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Aluminum F-150’s cost dealerships in the short term

By now, the 2015 aluminum-body Ford F-150 has arrived at local Ford dealerships, resulting in thousands of auto-repair technicians completing one of the biggest...

By now, the 2015 aluminum-body Ford F-150 has arrived at local Ford dealerships, resulting in thousands of auto-repair technicians completing one of the biggest industry training programs.

The new aluminum body has posed a new challenge for auto-repair technicians.

Video: Edmunds.com editors sledgehammer aluminum F-150 to test theory that aluminum is more expensive to repair.

It's a lot of hours of training and classroom training just to sit through and to learn about the new construction of it," said Joe Arnold, the vice president of Arnold's Body Shop in Davenport.

"If you want to repair the F-150, you have to go and be Ford F-150 certified for aluminum repair."

When repairing aluminum, the process is more convoluted than working with steel. When aluminum is bent, it acts differently than steel. For example, steel can be knocked back into its original shape, but aluminum requires a special process before it can take its original shape.

One technique requires technicians to weld a stud on a metal panel. Once all the studs are aligned, the panel must be heated to a certain temperate. Once that temperature is reached, the aluminum can begin to be pulled back into place, Arnold said.

The lengthy repair process will require twice the amount of labor, resulting in higher cost, Arnold added.

In addition to training, repair shops had to dish-out thousands of dollars for special tools.

"You are looking upwards of a $50,000 investment just to properly repair aluminum vehicles," Arnold explained. "You need a totally separate set of hand tools, grinders, sand paper and everything has to remain separate from your others tools."

So far, Arnold's Repair Shop hasn't worked on any 2015 F-150's, but Arnold says the pricey investment was worth it, because he expects aluminum to be the future of the auto industry.

Ford sold 54,370 new  F-150's in January, up nearly 17 percent from a year earlier, according to fortune.com.

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