Dealership

[PaulOinMA]

The dealer close to me had a $5000 dealer markup on their Sports.

My closest dealership wanted several thousand above MSRP even to place an order. Lost a sale on an Escape last year and Bronco Sport this year. And two extended warranties. I hope their business model is working for them.

I like the people there, but wasn't going to pay several thousand above MSRP when a dealership only a few miles further from my house was doing MSRP minus Ford incentives and also matching Flood Ford for Ford ESP.

My '22 FE Ti was $2,250 below MSRP. $1,500 from Ford and sticker was $750 above order.

My wife's '23 BS BL was $1,750 below MSRP. $1,000 from Ford and sticker was $750 above order.

If my closest dealer wanted $3,000 to place orders, that's $10,000 more we would have had to pay!

Sponsored

 

[PaulOinMA]

Just remembered. The dealership I mentioned on the previous page also sent me three Escapes to consider last year. Each had $14,900 ADM!

$57,170 for an Escape? I don't think so!

Their TV commercials tout their large inventory of vehicles.

'Ya think?

 

[RM951]

Awwww man! You just saw the underbelly of the dirty car sales world. Now without reading the fine print on the advertisement I can tell you that dealers have to honor that price. All the add-on garbage you have to tell them no and mean it. Unfortunately it's very common for (not just) Ford dealers to do the add-ons. You'll get paint protection, GPS locators, antitheft this or that. Basically it's all garbage no one would add to their car if they didn't have to. I suggest keep looking. You'll find the car you want at the price you want. It took me over two months of renting a car to find my bronco. I would drive over 100 miles out of spite to avoid that add on garbage and then call the dealer to let them know I got a car without that crap. In fact I did drive close to 100 miles to get mine, but I would never, ever,ever,ever pay for any of that add on junk. Look at door guards for instance. I had a place try to get me to buy them for 1500 only to get them to knock it down to 700. Now we all know it's a $20 piece of plastic at best. It used to just be extended warranties, but this has turned into a whole part of the car sales economy. The best advice I have is what's on this thread already; do your homework,research both prices and dealers and whatever you do be patient and don't let them take out that 4 square garbage on you

 

[RM951]

Also as an afterthought. You are right. You can order a bronco from Ford to be delivered to a dealer of your choice and they are not able to add on anything unless you refuse the purchase. Also never order through the dealer. Order from Ford direct and avoid markups. I would suggest looking for low milage used from a reputable dealer. There are plenty of 21s and 22s out there with less than 10k on them. Just use any of the major car search apps. It's what I did

 

[Augsburg]

This is why Jim Farley, Ford CEO, is moving to eliminate the dealer from the equation for their EV sales. Farley knows Ford is competing with Tesla and it has already been proven: 1) a dealer is not needed for selling the EV; 2) local dealer service is not important for EV's - since they require little maintenance; 3) younger buyers (especially Millennials, Gen Z, etc.) will not put up with the dealer sales model we all have experienced for decades. Instead, they are looking for an Apple experience when they buy an EV.

 

[Bronco Blue]

The dealer I bought from here in Illinois is my local small town dealer and they were fantastic! They definitely made the whole experience stress free and actually kind of fun, which I never had that buying a car anywhere else. They also never marked anything up and never added anything I didn’t want. They even gave me what I wanted for my trade in. All in all, they are a very reputable dealership in my book and I would recommend them to anyone in the area that wants to buy a Ford.

As others have said, not all dealers are good like that. I had tried to buy a Sport from somewhere else because I was worried about build wait times and the other dealership I tried to buy from sold it from underneath me even though I had used them a lot the previous years and had bought two cars from them in the past. Never again will I recommend them after what they did to me.

It just depends on the dealership. Some will be very helpful and make the whole thing stress free and flawless, and others will make your life a living hell and be unproductive. Just gotta find the right one.

 

[Caliope]

I agree with @Bronco Blue. I live in a metro area that spans western Illinois and eastern Iowa. Within in a 10 mile radius of my home, there are 5 Ford dealerships. Because of the crap I have dealt with buying "in town", I started buying from a dealership that is 21 miles away in small farm town. That was 25 yrs ago and I've never looked back. When I bought my '22 BSOB in late '21, I got it at invoice when all the "in town" dealerships were adding $3k to $5k to the MSRP.

