Actual cost of repairing aluminum F150

The husband of one of the WD's quilt group has a Audi A8 and a slight(the drivers wife's word) dent in the fender, for a $22,000 repair bill.

FCA (Chrysler) looks to be using aluminum in the upcoming 2017 Jeep Wrangler redesign. Could be the start of a company wide change over to lighter materials.

mayo30 wrote:
So now if you buy a new aluminum Ford you have married the whole Ford system family and relatives.

That is a legitimate concern, but in this case the article made reference to independent shops that were "Certified" by Ford to make repairs. That would make me feel better. In the short term you might pay a little more money since there is a small sample size of shops... but I am sure that in the long term costs will come down as more customers buy aluminum vehicles.

mayo30 wrote:
So now if you buy a new aluminum Ford you have married the whole Ford system family and relatives.No thanks,I prefer where and when to have my vehicles repaired.Nothing against Ford but you can also kiss many family body repair operaters good bye,as I doubt they will have time and money to become one of Fords family.We ran Fords as lease vehicles but used the independents for all non warranty repairs to support those who supported us.I see Ram and GM family do a competitive job of economy as is.

Ford did these body shops a favour ,they now will have a leg up the non adopters,because not only will they fix Fords but any and all other aluminum vehicles.
Including GM 1/2 tons (next gen) and the super duties next year.

agesilaus wrote:
Ram probably will not use urea injection on their new diesels. GM hates the rear bumper step (too unmanly) and will not use it. Ram and GM will not use aluminum in their future vehicles. So you should be safe only supporting them.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Why do you say that? With the new CAFE standards they'll have to do something to improve mileage.

guess we really need a sarcasm emoticon

Ram probably will not use urea injection on their new diesels. GM hates the rear bumper step (too unmanly) and will not use it. Ram and GM will not use aluminum in their future vehicles. So you should be safe only supporting them.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Why do you say that? With the new CAFE standards they'll have to do something to improve mileage.

mayo30 wrote:
So now if you buy a new aluminum Ford you have married the whole Ford system family and relatives.No thanks,I prefer where and when to have my vehicles repaired.Nothing against Ford but you can also kiss many family body repair operaters good bye,as I doubt they will have time and money to become one of Fords family.We ran Fords as lease vehicles but used the independents for all non warranty repairs to support those who supported us.I see Ram and GM family do a competitive job of economy as is.

Ram probably will not use urea injection on their new diesels. GM hates the rear bumper step (too unmanly) and will not use it. Ram and GM will not use aluminum in their future vehicles. So you should be safe only supporting them.

So now if you buy a new aluminum Ford you have married the whole Ford system family and relatives.No thanks,I prefer where and when to have my vehicles repaired.Nothing against Ford but you can also kiss many family body repair operaters good bye,as I doubt they will have time and money to become one of Fords family.We ran Fords as lease vehicles but used the independents for all non warranty repairs to support those who supported us.I see Ram and GM family do a competitive job of economy as is.

There was an article in Pickup Truck that showed the 2014 and 2015 price lists for those parts and it showed that the only price that increased was for a rear door and that only went up by $70 IIRC. Some prices decreased.