The dealers do not have crystal balls.
After reading some of these posts, I find it amazing that people expect the dealers to know what they are going to haul. The car dealer looked at my F-150 E-boost 4x4 and said the spec. sheet say...
Forum Discussion
rbpru wrote:
After reading some of these posts, I find it amazing that people expect the dealers to know what they are going to haul.
The car dealer looked at my F-150 E-boost 4x4 and said the spec. sheet say it will tow 9500 lbs. He has no idea what the max cargo is on any particular truck is, he can guess it will be between 1200 and 1600 lbs. So as far as he knows a 9500 lb. TT with 1150 lbs. of tongue weight is within spec.
What he does not know is I haul a truck cap, dog, canoe etc. or about 600 lbs. plus of stuff in my TV before I add the tongue weight. If I mention that to the dealer they will be glad to sell be an F-250.:W
Likewise the TT dealer. Let’s say, you want a particular trailer, the dealer looks at the spec sheet and gives you the dry weight. He might suggest you will have about 1000 lbs. of gear.
In reality he has seen dozens of happy campers plop a 7000 lb. dry weight TT on the back of a half-ton pick-up and go blissfully on their way. Again the dealer has no way of knowing how much or how balanced your load will be.
The dealer’s job is to show and sell you the product you want. He assumes you know or have a reasonable knowledge of your desired purchase and is not going to grill you with a bunch of questions.
As always it is up to the buyer to understand how he is going to use what he buys. Unfortunately the new comer often lacks the knowledge of all the variable involved in selecting a good TT and TV combination.
Yes it's up to the buyer to have some knowledge and responsibility in how the vehicle will be used but when a dealer knowingly, or through blind ignorance says "sure you can haul it with a 1/2 ton" that's when people here have issues. If your salesperson is reading off a spec sheet and saying you'll be fine then FIND A NEW SALESPERSON. If they can't be bothered to educate themselves on their product and the extreme variances in capabilities between models they probably will be looking for other employment opportunities soon anyways. End of rant.
