ATV Florida Forum

No experience, but I have been looking at both regularly to find a truck.  Whats the deal? 

 Like I stated I worked for both. You will find all kind of misleading information about Gibson. Most of those are written by employees and I have to tell the truth, I am guilty of it. One thing I know is Gibson does and outstanding job of making sure EVERY truck they warranty has been totally reconditioned. The owner personally inspects and road tests the trucks after they have gone through the shop. They do not cut corners or inflate the shop bills. That is more than I can say for Nations. They also have nothing to hide, ask for a Carfax at both dealerships, Gibson actually gives you a free one on their website! Is there anything in specific you wanted to ask me? I would be happy to answer honestly. I'm not here to bash Nations either, I'm just tired of people being misinformed.

No, nothing specific.  Looks like Gibson offers a good warranty that most others dont and they seem to be reasonably priced.  I like the idea that I can get a truck already lifted with nice rims and tires instead of having to buy all that after the fact.  I have noticed they have went up on their prices a considerable amount in the last 12 months.  I guess that is because deisel fuel went back down below $5. 

 The prices have gone up everywhere as far as trucks are concerned. If you think they are high in Florida check some listings up north. I have seen dealers come down to pay full retail here in Florida. They take them up north and advertise a rust free Florida truck and get top dollar for them. While in your search be weary of trucks from Texas. It seems those trucks have been worked hard. Here in our wonderful state a lot of people buy trucks for the pure beauty of a truck, not to work the crap out of them.

I purchased an F250 last year off Craigslist.  The previous owner was a young guy who had it for 5 years and had obviously rode the hell out of it. It was in really good shape still but it had a mud stained engine and the under part of the hood was muddy.  He purchased the truck from Gibson, who brought it in from Texas.  I have heard a lot about them buying Texas trucks and bringing them over here.

All I can say is, if it was dogged in Texas and dogged by the person who owned it before me, then Gibson must do a good reconditioning job cause its still running like a champ for me at 150k miles.  All I have done to it is put in a new raditaor, PCV hose, spark plugs/wires and coil packs.  Total of about $300. I did the work myself though.

Or maybe its just cause its a Ford. Who knows!

They use Hinton's auto body repair in Longwood. It's off 17-92 behind the Thai market. It's between the old Ride Now and Maaco. I really have nothing bad to say about James he was a good guy to work for. Currently I'm going back to school and getting out of the car market all together. I spent too much time in the business and got burnt out.

This isn't this first time this has happened. The major issue you have is you signed away your rights as a consumer when you purchased from Nations. There is a form called an alternative resolution agreement that you signed and probably didn't even realize it. I suggest if your ever confronted with this paper anywhere in any vehicle transaction, walk away! I have sent you an email, please feel free to respond there or if you prefer, I can continue to post here. Hope this helps.

Buyer Beware stay away from nations truck & suv center in sanford florida I was riped off by them go some were else.  Trust me.

Get the word out about there ways of hiding behind the shaddy florida laws that protect the seller more than the buyer.
Nations Truck & SUV Center will rip you off.

they both suck, every truck that i looked at had the under carriage painted black, some were painted over mud, also i looked at a truck at gibson, an f250 with an 8 inch lift with 38 inch tires and there was a mud line up to the power steering pump. and the "BRAND NEW" carpet inside was only covering the muddy floor pan, all they wanted to do was sell me a truck.

anyways i found the cleanest F250 around at KNIGHTS TRUCK CENTER, ive had it for a year and six months and nothing has broken

This one I seriously doubt. Must be an employee from Knights. Do you really expect us to believe that ANY dealer will go through the trouble of replacing the carpeting and not clean the floor pans? The undercoating you speak of is there for a reason and Gibson, Nations and Knights all do it. The difference being all in the prep work before it gets sprayed. If it was placed on a rack and thoroughly pressure washed ahead of time it will not only look nice but it also protects your truck for years to come. Quad-14 I need to ask you something. Where you not looking to buy a truck? Your statement "all they wanted to do was sell me a truck" is only what they are there for. How else do you think they or any other dealership keep their doors open? Did Knights give you your F250 for free? Where was this truck from Knights serviced because last time I checked there was no service department there.

Alls I can say to any one is don't buy one from nations truck & suv center in sanford florida

Here buy this one. Clean Florida truck from a private seller  ::)
I think the KBB trade in was around 19k. I just bought another so Im looking to put some change back in my bank account.

