Not ok! Dealer taking liberties with customer and charging for unnecessary "Accessory Package"

[Zero_chance]

Hey Brongco6G, just when I thought everything was going great. I got my VIN in November, then my build date, and now I have an estimated delivery date! Yes, this is where we have all wanted to be, right? But my salesperson at Lawley Ford in Sierra Vista just sent me my Purchase Agreement (attached below). Why would anyone want these things on a brand new soft-top Bronco? I was never informed of these extra fees and I chose this dealership because I thought they didn't charge ridiculous extra fees. When I asked if they could remove them because I don't need/want them, the head sales manager called and told me that they have such a small profit margin, they have to "make money somewhere." Isnt' that what "doc fees" are supposed to be for?

Anyone else dealt with this nonsense? Any suggestions on getting around it? I tried to change dealerships already (November 2021 case #), but no luck since Ford is so backed up on dealership transfer requests.

Definitely 100% sucks. Only bright side, is you can look at is as ADM… and there’s a lot of folks on here that would love to have only been asked for $1500 of ADM at this point in the process.

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[LSBronco13]

Check AR Vehicle Code for something like this,

Under Number 1 If a written agreement is not established The dealer in their statement can add additional things to the vehicle (Tint, floor mats, etc..) unless specified in a written agreement with the client and dealer.

 

[Go Devils]

Where is your signed agreement with the dealer BEFORE you ordered your Bronco? It will list everything the two of you agreed to. Signed. Where are the emails too because that is a legal document too with agreement BEFORE you signed an agreement? Why are you showing this? Unless you di

What do you think it was, that caused you not to get the delivery price unambiguously agreed to, nailed down and signed at the time of placing the order? Were you going off an assumption that MSRP was the agreed delivery price? Was there at least a clear conversation with the sales person at the time of order, about the final delivery price? When reading some of these similar stories, it seems in a lot of cases, not even that basic conversation took place.

This is a great question. For those of you who are not familiar with Arizona, this dealership is located southeast of Tucson. I live in Phoenix (close to 200 miles away). When searching for a dealership, I had 4 Ford dealerships within 20 minutes of me--all big corporate dealerships with familiar names. Instead, I wanted to support a smaller, family-owned rural operation so I shopped around. I called dealerships all over Arizona and found Lawley Ford in Sierra Vista. It is right next to Ft. Huachuca (I'm an Army Veteran) and I figured I would help support them because they support our troops (so I thought). I called and asked what dealer fees/add-ons and they said none. I took this at face value--at the time I did not have my reservation so there was no purchase agreement to be signed. I followed my reservation and found out through the "back door" (thank you Bronco6G) that my 4-door was in production. I continued to follow and never received any type of communication from the dealership or from Ford. Every time I reached out to the dealership, they just said, check the Ford website. As part of the 1/10/22 Build Group, I continually checked the tracker, modules, etc... and learned that I had a deliver date between 1/31/22-2/6/22 so I reached out to the dealership several times and finally got the salesman to send me the purchase agreement. Again, this was not initiated by them. Prior to yesterday (1/17/22), I felt confident in the dealership thinking they were not going to try to gouge me. I know there are steps along the way that I could have done differently; however, I had no reason to believe otherwise. I was mistaken and have learned a valuable lesson, but I will continue to fight this because it is now about principles, not just $1500 in useless accessories.

 

[Go Devils]

Thats funny... The Karr Alarm basically arms the Broncos alarm, locks and unlocks the door.... Just like the key fobs that already come with it...only with an ugly @$$ fob instead of the nice one.

Yes, I googled it and saw that they have technology far behind that of the factory alarm/keyless entry. Not sure why anyone with a 2022 vehicle would want it?

 

[Go Devils]

I would be Beyond upset if they spliced into my new vehicles wiring harness to put in an aftermarket alarm in that serves as a tracker for the dealer lending purposes. No need for it if you use a credit union for lending/loan.

Agreed. I'm not sure I even want them to PDI it!!

 

[Go Devils]

The dealer in their statement can add addtional things to the vehicle (Tint, floor mats, etc..) unless specified in a written agreement with the client and dealer.

I understand and would expect this from buying off the lot. I did not buy from the lot and have a thread of emails from salesman and sales manager that never mentioned "accessories." When someone orders a vehicle and receives a build/order summary, they could easily add their "usual fees" right on that document. Why would they wait until 2 weeks before deliver to tell a customer? My vehicle has not even arrived yet and they are threatening me with "well, you can cancel your order if you want..." Of course I'm not going to cancel my order, but be transparent about fees/costs.

 

[hemiblas]

And like this is the first time a dealer performed these tactics? Dealers are not your smile with a handshake agreement friend. If you sued the dealer the FIRST thing the judge will ask for is the CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENT. You opened the door for the add -on cause it was WRITTEN in the DEALER order not a CUSTOMER CONTRACT that should have been agreed upon. Snooze you lose.

So we do have to protect ourselves from Ford dealers. I seriously doubt this is the impression that Ford wants to leave on all of its customers after having started playing with the reservation process in an effort to catch up to the other EV manufacturers. I'm glad I went with Granger. They sent me a contract to sign. I really didnt think I needed it but it looks like I did.

