign essentially says that you're agreeing to any minor touchups the dealership needs to do before you take delivery (I admittedly don't remember where I read that and I don't have all the paperwork in front of me).

I want to keep mine as nice as I can for as long as I can, but at some point woods are going to be involved too and damage is inevitable. I understand someone that pays for a full PPV job being anal retentive about it all, they 100% should be. But for me, it's just not that crucial. I'm not going to damage anything intentionally, but I just look at scratches as part of life.

I know it's only been 1 interaction, but I really do think that Aaron does his absolute best to take care of his customers. That's a REALLY hard thing to do with the volume that they turn out. My only nitpick is that when I picked mine up, I thought the exterior could have been a little cleaner. However, it rained all day and I immediately hit the road for a 8 hour drive home. It's not like it wasn't going to get dirty anyway and I think it'd be a total prick move to blame the weather on them. With all of the positive stories about MD on this forum, I personally think they've earned the benefit of the doubt as well as good faith trust to do the right thing. And yeah, it's easier to say that when it isn't MY truck that needs some repairs but I couldn't be more impressed with how my interaction with them went over 8 months.

Well said!

When I picked mine up there were some fine scratches on the pass side rambox. I had asked them NOT to was the truck before delivery. Aaron said that's why he doesn't like to not wash them, since that is where they discover stuff like that. I didn't want to wait on his guys to take care of it so Aaron said to take it to a detailer when I got home and he would pay for it. Already had an appointment for ceramic so that guy took care of it at no charge. All good!!

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Minor touchups prior to delivery are covered in the non-refundable deposit. If Aaron says he can cancel the order with no impact, the damage is at least $1,000. If they're repainting the hood, roof, and a door it's probably a good bit more than that.

Waiting another month to get what I would consider a used truck? Don't think I could do it. Hopefully the body shop does it right, but too easy for there to be a problem that you won't see when you pick your truck up.

Has Aaron given you the price for a new order?

 

[c3k]

So my truck got to MD in just over 6 weeks of placing the order, which was well above my expectations. That's where the good news seems to have ended. I mentioned earlier that Aaron called me to say there were some scratches on the truck. I got another call today with more details : seems there was another vehicle ( a Charger I think ) on the transporter from Port Allen and somehow it got a broken rear window. No idea how. Evidently my truck was under it and broken glass rained down on top of it ! There's some scratching on the hood, on the roof, on one of the doors, on the plastic surround of one of the rear view mirrors and on the front bumper. It's now at a body shop and Aaron estimates it could be a month there. Mainly because they need to order replacement parts - the scratched plastic parts need replacing. The hood, roof and door panel will be painted. The body shop guy is evidently a buddy of Aaron;s and wants to be sure the job is done right, especially since Stellantis is paying for this. It could be touched up, but its a better job to do the entire impacted panels. ( I had personal experience of this once : one of my kids drew a nice picture in the dust on the door of one of our cars. But she drew it with a rock off the driveway Nice smiley face and all. Then she went to dust it off and had an "oh sugar" moment. The body shop finished up painting the entire side of the car, not just that door. He said it was the only way to blend it. Especially since vehicle was a few years old at that point. )

But I digress, back to the truck: my sense is Aaron is on top of this and being proactive. They could have used a touch up pen and shipped me the truck and then shrugged when I noticed it and said "I dunno, it must have happened on it's way to you". But he's not. He sees it and he wants it fixed and made right. He told me to hold off on the financing for now ( so my good for 30 days quote from my credit union might expire unfortunately)
He did tell me that, given this, I do have the right to cancel the order without impacting my deposit. But if I place a new order, prices have gone up. While I ordered Jan 15th, I actually got Dec pricing because that's when I started the conversation with MD. And it'll be a longer wait for a new build vs getting this one sorted out.
I don't think the scratches are massive and that I'll probably have a few on it myself by the end of the summer after a few camping trips out to the woods, but Aaron wants to deliver a factory-pristine vehicle to me. And in fairness that's what I've paid for and should get.
What would you guys do ? I guess it does come down to personal preference. I know some folks on here are detailers when it comes to paint finish, but I'm not really one of those folks myself.
I guess I could ask for an additional discount or other sweetner to the deal to compensate for the delay !

Having seen how well some shops paint (and, in fairness, some aren't great), you may be getting a better than factory paint job. I'd ask how many prime, base, and clear coats are being applied and how that compares with the factory.

Then, if it looks good on inspection, sign for it and drive away.

(As others have mentioned, asking for a PPF or ceramic coating may be something you could consider. Either have them pay for all or come up with an equitable split.)

