UNBELIEVABLE!! [Ford Dealers Can Now Ban Customers From Reselling Vehicles]

[Dimitar]

Calm your shit. This is good news and will reduce/eliminate the crazy ADMs we are seeing.

Sponsored

 

[DFNMAN]

Lexus only let people lease the LFA to prevent flippers.

 

[buck_6G]

How would Ford even know if someone violated this agreement? Even if that routinely scraped auction sites for the concerned VINs, I wonder if they'd eat the cost of litigating the breach of contract.

Does anyone have examples of a breach of one of these resale agreements?

 

[ocbucks1]

It’s optional for the dealer and it’s been done before. Makes sense because flipping hurts real consumers I think they should not limited the sale entirely but just over the amount paid.

 

[kevin.gt]

it would be called price fixing and/or collusion, and is HIGHLY illegal.

They could threaten their allocation, but they'll get sued, and the local courts in the state will side with the franchise owner every day of the week over the out of state parent company.

Reading this FTC article, I dont think it would be “highly illegal” to do something about adm’s. https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/com...ws/dealings-supply-chain/manufacturer-imposed

Seems like a legal, vertical restraint, where manufacturers could set price guidelines in agreements with dealers so long as it wasn’t negotiated with other manufacturers.

Q: One of my suppliers marks its products with a Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). Do I have to charge this price?

A: The key word is "suggested." A dealer is free to set the retail price of the products it sells. A dealer can set the price at the MSRP or at a different price, as long as the dealer comes to that decision on its own. However, the manufacturer can decide not to use distributors that do not adhere to its MSRP.

 

[cclkramer]

I had to sign an agreement to not resell my Road King years ago. Definitely not something new and should have been in place from the start with these Broncos.

It's my truck! I paid cash for it!! I can sell it ! Give it away !! Burn it !! I can do anything I want with it! If someone wants to pay $70 000 for it then its their truck!!! That means they can do what ever they want with it!

 

[SASProbie]

Old news. They did that with the GT when they released it

Weeeeeeeell. Not the same.

The GT has been a special program. Most got asked early on (Special folks to Ford. Ask me how I know) if they wanted one, others ordered but only after agreeing. Not to mention the number of GT's that a dealership ordered and had sit in their inventory was a significantly low amount. No mannequins ETC.. I believe that number is ZERO.

Allow me to offer supporting evidence https://www.topspeed.com/cars/rules-of-owning-a-ford-gt-ar185442.html

Ordering a Bronco that does NOT require any of the GT hoops. Then going to pick up your order and only to "Then" have this or ADM sprung on you is straight up a shitty business practice.

Hey I know. Order some materials from Lowes or order a pizza. Then when you go to pick up your order you find they add a 25-50% "Markup" and make you sign a form to not allow others to have any of it!

What an awesome business model!

 

[Ares]

Reading this FTC article, I dont think it would be “highly illegal” to do something about adm’s. https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/com...ws/dealings-supply-chain/manufacturer-imposed

Seems like a legal, vertical restraint, where manufacturers could set price guidelines in agreements with dealers so long as it wasn’t negotiated with other manufacturers.

thats where franchise laws come into play. At worst, they get sued for breach of contract, since their franchise agreement likely did not include language about allocation penalties for independent pricing.

at best, they are starving a dealer who has exclusive rights to sell their product in that area... maybe not a big deal if theres redundant dealers in close proximity. Going to war with your franchisees doesnt typically end well.

 

[gryphon1231]

Ford is going to start a program with dealerships that stops people from reselling their vehicle. So in other words, Ford is saying dealerships that screw over customers by tacking on astronomical ADM ($30K) are perfectly fine, but if you want/need to sell your recently acquired Ford vehicle, you are unable. Can’t wait for us to purchase cars directly from the manufacturer and not these stealerships!

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ford-f-150-lightning-customers-reselling-trucks-scalpers/

Nothing new here. Ford has done this with the GT in the past.

 

[Richtor]

I’m ok with this if we get to purchase as a normal 150 mass produced vehicle meaning at invoice to $500 over invoice.


However the better idea is to saturate the market. Not allow any dealer to sell a lightning until a certain date(if 200k lightnings are available to purchase on the first day of sales) the resale market would be nil.

 

[Corsair]

Good. That's great news. Not that it's gonna be enforced anyway.

Microsoft and Sony should do it too, maybe I could finally buy a damn Xbox.

Try the app HotStock. I’ve had good luck with it, as well as people I’ve recommended it to. It’ll alert you as soon as places have it in stock. Got mine a couple of days after downloading it last January.

 

[UtahLars]

Yeah this is nothing new in the world of hard-to-get, hot vehicles. I first encountered this years ago buying an Italian sports car, at MSRP, from a dealer. The car was not "limited edition" but rather a production model, but this maker is known for its low production numbers. The agreement was basically a no-sell for 12 months after purchase with one remedy being the disgorgement of any profit over and above purchase price to the manufacturer (not the dealer).

I objected but eventually folded because this was a car where there was no real substitute at the time as far as I was concerned, and the low probability that given my intentions it would come into play.

Given how unpopular "flippers" are, I am kind of surprised that these types of clauses, which are aimed squarely at preventing flipping, generate so much distaste among buyers. But I guess its different when the shackles are being placed on your own wrists.

My own view is that flippers are great. Because flippers exist, you can go out and get something quickly and with minimal hassle that would otherwise not be available. A few years ago I decided I wanted a GT3RS when they were limited. There was absolutely nothing any Porsche dealer could do for me. But there were flippers sitting on vehicles with 25, 50 miles or something like that. Basically brand new. And because they were there I was able to get one, no fuss no muss. Otherwise I would have not been able to get it at all, or order a regular GT3, or just wait for the next time it became available, all so I could play a game of brown-nosing with dealers. Flippers free you from that, although you do pay a hefty fee for the privilege. But again, you don't have to do that if you don't want to. Flippers at least give you the option if there is something you just gotta have but you don't have juice with dealers (which usually you get by buying a lot of cars you don't really want). So while flipper prices are high, they are usually cheaper than the alternative. Ditto with ticket scalpers. As long as the product is legit and they are upfront about pricing etc, I say bring it on.

Now keep in mind that manufacturers could eliminate flippers overnight if they just auctioned hot vehicles instead of insisting on selling them at a fixed MSRP. (This is what Ford might have done with the GT instead of the asinine youtube influencer campaign they did conduct.) Both auctions and after-market resales are just variations on the theme of getting the scarce product into the hands of those who value it most. For whatever reason, though, car makers will not sell limited production or hot vehicles via auction. Which I kind of get, but in doing so, they leave all the additional margin on the table for the flippers. As a buyer, I dont really care who I pay it to as long as I get the product I want.

People who resent the "obscene" profits flippers are making are missing the point. Which is better, having the option to get a hot product at 50K over sticker, or having no possibility to get it at all? Because those are the only two choices. For hot products, there is no possibility of everyone who wants one at MSRP getting it at that price, so its dreamland to wish for such a world.

 

[WuNgUn]

It's nothing new....they did it with the GT

Sponsored