One of the "in town" dealers told a friend of mine when he went in early '22 to purchase an F150 that was advertised that they would have to charge him $10k more because he didn't live in one of the metro area zip codes. He of course told them to keep their truck.

I am a little worried about my dealership though. Because of Ford's new sales model with EVs, the dealership owners were worried that Ford would force them to close their doors. They were recently purchased by Ed Morse Automotive Group out of FL. They say that at least for now, it will be business as usual. Time Will tell.

 

[rocks]

I agree with @Bronco Blue. I live in a metro area that spans western Illinois and eastern Iowa. Within in a 10 mile radius of my home, there are 5 Ford dealerships. Because of the crap I have dealt with buying "in town", I started buying from a dealership that is 21 miles away in small farm town. That was 25 yrs ago and I've never looked back. When I bought my '22 BSOB in late '21, I got it at invoice when all the "in town" dealerships were adding $3k to $5k to the MSRP.

One of the "in town" dealers told a friend of mine when he went in early '22 to purchase an F150 that was advertised that they would have to charge him $10k more because he didn't live in one of the metro area zip codes. He of course told them to keep their truck.

I am a little worried about my dealership though. Because of Ford's new sales model with EVs, the dealership owners were worried that Ford would force them to close their doors. They were recently purchased by Ed Morse Automotive Group out of FL. They say that at least for now, it will be business as usual. Time Will tell.

When an auto group buys a mom and pop dealership, unfortunately, things will usually change.

 

[Dantanman]

You might have grounds for a law suit. In most states it is illegal to advertise something for one price and demand a higher price later. If the car is still advertised with a $2000 discount after you have spoken to them then you might consider contacting a lawyer. If you told them about the "error" and they haven't fixed it then it's not an error.

Lawyer will eat up your 2000.00 savings real quick. Most states have a regulatory agency to oversee dealer practices at no charge. I would explore that.

 

[Mark S.]

Lawyer will eat up your 2000.00 savings real quick. Most states have a regulatory agency to oversee dealer practices at no charge. I would explore that.

If you can prove the dealer actually broke the law you will most likely be successful in tacking on lawyer's fees to whatever award the court assigns.

That aside, lawsuits aren't always about making money. Sometimes they're about making sure some @$$hole doesn't do the same thing to the next person who deals with them.

 

[Dantanman]

If you can prove the dealer actually broke the law you will most likely be successful in tacking on lawyer's fees to whatever award the court assigns.

That aside, lawsuits aren't always about making money. Sometimes they're about making sure some @$$hole doesn't do the same thing to the next person who deals with them.

That's what the regulatory agency is for. Litigation is a last resort imo.

 

[wiyeti]

Wife and I were just looking for a new car for her and a dealership in Illinois added on $5,000 worth of goodies over the internet advertised price, including $1000 for some kind of super awesome shine. I asked if this was some ceramic coating they put on all used cars and they said no, just a super good wash and wax. Crazy stuff.

 

[67L48]

[...] Now without reading the fine print on the advertisement I can tell you that dealers have to honor that price. [...]

That's not correct.

No business, including automobile dealerships, are forced to honor a mistaken advertised price. Most retailers will do so to gain (or not lose) customer satisfaction. But they are not legally required to do so. When Best Buy accidentally posts an ad for a TV for $599 instead of $899, it does not have to sell you that TV for $599. It usually will, but that's an act of good will, not an act of compliance to legal requirements.

Generally, the burden is on the plaintiff (individual) to prove that the defendant (business) intentionally ran a too-low price to generate traffic ... planning never to actually honor the low price.

To Mark's point above, if the error was pointed out and the mistaken price continued to be advertised, then this could be pretty convincing evidence that the online price is not, in fact, a mistake.

A court can enforce real property transfer. And, that would be the remedy here. A successful litigant would purchase the BS for the advertised price and the court would enforce the transfer of title. Whether or not attorney's fees are recoverable is a matter of statute. Generally, in the US, attorney's fees are not recoverable. Only when a specific statute or contract stipulates as such will a litigant be successful in recouping attorney's fees. In other countries, the victor often will automatically recover attorney's fees; that's not how it works in the US.

Sponsored