Answer from Dealer Made me uncomfortable. Thoughts?

[A51Asheville]

Just be prepared for a denied warranty claim should some sort of issues arise. Dealers will see aftermarket parts and deny due to that most of the time. I installed some aftermarket LED bulbs in an F150 a few years back and had some issues popped up that were related to said install. Luckily, my dealer warrantied it, but did say to remove the bulbs or the next time it would be on my dime.

Dealers and Insurance Companies love to deny claims for any and every reason possible. Glad they honored the warranty for ya that time.

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[chaseshort24]

So I called out the Service Manager at the Local Ford Dealer I purchased and have had maintenance from about installing a set of Baja Designs A Pilar lights and the manager mentioned that they don't always like to install non-OEM parts because it could potential cause a warranty issue. This threw me a bit and has me questioning my decision to work with this dealership for future upgrades I may do. Has anyone else heard this from their dealers or Ford Certified locations they have worked with? Am I overthinking this and it's just them trying to Cover their butts? Would appreciate your thoughts (less sarcasm the better.)

Just install it yourself, it's easy.

 

[DefNotBuddyLee]

You are overthinking this. While there are dealers that install aftermarket equipment, most of those situations they buy the part directly.
This is most definitely a CYA thing if you look at it from the dealer perspective. Some dealers get burned because they installed aftermarket equipment that the customer brought in. What if those lights don't work? What if there is something faulty in the wiring of the product that causes your Bronco to catch fire? Do you think the dealer wants to be in the middle of the finger pointing that goes between Baja, Ford, dealer, and yourself?
Find a good off-road parts store and start building rapport with them. That is honestly their niche anyway.

 

[Strizzo]

LOL, dealers are funny

Dealer - "We don't like installing aftermarket parts"

Also Dealer - "Come check out this big bend with a $150 2.5" spacer lift with "custom" wheels and 35" tires for an extra $10k over sticker!"

 

[Baja Designs]

So I called out the Service Manager at the Local Ford Dealer I purchased and have had maintenance from about installing a set of Baja Designs A Pilar lights and the manager mentioned that they don't always like to install non-OEM parts because it could potential cause a warranty issue. This threw me a bit and has me questioning my decision to work with this dealership for future upgrades I may do. Has anyone else heard this from their dealers or Ford Certified locations they have worked with? Am I overthinking this and it's just them trying to Cover their butts? Would appreciate your thoughts (less sarcasm the better.)

Hey,

I would strongly recommend reaching out to our friends Asheville vehicle outfitters in your area. They have a long history with working with our products and only deliver quality work. We have plenty of dealerships who install our products without any issues, but it just depends on the dealership.
Best,

 

[cbrenthus]

I would also guess that a dealership's concern arises from lack of control of other dealers - you pay dealer A to install aftermarket parts and then a month later dealer B denies your warranty, then you're screaming at dealer A.

I wouldn't be surprised if the aftermarket installation just isn't much of a dealer's income and many would just rather not get involved.

 

[A51Asheville]

Hey,

I would strongly recommend reaching out to our friends Asheville vehicle outfitters in your area. They have a long history with working with our products and only deliver quality work. We have plenty of dealerships who install our products without any issues, but it just depends on the dealership.
Best,

Appreciate the direction! I would much rather work with businesses endorsed by the manufacturer. Cheers!

 

[MillerAndCheeto]

Appreciate the direction! I would much rather work with businesses endorsed by the manufacturer. Cheers!

If you haven't bought an A-Pillar light mount already, I have a set of Baja XL-80's mounted on Bodyguard Bumpers light mounts. The Baja's are a perfect fit with the BG's mounts and look really good.

 

[Heavy_GD]

Shout out to that service manager for not screwing you over.

I am genuinely curious why people think the dealer is a superior service from their local shops.

Sure, installing a FoMoCo part, I get it.
But for a completely aftermarket part it makes no sense to me at all.

 

[A51Asheville]

Shout out to that service manager for not screwing you over.

I am genuinely curious why people think the dealer is a superior service from their local shops.

Sure, installing a FoMoCo part, I get it.
But for a completely aftermarket part it makes no sense to me at all.

My thought process, and I am only speaking for myself in this specific situation, was that going to the Ford Dealer would mean they were the most familiar with working on Ford Vehicles. It had nothing to do with liability or anything. Overall I have had a positive experience with the dealership and wanted to keep doing business with them even if it was just something little like this.
That all said, I reached out to the local shop recommended by BD, on this thread, and they have been very pleasant but have a three week wait time (checking to see if anything earlier is available since its a quick install).

Hope this was enlightening...

 

[Heavy_GD]

I appreciate that, I hadn't thought of it that way.

Probably has a little to with my jaded perception and total distain for dealer service depts and the goons they employ.

 

[A51Asheville]

I appreciate that, I hadn't thought of it that way.

Probably has a little to with my jaded perception and total distain for dealer service depts and the goons they employ.

I feel you! My last vehicle was sold to me without disclosing that it had structural damage previously. Needless to say, I now ask for carfax and other history reports on any vehicle I'm looking to purchase. It's nice to find businesses that are honest and upfront, no matter how few and far between they may be.

 

[ABorges]

I was heavily considering self install. The thing holding me back is a lack of tools ( I have none) and limited to no experience with wiring anything. I've watched videos and read the instructions but just don't feel super confident. I figured I'd do my due diligence and take it to Ford directly to avoid any potential complications. Im 97% leaning it's a CYA thing but that 3% is nagging at me.

Thanks for the shared thoughts, genuinely appreciate it!

Take it to a shop and have them installed, it's lighting you shouldn't have any warranty issues.

 

[joe_r95]

I was heavily considering self install. The thing holding me back is a lack of tools ( I have none) and limited to no experience with wiring anything. I've watched videos and read the instructions but just don't feel super confident. I figured I'd do my due diligence and take it to Ford directly to avoid any potential complications. Im 97% leaning it's a CYA thing but that 3% is nagging at me.

Thanks for the shared thoughts, genuinely appreciate it!

I'm a technician at a dealer. It's a cya thing. There's a lot of after market electronics out there that will work with some vehicles but not others, and we have no idea when people are dropping random bs off.. We ran into an F-150 with led tail lamps that the customer installed an after market brake/turn bar under their tailgate and wired it into the trailer circuit. That made a trailer message pop up constantly on their cluster. They wanted that to go away and dropped it off. One of our guys spent a few days calling the manufacturer of the product and trying different things/turn signal circuits trying to get it to function without making the BCM mad enough to shut the individual circuits down. In the end it didn't work on that truck, but would have been fine on a non-led/blindspot truck.

That being said what you want is pretty simple. It's just an issue with you dropping some random after market "upgrades" off saying the parts are in the seat.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

There are three solid choices presented in this thread.

1. AVO -- why is there a wait? Well, people wouldn't be lining up if they sucked.
(and this is where so many people get themselves into a jam--- they want it NOW, so they will go to the place that has no line up...because they suck. Competent help is in very short supply these days).

2. @Beach_Bum comment about making friends with the local offroad/Bronco group.
Provide some garage beers, grub and a desire to learn, and they'll be happy to help out. PLUS, you can see how their install actually turned out before going ahead with it.

3. Buy a basic tool kit and do it yourself.
Watch a youtube video. I'm confident with tools, but I still youtube how to fix the wash machine before I proceed to tear it apart.
The Bronco was literally designed for this mod and they made it to be as easy as they possibly can.

You could also combine 2 & 3 , buy the tools , get someone to "coach" you through it.

If you plan further mods, I strongly suggest you start tooling up and learning. Doing it yourself saves you money so you can do more mods.

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