I went to order my 16 the other day and found out there are no local auto body shops that are qualified to do work on the aluminum F-150. I didn't order the truck. I am still looking but this is a serious issue and I'll just not get a new truck if there is not someone close by in case I get a fender bender or need body work for some reason. The body shop I have used in the past said that it takes about 28K worth of new equipment and a separate painting booth to do these trucks. He is not committing yet to do this process.

 

Where you buying from? They prob fix alu

 

Post your zip code.

 

No, the dealers in my area are very small and don't have body repair shops.

 

12748

 

Worse case you take it to a body shop a few hours away if something happens. How often do you crash cars? I can't see this as a reason not to purchase.

 

Devils Advocate, seems like you might find a nice steely 14' which is still going to be a great truck.. Buddy has one of the Fx4's from that gen and he seems to like it =)

 

British cars (Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Rover, Bentley, etc.) have had aluminum bodies for many, many years! There are body shops for these vehicles, and I'm sure the F-150 would be no problem for them.

 

You don't need a separate paint booth. Paint is the same for aluminum. The shop I worked in just put a curtain around a bay in the shop for the aluminum welding/grinding/sanding etc. Boom done.

 

I spoke with a local body shop about this a couple of months ago, Ford is very particular about this. Not only are they to spend the money on specialty equipment upgrades, they need to have a dedicated bay for working on aluminum vehicles. This means they lose 15% of their capacity when they do not have aluminum vehicles to work on. This is a requirement to be an authorized factory repair facility.
It's going to get even more complicated as other manufacturers get their aluminum bodies online.