My dealer just called to chew me out.

[Java9]

It must be over a decade now. Yeah, it was 2008. The local Ford Dealer chewed me out in the showroom in front of everyone. This is the dealership that I was auto-assigned to and i quickly changed my dealership as soon as Ford let me.

Let me tell you a story about a man and the internet. We decided to look at the Saturn thing that was new, it was horrible, so we went to buy the Edge I had researched.

I get to the dealer, we get a green salesman and we test drive a mid-range Edge. Cloth seats and what not. I see the MSRP and we go and talk numbers. The salesman goes in, they assess my trade, and we wait. Here is the offer:

Full MSRP, minus Ford Incentives, Half the Value of our trade.

Now, A: I looked up my trade value before leaving the house, and B: The Saturn Dealer offered me that value, $4500. The ford dealer, $2000.

I said to the salesman that was a terrible offer and that the value of the trade was half of what is should be. Also, they have my keys, I can't just leave, which was my first instinct. He goes and gets the manager.

The sales manager proceeds to berate me and my wife like we are children. He stands there, telling us how we won't be able to find a better deal anywhere. When i complain about the trade value, he tells me how much of a POS my trade is. When I tell him I looked up this info on the internet he berates me further.

I am standing and pacing, asking for my keys and trying to get my stunned wife to stand up. The manager is red in the face and I am debating swinging on him or just calling the state police to get my keys back. Finally, he gives me the keys when I tell him that after that conversation, I would never step foot in his dealership again.

I live outside of the Baltimore Metro area. There are a dozen dealerships within an hours drive of my house. We go to the next one. We get a Limited Edge, fully loaded, same colors as the first one we tested, below invoice, $4500 for our trade.

I have stepped foot in my local dealership, but I have not gotten more than an oil change done there. I have bought Five fords since, at two other dealerships. I just don't understand people some times. The dealership is 9 miles from my house, the one I consider my main dealership is 14 miles.

I'm switching my reservation away from a Baltimore area dealer, curious if it's the same one? (Brand new to the area so I picked a random one in July not knowing anything about this area.) Would this dealer you're referring to have a bell in the name?

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[Bladerunner24]

I guess you got your answer, pretty sure dealers hire from the same sleeze pool. But on the bright side politicians finally passed car salesman as most hated people.

 

[Blksn955.o]

That is horrible...congrats for making it that long. I would have hung up on the prick well before that. I would email and make his ass work for a response like calm down buddy lets talk when you a little more professional...let him get bothered and put some work in. Then after leading them on change the reservation...anywhere.

With dealerships like Granger that have been clear and helpful putting the best foot forward and shooting straight there is no room to allow dealerships like that to even think about acting that way. Completely un professional and worthless.

 

[reaper5252006]

The Texas group buy dealer that was offering below invoice pricing just sent me an email stating that they were on Ford's radar and could no longer offer below invoice pricing.

That was only to people who missed the cutoff date, if you emailed prior to the Oct 22nd cutoff date and had their email offer then you were still getting the below invoice price.

 

[Coach.major]

Can someone help me understand the benefit of switching dealerships now? I have had no contact other than one email from my local dealer ship I am reserved with. I am more than open to switching for a better deal but why now? I must be missing something but isn't in my best interest to wait until you can actually place the order...let a few quote me and then pick the best one?

 

[schembree]

That was only to people who missed the cutoff date, if you emailed prior to the Oct 22nd cutoff date and had their email offer then you were still getting the below invoice price.

Nothing in the email I received mentioned a cutoff, but I may have missed it. I just thought it was interesting that the dealer said that Ford had noticed their activity, and they wouldn't be able to fill all the orders. Maybe I'm missing something, but Granger and some of the other "discount" dealers don't seem to be limiting order volume.

