Dealer lets people test drive your new Bronco Sport…

[Escape2Bronco]

Test drove BS back in May. Come to find out it was a sold vehicle. Not sure if it was Special order or purchased on the lot.
My question for Special orders users. What are people seeing as far as mileage when you pick up your vehicle?My vehicle should be arriving in a couple weeks and I’m curious what Others have for mileage when they pick up their special order for the first time. I might have to make a call to my salesman to emphasize that no customer shall test drive my vehicle. Lol

8 miles on mine

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[Ryan51173]

Ours had 7 or 8 miles on it. I believe there is a thread here about the subject, but in any case, from what I've read (and personal experience) <10 miles is typical.

It is perfectly reasonable to expect that NO ONE will drive a vehicle that was custom ordered. Those vehicles are 'spoken for'. The paperwork has yet to be done, but they essentially belong to someone.

Dealer stock is of course completely different. If the dealer owns a vehicle they can use it for test drives; as a loaner; let a dealership employee drive it, etc.

It isn't the end of the world if someone test drives your BS, but there certainly is no upside! Best case, no real harm is done and your SUV just has extra miles on it -- at your expense. OTOH, an idiot could go into manual shifting mode (if it's a BL) and drive down the road in (say) 2nd or 3rd gear, bouncing off the rev limiter. They could do a little off-roading -- or intentionally drive over some curbs and potholes. They might hit the brakes really hard a couple times (brakes need to be broken in).

Most likely, none of that will happen, especially if the salesperson rides along, but I've read enough stories about "test drives" to know they can be very abusive and should be avoided.

This is another example of something that should go without saying. Of COURSE the dealer should allow only their in-stock vehicles to be test driven. Special/custom order cars and trucks should be clearly marked "SOLD" and the keys secured in a place specifically for them, with limited access.

Great response. Thanks

 

[pkmed]

I test drove an escape that was just delivered with no salesman before I decided and ordered BS. Was considering buying, but when looking at the specs, he said, "oh this is a special order." I left and didn't order from them. I wouldn't be surprised if test driving special order vehicles became more of a practice recently because of lacking inventory. Still not right without permission IMO.

 

[Lonestar0331]

I picked up my Badlands in September that I ordered in April. It had 33 miles on it. I was not happy about it but I wasn’t paying over MSRP and I knew the dealer wouldn’t care if I raised an issue and would have been happy to sell to someone else with a hefty markup. Overall my experience with the salesman was abysmal, but in this market I can’t just go to another dealership and buy somewhere else because I don’t want to wait another 6 months.

I am super happy with the vehicle and I didn’t pay over MSRP so I’ll live with it.

 

[Mark S.]

I wonder what they consider high speeds

Exactly. This "restriction" is so ambiguous it's all but meaningless. This is what leads me to believe it's more about giving a new owner time to get used to the vehicle's driving characteristics than about mechanical concerns.

 

[sajohnson]

I picked up my Badlands in September that I ordered in April. It had 33 miles on it. I was not happy about it but I wasn’t paying over MSRP and I knew the dealer wouldn’t care if I raised an issue and would have been happy to sell to someone else with a hefty markup. Overall my experience with the salesman was abysmal, but in this market I can’t just go to another dealership and buy somewhere else because I don’t want to wait another 6 months.

I am super happy with the vehicle and I didn’t pay over MSRP so I’ll live with it.

It's almost certainly fine. In most cases, no damage is done -- it's the principle involved. If the dealer wants to let a prospective buyer take a test drive, they should do it with their vehicles -- not special orders that are (or soon will be) someone else's property.

If the dealer's only option is to use a custom ordered vehicle that's 'spoken for' then at a bare minimum they should be required to get permission, and pay the buyer a reasonable amount for each mile driven. After all, if a leased vehicle is returned to the dealer with miles in excess of the allowance, the lesee is required to pay for those miles.

You're absolutely right about the current market. The dealers have the upper hand. Unethical ones (most of them) will take advantage because, as you said, they know that the buyer has waited months to get their BS. They are fully aware that the buyer cannot just go down the road to another dealer and buy one off the lot for MSRP. In fact, they WANT the buyer to get mad and walk -- then they can make $Thousands more selling it to someone else. It's a bad position to be in.

After our experience -- fraud, attempted theft, lies -- I wish we had gone to Granger. From everything I've read here, they stand by their word. None of the typical 'gotcha' games. IDK what their deal is now, but IIRC it was 6% under *invoice* (not MSRP) when we were getting ready to order. They are over 1,000 miles from us, but we could have saved about $3,600 buying from them (of course driving 2,000 miles r/t plus 1,000 in the BS is not free). We even have family about 40 minutes from the dealership.

My primary concern -- based on personal experiences and over 4 decades of reading about cars -- was getting local warranty service. Technically, owners should be able to take their BS to any Ford dealer. In reality, many/most dealers (esp in more urban areas) have a serious attitude problem when it comes to performing warranty work on vehicles they did not sell. Not all of course, and it's not as common in rural areas. From what I've read, the issue is that dealers make less money on parts and labor for warranty work. It's still profitable, but not as much as ordinary service. So essentially the dealers are throwing a tantrum, and the customer is caught in the middle. I've been in that situation several times and it is not a 'happy fun time' experience.

In hindsight though, it probably would have been better to buy from Granger and take our chances with warranty work. After all, there's a good chance none will be necessary. The BS has been a very reliable model overall.

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