New Car Check-list

topless beach said:

Does anyone have any advice on what to check for when I pick up my new stang? I want to make sure everything is as it should be, but I'm afraid I will just grab the keys and take off w/o doing a thorough check.

Also, how much of a walk-thru should I expect from the salesman?

Has anyone done any preventive PR work w/ the service dept before you need something from them? I was thinking of introducing myself, and trying to kiss up before I have any service needs.

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I probably won't be thinking about that when I pickup mine because I will be so excited and in trance.
The salesman will be talking, but words will be coming in one ear and out the other because, after waiting for soooooo long, I just can't wait to get in that car and drive away.

the salesman should show you how to operated everything in the car, if not, he is a dumb-ass. look over the car carefully. look for signs of repaints, cracked, chipped, scraped areas. look at the tires, see if there are lines grooved into the tread indicating that the lot boys were beating on it.check the oil level etc. be on the safe side before you leave the dealership.. once you leave, they can say you did it. look it iver like you were dropping a cool million. look at it very good, this is not the time to get in and drive. this is delivery and any problems with the car should be addressed now.

Based on my recent experience, it seemed like forever until I was able to leave. True, I just wanted to blaze out of there, but it's in your best interest to take some time and look over the car top to bottom.

1. Try to pick it up during the daytime so you can see it in daylight. Look over the paint carefully - dealer will clean it up during PDI unless you ask them not to.
2. Check the interior out - my steering wheel had a nice chunk taken out of it - dealer replaced it for me - mentioned that they had seen a few GT's with the same gouge. If you got IUP - make sure both door sill plates are there, some people have reported one of them missing.
3. Look at the mileage - if you ordered the car there should be less than 8 miles on it unless it's marked by ford as being extensivly road tested. Look for the little 'nubs' on the back tires - they should still be there.
4. Sit in the car and test the head lights, fog lights, blinkers etc.
5. You might wanna take a CD or two with you to test out the shaker if appropriate.

My sales guy said he was required to go over all the 'features' of the car - I told him that was cool and he didn't really have to since I had already read the manual and knew about all of them already. One other thing I had my dealer fix was the exhaust tips - right side was lower than the left.

You might want to have the service department pull all the TSB's on the car and check your car for each. I had the gas tank problem with my car when I got it, but at that time they also inspected my car for all the problems that had TSB's listed.

If you get a vert, and the sticker has an add for the rear boot cover, make sure it is in the trunk. Make sure the floormats are in the car.

Make sure you get a key code!! This is really hard to get after-the-fact!

Get a full tank of gas.