 

[Slide]

I don’t understand Ford’s calculus on this especially since so many Bronco buyers are new to Ford brand and their dealer network. Rough numbers 200,000+ reservations in play. I am thinking that when potential customers start talking to dealers whether they think they are getting a fair deal or screwed could be a plus or minus 10% conversion to sales number. Getting or losing 20,000 sales at ( I know a little high) rounded 50k each is a plus or minus billion with a B dollar swing of retail sales for Ford. Those kind of numbers should mean something even to CEO. Why let these dealers run wild with these new potential customers? They have a chance for people who would never otherwise engage with Ford make a life long impression. ( Maybe even buy a Navigator for the spouse)

 

[Gamecock]

Can someone help me understand the benefit of switching dealerships now? I have had no contact other than one email from my local dealer ship I am reserved with. I am more than open to switching for a better deal but why now? I must be missing something but isn't in my best interest to wait until you can actually place the order...let a few quote me and then pick the best one?

Well, it would be good to change now if you can lock in a good deal...as you may have more leverage now as some dealers try to boost their reservation to conversion numbers to get more allocations. Later in the game they may think that it is effectively baked and one more reservation order isn’t going to move the needle. I’d shop deals now and see what you can get.

 

[Bobthebuilder]

I told my dealer to go to hell when they said they weren’t honoring X plan. It took one 30 second email to find a dealer that would... A month later came the corporate greed cancelling X Plan so I told Ford to go to hell by cancelling my reservation. No regrets. - 60K for a bronco with a faded plastic top and interior designed to match bowling shoes - no thank you!

 

[sshadrac]

Y'all my dealer text me right after Ford announced no X plan and said he's still honoring even though Ford isn't! Hell he even invited me to the Bronco Sport training! Find yourself a better dealership! Also my time of order deposit is $200!

Btw any IL/STL MO ppl who like to jump onto my dealer.. message me! They are SOILL/MO line located!

interested!

 

[reaper5252006]

Nothing in the email I received mentioned a cutoff, but I may have missed it. I just thought it was interesting that the dealer said that Ford had noticed their activity, and they wouldn't be able to fill all the orders. Maybe I'm missing something, but Granger and some of the other "discount" dealers don't seem to be limiting order volume.

It was on the Texas Buyers Group thread, apparently Ford was giving them pushback for the deal or something along those lines...look in that thread for more info regarding it....the cutoff date was not mentioned by the dealer at any point, it was the organizers on here who relayed the information from the dealer.

 

[RockEye]

I would leave a review of this on every site I can find that has reviews. If I could turn even one person away from going to that dealership it would be worth my time to find them all.

 

[laudra]

My local dealer that was assigned my sale has been holding firm on MSRP. Its their choice, I understand but as more options became available I reached out to try and strike a deal before I pulled the reservation. I genuinely wanted to support my local privately owned dealership. I see it like this, all of the people that work there are supporting my business everyday so I wanted to reciprocate. I wanted to lock in my plan and gave it one last try. 2 days went by with not so much as a "I'll get back to you". So I shot them a short email saying I took that non-response as my answer and sorry we could not work something out. Now I get a call back and the guy sets off on a rant with about how MSRP is it and this is a new model and I can't just go to a dealer and buy one of these and all of the offers by dealers nationwide are lies. The tone he took was shocking really. He talked at me for 5 minutes or so and never once asked a single question or allowed me to speak. Wow. In my business I don't speak to customers like that. Do these dealers realize that we don't have to buy from them? Makes me wonder about all of the customers getting screwed that don't know any better.

I had a similar experience and the sales man was a complete a#@h!&% so I hung up the phone called Ford headquarters and switched my reservation immediately to another larger but still local dealer.

I wasn't trying to haggle price I just wanted to switch the trim level I chose. He was totally misinformed of the process and rude in the meantime.

It is unfortunate because I work with the public as a firefighter/paramedic/nurse needless to say I will not be recommending them to anyone looking to purchase a bronco.

The new dealer had been professional and very helpful. They have ensured me they will be contacting me with any new information in the process and want me to be completely happy In the process.

 

[Go_Galt]

My face when a Ford dealer talks to me like Ford dealerships are some kind of rare, sought after resource.

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