f150 and boxliners

Every dealer I know is more than willing to sell you a "boxliner" (I call them bed liners). I've had them in a couple of trucks, but if you are actually using the truck for work they are worse than worthless. Problem 1 - everything slides around in them - a rubber mat works much bettter. Problem

2 - if you don't drill holes in them, they hold water. Problem 3 - you have to add holes in them to access the tie down points in the bed. Problem 4 - stuff get under them and promotes rusting of the real truck bed. Problem 5 - they eat up part of you cargo space (some are worse than others). Prolem 6 - you have to pay for them.

I generally prefer just a simple rubber mat. They helps stuff stay put, are easy to remove, and are usually cheap. I've thought about getting the Rhino Liner paint treatment but haven't done that on a truck yet.

Bottom line - I think bed liners are mostly for people who don't really need a truck - although some are less offensive than others. Anytime you see a truck with a bed liner and a hard cover, you now the owner really needed a station wagon (or maybe a Corolla).

Ed

Ed I agree with most of what you said.

I'm just curiosu why dealers here don't "sell" the boxliners, but order the truck with them in it (or maybe they put the bedliner in when all the trucks come???)

I walked by the GMC lot today looking at used trucks, and took a trip down the new isle... and every one had a bedliner.

My work truck (not my own... company) has a sprayed in bed liner. its held up suprisingly well for the last 7 years, and i'm always throwing gear and equipment in it.

Part of the problem is the choice of bed liners and the choice of other in bed options...

Spray in bedliners... wood bedliners... plastic bedliners (ain't they a LOT of fun when it's cold out") and God knows what I haven't kept abreast of. For a dealer, there wouldn't be anything more fun that having a row of trucks you can't sell because you did the wrong box liner....

Consider... Ford is, on some models but in the US only, offering some sort of bedliner... I "think" it is a spray in effort... but you don't like me and will disbelieve it anyway. That is more of a problem for you than me.

Bedliners are available... In Canada... none of them are factory... In Canada... all you have to do is request a bedliner... close the deal (as in the truck is pretty much yours from this moment on) and you will receive the bed liner you paid for - if the dealer is on the up and up... ( my mind wanders back to Welcome Ford Sales in Fort Saskatchewan).

Bedliners can be a deal breaker... the dealer can kiss your ass on the bedliner and make you feel good enough to buy the truck. But if the wrong bedliner is already there....

We've had our disagreements.. but I always thought you were smarter than this...