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Steve-O
Dodge Dakota
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6/12/2002
08:49:52
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 Subject: The first miles put on our trucks....
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I used to be the type of person that always wanted a new vehicle because of the simple fact that I would be the the first and only person to drive it. With used trucks, you never know how hard they have been driven unless you knew the previous owner. Well I am a computer programmer for a railroad company and durring an installation at a railyard I was suprised at what I saw.
We have facilities where we take the vehicles out of the factory and load them onto railcars for shipping. The vehicles can be taken off of the railcars and put onto others several times before they reach the final destination.
This past winter I had to go up north to install a new system. I guess I had never really given it much thought about how my truck got from the factory and to the showroom. Well the temp was around about freezing, it was sleeting, and the wind was about as stiff as it could get. Durring a coffee break I was watching the yard workers loading / unloading Dakotas to / from railcars. They drove the crap out of them! I'm talking hard. The truck doesn't have time to warm up (I know that they don't have time to let them), they squeel the tires every time they take off, and you should see the parking method they use. They pull up to the truck in front of them and they stop once they tag the truck in front of them, then back up a few inches.(so if u ever buy a new one, check to make sure the bumpers are dent free) cause we're not talking about a little tap here...they really get up on them.
I guess it's not that big of a deal. It's just that before I saw it with my own eyes, I thought that my truck was in pristene condition. It just makes you wonder what kind of damage is getting done when a brand-spankin' new engine that hasn't had time to properly seat and get broken in is subjected to sub-freezing condidions and gets run the heck out of. So when you are looking at that new car, remember that you aren't the first to drive her. ;)
Steve
2002; SLT Plus; 4.7L; QC; 4X4; Patriot Blue
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LoneStarDak
Dodge Dakota
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6/12/2002
11:26:36
|  RE: The first miles put on our trucks....
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True Steve-O
I once worked for a local Ford dealer as the Asst. Prep Mgr, and one of my duties was to check in all convoys arrriving to the dealership. I was'nt exactly a big Ford fan but a job was a job. Well I have to admit I ran the heck out of every one of those cars. See, the convoys would park in a large shopping center lot near the dealer and well...I had to get them to the lot somehow...right? I usually prefered the speediest method available, of course, time is money..yada yada yada. I will admit though, that I never just started the cars and took off hard, had to inspect the interior and enjoy the a/c in the hot Texas summers. LOL
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Steve-O
Dodge Dakota
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6/12/2002
12:06:57
| RE: The first miles put on our trucks....
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I hear ya about that. We finally figured out why they were driving them so hard. The loaders were all union. They had some agreement that they could only "safely" load a vehicle every so many minutes. So if they busted their butts and got their quota of cars loaded, they could leave. They usually took 4 hours to load their quota and they would still get paid for 8 hours! then they could leave and go home or to another job. I wish I had a job like that! I work way more than 8 hours a day and don't get overtime!
Steve
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don94
Dodge Dakota
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6/12/2002
12:29:59
| RE: The first miles put on our trucks....
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here is some more food for thaught, if a dealer doesn't have a truck that a customer is looking for they do a search of other dealers and if they find one within a reasonable distance to them they do what is called a dealer swap. Trust me both vehicles involved in the dealer swap for the most part are driven hard for time purposes and also the driver doesn't care if he or she hurts the vehicle getting it to where they are going. not a pretty picture when ur spending thousands of $s for ur new trk.
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