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RESOLVED! Dealer screwed me - 10k over msrp - Lindsay Ford - Wheaton, MD

Edumakated

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Well ideally I'd like to hope that it's standard practice everywhere but all I can say is that's how our dealership operates. It should be the process everywhere, in my opinion, and if I were ordering a vehicle anywhere else, I would never leave without something like this in writing. I would insist on it... You have more of a leg to stand on if you've got detailed numbers and management has signed the agreement. In fact, I can't imagine a dealership trying to mark-up a unit when there's already a signed disclosure.
I hate regulations, but sounds like there needs to be a standardized purchase form like a Loan Estimate that is used when getting a mortgage. Every single bank has to use the same form and once it is disclosed, it can only changed under certain circumstances and must be redisclosed. You can't just add fees/costs without very specific reasons.

Essentially, if you order a vehicle through a dealer, they should be legally required to provide a standardized form that locks in the MSRP/price and makes them disclose any additional fees they will be charging. If it isn't on that form at the time the vehicle is ordered, then they shouldn't be able to charge it.
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Edumakated

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I was thinking that too.. maybe they will reconsider their current business practice with the realization? Wishful thinking?
They won't. The problem is there are too many consumers who reward this type of behavior.
 

nikkgmm

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Just like many of you , when I hear about these bait and switch ADMs, I go through and leave bad reviews on google, yelp and facebook platforms. I feel like I have locked in my MSRP with a signed document from the sales manager for my bronco, but I would really hate to be going through what some of you are having to go through with shady dealers. Also, I like how we have a voice enough to propagate change for once in a situation like this. The Bronco brotherhood seems to becoming a serious community for us all and I appreciate how everyone has each others back in circumstances such as these.
 

Bronc-O

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Wow, 300+ miles on a customer ordered vehicle? Dealerships like this give a bad reputation to all of the other decent ones. I wonder if they turned this into a demo vehicle out of spite.
Was it the dealer who put the miles on it, or did it arrive with those miles? Could be a dirt mountain Bronco or one selected for testing etc.
 

Bronco4lyfe85

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I was thinking that too.. maybe they will reconsider their current business practice with the realization? Wishful thinking?
doubtful!
 

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Bronc-O

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I was thinking that too.. maybe they will reconsider their current business practice with the realization? Wishful thinking?
I'm all for giving them what they deserve, but leaving negative feedback posted may not get op his Bronco. Sounded like he needed to agree to remove it before a deal is struck.
 

SPITmadFIRE

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Update: dealership texted me that upper management is looking into my situation and in the event this does work out in my favor, they are looking for a mutual understanding and agreement to remove any direct and indirect negative online feedback regarding this matter.

Let's see where this goes.
let’s hope you suddenly delete this thread and post a completely random picture of a 2D bronco with keys in hand!
 

notbuildingrockets

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I hate regulations, but sounds like there needs to be a standardized purchase form like a Loan Estimate that is used when getting a mortgage. Every single bank has to use the same form and once it is disclosed, it can only changed under certain circumstances and must be redisclosed. You can't just add fees/costs without very specific reasons.

Essentially, if you order a vehicle through a dealer, they should be legally required to provide a standardized form that locks in the MSRP/price and makes them disclose any additional fees they will be charging. If it isn't on that form at the time the vehicle is ordered, then they shouldn't be able to charge it.
We sell both new Ford vehicles and used (all manufacturers). For as long as I've been at this dealership, it's been standard practice to always make the customers sign a deal disclosure if they're leaving a deposit on a vehicle. It will have an agreement on the numbers, finance terms, etc, as a method of protecting both us and the customers. Both parties understand what's being agreed upon, and it protects us down the road if the customer, for example, declines additional warranty, has a problem with their 9 year old used vehicle with high mileage 6 months after purchase and then demands that we fix everything for free. But it also protects the customer when it comes to ordered units in that we're acknowledging that we're locking them in to a preferred interest rate, (for example) or a certain discount (remember those?), or whatever else we've agreed upon that neither parties will remember 6 months down the road when the vehicle arrives.

I don't know why this isn't done everywhere.
 

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"Legal order holder"
What does that mean.?????

Its not theirs to sell if your reservation number obtained the vehicle....via the DORA and was Assigned a VIN number for that reservation number by Ford.

Plus, there was an legit agreement between the parites and money has changed hands.
Thats what a deposit is.

Just because the dealership "forgets" the agreement and not honor the deposit, does not mean they can do whatever the "F" they want.

legal order holder????
the dealer never signed the Dora????
Where does all this nonsensical stuff come from
All of this is a joke???
ALL BS!!!mumbo jumbo????

A contract Breach is a contract Breach...Fraud is fraud. That's why issues like this get settled in a courtroom.

The OP is an attorney and could for a couple hundred dollars file a lawsuit and make that dealership wish they were never born.

Even if he looses he still gets some level of payback.

