White's Canyon Ford — Local services in Spearfish

I wish this review could be 0 stars. We went to white canyon ford to buy a used Yukon xl they had in their inventory. We live 2.5 hours away so we called down to make sure it was worth the trip down. Our primary concern was that there was no mechanical issues that the were aware of. I was informed the only defects were that the passenger side door handle was broken, some rust, and it was in need of an oil change that they would do. So we made the trip to see it. Inspected the fluids which all looked and smelled clean. Upon starting the test drive, we saw that the oil pressure gauge was not working at all and read 0. We immediately asked about it and were assured by the service tech it was the gauge or the sending unit. The car otherwise drove without any major red flags. We stopped by a gmc dealer and made an appointment at earliest availablity to repair the gauge. After purchasing the vehicle we drove it home and it sat in our garage for 6 days until I drove it back down to spearfish for the gauge appointment because we didn’t want to drive it around in case something happened where the oil pressure actually were to drop and we wouldn’t be able to know. On the way back to spearfish the transmission failed. I then had to drive 20 mph for 50 miles to the dealership for help as the car wouldn’t shift gears and the transmission was getting hot. It was 98 degrees outside and the ac stopped working since it was overheating I assume. I had my 2 young children in the backseat sweating with no ac and not driving near fast enough for opening the windows to help, while it took me hours to get to town. Once we got to the dealer we learned that the transmission had been flushed and the transmission codes had likely been turned off since the check engine light had not been on until the car acted up. But the transmission is in fact failing and will now need to be replaced for around $6000. I am aware I bought the vehicle as is. It is incredibly shocking to me the a certified ford dealer would be so flippant and unwilling to help. I called to see if they would make this right in any way and was offered to perhaps trade it in for an upgraded vehicle far outside of my budget. Why on earth would I ever give them another dollar? We had this vehicle in our possession for 6 days and used it only to get home and return to town for an appointment at a dealership. White canyon ford told me they would be unable to reimburse me in any way because it never went through their garage. Really? I didn’t realize that dealerships take trades in without scanning them for codes especially since the vehicle read that it had 0 oil pressure. I didn’t realize that they weren’t obligated to go through the vehicle in any way whatsoever. Who did the oil change? Who and how were they confident it was a mere oil pressure gauge or sensor causing it to read 0 if it was never hooked up to because it was never in their garage? Perhaps they received this trade with the transmission already flushed and codes cleared, I do have a difficult time believing that they were entirely unaware. I strongly regret doing business with this company. I never ever leave negative reviews but I truly think others should be aware to avoid such a financially devastating mistake. Apparently white canyon ford doesn’t mind selling customers unreliable broken vehicles and slapping their stickers on the back of it. I am...

A family vacation to see Deadwood, Mt. Rushmore, and the sights of western South Dakota came very close to being a disaster, which was averted by the service of White’s Canyon Ford and service manager Marc Weimer.

After driving 3 days from California, we took a little side detour to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. Going up the hill, our van (a wheelchair adapted E-150) suddenly would not shift higher than 2nd gear. Instead of going into high gear, it would pop into neutral and suddenly over-rev.

Nothing I could do would get that to change so we Googled the nearest Ford dealer, which was White’s Canyon in Spearfish, SD…about 40 miles away.

We limped it in, getting into the dealer around lunch time. Marc pulled a couple of strings to get our van looked at right away. Unfortunately, he had bad news…and worse news. Our van needed a new transmission (I suspect the lube shop that did the service before we left used the wrong transmission fluid). The dealer did not have a replacement in stock so one had to be ordered from Salt Lake City and would take about a week to arrive.

Now we were looking at a lost vacation, a very expensive repair, and not knowing what was going to happen to us for the next week to ten days with a son in a very expensive and heavy wheelchair to deal with.

Marc said not to worry, he was going to take us under his wing and do what he could to make sure we could at least still enjoy our vacation. He talked the owner into lending us a van, found us a place to rent a lightweight manual wheelchair (since we no longer had a wheelchair lift available to us), and promised to keep in touch to let us know when the replacement came in.

Long story short, we still got to enjoy our trip…although it extended to 20 days instead of the 11 planned…they got the van fixed (it runs great, with a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty), and a big, dark cloud of worry and disappointment was lifted from our heads.

We left the dealership shaking hands and wearing smiles, thankful for the helpful service and compassion of the service staff at White’s...

Purchased diesel 6.0 on 06/22/15, drove 620 miles and wrench light came on. Svc dept in Casper Wy couldn't find anything wrong and reset light. Drove another 375 miles, engine light and wrench light came on. Svc Cntr in Butte Mt said as well as the previous svc ctr said the 6.0 motors are notorious for problems. Said if we had this problem already in 995 miles it would most likely keep happening. The truck went into "limp mode" twice and lost power briefly as well as smoke came out of the tailpipe. We had to get home to Idaho and and feared that if the truck kept having problems and we lost power going over some of the mountains that we were done for. We traded the truck in for a 6.7 diesel motor. The salesman told me that if anything happened to the truck that I could take it to any ford dealer and it would be replaced. The GM, Pete called me a liar and said that his salesman wouldn't have said that, when indeed he did say it. We lost $8399 on the deal and tried to talk to the GM about it and said there was no lemon law and we are solely responsible for the issues. Had the truck 9 days and 995 miles. We were stranded 5 + days total with issues with the truck, my wife being disabled, me partially disabled and with 2 young grandchildren. This "vacation" turned into a nightmare along with an additional $600+ truck payment on top of the $8399 that we still have to pay. I was also told that this was a trade in and customer said never had any problems with it. Found out that it came from an auto auction and there were at least 3 previous issues with it before we got it. Asked for a carfax and never received it until I got home and asked again for it. I would never recommend this dealership to anyone! They accused the other dealers of being deceitful, but they are the ones who are. I would give them minus stars if that was available. Don't trust...