Dealer Refuses to Enter a Purchase Agreement Without VIN

[MotoCeptorMan]

After seeing dealer horror stories here and reading Ford's FAQ to reservation holders to get a purchase agreement when ordering for MY22, I requested to do just that. The dealer is stonewalling and insists that a VIN is needed before they can determine pricing. Hasn't Ford already announced MY22 pricing as well as MY21 reservation holder price protection? I've custom ordered cars before and had a purchase agreement without having a VIN yet. What do you think? Is this dealer trying to set themselves up to sell my Bronco to the highest bidder? If so, can I refuse to order and then nobody gets that Bronco? Thanks in advance for any insight into this matter

Sponsored

 

[joeb]

Interesting

I think hundreds of folks on here have said they have a signed purchase agreement.

I am going into my dealer tomorrow to "re-order". I plan on getting a signed agreement on price.

I will post here tomorrow after I meet with the..

But sounds like BS to me.

 

[Drex]

Depends on what you (and your State laws) define as a 'purchase agreement'. Essentially nothing is ironclad. There is going to be no contract that requires you to buy a Bronco, nor them to sell you one. To even get close, then I would agree... you need a VIN to identify the specific item, but until there is a specific common definition, there will be no agreement on the topic of what a 'purchase agreement' might contain.

I am just waiting for folks to get slammed by dealers who pull the old 'all rebates were applied in our invoice/MSRP/ADM price' speech and the Ford price protection rebates end up going into the pockets of those dealers. I cannot imagine Ford bothered to put a name match requirement on the rebates, but maybe they did, don't know, not overly impressed with the rollout so far is all, but the dealer claiming a rebate was already factored in to their offer would be pretty hard to dispute with the disclaimers everywhere. Supposition is all, but I think it will happen more times than people might think.

Was my prediction on how Ford would handle the 'price protection' when they announced it and I am sticking with it. (including the unintended? consequences.)

 

[LPETTIS4]

After seeing dealer horror stories here and reading Ford's FAQ to reservation holders to get a purchase agreement when ordering for MY22, I requested to do just that. The dealer is stonewalling and insists that a VIN is needed before they can determine pricing. Hasn't Ford already announced MY22 pricing as well as MY21 reservation holder price protection? I've custom ordered cars before and had a purchase agreement without having a VIN yet. What do you think? Is this dealer trying to set themselves up to sell my Bronco to the highest bidder? If so, can I refuse to order and then nobody gets that Bronco? Thanks in advance for any insight into this matter

Switch dealers!

 

[HarderCorer]

Switch dealers!

Agree. At worst they can sign the DORA and write, no additional markup. If not, contact Ford and switch dealers.

 

[MayhemMike]

I believe they want your order to resell for ADM. I would switch dealers. Ask around and you will find dealers who will accommodate your demand. In reality, none of our orders are our vehicles. The vehicle is bought by the dealer. It is theirs the transaction is complete. Low life dealers will use this to line pockets. Legitimate dealers won’t.

 

[Compta38]

They're trying to screw you, run away.

 

[Dragline]

This is what my dealer asked ME to sign back in January. Glad I had it, but was a non-issue. No way to know if it mattered or if my dealer was just honest. He used the reservation number for the stock code. MSRP actually decreased from what was on here, they wrote it up with the lower number at purchase (without this agreement being mentioned). If they won't do at least this much I'd find another dealer.

 

[broncoskip]

@Ford Motor Company this is where Ford's "Allocation is fair to the dealerships" is screwing the customers. If a reservation holder is having issues getting a fair price (MSRP Is fair, isn't it?) and end up moving their reservation, the dealership doesn't loose a Bronco sale, they just sell that slot to someone else, someone willing to pay a markup.

Meanwhile at the friendly and fair dealership, every reservation they bring in from other dealers only pushes their current customers further down the list.

 

[Mrpenn46]

After seeing dealer horror stories here and reading Ford's FAQ to reservation holders to get a purchase agreement when ordering for MY22, I requested to do just that. The dealer is stonewalling and insists that a VIN is needed before they can determine pricing. Hasn't Ford already announced MY22 pricing as well as MY21 reservation holder price protection? I've custom ordered cars before and had a purchase agreement without having a VIN yet. What do you think? Is this dealer trying to set themselves up to sell my Bronco to the highest bidder? If so, can I refuse to order and then nobody gets that Bronco? Thanks in advance for any insight into this matter

I have my order at Granger and while we have a price agreement they wouldn't issue a purchase agreement until the vehicle was on the lot. I requested it not for price protection as they have been very up front, but because I needed it to finalize a loan through my bank. So I'm not surprised they won't issue a full purchase agreement without even a VIN.

 

[rugbysecondrow]

Depends on what you (and your State laws) define as a 'purchase agreement'. Essentially nothing is ironclad. There is going to be no contract that requires you to buy a Bronco, nor them to sell you one. To even get close, then I would agree... you need a VIN to identify the specific item, but until there is a specific common definition, there will be no agreement on the topic of what a 'purchase agreement' might contain.

I am just waiting for folks to get slammed by dealers who pull the old 'all rebates were applied in our invoice/MSRP/ADM price' speech and the Ford price protection rebates end up going into the pockets of those dealers. I cannot imagine Ford bothered to put a name match requirement on the rebates, but maybe they did, don't know, not overly impressed with the rollout so far is all, but the dealer claiming a rebate was already factored in to their offer would be pretty hard to dispute with the disclaimers everywhere. Supposition is all, but I think it will happen more times than people might think.

Was my prediction on how Ford would handle the 'price protection' when they announced it and I am sticking with it. (including the unintended? consequences.)

My dealership said they can't create and agreement until the vehicle is built and physically exists. It makes sense, logically, that this is true...but I don't know this for fact.

At a certain point, the process requires faith and trust. If somebody, or some entity, wants to be untrustworthy and lacks ethics, then you can't compel them to be honest.

It sucks and is unfortunate.

 

[Dragline]

My dealership said they can't create and agreement until the vehicle is built and physically exists. It makes sense, logically, that this is true...but I don't know this for fact.

At a certain point, the process requires faith and trust. If somebody, or some entity, wants to be untrustworthy and lacks ethics, then you can't compel them to be honest.

It sucks and is unfortunate.

Tell them you want to spec out and order an F-350. I bet they write up an agreement.

 

[rugbysecondrow]

Tell them you want to spec out and order an F-350. I bet they write up an agreement.

haha, maybe.

My dealership has been pretty easy to work with throughout this process. I hope there is no funny business when mine arrives in the next few weeks. I can't control other people's actions though, only my own. I signed the docs based on the price they quoted. I paid a deposit for the order. I have acted with integrity, I have to trust they will also.

Sponsored