Central Texas dealership willing to install Ford Performance modifications?

Aragorn

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Is anyone aware of a Central Texas dealership (preferably around Austin) willing to install Ford Performance modifications?

The dealership I bought my Ranger doesn't have a service department that impresses me. It was like pulling teeth to get a quote to install a Ford Performance leveling kit, and they basically told me straight up that they would likely farm it out to a local off road truck shop. They also told me that they can't help me with the Ford Performance tune.

It sounded like they had zero experience handling any Ford Performance modifications, not to mention knowledge of either part. I'm hoping I can find another local dealership more familiar and willing to do so, as I imagine having a Ford dealership install both the leveling kit and tune might help avoid any future warranty issues, and arguably make the future second owner more comfortable, as well.

Thanks in advance to anyone with suggestions.

P.s. I'm also generally interested in whether any local dealership have started rolling out the Ford Performance Stage 1,2, and/or 3 Rangers. If anyone has seen any, let us know!
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Ed Venture

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You may want to reach out to Truck City Ford in Buda. I would stay far, FAR away from Maxwell Ford.
 

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You may want to reach out to Truck City Ford in Buda. I would stay far, FAR away from Maxwell Ford.
I absolutely agree about Maxwell Ford. They have to be one of the shadiest dealers I have ever encountered. Yikes! :mad:
 

Ed Venture

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I absolutely agree about Maxwell Ford. They have to be one of the shadiest dealers I have ever encountered. Yikes! :mad:
Yeah - I wouldn't recommend Maxwell to my worst enemy. Their practices border on criminal.

They "add value" by putting on after market components to every truck, like it or not, so that you can't get a stock vehicle. Then they tell you that you have to pay $1,400 extra for that luxury - but, "you can negotiate the price down a bit".

My father worked for Ford in Dearborn so I can get A-Plan pricing. They refused to even talk to me and look at A-Plan prices (even with my pin code in hand) unless I signed an agreement that we were negotiating on the sale of the vehicle which would obligate me in some way. WTF? If anyone from Ford came down to secret shop the dealership I am sure they would be shocked at what they found.

This is a dealership that is pushing potential Ford customers to other product offerings, and there is about 6 to choose from in that 1 mile of I-35. How they stay in business, I will never know.

Truck City was VERY good to me. The price beat A-Plan and when I had to take it in for an AC issue, they gave me a loaner F-150 for 2 months while they were waiting on parts (not their fault - COVID has thrown a wrench in the supply chain for many of the parts). In fact - I used the loaner to make a 3,000+ mile round trip from Texas to Michigan and when I returned, they gave me a new F-150 because I had racked up some miles on the first one.

I'd say give them a try and let me know what you think.

Best,

Ed
 

P. A. Schilke

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Yeah - I wouldn't recommend Maxwell to my worst enemy. Their practices border on criminal.

They "add value" by putting on after market components to every truck, like it or not, so that you can't get a stock vehicle. Then they tell you that you have to pay $1,400 extra for that luxury - but, "you can negotiate the price down a bit".

My father worked for Ford in Dearborn so I can get A-Plan pricing. They refused to even talk to me and look at A-Plan prices (even with my pin code in hand) unless I signed an agreement that we were negotiating on the sale of the vehicle which would obligate me in some way. WTF? If anyone from Ford came down to secret shop the dealership I am sure they would be shocked at what they found.

This is a dealership that is pushing potential Ford customers to other product offerings, and there is about 6 to choose from in that 1 mile of I-35. How they stay in business, I will never know.

Truck City was VERY good to me. The price beat A-Plan and when I had to take it in for an AC issue, they gave me a loaner F-150 for 2 months while they were waiting on parts (not their fault - COVID has thrown a wrench in the supply chain for many of the parts). In fact - I used the loaner to make a 3,000+ mile round trip from Texas to Michigan and when I returned, they gave me a new F-150 because I had racked up some miles on the first one.

I'd say give them a try and let me know what you think.

Best,

Ed
Hi Ed,

I wish we could report dealers like Maxwell. I tried and it fell on deaf ears... Ford seems to be in ostrich mode on dealers.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
 


Ed Venture

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Hi Ed,

I wish we could report dealers like Maxwell. I tried and it fell on deaf ears... Ford seems to be in ostrich mode on dealers.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
Agreed!

It seems that Ford fails to realize that the dealer experience is often what the customer associates with the Ford product. A bad experience suddenly turns in to, "I'm never buying a Ford again!"

I believe this is especially true on more remote locations where there is only one Ford dealer within, say a 30+ mile radius (e.g. the Upper Peninsula of Michigan). Bad dealer experience? Well - I don't want to work that hard to own and maintain a vehicle, I guess I will buy a Chevy.

