What a huge pain in the ass.

I ordered a cap for my new truck in August immediately when I bought it. Was given a 6-8 week turnaround time. 20 weeks later and it's supposedly on the truck to be delivered. It was supposed to be today but the truck ran into an issue. For the last 2 months the answer from ARE has been "It'll be next month, no next week, week after that"

I will say that the staff at the independent dealer have been good and I don't blame them at all. Seems the issues really started when realtruck bought out ARE and decided to open a new factory, but instead of buying all new equipment, they've been slowly moving equipment from one factory to the other, causing huge production delays. The biggest one of all is the paint booth.

I'd cancel the order and chargeback the amount on my credit card, but I need the damn thing.

That sucks.

I put an ARE on my truck prior to moving to Alaska in '09. It was an awesome cap.

Is LEER a suitable manufacturer?

LEER was my 2nd choice in the event the ARE didn't work out. They (LEER) seem to have a good reputation, I wouldn't feel uneasy about buying from them. My ARE did work out fine, it's been a great cap. No delivery issues, but that was 2 years ago now. I don't know when the buyout happened.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Is LEER a suitable manufacturer?

The guys at the independent dealer insisted that LEER isn't what it used to be. And that ARE despite their delays and issues, are superior in build quality once they do arrive. And that they don't sell LEER anymore unless someone insists on one. Lead times are also similar.

We'll see once my ARE arrives if that rings true.

My last three trucks all had Snugtop.

No issues with quality or delivery for me.

The last one I bought was 2014, so it may have changed since then.

I'll likely get a new truck in 2025. I'll probably put a Snugtop on it.

ARE/Realtruck is a few miles from me. They are in the same situation as many companies are now with staffing and keeping up with demand. I know they just recently moved everything to a new facility and maybe are having issues getting everything to go smoothly again.

I also live a short distance from the ARE facility. Years ago when when I bought a new truck I wanted a cap so went to a local dealer, bought the ARE cap. When I went to have it installed it was in horrible shape, chunks missing from the fiberglass, the aluminum window edging had plier marks. I refused the cap and they re-ordered it. A few weeks later I went back and this one was in just as bad. I cancelled the order and went with another brand, Swiss I believe.

I got it today and everything appears okay thankfully. Hopefully once it's warm enough to run through the car wash it won't be a different color.

If it still doesn't work out, I know it would be a reduced cargo capacity but for security and durability these guys are great Diamondback hard tonneaus