Ford pushing for $500 deposit, confirmation to come soon

[Bronc-O]

so, how does this work if you do the deposit and then before 3/17/21 decide to switch dealers (closer to home, PCS to hawaii from the mainland, etc).

how does the non-refundable deposit get moved to your new dealer?

Do you lose the option of changing dealers again once you place an order? I haven't seen this asked anywhere yet.

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[zrizik99]

Not surprised. I've said from the beginning, Ford will try to separate serious buyers from the tire kickers. Price increases, delays, etc.

Now requiring an additional deposit. $500 isn't bad at all, but it's $500 for a vehicle that might be a mid 2022 delivery. I'm still in for my Sasquatch 2.7 BD, but the recent actions and lack of communication from Ford has been extremely frustrating as a consumer.

 

[Beachin 74]

Do you lose the option of changing dealers again once you place an order? I haven't seen this asked anywhere yet.

Not sure but I would say, yes. The thrill of the hunt is gone.

 

[BroncoTRDPro]

When we ordered/reserved our dealer’s only allocation of a 2020 Army Green 4Runner TRD Pro it was $1,000 and refundable if we didn’t go through with final sale since someone else
would certainly buy it. That’s why you don’t see a ton of them because they only make so many per year. Only reason we actually were able to get it was a relative works for Atlas Toyota (forklift arm). Dealers often market adjust those believe it or not, especially for the TRD Pro exclusive colors. We ended up waiting 6 months for it to arrive and were within the first few days of people getting them, so that was pretty cool. Worth paying MSRP for? Ehhhhh... That’s why I can’t decide Bronco for 2021 or wait until 2022.

 

[da_jokker]

Just my 2 cents, but there are 2 critical facts that seems like many of the posts are not considering:

1) As mentioned by the Ford Reps in that interview, every Reservation Order is basically a custom build.

2) None of the Reservation holders, nor non-baised Media have had a chance to Drive and evaluate the Bronco... most have not even be able to even see one.

If you take those 2 into consideration, it moots 90% of the posts simply because those that have ordered an "existing" vehicle with $0 deposit makes sense, but doesn't match this situation.

On the flip side, those that have ordered a customized vehicle and were required a deposit also makes sense, but they were able to, without a doubt, know what they were getting (Telsa folks are just an exception, like iPhone people).

Bronco is somewhere in between.. that is the facts. Now opinions may differ on the solution, but then again that really isn't up to us, now is it?

Personally I think to rule out the flakes, the solution is either...

1) Require a Large BUT refundable deposit, people that can put down a large amount tend to at least be serious buyers and commited IF ford delivers what they promise.

2) Require a small, non-refundable depost As long as it included exceptions that encompassed additional delays or price changes.

...but that's just me.

 

[da_jokker]

Conversion rate isn't as important as selling the vehicle. If the vehicle gets to the lot and the customer backs out, the dealer is penalized.

It's hard to keep up on everything, but I don't think this is correct. The dealers only get penalised if THEY do questionable things. If the customer backs out, the dealer gets a Bronco they can now sell at whatever price they choose.

But I could have missed an update to this.

 

[pan-y-cerveza]

When we ordered/reserved our dealer’s only allocation of a 2020 Army Green 4Runner TRD Pro it was $1,000 and refundable if we didn’t go through with final sale since someone else
would certainly buy it. That’s why you don’t see a ton of them because they only make so many per year. Only reason we actually were able to get it was a relative works for Atlas Toyota (forklift arm). Dealers often market adjust those believe it or not, especially for the TRD Pro exclusive colors. We ended up waiting 6 months for it to arrive and were within the first few days of people getting them, so that was pretty cool. Worth paying MSRP for? Ehhhhh... That’s why I can’t decide Bronco for 2021 or wait until 2022.

I also put $1000 down on our '21 4Runner Off Road.

We had two options: secure with a deposit or not get it. It came on a truck with 3 other 4Runners. We picked ours up in the afternoon and it was the last one there.

It was a non-refundable deposit but we at least knew what we were getting into with a 4Runner. Not like it was sight-unseen like the Bronco.

 

[GaryB2220]

It's hard to keep up on everything, but I don't think this is correct. The dealers only get penalised if THEY do questionable things. If the customer backs out, the dealer gets a Bronco they can now sell at whatever price they choose.

But I could have missed an update to this.

It was made known in a nationwide ford-dealership meeting months ago. If an order doesn't get delivered to the customer that ordered it, the dealer is getting penalized. Granger shared the information with us but didn't get into details on what the penalties were, but said that they were significant and wanted to avoid them

 

[da_jokker]

It was made known in a nationwide ford-dealership meeting months ago. If an order doesn't get delivered to the customer that ordered it, the dealer is getting penalized. Granger shared the information with us but didn't get into details on what the penalties were, but said that they were significant and wanted to avoid them

Correct.. but there were details about the definition of "doesn't get delivered to the customer"

Meaning say your Bronco shows up and the dealer sells it out from under you.. they get hit hard.

But if YOU show up, and decide to walk away, that is not the dealer's fault.. and they are off the hook.

At least that is how I recall it.

 

[sm_cc_03]

Hopefully I don't come across as another whiner as I'm still excited about the Bronco but I really wish we had more clarity from Ford on all this. It seems like at this stage in the process we should have actual clear facts, not continued speculation and "facts" that change week to week. I'm ok with a higher deposit but if the deposit is both nonrefundable prior to VIN generation and I don't have absolute 100% certainty on pricing/model year at the time of deposit then that's a problem and would make me rethink and possibly back out.

Hypothetically, a dealer requires $1000 nonrefundable deposit, the build gets pushed to MY22 and the MY22 build gets a $5k+ price increase. That's my worry and the situation I really want to avoid.

 

[Bronc-O]

It was made known in a nationwide ford-dealership meeting months ago. If an order doesn't get delivered to the customer that ordered it, the dealer is getting penalized. Granger shared the information with us but didn't get into details on what the penalties were, but said that they were significant and wanted to avoid them

Could the penalties affect some dealers more than others? What I recall is that it affected allocation. I can see why a small dealer with a lot of reservations might worry about this, but a big dealer may have less concern and profit by cancelations.

 

[Lcubed]

Could the penalties affect some dealers more than others? What I recall is that it affected allocation. I can see why a small dealer with a lot of reservations might worry about this, but a big dealer may have less concern and profit by cancelations.

i could imagine a few scenarios where the large dealers would be more affected by the sanctions.

 

[Stroopaloop]

Oh, that Stroopwafel? In caramel it was "meh". #wink

Did you warm them up first! If they still suck I'll sue them for naming rights hahahaha

 

[Used2jeep]

Did you warm them up first! If they still suck I'll sue them for naming rights hahahaha

No. I just ate it out of the baggie. Apparently I'm a caveman...

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