Dudeduke
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2020
- Threads
- 5
- Messages
- 28
- Reaction score
- 44
- Location
- USA
- Vehicles
- Tesla model 3, Ford focus electric
- Thread starter
- #1
Ford needs to find a way to get themselves away from the dealership model. That is their Achilles heel. They need need to start doing direct transaction with customers as Telsa does.
Here is my story/situation and what I experienced recently.
I currently own a Tesla Model 3 and have a leased Ford Focus Electric. I have a Mache on order, which should be arriving soon.. My lease is ending soon, and my buyout is low. It seems that there is some positive equity in the leased vehicle that I would like to get.
First thing, Ford doesn't allow trade-in/Sell their leases to 3rd party dealers which most of other manufacturers do. So that being out of the question, I decided to buyout the focus electric and then sell it as I don't want to pay the disposition fee when I can walk away with some money out of this. I am already loosing the state tax by not being able to sell it directly to other dealership.
Ford also doesn't allow buyout of the vehicle directly from them. They ask us to go through the dealerships(stealerships). Now I am far from the original dealer I got the car from, so ford told me to contact any local dealer to buyout the vehicle.
I contacted my closest dealer and they said they can help me with this and I would just need to fill up a Credit Application even though it was all cash buyout. I was skeptical to provide my SSN, but asked them to make sure not to pull the credit. I made the appointment to come to the dealership to buyout and to start with, the person who I talking to was not even there. I emailed him last night to confirm that I will be coming in. He even told me to come in day time to allow inspection and I need to drop it at the service first. So after some time they send me to a different person, who kept on looking for my file. Eventually he finds it and started working on it. It took almost an hour for him to get it papers ready.
One good thing I was to test drive Mache ca route 1 while I was waiting for all this. It is super nice to drive, it doesn't have the pull/acceleration of my Tesla Model 3, but it it way better fit and finish. The road noise is so low compared to my tesla.
After the test drive I noticed, there was a notice board with all the Mache listed that they have or coming for sale with all of them marked up +3K. I mean it a good car, but come on it would gladly get a model y than to pay these dealers this markup. On top of it, this is the same dealer who told me when I was planning to order the Mache that the $500 deposit is non-refundable. I ordered from another dealer. So if they did not refund the customers who ordered these maches from this dealership, they are basically making $3500 on top of MSRP for each one of them. That is where Tesla works well. You know what you are going to pay and not have to deal with middle man. There was a customer there who was interested in the mache and was inquiring about it. They told him, that there is 3k markup on each. So he asked if that would be the case if he ordered online and they said it won't be but they might not get the car till next year. They are trying all their tactics to gouge more money. That person if cross shopping with model y, would just go back home and order it online and get it in a months time without dealing with all this.
Enough of that, coming back to my lease buyout. After a long wait for the finance manager, we go in to buyout my car and while signing the documents I see the total amount due, which was way higher than the payoff balance from Ford Financial. I knew that I would be paying taxes( which is again unnecessary if they allowed selling to third party) but it still did not add up. I asked the manager for the breakdown, and in there i see a $395 inspection fee. I was shocked to see that. When asked what was that, he said let me get the leasing person back to explain it to me.
That persons comes in and tells me it a California requirement. I stated looking into on my phone immediately and did not find anything like that. Then the finance manager comes back and tells me that this the fee for inspecting the car and check if everything is good. I was like, it is my car and I know everything works. He started showing me that he is working here for 17 years and this is common practice. I was still not convinced. I asked him is this same for every dealership? He said it may be little different. I was not even told once about this fee till that last step. I told him to wait till i call my original dealer and ask them about it. When I asked them they were confused about inspection fee and said that they don't charge that. I was on the speaker it front of that manager and he heard that. I told him, why should I pay this fee and it is not even required. So the person lied by saying it a California requirement. I made sure he shreds all the paperwork before I left the dealership. So I wasted my 2 hours there for nothing.
The problem is, why doesn't Ford financial allow me to buy it from them directly? These dealerships are there to rip-off people.
After that I called few other dealers around in the area and 50% of them were asking for $400 to $500 in different names. Either as "Acquisition Fees" or "buying option Fees". It is clearly stated on my original contract that there is no fee associated if I buy it at the term end.
What I am getting at is that I wish Ford would start transitioning away from dealers and start have more direct relations with customers like allowing buyout directly.
It is good that they allowed ordering mache directly from ford, but they should have changed it a bit. Say for example, it a buyer backs out they should have given an option to any new reservation holder with the same model living in same area to get that vehicle. If no existing reservation holder claims it for a week then allow dealership to sell it. A lot more people would have bought Mache if they would have done it differently. I am sure I would not have found 5 Maches in that dealer lot if it was sold to people waiting for it at the MSRP. Demand is high, but these practices might turn people away from a great car.
