TSB 07-23-02A

[Tom Schindler]

the real world knows that ford is nowhere near toyota in reliability and quality. my fleet experience has proven it with toyota's superior maintenance and resale issue's

Resale...whoopie doo. I drive them 'till the wheels fall off. Never had any issues to speak of.



Resale value has NOTHING to do with reliability. VW has HIGH resale value and VW is one of the most unreliable makes out there.



Resale value has some many facets that put them over vehicle. Like a junk yard. Whenparts are expensive, that says the cars last forever and they can not find them. When prices are low, there are millions out there.





Tom

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

I was on a job site in Rye, NY the other day and a guy drives in with an 07 ST. I get to ask him how he likes it and tells me he does, but he has a tranny problem. Naturally I send him here to our site. He said the dealer told him it was normal for the hard downshift that he has been complaining about. I said find a new dealer. Hope he gets to check the site out.

 

[gary s]

tom,

i think when i cut my maintainence and repairs by 45%-50% with toyota over ford it pretty much reflects the real world. these fleet vehicles are being driven (beat the crap out of) 6 days a week for most part 8-10 hours a day over the crappy ny metro roads. the best part is after 14 months excluding maintainence, fuel and insurance the vehicle is costing me on average 5K to operate, not to shabby in a fleet enviorment. this all do to the fact that it is a better built vehicle than the focus i used to use. now you know why resale valus is high. i know you are not concerned about resale value, but it tells you something about a vehicle. how many fords meet the goal of retaining 50% of their value after 5 years of service?

welcome to the real world

btw, my 07 has to go back again for the TSB, because they cant get it right :angry:

 

[Tom Schindler]

now you know why resale valus is high.

Explain VW resale values. It goes against your reason why Toyota has high resale values.





Tom

 

[gary s]

it does not go against my reason why toyota ( or honda, nissan and so on ) has a much better resale. the fact is that they are of much better build quality.

to the best of my knowledge, vw does not maitain a better resale than toyota, but with vw, i think you have a loyal following as you are now seeing with scion.

 

[Tom Schindler]

So, there is more than just reliability and quality that retains a higher resale value?



Isn't that what you said?



Honda holds the highest resale value oer Toyota. Does that mean Honda is better than a Toyota?





Tom

 

[gary s]

no, i said, to the best of my knowledge, vw does not maintain a better resale than toyota, but with vw you have a loyal following. that is why there resale might be higher than normal, BUT it is not near toyota or honda.

as far as honda holding a higher resale value, i beleive it is real close and for me toyota has proven to be very reliable and they make my company money as they require less repairs. as mentioned in the past, honda is not in the fleet game, so i really don't have an opportunity to try them. i think honda is making a mistake not going into fleet sales as they also have high quality built vehicles. i even think most models are more attractive than toyota.

i pretty much get the best of both worlds, low operating costs and high resale values, thus a no- brainer for someone that is responsible for a fleet of 60 plus vehicles. but i think the general public who is educated in vehicle reliability will agree.

btw, i have only two domestics in my fleet, my trac and an E-150. the reason i have the trac is i always had a passion for them when i first saw one, probably not the best reason to have one!. and as far as the E-150, i feel they are built pretty good, but also ford pretty much gave it to me.

 

[Tom Schindler]

that is why there resale might be higher than normal, BUT it is not near toyota or honda.

VW has two in the top 10 best. That still does not change the fact that there is more to resale than reliability. There is that "I want that car" mentality.

as far as honda holding a higher resale value, i beleive it is real close and for me toyota has proven to be very reliable and they make my company money as they require less repairs. as mentioned in the past, honda is not in the fleet game, so i really don't have an opportunity to try them. i think honda is making a mistake not going into fleet sales as they also have high quality built vehicles. i even think most models are more attractive than toyota.

Honda is smart to stay OUT of the fleet car sales. While sales numbers go up, residual values go down. If tomorrow, every fleet manager went with Toyota, the residual value would go down. When X number of cars hits the used car lots every year, number of available cars go up, therefore prices go down.

i pretty much get the best of both worlds, low operating costs and high resale values, thus a no- brainer for someone that is responsible for a fleet of 60 plus vehicles. but i think the general public who is educated in vehicle reliability will agree.

As of right now, you are taking advantage of a situation that is working in your favor. You have no brand loyalty. The first time another brand gives you a better deal, you will jump on it. That is what you are paid to do.

and as far as the E-150, i feel they are built pretty good, but also ford pretty much gave it to me.

That and nobody makes a better full size van. Also there are 4 times the number of Econoline vans on the road with over 250,000 miles than anyone else. Ford owns the large van market.





Tom