Matt Dieter

Review of The Auto Park-Auto Park Ford

Bottom line: Don't purchase used from this dealer....

Bottom line: Don't purchase used from this dealer. Their inspections are poor, and customer service worse. I've owned the truck for three weeks, and only been able to use it 3 days, and have over $1500 in parts and service work sunk into it.

I recently purchased a used truck from Auto Park Ford. A 2014 F250 Powerstroke, with only 75k miles. Due to my distance from the dealership, Matt, the salesman, took pictures of the underside, and any damage to the truck. He even changed his day off to come in for me to look at the truck.
My wife and I took it for a test drive. Aside from a few minor scrapes, the truck seemed in good condition. We were shown the service records, including what was done at their dealership- we were assured that the service department made sure the vehicle was in great shape, and all issues- warrantable or not, were repaired. I was a fool to believe them. Less than 45 minutes after buying the truck, I found that a trailer turn signal relay was fried- and had obviously been pried on previously. Graciously, they offered to cover that relay, and I was on my way. Before I even made it home, the truck began falling apart. The radio began to behave erratically- cycling through sources, changing stations, buttons wouldn't work. It began to have a major hesitation, so bad it felt like a hard shift. It also only got 12 MPG, versus the average of 17+ that others see. Right when I got to my home town- it went into limp mode for 'overheating', despite having no symptoms! Frustrated, I emailed the salesman. He put me in contact with the service manager, Rick. He attempted to troubleshoot from afar, and asked me to return for him to trouble shoot it. Unfortunately, due to the distance, and the issue, I didn't feel safe taking it back to them, I asked if we could work something out with the local dealership. With no response, and needing a vehicle, I went to my local dealership.
It was only then that I was told the vehicle was still under powertrain warranty. Matt and Rick both neglected to mention that- should I have known? Sure, but why would they avoid mentioning that? I found that suspicious. I left the vehicle with my local dealer for diagnostic. After 3 days, and 3.5 hours of diagnostic on the engine hesitation, they determined it was a sensor wiring issue. They also identified a number of other issues that Auto Park had overlooked, or intentionally neglected to repair: weak batteries, incorrect coolant in the main coolant loop, and hadn't done a Ford instructed reprogramming of the PCM- a warrantable repair. They also found that the fan was stuck on, which I had suspected from the poor fuel economy, and loud engine noise. I may have missed that in the test drive- so I should have known it sooner- but so should have Auto Park. The fan and PCM reprogram would be covered by Ford, but I would be stuck footing the bill for the other $350 (it would have been more, but luckily, I'm handy with wiring, and said I'd fix the sensor wiring myself). They also recommended that I flush the incorrect coolant, which would run about $550. Armed with that, I contacted Auto Park- only to be told that I'd have to wait a week, while the service manager and general manager were on vacation. Great.
So my local dealer offered to return the truck to me until I sorted things out. Wouldn't you know it... on my drive home- less than 500 miles since I rolled off Auto Park's lot- my truck had a "Death Wobble" occur (google it, it's terrifying). I limped the truck home, and began to work on that issue, eventually having to take it to a local shop- where in addition to the parts I had already put on it ($250), it'd be another $300 to replace damaged components.

If you figure in the radio, (another $150 in troubleshooting, and it'll be $150 for a new radio)- I'm in for well over $1500 in parts and labor. What does Rick offer? To split the hour he would have spent: a measly $55.