2003 FORD F-350 dually flatbed 4x4 crew cab XLT Diesel. It has the 6.0 motor with 69500 original miles. The truck runs great. It has a 2" lift with aluminum wheels. The tires have less than 5k miles on them. All brakes were also just done. The bed has aluminum under mount tool boxes installed not pictured with a hide a gooseneck hitch with wiring. Its only towed a gooseneck trailer 1 time. Heavy duty frame mounted hitch, 7 way round & 4 way flat trailer harness with the digital electric brake sending unit. The interior has the carbon fiber panels in the doors with black seats,headliner and carpet. The front and back floor was covered almost completely with rubber made spill guards and the seats had been covered since I got it with 28k miles on it. The door panels & dash are black & grey. Tinted windows, Am/Fm CD player, power seats, mirrors,door & window, heated mirrors, sliding rear window. Ice cold AC the truck runs drives  shifts perfect. I have Title . Oil changed every 3-5k miles and the tranny fluid was changed at 60k with mercron SP, recent oil change, fuel filters, FICM module, injector wiring harness and fuel pump have receipts. If it needed something it got it. I have another truck so this was used for family camping trips and some around town. It hasn't been worked hard. Located in Loxahatchee Fl. 33470

$19500

(http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/3001/flatbed0042.jpg) (http://img510.imageshack.us/i/flatbed0042.jpg/)

Nice looking truck only problem I have is its a flat bed and a ford I have had bad trans. broblems with them thats why I went to gm and the allison trans. Thanks

 Dont buy from nations truck & suv center in sanford florida

Dsl, There is no reason to be offended that i dont like gibson or nations, i went to both of those places before knights, but like i said there was no prep work done before the undercoat was applied at either facility, and my truck does NOT have an undercoat, and i don't know why you think that i said that there was a repair facility at knights, cause there isn't, and i never said that there was.
- The sales people at both gibson and nations "just wanted to sell me a truck" was a referance to the fact that, i wanted to buy the truck that i wanted, nothing else, i want what i want, no big deal right?, well not for them, i wanted an f250 lifted, shortbed, crewcab, 7.3 or 5.4 (depending on price), i was in no rush to buy, so i said if you dont have it, let me know when you do, and all they kept doing was trying to sell me something that they already had, such as a single cab, long bed,GMC.

soooo i went to knights, they had what i wanted, they never gave me the run around, the truck was in great condition, and everybody was happy..

..............oh and just for the record, i dont work at knights truck center, never have, never will, and i dont know anyone who does or has................

-and i dont know if your calling me a liar about the muddy floor pan in the truck at gibson, but i have no reason to lie, and there is no reason for you to call me out like that.- you asked for my opinion and you got it.

:ThumbsUp.gif

I wasn't trying to call you out so my bad if it seemed that way. I do agree with you with one thing for sure. You should by what you want because there is nothing worse than regretting a MAJOR purchase. The only reason I may seemed a bit harsh is because I just wanted people to be well informed about both Nations and Gibson. I just assumed that you were someone I know from Knights trying to put in their 2 cents and for that forgive me. Further more I appreciate your input though I must say I never saw anything like what you describe. Unless that truck with the mud you refer to was parked in the wholesale as is section that is.

Don't buy one from nations truck & suv center in sanford florida. Go any where else but there.

all of those trucks have half assed lift kits and huge tires with stock gears. they care about looks above function because that's what sells... the undercoat jobs look like someone went at with two cans and no regard for over spray. my buddy traded his ranger in there and got very little trade in and his new truck came with all sorts of steering issues and bad front tires, the truck shook like crazy at highway speeds and even got the death wobble at one point. his door is also very obviously replaced or re painted as well. i saw a diesel there that has a stack setup made from heater ducting and wood screwed into the plastic bed liner.

i mean, im not saying they trying to screw you over. not all of there stuff is bad, but some of the stuff looks a little sketchy. i wouldn't buy from them.

Quad-14, you will not find better people than Knights,in the used truck market than Knights. Which truck did you purchase? They are great, and yes I do work for them. Knights take pride in what they have , if the truck needs something it gets it and if doesn't ,why waste the money and the price of the truck. All the trucks get looked at to make sure they are safe. And I am sure that you will find someone that does not like Knights as well, but I can tell you this, I am sure Terry tried to please the customer. The best thing is there is no pressure when you are looking at there trucks.

I bought a 2004 F250 4x4 crewcab shortbed 5.4L, charcoal in color, i purchased it in July 2008... and i am 99% sure that terry was my sales person, no matter who it was that sold it to me, i had excellent service, and i have had 0 problems with my truck. and i was offered a carfax without asking (unlike some other dealerships)..... and the next time i am in the market for a new truck, KNIGHTS will be first on my list for sure.....

here's a good comparison GIBSON/NATIONS: :ThumbsDown.gif :deal.gif      KNIGHTS: :ThumbsUp.gif :drive.gif

                       KNIGHTS TRUCK CENTER HAS EXCELLENT TRUCKS WITH EXCELLENT SERVICE

I think that one had about 97k on it. Real nice truck

it had 88k, but looked like it only had 20

Take my advice and look any where other than nations truck & suv center in sanford florida. They riped me off and I lost $3,500.00 in three weeks time in dealing with them. Read my posts.

Why would someone listen to a person who has 6 posts to their credit, all about the same thing?  Your wasting your time.

Not the case, if every had time I would explain it to you but it would be so far over your head you would never get it. Thats what your responce tells me.