This just happened, so I apologize for the rant.
Here is my story/situation and what I experienced recently.
I currently own a Tesla Model 3 and have a leased Ford Focus Electric. I have a Mache on order, which should be arriving soon.. My lease is ending soon, and my buyout is low. It seems that there is some positive equity in the leased vehicle that I would like to get.
First thing, Ford doesn't allow trade-in/Sell their leases to 3rd party dealers which most of other manufacturers do. So that being out of the question, I decided to buyout the focus electric and then sell it as I don't want to pay the disposition fee when I can walk away with some money out of this. I am already loosing the state tax by not being able to sell it directly to other dealership.
Ford also doesn't allow buyout of the vehicle directly from them. They ask us to go through the dealerships(stealerships). Now I am far from the original dealer I got the car from, so ford told me to contact any local dealer to buyout the vehicle.
I contacted my closest dealer and they said they can help me with this and I would just need to fill up a Credit Application even though it was all cash buyout. I was skeptical to provide my SSN, but asked them to make sure not to pull the credit. I made the appointment to come to the dealership to buyout and to start with, the person who I talking to was not even there. I emailed him last night to confirm that I will be coming in. He even told me to come in day time to allow inspection and I need to drop it at the service first. So after some time they send me to a different person, who kept on looking for my file. Eventually he finds it and started working on it. It took almost an hour for him to get it papers ready.
One good thing I was to test drive Mache ca route 1 while I was waiting for all this. It is super nice to drive, it doesn't have the pull/acceleration of my Tesla Model 3, but it it way better fit and finish. The road noise is so low compared to my tesla.
After the test drive I noticed, there was a notice board with all the Mache listed that they have or coming for sale with all of them marked up +3K. I mean it a good car, but come on it would gladly get a model y than to pay these dealers this markup. On top of it, this is the same dealer who told me when I was planning to order the Mache that the $500 deposit is non-refundable. I ordered from another dealer. So if they did not refund the customers who ordered these maches from this dealership, they are basically making $3500 on top of MSRP for each one of them. That is where Tesla works well. You know what you are going to pay and not have to deal with middle man. There was a customer there who was interested in the mache and was inquiring about it. They told him, that there is 3k markup on each. So he asked if that would be the case if he ordered online and they said it won't be but they might not get the car till next year. They are trying all their tactics to gouge more money. That person if cross shopping with model y, would just go back home and order it online and get it in a months time without dealing with all this.
Enough of that, coming back to my lease buyout. After a long wait for the finance manager, we go in to buyout my car and while signing the documents I see the total amount due, which was way higher than the payoff balance from Ford Financial. I knew that I would be paying taxes( which is again unnecessary if they allowed selling to third party) but it still did not add up. I asked the manager for the breakdown, and in there i see a $395 inspection fee. I was shocked to see that. When asked what was that, he said let me get the leasing person back to explain it to me.
That persons comes in and tells me it a California requirement. I stated looking into on my phone immediately and did not find anything like that. Then the finance manager comes back and tells me that this the fee for inspecting the car and check if everything is good. I was like, it is my car and I know everything works. He started showing me that he is working here for 17 years and this is common practice. I was still not convinced. I asked him is this same for every dealership? He said it may be little different. I was not even told once about this fee till that last step. I told him to wait till i call my original dealer and ask them about it. When I asked them they were confused about inspection fee and said that they don't charge that. I was on the speaker it front of that manager and he heard that. I told him, why should I pay this fee and it is not even required. So the person lied by saying it a California requirement. I made sure he shreds all the paperwork before I left the dealership. So I wasted my 2 hours there for nothing.
The problem is, why doesn't Ford financial allow me to buy it from them directly? These dealerships are there to rip-off people.
After that I called few other dealers around in the area and 50% of them were asking for $400 to $500 in different names. Either as "Acquisition Fees" or "buying option Fees". It is clearly stated on my original contract that there is no fee associated if I buy it at the term end.
What I am getting at is that I wish Ford would start transitioning away from dealers and start have more direct relations with customers like allowing buyout directly.
It is good that they allowed ordering mache directly from ford, but they should have changed it a bit. Say for example, it a buyer backs out they should have given an option to any new reservation holder with the same model living in same area to get that vehicle. If no existing reservation holder claims it for a week then allow dealership to sell it. A lot more people would have bought Mache if they would have done it differently. I am sure I would not have found 5 Maches in that dealer lot if it was sold to people waiting for it at the MSRP. Demand is high, but these practices might turn people away from a great car.
This just happened, so I apologize for the rant.
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