If people back out of reservations, are dealers free to sell their unused allocation to anyone ?

[Cheshire]

At the same time, Ford said no dealer stock until all reservations are delivered.

Where? I have not seen any official statement to that affect. I've only seen them say not MY21 dealer stock. Show evidence.

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[flip]

So this is where I'm stuck a bit. I have a late September reservation, my dealership is a small family-owned single-store franchise. I've not yet converted my reservation to an order. I'm well outside the dealer's allocation and will be a MY '22 build. The dealer has eight (8) MY'21 allocations and less than 30 reservations in total. I'm not in a rush to get my Bronco, so MY'22 build and delivery is fine with me; I expected nothing different TBH.

My issue is, however, the dealer requires a $500 non-refundable deposit upon ordering. When I inquired why the deposit is non-refundable, with my thought being I may not like the Bronco once I see and drive it, the salesman explained that Ford is driving the requirement. The reason Ford is driving the requirement is because if an Orderor's* Bronco is not sold to the Orderor, then dealership cannot move the unsold Bronco to their stock and sell it off the lot. In other words, the dealer essentially has to hold onto the unsold Bronco until Ford allows dealers to sell stock off the lot. He said this protocol was to prevent unscrupulous dealers from having dealership employees order Broncos that they will not buy and thus buildup dealership stock of Broncos that they can sell with ADM . while I understand this logic, I just wonder if it is actually true.

* Orderor being the person who reserved then converted to a Bronco order.

I think the point of non-refundable, or deposits in general, are to get a commitment from the reservation holders that are serious about taking delivery. Someone made a comment about 20% no take before penalties start. I don't read everything that comes out but first violation is warning, second you are suspended from Bronco program for a year, third you are out of the program indefinitely.

When Ford did reservations with the Mach-E deposits were $500. They didn't get near the reservations they predicted but there were other things beside the deposit that people didn't like. Ford made a big deal out of $100 Bronco reservation when it was announced. Probably thought it was the deposit amount and not the vehicle which caused the issue with M-E.

Again, have not seen anything from FMC about abandoned orders, what the process is to sell it to another reservation holder. If I was Ford, here is what I would do. Confirm from dealer and customer the order is abandoned, do a search for later orders that match the build from another customer in a regional search and see if the dealers can work something out. Maybe incentivize the original ordering dealer with an extra stock unit in the future or additional first run build. Most likely they will require us to hold the thing for so many days or put it into FCT (loaner) service. There are enough other dealer guys on here that will post up the rules when Ford decides what how we are going to handle these.

 

[flip]

Who is going to prevent so call “reservation” sell in the second hand market with delivery miles?

And therein lies the second mode of dealer fockery. Instead of dealer employee refusing an order when it comes in, they take delivery, register under their name (to satisfy the reservation-order-delivery Ford is demanding) then turn around and spin paper to the "real" buyer who didn't have a reservation.

Now, is Ford going to look at buyer's order, modem activation or registration to prove who the buyer really is? We really don't know yet or at least I've been too lazy to look for an answer. There will be dealers that will have orders people back out on for whatever reason, this is one issue and really not the dealers fault. You will have a handful of dealers that are intentionally trying to game the system. Some will get hand slapped, most won't. Ford put the "rules" out there to try and dissuade this azz type hattery but the dealers that always play fock, fock games with customers will be the same ones doing this.

 

[North7]

At the same time, Ford said no dealer stock until all reservations are delivered.

On several occasions too.

Where? I have not seen any official statement to that affect. I've only seen them say not MY21 dealer stock. Show evidence.

@Cheshire are you an attorney? Do forum members have to meet your deposition level of evidence?

The consensus on the forum, for some time, has been no dealer stock until all reservations are fulfilled (based on Ford's information, see 1st & 2nd quotes below).

No dealer has provided us any information to contradict that. One dealer @XCR440 has given us his opinion what may happen, see 3rd quote below.

Next question counselor?

Jul 15, 2020
Will reservations be fulfilled in the order placed?
• Reservations will be fulfilled in approximately the same order received, based on final ordering and production of similarly configured Broncos. All reservations will be completed before production of stock units begins.

Dec 15, 2020
Will reservations be fulfilled in the order placed?

Reservations will be fulfilled in approximately the same order received using timestamp, however, actual delivery may vary based upon a number of factors including vehicle model and configuration selected, part constraints, and the number of Bronco vehicles your dealer will receive.

Will orders be built in the order that reservations were received?

Reservations will be fulfilled in approximately the same order received, based on final ordering and production of similarly configured Broncos. Due to the high number of Bronco two-door and four-door reservations, deliveries will extend into the 2022 calendar year.

Jan 16, 2021
That said, I'm guessing there will be few 7/13-15 cancellations and tons of cancellations later than this. Reservation to delivery time was already too long, this new increase I think will cause many people to cancel out, especially the post 9/18 ones. But I do bet it takes a good chunk of 22 to get through the reservations. Later in the year I see stock units being built amongst the reservation's. There will be 2.7L Sasquatches that get pushed so far back due to commodities that other stock units will get built way before them. Already seeing it on Bronco Sport, order a Base or Big Bend with no packages it'll get built before sold OBX or BD's that have the moonroof packages by a good bit due to commodity shortages.

(I've sent you my final paralegal bill via DM, that exhausts all funds for any further research.)

 

[Gamecock]

Where? I have not seen any official statement to that affect. I've only seen them say not MY21 dealer stock. Show evidence.