Yeah, your probably right... dumb dumb want gum gum

Not to hijack this wonderful thread BUT.. that was funny.  LMAO

This I highly doubt, or if so this was a truck that was not detailed yet or was like another poster stated an "as is" truck.  Before I lost my job I was in the market for a truck, and after seeing the infomercial on TV,  I took a visit to Gibson Truck World.  The salesman started off by giving me a tour of the facility starting with the full service center and ending in their detail department where they have 2 lifts dedicated solely to just cleaning and dressing the underneath of their trucks if needed.  I saw bills where they spend a lot of money fixing the trucks to make them like new.  Why would they skip something as mundane as washing the underneath?  Does it really seem feasible that someone would put new carpet over mud? come on it takes just as long to do something right as it does to do it wrong.  The dealership has trucks on lifts on his front row that you can walk right under and see everything!  Not trying to start anything but I know Gibson has a very open service center.  Go spend a little time walking around there lot and walk through their service center; I guarantee you that you will see trucks being totally refurbished and you will probably see someone pressure washing the underneath of a truck AFTER its been fully serviced!

"Why would they skip something as mundane as washing the underneath?  Does it really seem feasible that someone would put new carpet over mud?"

-My point exactly

and, why in the world would anybody ever want a truck that needs to be "totally refurbished"?
-Just wondering

Up date***  Nations Truck & SUV Center is closing one of there locations across the street from Gibson Trucks.  They seem to be having trouble with the junk they have been selling.  Its just a mater of time before they run them selfs out of buss.

I can only comment on Gibson myself as that is who I dealt with. I was hesitant due to some of the negative stories I've heard on this site and a couple of others. At the time I was searching for a stock Dodge 2500 Mega cab and Gibson was the only one that had one in my price range. The carfax was perfect on the truck and it was bone stock. Yes the undercarriage was painted black but I do the same thing to my vehicles I'm trading in, as well as detailing them top to bottom.

Being in WPB I dealt with my sales rep mainly via email asking questions and ball parking some numbers, financing, etc... I made the trip up and we took test drives in both vehicles, took the tour of the shop and was out the door with my Dodge in 2.5 hours. I ended up with $800 more than I expected for my trade in and no surprises. That was 4 months ago and the truck has been flawless.

That being said I would never buy a used lifted truck unless it was stupid cheap or I knew the trucks history personally. It's way too easy to mask problems that dealers won't catch in a test drive and the buyer gets screwed and blames the dealer. Most of the complaints I read about for Gibson, Nations and even Knights were related to lifted trucks and problems found after the fact.

Bill

I WORKED FOR NATIONS FOR A SHORT TIME. THEY ARE THE WORST OF THE WORST. THEY RIP OFF THE SALESMEN AND YES THE CUSTOMERS 2. THEY DONT FIX  _*HIT. THE OWNERS ARE SO CHEAP THEY WONT PUT FUEL IN THE TRUCKS. THEY MAKE THE SALESMEN DO IT. AND THEN IT TAKES A WEEK TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK. THEY DONT CARE ABOUT ANYONE. THEY MARK THE COST OF THE TRUCKS UP SO THEY PAY VERY LOW COMMISIONS.THEY STEAL FROM THE EMPLOYEES. NO ONE SHOULD BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM. AS FAR AS GIBSONS GOES HE *UCKS YOU FROM THE START. HE PAY A $400.00 FLAT FOR EACH TRUCK YOU SELL. IF YOU GIVE THE CUSTOMER A DISCOUNT HE CUTS YOUR PAY NOT THE PRICE OF THE TRUCK. AND GIBSON & NATIONS FREE 12 MONTH 6000 MILE WARRANTY IS 50/50 IF YOU HAVE TO PAY 50% OF THE REPAIRS THEN ITS NOT FREE. THEY *UCK THE CUSTOMER ON THE WARRANTYS YOU HAVE TO TAKE IT TO THE DEALERSHIP TO GET IT FIXED SO BEND OVER. I WISE THE CUSTOMERS WHERE SMARTER THEN THAT. DONT FALL FOR THE B*LL*HIT. NATIONS SCREWED ME OUT OF ABOUT 20,000 IN COMMISION PAY. SO DO YOU THANK THEY CARE ABOUT THE CUSTOMERS. GIBSON AND NATIONS HAVE THE LOWEST OF LOW SALEMEN WORKING FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY CANT GO ANYWHERE ELSE. NO ONE WANT TO WORK FOR BOTH OF THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE ROTTIN TO THE CORE. THEY WILL CRASH AND BURN BOTH OF THEM......... 

I can speak about both Gibson and Nations. I went down there from jacksonville to buy a truck from Nations only to get there and find that my truck was in 10 times better shape then theirs. Once I finally got them to come down and work out the price the paper work was all wrong, had I not read it as well as I did I would have been screwed. I left went to Gibsons at 9pm and worked out a great deal on my current F250 there and it was a pleasant experience. My brother-in-law bought his from Nations and lets just say he was lucky to get what he did 6 months later after spending thousands on repair bills. I will say that my transmission had to be rebuilt, but that was after I put an additional 65000 miles on the truck. I will buy another truck from Gibsons if I start looking again, but am very happy with mine.