We purchased a truck from Ameritruck in November of 2015. Because of our location in Florida, we were unable to personally inspect the truck prior to the purchase. We were apprehensive about this which we shared with our sales rep Michael Hathcock. Michael suggested an inspection from an independent repair facility and was kind enough to recommend one - Superior Truck Service. We paid for this 3rd party shop to perform an inspection. Some minor problems were discovered and remedied (blower fuse, passenger side mirror motor, wiper switch). We were still apprehensive about purchasing the truck without an opportunity to personally inspect it. We requested a 24 hour window to inspect the truck after receiving it (including paying for transport both ways, in the event we wanted return it), Michael adamantly refused to allow us this opportunity and assured us the truck was in excellent condition. This should have been a warning sign to us, but we were excited about the purchase and agreed to his terms.
The truck was then dispatched to a delivery company to drive the truck from North Carolina to South Florida. Upon delivery, the driver told us the air conditioning had stopped working about half way. The morning after receiving the truck we attempted to bring it to our local maintenance facility, however it would not stay running. Fortunately we found that this was caused by low coolant levels, but it shows how much attention was paid to detail by Ameritruck - they did not even bother to check fluid levels before sending the truck on a 700 mile trip.
Our local mechanic got the truck and reported the following problems:
AC control head covered in old sticky soda - causing multiple fuses to burn out
Brakes (drums/shoes) need replaced - not within DOT spec (verified by photo)
Air Govenor and fittings need to be replaced
Rear Pinion seal leaking
Driver side mirror motor not working
We contacted both Michael Hathcock of Ameritruck and Dwight from Superior Truck (the "independent" shop who we discovered does all the repair work for Ameritruck) and asked for some reasonable assistance getting the truck roadworthy. Both Ameritruck and Superior Truck flatly declined to help make the truck right even though our requests were quite reasonable. Neither of them showed any remorse or offered to apologize. Outside of the expected expenses (PM service and DOT inspection), we are looking at upwards of $3,700 of unexpected repairs to get this truck "road ready" and DOT certified.
While we acknowledge that we purchased the truck as is, we trusted the expert opinion of Dwight and Michael to make the decisions we did. Their complete and utter disregard for ethical business practices is shocking.
This entire process has been extremely difficult and frustrating, not to mention, very expensive. We would recommend extreme caution when dealing with Ameritruck or Superior Truck. Watch your back because they won't.
Sincerely,
Chris Speake and Ron Silvashy
BCOS, LLC
Fort Myers, FL read more