Ford had explicitly stated on their website in the FAQs that “all reservation orders will be built before dealer stock”....and then they removed it. Obviously that means to me that the statement is no longer true. They will likely mix in stock units in 22.

 

[Cheshire]

@Cheshire are you an attorney? Do forum members have to meet your deposition level of evidence?

The consensus on the forum, for some time, has been no dealer stock until all reservations are fulfilled (based on Ford's information, see 1st & 2nd quotes below).

No dealer has provided us any information to contradict that. One dealer @XCR440 has given us his opinion what may happen, see 3rd quote below.

Next question counselor?

(I've sent you my final paralegal bill via DM, that exhausts all funds for any further research.)

Mike's answer to my question specifies only MY21. Dealer opinions aside, I haven't seen anything from Ford concerning MY22 allocations, except that Ford has stated that MY22 allocation formulas will be announced later this year.

I would bet that dealers with high order/allocation(MY21) ratios (Stephens, etc) will have some/many customers receive their MY22 after dealers with low order/allocation(MY22) ratios receive dealer stock. If this is not the case, then high volume dealers in competitive markets will stop receiving Broncos while the Stephens, Granger, Horsham, Bowers, etc get all production units sent to them until their orders are all filled.

 

[Razorbak86]

I think the point of non-refundable, or deposits in general, are to get a commitment from the reservation holders that are serious about taking delivery. Someone made a comment about 20% no take before penalties start. I don't read everything that comes out but first violation is warning, second you are suspended from Bronco program for a year, third you are out of the program indefinitely.

Unless the ‘Bronco Name Match Integrity Policy’ has changed recently, that’s not how the penalties were documented originally. The first violation resulted in a warning, but the penalties for second and third violations were less severe. See below...

 

[Vigor]

Lots of fukkery in the midst...

 

[Squatch]

Ford had explicitly stated on their website in the FAQs that “all reservation orders will be built before dealer stock”....and then they removed it. Obviously that means to me that the statement is no longer true. They will likely mix in stock units in 22.

Silence is not consent. Just because that sheep stopped saying baaaa, it doesn't mean yes.

 

[flip]

Unless the ‘Bronco Name Match Integrity Policy’ has changed recently, that’s not how the penalties were documented originally. The first violation resulted in a warning, but the penalties for second and third violations were less severe. See below...

Ok, then they changed it from what they said at the dealer meeting in Vegas. I don't get into the weeds with sales stuff so I guess I missed this along the line somewhere.

 

[Gamecock]

Silence is not consent. Just because that sheep stopped saying baaaa, it doesn't mean yes.

Proactively removing from their website the assurance that reservations would be built before stock was no accident...it was done with intent. Levine specifiying again and again for "MY21" reservations would be built first is no accident either. If you're that sheep in your analogy, best turn around and look....

 

[Efthreeoh]

I think the point of non-refundable, or deposits in general, are to get a commitment from the reservation holders that are serious about taking delivery. Someone made a comment about 20% no take before penalties start. I don't read everything that comes out but first violation is warning, second you are suspended from Bronco program for a year, third you are out of the program indefinitely.

When Ford did reservations with the Mach-E deposits were $500. They didn't get near the reservations they predicted but there were other things beside the deposit that people didn't like. Ford made a big deal out of $100 Bronco reservation when it was announced. Probably thought it was the deposit amount and not the vehicle which caused the issue with M-E.

Again, have not seen anything from FMC about abandoned orders, what the process is to sell it to another reservation holder. If I was Ford, here is what I would do. Confirm from dealer and customer the order is abandoned, do a search for later orders that match the build from another customer in a regional search and see if the dealers can work something out. Maybe incentivize the original ordering dealer with an extra stock unit in the future or additional first run build. Most likely they will require us to hold the thing for so many days or put it into FCT (loaner) service. There are enough other dealer guys on here that will post up the rules when Ford decides what how we are going to handle these.

I just think because most Customers are ordering a vehicle sight unseen, the risk of the Customer not liking the vehicle should fall on the Seller; either the dealership or FoMoCo.

If it were an issue of special ordering a Mustang or F150 that you get to review and test drive an in stock example, then sure a non-refundable deposit is appropriate.

 

[Squatch]

Proactively removing from their website the assurance that reservations would be built before stock was no accident...it was done with intent. Levine specifiying again and again for "MY21" reservations would be built first is no accident either. If you're that sheep in your analogy, best turn around and look....

Just trying to lighten the mood. It's been very clear that Ford has been less than trustworthy and consistent.

Not that it will ever get this far, but if it were to be viewed through the lens of contract law, once they offered it and we accepted, taking it off the website doesn't change anything. I'm sure Ford doesn’t expect anyone to pay more than the cost of a Bronco to try and litigate that nor do I.

*none of the preceding incoherent rambling was legal or financial advice

 

[noahr]

Ford has only said that there will be no dealer stock for MY21. MY22 has not been announced yet. I would bet that there will be dealer stock in MY22 for dealers in high competitive sales areas and that have high volume Ford sales.

you are incorrect ford has clearly said multiple times that they will not build any stock until all reservations have been fulfilled.

 

[Gamecock]

you are incorrect ford has clearly said multiple times that they will not build any stock until all reservations have been fulfilled.

They said that initially, and then removed it from their website....now they only say that is true for MY21. If they have said it "clearly multiple times" for all reservations....go ahead and link it in.

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