 

[Go Devils]

lol this is a joke. I work as a sales person at a dealership in Ontario, Canada and first of all, the "need to make money somewhere" line is gross. There's about $4-6k in gross profit on the Bronco, depending on the trim level, plus a huge mark-up on an aftermarket parts you might purchase (ie: I'm upgrading my tires, level kit, etc). But even if you decide not to do anything to your Bronco, this is gouging.

$499 for TINT?! Bro it's $60 per window and that's being generous. Plus your rear windows already have privacy tint, so you're looking at $120 and that should last ALMOST the lifetime of the vehicle lol the alarm is redundant, the Bronco comes with an alarm and FordPass to locate your vehicle anywhere in the world. And nitro fill? How is that still a thing.

Insist that you don't need these products. There's no way they can force you to take them. At least in Ontario, those things have to be optional.

Keep in mind this is a soft-top. No tint on the entire back area. The rest of the accessories are just as much a joke.

 

[Go Devils]

Looks like what I got with my Bronco. I was good with the "add ons" because the delivery fee was not charged to me. So, instead of paying the delivery/transport fee of $1495 I got the door guards, tint, nitro, vehicle recovery...to me I at least got something. I'm not seeing a delivery charge on yours, could that be the case?

The delivery costs are already included in the MSRP. If that was the case, I would not be concerned at all. But not budging on this stuff is just wrong in my book. I even said to the manager that his unwillingness to compromose is not going to end well. He said, they are just doing what they have to do. So I said, then I will do what I have to do! Already started a BBB complaint. AGs office phone appt is scheduled. And the Bronco6G folks are standing strong (Thank you all).

 

[Go Devils]

As others have suggested, I would offer to pay the money as an ADM but ask them not install their products.

There is an add-on alarm product FORD sells as an accessory you could ask them to use in lieu of the Karr product. At least that would be covered by warranty and not hack up your wire harness. I think it's called perimeter plus or something of the like. I believe its a module that is plugged into a vacant connector, a red led light and some programming to activate it.


Once the deal is done, rate them poorly on the survey Ford will send you and then blast their online ratings with the help of your friends and the forum

Absolutely!

 

[Go Devils]

This is exactly why I didnt use my local dealer for the Bronco order. They have their Demo 2 Door Badlands for 80k.

Went through Long McArthur and will not use anyone else for buying Ford from here on in.

Trust me. I already have a wonderful dealership that will gladly take my business. No doc fees. No ADMs. No "Accessories." Just honest people doing honest work. McSpadden Ford, Globe Arizona. https://www.mcspaddenford.com/

 

[Go Devils]

If you haven’t purchased the vehicle yet I would hold off on calling in the online Calvary. They do not have to sell it to you despite anything you have signed unless you’ve fully paid/financed and completely sealed the deal. I understand the frustration and it is absolutely ridiculous but at this point you’re in the negotiation phase. If they won’t budge then offer to pay that price as w/e bullshit fees they want to tack on but refuse the accessories and take that Bronco you’ve been waiting for. Then after it’s completely yours blast them however you want to for this scumminess. The alternative is to walk away but once you’ve calmed down would you regret not getting your Bronco?

Yep. They know they have me and that's why they don't care. The sales manager said multiple times that "Broncos are going for $30k over msrp so I should feel lucky that I'm getting it at a bargain..." Seriously? A bargain? Did they get me the bargain? Or did I reserve the Bronco, order the Bronco and track the Bronco? I even asked the manager what role they had in this whole process. He paused and said something to the effect of "we have to pay for it before you get it and take the risk..." What risk?

 

[Go Devils]

Definitely 100% sucks. Only bright side, is you can look at is as ADM… and there’s a lot of folks on here that would love to have only been asked for $1500 of ADM at this point in the process.

I hear ya. But for those of us who followed the rules and did our due diligence thinking everything was just fine, this is not ok. Nothing about this situation is ok. If you need some extra ADMs, provide something that I can benefit from--new tires, lifetime oil changes, cool Bronco accessories, but tint or an alarm from the 1990s doesn't cut it.

 

[Go Devils]

So we do have to protect ourselves from Ford dealers. I seriously doubt this is the impression that Ford wants to leave on all of its customers after having started playing with the reservation process in an effort to catch up to the other EV manufacturers. I'm glad I went with Granger. They sent me a contract to sign. I really didnt think I needed it but it looks like I did.

Agreed. Granger takes transparency and customer service to a whole new level. Even with the allocation issue, they are still coming out well ahead of the other dealerships in terms of response time, advocacy, etc... Had I known about these ridiculous "accessories" fees, I would have gone with the dealership that is literally 3 miles from my house. Now, I will be driving 3 1/2 hours to pick it up and deal with them face to face.

 

[Havok]

This is "sort of" happening to me as well.
After I heard of crazy ADM's I was very worried that my dealer was going to try to pull something like that. Research on here and on reviews seemed mostly good, but they do require $1500 in accessories.
I called the sales manager who I've been working with and he confirmed this.

I told him I would not fight it, but wanted to add all my own accessories. I told him that I had no use for nitrogen filled tires, tint, etc.
He agreed and I ended up placing an order for front and rear door bags, rubberized floor mats, a sun visor, Air Compressor, etc.
Not the end of the world considering that I'm actually getting things that are useful imo.

Which dealership in Atlanta are you working with?

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