Mike Levine on Twitter

[DaBronCo33]

To be 100% fair to Mike Levine, he has attempted to fix these dealer markup issues for multiple people, and in many cases he has succeeded.

Once it hits the Bronco6G forums we tend to blow things up. If he is trying to negotiate with the dealership on the customer's behalf I'm sure it is harder for him to do so if we are bombarding the dealership with negative reviews left and right. At that point tempers are already elevated and the dealer sales staff probably feel attacked. Once that bad blood starts flowing you're either going to have the dealer give in just to make it all go away, or you're going to have the dealer dig in their heels.

I personally trust that my dealer isn't going to try to screw me (I have a signed buyer's order to help with that trust)... but if I do get screwed, I'm going to try to go through the official Ford channels to resolve it first. If that doesn't work I'll hit up a Ford employee like Mike Levine.

And if none of that works... we're basically in last-resort territory, and then I'll hit the Bronco6G forum to blow up their reviews. I have nothing to lose at that point and don't care how much bad blood is spilled.

I respect your pov, but I’m going to go ballistic if my dealer tries to add an ADM fee. I too have a signed order. I put down $1100, participated in an off-roadeo, and have patiently waited a year plus. If they try any duckery, the earth is getting freaking scorched. And if that don’t work I might have to do some time.

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[DoubleADuster]

Him saying "you should've gotten a signed sheet at order," is so annoying. Correct me if I am wrong but I dont recall anywhere from Ford saying we needed that for MSRP? So how the hell would we have known to get it? I had no clue but thankfully I have a good dealer who honored MSRP like they were supposed to.

Maybe Ford should have made signed paperwork as a little stop on the pizza tracker if that was a recommended part of the process, instead of having a corporate goon tweet it out 18 months later.

 

[Kao]

I feel like I've read this thread before... numerous times actually.

 

[RagnarKon]

But your missing the whole point of this, there should be absolutely no mark ups what so ever for a vehicle custom ordered by a customer. Now if that customer walks away from that order, they can charge whatever they want. We should have to go through any hassle, zero, zip, zilch.

I don't disagree, but that's not the world we live in and Ford can't force a dealership to sell a vehicle at a specific price point. Doing so would require Ford to renegotiate all of their dealer contracts with their dealer community.

Usually it is beneficial for us when the dealerships compete on pricing, as it allows us to purchase vehicles below MSRP. It just so happens right now there is a worldwide shortage on components, and dealers can easily charge above MSRP for a highly anticipated vehicle.

What Ford should do, in my opinion, is allow us to easily switch our reservations to a different dealer without having to go through some giant weeks-long process that requires us calling into Ford's support line that almost never works. Beyond that, there isn't a whole lot they can do right now.

 

[FstFrd00]

Careful talking trash about Mike. I hear he is part of the High Table.

Unless he is John Wick, no cares given

 

[ExJeePowner]

I’m on the Bronco 6G side, but I just read Mike’s tweets and no where did he mention the forum. Also, he said “unrelated parties getting involved isn’t helpful”. I don’t call that shitting on us.

He's saying outside parties getting involved without all the facts is bronco6g. How did we not have all the facts. Customer placed order, dealership tried to screw the purchaser. Those are the facts. Why add that line at all then? Nothing would have gotten resolved if it wasn't for this forum putting pressure on these asses.

 

[BroncoAZ]

Personally, what I would like to see is a communication from corporate to all dealers stating that this ISN”t OK!

By the time, we get involved or a customer gets his attention on twitter, it could be too late and an order that was place 18 months ago has already been sold.

Is it unreasonable to ask that Ford tackles this issue on a board scale vs. a silo’ed approach?

This, 100%. Once they sell the order out to someone else there is nothing Mike Lavigne can do other than prioritize a replacement order. The customer is left waiting for at least a few months for their replacement to be delivered. Many people have been nursing an older vehicle or already turned in their previous lease and can’t afford to wait.

 

[Ryuk]

The only fact we need to know, is that the Dealer marked up the price.

Unrelated parties do not get involved when Bronco's are sold at MSRP.

Mr. Levine can munch on some man sausage.

 

[sgraing1]

It looks like the dealer and customer are getting things resolved. Does anyone here think that would have happened without the pressure applied to both Ford and the dealership through social media, yelp, Bronco forums, etc?

Not really.

 

[Bronc-Itus]

I feel like I've read this thread before... numerous times actually.

Same. Researched a bit last time one of these threads blew up and I came across this video. It explained the predicament the manufacturers are in thanks to some laws passed years ago. To resolve this stuff it’ll take an actual act of congress

 

[Blitzjb]

Him saying "you should've gotten a signed sheet at order," is so annoying. Correct me if I am wrong but I dont recall anywhere from Ford saying we needed that for MSRP? So how the hell would we have known to get it? I had no clue but thankfully I have a good dealer who honored MSRP like they were supposed to.

It’s how you buy a car… agree on price, order, complete transaction.

 

[Steelbama]

Meh. He has a point. He can’t do much if there’s no contract. Just the earth we live on.

He has no point, he is being a gatekeeper. If people are being shit on then all is fair in love and war.

 

[Desert_6G]

Well the customers should be getting pricing in writing. But a lot of people either trust their dealer, think email conversations are good enough or just don't know any better. And since dealers are independently owned, they can do as they please. But there needs to be harsher punishments on dealers that that operate like this. Just reducing their yearly allocations isn't enough. Especially if they can make a easy $10k from a customer's reservation. It's a broken system that doesn't protect the consumers.

 

[MadMan4BamaNATL]

Guys, trust that Ford hates dealerships just as much as we do if not much more; but state laws.

Dealerships in all states have a lobby, the owners are rich and donate to campaigns. All this means, there isn’t anything that can be done as manufacturers aren’t legally allowed to sell direct. This was put in place so states didn’t get cheated out of taxes and it created a market.

Levine or anyone else is powerless. All we as consumers can do is not do business with them. However, there‘s no community anymore, so people don’t stick together.

Trust that there are tons of guys on this very forum who paid ADM and came on here and lied that they didn’t. If the shady tactics didn’t work or make money, dealerships would stop doing them. But the tactics do work because people are weak, often selfish, and can be wasteful.

We all want the Bronco, but this is why competition is so important in this economy. Once Jeep builds a better Wrangler, the new 4 Runner comes out, and Rivian and others get into the market, these Ford dealerships will pay a price, but that’s tomorrow. Today, they’ll take your money and laugh in your faces until you decide to stop playing their game.

 

[IROCnRoll]

Well the customers should be getting pricing in writing. But a lot of people either trust their dealer, think email conversations are good enough or just don't know any better. And since dealers are independently owned, they can do as they please. But there needs to be harsher punishments on dealers that that operate like this. Just reducing their yearly allocations isn't enough. Especially if they can make a easy $10k from a customer's reservation. It's a broken system that doesn't protect the consumers.

Unfortunately, the customer in question really had nothing. No correspondence or anything showing he had a deal. Frankly, I think the dealer has been more than fair and was strong armed into this. The customer has to take some responsibility here and not just wander into the dealer when the car arrives expecting a certain price he has not negotiated.

And Mike could help us all by giving allocation to the dealers we ordered with and are still waiting. We did our homework.

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