Dealer driving car to me - worried about break in period

[Susan Ingate]

Hey everyone, I'm buying a 2024 Hybrid and the truck with specs that I want is about 200 miles away. The dealer won't flatbed it to me and is going to get a driver instead. I'm concerned about how it might be driven with long term impact on the engine. I keep my vehicles for 10 years on average. Should I pass that one up for something local? I appreciate your thoughts, thanks.

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[Bad Samaritan]

IMO, shouldn't be an issue. Unless you have reasons to believe that the driver would drive like a maniac...

 

[todd92]

It's not going to hurt the engine at all. But you're clearly going to lose sleep over it, so don't.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

Hey everyone, I'm buying a 2024 Hybrid and the truck with specs that I want is about 200 miles away. The dealer won't flatbed it to me and is going to get a driver instead. I'm concerned about how it might be driven with long term impact on the engine. I keep my vehicles for 10 years on average. Should I pass that one up for something local? I appreciate your thoughts, thanks.

Geez hire a flat bed or just go pick it up.

 

[LibDan]

If it's going to be a lot of interstate miles / miles at a steady speed, I'd probably be a bit concerned. Ford's recommended break-in period is 1000 miles, so you are talking about 20% of that. You could ask the dealer for written assurance that they will drive the 200 miles in accordance with the break-in instructions in the manual. No way to be sure they actually do, but it might call their attention to it.

Might they let you ride along?

Could you pay the freight to flatbed tow it?

You could also try telling the dealer that you won't buy it with 200 miles on it so that it is a question of making the sale or not, but if you do this, you need to mean it and be ready to walk away if necessary. (Possibly to go to that other dealer and buy the truck directly.)

Or you let them drive it an hope. IMO it all depends how important you think the break-in period is and how much you want *that* truck.

Myself, I'm fairly persnickety about engine break-in because, like you, I want to keep my vehicles for 10+ years and do not plan to trade them in again in a year or two. The longevity issue is real.

The other thing you could do is buy a 10-year extended warranty from Granger Ford so that if you do have engine problems in the first decade, it'll be covered. The Extended Warranty costs a few grand (thus more than paying for the flatbed yourself), but if you ever need the engine rebuilt, it'll pay for itself. Plus, it covers a bunch of other things like all those expensive screens, etc.

 

[Hot Runr Guy]

just go pick it up.

^^^^^ Exactly. Just go get it from the dealer that has it.

HRG

 

[MakinDoForNow]

Might check with long McArthur in Kansas, at one time they would pay $1.000 toward freight, if I remember right, if you financed through them?

 

[Suzukiridr14]

Hey everyone, I'm buying a 2024 Hybrid and the truck with specs that I want is about 200 miles away. The dealer won't flatbed it to me and is going to get a driver instead. I'm concerned about how it might be driven with long term impact on the engine. I keep my vehicles for 10 years on average. Should I pass that one up for something local? I appreciate your thoughts, thanks.

If you're worried about the transporter doing damage to your truck, why don't you go pick it up yourself? I used to transfer vehicles from dealer, to dealer and there never a problem. Dealers swap cars all the time.

 

[kbagrows]

For what it's worth, I know two guys who do this a side-gig in their retirement. Every week or two, they'll drive a car a few hundred miles for a dealer. As I mentioned, they are both retired, never in a rush, and do it because they love cars and enjoy driving. Who knows what will actually happen with your truck, but I'd rather have the guys I know break the cars in than myself! Ha!

 

[Rob911]

I know a couple of retired guys that do this for the local dealerships in my area. I would not have any concerns if that is the case where you are. Ask the dealer how old the driver is.

 

[JacobEleventeen]

Hey everyone, I'm buying a 2024 Hybrid and the truck with specs that I want is about 200 miles away. The dealer won't flatbed it to me and is going to get a driver instead. I'm concerned about how it might be driven with long term impact on the engine. I keep my vehicles for 10 years on average. Should I pass that one up for something local? I appreciate your thoughts, thanks.

My new 2017 escape got driven 400 miles away. No issues yet.

 

[Ozarkbeard]

Ford's recommended break-in period is 1000 miles,...

1,000 miles below 70mph, without hard acceleration or hard braking.

 

[LibDan]

1,000 miles below 70mph, without hard acceleration or hard braking.

An, if I recall, no trailering, not that that's an issue unless the dealer sends a single persont to do the pickup and they need to tow the vehicle they drove back to the dealership.

 

[BuddyS]

I wouldn't worry about it. Either they're going to be old guys taking their time or hourly workers looking to have as easy of a day as they can, diving slow enough that they don't have to do anything else if they get back too early that day. And keep in mind that people that do this kind of shuttling aren't going to be excited to see how fast your 4cyl maverick is -- they're probably bored with all the mustangs they've driven, too. And finally, the last thing they want to do is have a customer complain to their bosses about some issue with the car, so they're going to take it easy. And they don't want to get a speeding ticket that they have to tell their boss about or will show up on the company's insurance record.

My local ford dealer offers pick up and delivery service and every time they're coming or going from my house they take pics of the car, all the way around, to document any dings or damage. They don't want customer cars damaged, either.

 

[Raymundo76]

Hey everyone, I'm buying a 2024 Hybrid and the truck with specs that I want is about 200 miles away. The dealer won't flatbed it to me and is going to get a driver instead. I'm concerned about how it might be driven with long term impact on the engine. I keep my vehicles for 10 years on average. Should I pass that one up for something local? I appreciate your thoughts, thanks.

Go get it, take a bus

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