 

[jwortsman]

I reached out to GiveMetheVIN and they're already replied asking, "what would it take to buy your Ram?"

Interesting... you didn't get the price range they would likely offer? I received an email with the range and when I said I was interested they contacted me and asked if $xx,xxx would buy it. I should have tried to get some more money, but it was so much higher than any offer I took it.

I would hit them with a really high number and see how they respond.

 

[SnowBlaZR2]

Interesting... you didn't get the price range they would likely offer? I received an email with the range and when I said I was interested they contacted me and asked if $xx,xxx would buy it. I should have tried to get some more money, but it was so much higher than any offer I took it.

I would hit them with a really high number and see how they respond.

I'd tell them if they send me a TRX, I'll let them buy my Ram for $70k.

 

[aussie_ram]

I have an ad on Autotrader, and its only dealerships and scammers on there.
A dealership wouldn't even tell me what ballpark offer they were in just the typical "come on down"

I think i'm going to slap a for sale sign on my truck when I drive around at this rate

I sold my last 2 trucks through Facebook marketplace. Give that a try also if you haven't already ... alot of tire kickers but there's usually at least a few legitimate buys also.

 

[KWKSLVR]

Interesting... you didn't get the price range they would likely offer? I received an email with the range and when I said I was interested they contacted me and asked if $xx,xxx would buy it. I should have tried to get some more money, but it was so much higher than any offer I took it.

I would hit them with a really high number and see how they respond.

My email said, "This particular vehicle exceeds a system parameter for auto-bid. One of our agents will be in contact with you shortly with an offer." and their response was, "What would it take".

 

[TSL]

FWIW. I waited 7 months for mine to be built and another month before it got to MD and I was able to get it. I have nothing negative to say about MD, Aaron or any of the staff and I interacted with 5 or 6 of them throughout the entire purchase process. In my opinion, if they fix it right then it should be fine. This is arguably nothing different than they'd do during inspection if they found a manufacturing flaw (replace parts/redo paint/etc) before shipping the vehicle out. If it's me, I'm less concerned with the repair and more concerned with reordering a vehicle and likely having to pay new, higher prices for it. Part of the paperwork we sign essentially says that you're agreeing to any minor touchups the dealership needs to do before you take delivery (I admittedly don't remember where I read that and I don't have all the paperwork in front of me).

I want to keep mine as nice as I can for as long as I can, but at some point woods are going to be involved too and damage is inevitable. I understand someone that pays for a full PPV job being anal retentive about it all, they 100% should be. But for me, it's just not that crucial. I'm not going to damage anything intentionally, but I just look at scratches as part of life.

I know it's only been 1 interaction, but I really do think that Aaron does his absolute best to take care of his customers. That's a REALLY hard thing to do with the volume that they turn out. My only nitpick is that when I picked mine up, I thought the exterior could have been a little cleaner. However, it rained all day and I immediately hit the road for a 8 hour drive home. It's not like it wasn't going to get dirty anyway and I think it'd be a total prick move to blame the weather on them. With all of the positive stories about MD on this forum, I personally think they've earned the benefit of the doubt as well as good faith trust to do the right thing. And yeah, it's easier to say that when it isn't MY truck that needs some repairs but I couldn't be more impressed with how my interaction with them went over 8 months.

Thanks for the feedback. What you're saying is jiving with my sense too, just from talking to Aaron on the phone, I do get the sense he wants to take care of his customers and he wants this truck professionally returned to tip-top condition before delivery. It sounds like the shop he's taken it to is of the opinion that it's a new truck so no expense should be spared to get it right, especially since the factory will be paying for it.
I think one thing that might change in my calculus is that I was going to get it shipped ( I'll need a week off to fly down and drive it back to Oregon ), but thinking now maybe I should fly down and inspect it myself before taking delivery.

 

[TSL]

Minor touchups prior to delivery are covered in the non-refundable deposit. If Aaron says he can cancel the order with no impact, the damage is at least $1,000. If they're repainting the hood, roof, and a door it's probably a good bit more than that.

Waiting another month to get what I would consider a used truck? Don't think I could do it. Hopefully the body shop does it right, but too easy for there to be a problem that you won't see when you pick your truck up.

Has Aaron given you the price for a new order?

He's going to get back to me on Monday once he knows the price for the repair. Now that I'm recalling the conversation he said to me that "probably" the cost will be enough that I could cancel the order - agreeing with your point about minimum $1,000. I may talk to him more about options at that point. I wonder if I could get them to throw in a complimentary extended warranty. That would sweeten the deal considerably. Others have mentioned paint protection / ceramic coating. I confess I know nothing about those technologies, so I need to go do some research and learn about them