If you are looking to purchase a used commercial truck, and hope to find a reputable dealer that who will be straight with you, and who will stand by their product......please let me know if you find it because it ain't here.
On March 14th I bought a 2015 Freightliner Cascadia with 600,000 + miles for $82950. My sales person, Jerry, strongly encouraged me to buy a 3 year extended warranty, which I argued against, because I have always had bad experiences with warranties. In the end I purchased the warranty for an additional $10,200 through National Truck Protection- NTP.
I drove my new truck for two weeks before it developed a major coolant leak. I contacted the dealership who asked if I could still drive the truck home, and if I could get it to the mechanic they use, and who is a contracted shop with NTP.
I did just that on Friday April 1st. I called Jerry Monday to see if the shop had started work on it, and was told that they had (they had not). He also told me that the shop had already reached out to NTP for approval for service (they had not). I texted later that day and asked when I might have the truck back ( I was due to start with JB Hunt on Wednesday April 6th. ). He texted me that the I would have the truck back by Tuesday afternoon around 3:00.
I drove to the garage on Tuesday morning, and found my truck parked out in the rain with the hood open. When I looked closer, I could see nothing had been done to it. I called NTP and informed me that they had not heard from the shop, and had yet to approve any work. I tracked down the shops manager who in broken English, informed me that he would start on it and send the information to NTP, and that I could still have it later that day. That was almost delusional.
I drove to the dealership to ask why they had told me it would be ready that day, when this was clearly not the case. Jerry wasn't there, so I spoke to Ryan the manager. With very little visible concern and no offers to remedy the problem, he stated that he did not know what Jerry had stated the truck would be finished that day. He assured me that Arrow would not 'leave me hanging'.
I contacted the shop with next morning and was informed that the shop manager had been in contact with NTP, but that NTP was very difficult to work with, and would likely try to avoid paying for any repairs. I called NTP who stated that the shop had in fact sent them a workup on the needed repairs, but had not done so with the proper online format. They could not authorize anything.
I checked to see if there were other shops on NTP's list of contracted repair centers, and found that in my area some listed had been out of business for several years and others would not work on trucks they themselves had not sold. I did find another shop, and paid $275 to have my truck towed there.
So far, they have been very honest and direct with me, but have warned that getting repairs done through NTP would make the process very difficult. I was told that as of today (April 14th) my truck will not be finished for another week given the time lost on sending photos and estimates to NTP, and having them approved for each step of the process.
The bottom line is that I have lost two weeks (soon to be three) weeks of work because of how Arrow, their contracted mechanic, and NTP have managed this situation. It's been a lot of lies, finger-pointing, and I don't give a crap attitude that has me in this situation.
The ONLY reason why I am giving Arrow 2 stars is that their finance manager- Carrie- is a doll, and clearly has the customer's best interest at heart. read more