Best,

Ed
 

afewgoodfingers

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You may want to reach out to Truck City Ford in Buda. I would stay far, FAR away from Maxwell Ford.
Thanks for the tip on Truck City Ford! Never been very confident with any of the dealers near me. Any experience with Riata Ford in Manor or Lief Johnson on Airport? It always seems like the service reps hate their life and are determined to make mine miserable too. Would love to find a shop that doesn't make you feel like an idiot or are putting them out by asking for help.
 

Ed Venture

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Thanks for the tip on Truck City Ford! Never been very confident with any of the dealers near me. Any experience with Riata Ford in Manor or Lief Johnson on Airport? It always seems like the service reps hate their life and are determined to make mine miserable too. Would love to find a shop that doesn't make you feel like an idiot or are putting them out by asking for help.
Sorry - I don't have any experience with those folks. I am fairly new to ATX (moved here 3 years ago) and this was my first new car purchase here.

Good luck!
 

Knothead

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I'm glad to see the recommendation for Truck City Ford. They sound like better dealer than others around here. I may have to check them out for servicing my Ranger.

I bought my truck at Bluebonnet Ford in New Braunfels. I don't recommend them. My truck had been the service loaner, and had 2200 miles on it when I bought it. I got a good deal on it. But I believe the salesman lied to me the day I was buying it. I had noticed some curb rash on the passenger front tire. I didn't bother to test drive it because I'd already test driven a different one not long before I found this one. The day I bought my truck, he took it to get it washed and filled up with gas. It took over 45 minutes. He came back with it and said they did a really good job of washing it and that's what took so long.

A few weeks later, I'm going through the Ford Pass app and see that my truck had an alignment done the very day I bought it. I'm pretty sure that the curb rash on the tire was pretty bad and had knocked the alignment out of spec and that's what they were doing during this 45 minute "car wash".

Bluebonnet is also a very very busy dealership. They have a Quick Lane as they call it. I recently had an appointment for an oil change. The appointment was at 5pm, I got there well before 5pm and waited for it. The so called quick lane didn't finish with my truck until 6:30pm.

I agree with the bad rep for Maxwell Ford. They don't even offer a shuttle service for service customers. A friend took his truck there, the service tried to sell him a new battery. They claimed it was weak, he didn't believe them. Took it straight to an auto parts place, the battery checked out fine.

Maybe I am spoiled, I've had five new Nissan's since 1993. I've always had nothing but the best service experience at Nissan dealerships. I mean, when they make a service appointment, they care to get you out as soon as possible. None of this 5pm appointment and not getting to it until 6pm crap. And Nissan corporate always emailed me a survey after getting a service done. They actually seemed to care and negative ratings did affect the dealership.
 

Knothead

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I need to make a correction. I was referring to Griffith Ford in San Marcos. I got them and Maxwell Ford mixed up. I have never actually been to Maxwell Ford.
 
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Aragorn

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Thanks for the tip on Truck City Ford! Never been very confident with any of the dealers near me. Any experience with Riata Ford in Manor or Lief Johnson on Airport? It always seems like the service reps hate their life and are determined to make mine miserable too. Would love to find a shop that doesn't make you feel like an idiot or are putting them out by asking for help.

I can actually weigh in on Lief Johnson. The Cliff Notes version is: the sales department was a pleasure to work with. The service department has not impressed me at all, and might only be good for normal maintenance, if that.

I was in the market for either a Tacoma or a Ranger, so the direct comparison for me (outside of the trucks themselves) was how I was being treated by Lief Johnson Ford versus Charles Maund Toyota. Charles Maund was a nightmare. They added thousands of dollars of overpriced items onto the truck I wanted, and then gave me the run around trying to convince me that they could not remove them as part of the sale--even though CostCo's auto program required them to, and we were negotiating through that program. They also belittled my admiration of the Ranger, argued with me, and generally just acted like jerks. (I also had a very bad experience with their service department for my prior vehicle).

In contrast, Lief Johnson put zero dealer-added modifications on the truck, nor asked me to pay for anything extra over the truck itself. The salesman was new and thus very green, but he was polite, professional, and treated me so well that I felt like I was his only customer. He even did such a good job that I agreed to leave him an online review, which I never do. When we hit a snag based on a miscommunication during negotiations, a manager stepped in to fix it, with me getting to choose the terms. After I bought the truck, the salesman even drove to my house to drop off a part (extra tie downs for the bed that Ford started skimping on). I would be more than happy to buy another truck from Lief Johnson Ford.

The above notwithstanding, Lief Johnson's service department has not impressed me yet, which is actually what led to me starting this thread. The very responsive salesman tried and tried and tried to get me quotes to install either or both a Ford Performance leveling kit and/or a Ford Performance tune during our negotiations, which lasted ~2 weeks. I even provided the parts numbers and links for both to help. After weeks, the service department finally gave him an answer: Lief Johnson recomends I hire a local off-road truck company to install the "lift" instead, and that there was no installation for the tune needed because you just download it into the truck.