OP you have my full support!!!!!
 
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zedster

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Update: dealership texted me that upper management is looking into my situation and in the event this does work out in my favor, they are looking for a mutual understanding and agreement to remove any direct and indirect negative online feedback regarding this matter.

Let's see where this goes.
Gonna have to be a whole bunch of Bronco6g members removing their reviews. Doh!
 

Ice Age

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Are Verbal Contracts and Agreements Binding in Maryland?
In Maryland, verbal agreements, also called oral agreements or oral contracts, may be legally binding, provided they meet certain criteria.
Maryland courts also want to make sure that the terms of the verbal agreement were sufficiently clear to inform both parties as to their obligations. Maryland law requires that an oral contract be “sufficiently clear and definite in order that the courts … may be able to know the purpose and intention of the parties.”
 

jpaw

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Hey there, as a lawyer who defended many consumer class actions I have to speak up about all of you out there being screwed over by Ford dealers. You actually do have a legitimate breach of contract claim against these dealers and you should not back down. Any consumer contract is going to be construed against the "drafter" of that contract in court, at least with a decent lawyer and judge. That is the case law. It is not "signed" by the dealer but the dealer himself drafted it, so he doesn't necessarily need to sign it for you to prove that he obviously agreed to be bound by those terms. Those are his own terms that he himself sought to be bound by and then sought for you to agree to be bound by, and then asked you to put up an additional $1000 in earnest money to be bound by in performance of that contract, which they themselves drafted. Had the document appeared mysteriously then you would have to prove they somehow agreed to it, but the fact they they drafted it means they clearly meant to bind themselves to those terms. Otherwise why would they be asking you to sign it and deposit earnest money in part performance?

Oral contracts are just as binding as written ones as a general rule, except that there is a statutory law that exists in nearly every state, probably every state called the Statute of Frauds that requires all agreements for real estate, for probate and estate disposition transactions and now for transactions exceeding $500 to be in writing, and at least signed by the one party you seek to enforce the contract against. This is the problem now with enforcing the purchase agreement drafted by the Ford dealer but unsigned by them. But there are exceptions to the Statute of Frauds.

One of them is that this signature requirement no longer applies when the work or performance of the contract has already begun, which it has when the dealer required the $1000 deposit, you paid the deposit in performance of the agreement, and the Bronco began to be built, then again when Ford corporate sent you a photo of your Bronco baby coming off the assembly line. Further, you began additional performance perhaps by selling a prior vehicle, securing financing, or forgoing other opportunities. This is called the Promissory Estoppel exception to the Statute of Frauds. In any other circumstance that Ford Dealer would be able to pocket your $1000 deposit if you tried to cancel your ordered Bronco based on that agreement. Ford should be estopped from profiting from their one-sided trick consumer contract, which they assured you was sufficient to ensure that you would pay the agreed upon price documented there at delivery.

EDIT:
Another argument in your favor is the price protections that Ford placed on MY 2022 orders for those with 2021 reservations. The credit they gave you for the price increase when your 2021 orders were shifted to 2022 model year clearly shows that Ford corporate intended for you to be able to continue to pay the price that you agreed to pay for your ordered vehicles, and reserved vehicles with intention to order the vehicles at previously agreed prices.

Another exception called "Admission" applies when the dealer admits to the existence of the oral agreement and only disputes the fact that they failed to sign their form.

Moreover, the Statue of Frauds can be met simply by business documents that are unsigned by a business when their usual manner of presenting the bill that binds the customer to the deal is with an unsigned document, and this appears to be the same document they are using to effectuate all of the Bronco orders to memorialize their oral agreement. Meaning an unsigned form like this one prepared by the dealer and presented to the purchaser can be deemed sufficient to satisfy the Statute of Frauds, like I said in my beginning paragraph, because they are the ones who drafted it, which makes the entire document their signature. Their mitts are all over that document, that document is their signature and their word. Take them to court.

Finally, do not fall for any further claim that you are required to go to arbitration with them to resolve a contract dispute over a contract they claim does not exist, take them to court on that claim as well and force them to tell that to the judge.

I can hardly believe that so many Ford dealers have not advanced from their 1980s roots in nefarious business practices. The dealership business model is going to be extinct very soon for this reason. Contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while you are making calls and your state Attorney General, it is a rug pull racket.
 
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jpaw

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Are Verbal Contracts and Agreements Binding in Maryland?
In Maryland, verbal agreements, also called oral agreements or oral contracts, may be legally binding, provided they meet certain criteria.
Maryland courts also want to make sure that the terms of the verbal agreement were sufficiently clear to inform both parties as to their obligations. Maryland law requires that an oral contract be “sufficiently clear and definite in order that the courts … may be able to know the purpose and intention of the parties.”
My reply in general about the Statute of Frauds was written before this was posted so I am not responding to this specifically about Maryland Courts, just to clarify.
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