I explained in response that I needed a Ford dealership to do both installations to avoid warranty issues and/or help resale value, and I finally got a quote of $2k for the leveling kit (which they still suggested they might outsource it to the local offroad truck shop), but flat out declined to install the tune.

Based on all of the above, I surmised that either: (1) the Lief Johnson service department is lazy; (2) they have zero experience with Ford Performance parts or going above and beyond normal maintenance issues; or (3) they don't want to honor my warranty later if a Ford Performance part fails, and they would arguably be in a position of responsibility to do so if they did the install.

It sounds like I will be giving Truck City Ford in Buda a call here pretty soon.
 
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I Bought mine from Covert Ford in North Austin, and the service dept. there is a zoo. I had several bad days there. Sitting in the lobby after I was told parts were in and waiting three hours only to find out they didn’t have them and I could have left in 15 minutes. Worst was the first oil change, and I got it home only to see oil dripping all over the driveway. I made them tow it back. The tech spilled oil all over the underside and did a poor job. Luckily the levels were good, but I did my last one on my own. Maxwell treated me really well for the power cable recall.
 

afewgoodfingers

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I can actually weigh in on Lief Johnson. The Cliff Notes version is: the sales department was a pleasure to work with. The service department has not impressed me at all, and might only be good for normal maintenance, if that.

I was in the market for either a Tacoma or a Ranger, so the direct comparison for me (outside of the trucks themselves) was how I was being treated by Lief Johnson Ford versus Charles Maund Toyota. Charles Maund was a nightmare. They added thousands of dollars of overpriced items onto the truck I wanted, and then gave me the run around trying to convince me that they could not remove them as part of the sale--even though CostCo's auto program required them to, and we were negotiating through that program. They also belittled my admiration of the Ranger, argued with me, and generally just acted like jerks. (I also had a very bad experience with their service department for my prior vehicle).

In contrast, Lief Johnson put zero dealer-added modifications on the truck, nor asked me to pay for anything extra over the truck itself. The salesman was new and thus very green, but he was polite, professional, and treated me so well that I felt like I was his only customer. He even did such a good job that I agreed to leave him an online review, which I never do. When we hit a snag based on a miscommunication during negotiations, a manager stepped in to fix it, with me getting to choose the terms. After I bought the truck, the salesman even drove to my house to drop off a part (extra tie downs for the bed that Ford started skimping on). I would be more than happy to buy another truck from Lief Johnson Ford.

The above notwithstanding, Lief Johnson's service department has not impressed me yet, which is actually what led to me starting this thread. The very responsive salesman tried and tried and tried to get me quotes to install either or both a Ford Performance leveling kit and/or a Ford Performance tune during our negotiations, which lasted ~2 weeks. I even provided the parts numbers and links for both to help. After weeks, the service department finally gave him an answer: Lief Johnson recomends I hire a local off-road truck company to install the "lift" instead, and that there was no installation for the tune needed because you just download it into the truck.

I explained in response that I needed a Ford dealership to do both installations to avoid warranty issues and/or help resale value, and I finally got a quote of $2k for the leveling kit (which they still suggested they might outsource it to the local offroad truck shop), but flat out declined to install the tune.

Based on all of the above, I surmised that either: (1) the Lief Johnson service department is lazy; (2) they have zero experience with Ford Performance parts or going above and beyond normal maintenance issues; or (3) they don't want to honor my warranty later if a Ford Performance part fails, and they would arguably be in a position of responsibility to do so if they did the install.

It sounds like I will be giving Truck City Ford in Buda a call here pretty soon.
Thanks for the detailed response. I unfortunately had the pleasure of dealing with Lief Johnson service department with my Fiesta ST several years ago. Was hoping there might have been some improvements since then. It’s almost like they didn’t think the Fiesta ST was a Ford at all. Like it scared them to work on it. Not exactly confidence inspiring.

If you make the trip down to Buda and have the time, please let us know how it goes.
 

Shadowdraxx

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I absolutely agree about Maxwell Ford. They have to be one of the shadiest dealers I have ever encountered. Yikes! :mad:
I’ve just found this thread, I’ve a history of dealings with Maxwell ford, and it’s probably the worst dealer I’ve had to work with anywhere in the world.

Needless to say they are a joke, if ur into specifics lemme know. I am not sure how Covert is but I hear they are better (can’t be much worse tbh)
 

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Mac Haik in Georgetown does it, I believe. They had a 20 Ranger out front of the service department with Fox 2.0, Fuel wheels, and Nitto Tires ready to go down the road when I bought mine a couple weeks ago. They are also a Roush and Shelby dealer as well.
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