Sharing my story of buying a Mach-E - Don't be a Zordude :)

[Zordude]

Since May I've had a reservation for an ID4 that is expected to be delivered in about January. This timing worked for us because we need to replace a car by 1/10/22.

Around mid-August I decided that a Mach-E premium had more to offer that I was interested in, and started in earnest to try and find a red or blue Mach-E Premium AWD, Ext Batt.

Obviously supply is ridiculously constrained right now, so I've been spending a lot of time reaching out to dealerships to be told the car in inventory was either a customers special order, or marked up to insane levels (72k in one case!).

Around this time is when I made the first mistake, which was developing such a passion for getting the car I wanted that I was listening to the logical part of my brain less.

Last weekend I got an email from one of the dealerships that I contacted and they had a car available. This particular car was previously a courtesy vehicle. The dealership was about 1hr 40 away from my house. I looked at the pictures on their site, everything looked pretty decent.

Here is the breakdown of what happened:
- Call and talk to the dealer, the car is available.
- Ask about manufacturer incentives on buying a courtesy vehicle, told there are none available for this car.
- Get worried that I'm not going to find a car in time. I put down a refundable deposit over the phone, to hold the car so we could come in later that day.
- Arrive and start looking at the car:
- Has 5800 miles on it already.
- Has one tire that is totally flat (can't drive it)
- Has one wheel with a bunch of cosmetic damage, someone clearly curbed it.
- Has more hood chips than i would ever expect from a car with just 6k miles, but i guess being a loaner didn't help.
- One of the trunk mounting brackets for the flat cover thing is broken off.
- We consider the long list of issues above, but instead of looking at them logically and cumulatively, we kind of individually rationalize them away because of our passion in finding a car.
- The dealer makes the following commitments:
- Tire will be replaced with a new tire.
- He'll get us a quote for a new wheel at their cost
- He'll get the body shop to touch up the chipped hood with the touch up pen.
- The body shop will replace the broken trunk clip thing.
- We decide that we can work past the issues based on his promises, and proceed to discuss the deal further.
- He says the sale price of the car is $58,800 (2400 dealer markup).
- At this point I'm not going to let 2400$ stand in the way of us getting the car we want.
- We tell him that the federal tax credit is a deal breaker if we can't get it. He says the car is being sold to us as "NEW" but he's unsure about the fact that they've previously had it registered to the dealership.
- Unsure is not acceptable, we tell him to get sure.
- After calling his finance manager he says that they have not claimed the credit, but because the car was previously registered to the dealer in MA we aren't eligible.
- We thank him for his time and ask him to refund our deposit, as that is a deal breaker.
- Before we get to the car there is suddenly a $7500 price reduction available from the dealership.
- This seems like an even better deal than the tax rebate, because now we are financing less.
- We proceed with the deal, but after we get home we have a lot more regrets than expected:
- We have no idea what the touchup will look like, and no recourse regardless.
- The replacement wheel is $1387 after tax, which i find really hard to believe is "dealer cost" so no we won't be paying that.
- It remains to be seen if they fix the trunk clip.

At the end of the day, the car that we now own but don't even have yet because we need to wait for them to get it registered in our state currently is a source of mostly bad feelings. I sincerely hope that once we have the car we can get past the negative emotion we're having currently and truly enjoy it.

in the meantime, we are seriously considering placing an order for a 2022 when they open for orders at the end of the month and replacing this car that we haven't received yet with that one in 6-8 months when it would be delivered.

My advice to anyone that reads this is that it's awesome to get excited about getting a specific car, but don't get so excited that you start rationalizing things that you shouldn't.

Sponsored

 

[ZuleMME]

Wow, that sounds like a terrible deal unless the goal was to fill the need and impulse buy right away. Overall if you can look past those issues all said and done you should be quite happy. Wheels removed from other MME's on Facebook go for around $400 or so. The hood, you can always repaint... I'd insist they get it to a satisfactory level or return if I were you. Most states give you a period you can return. Don't let emotions run this deal, get the best you can for the best price you can.

 

[Zordude]

Wow, that sounds like a terrible deal unless the goal was to fill the need and impulse buy right away.

I agree we got too caught up in the excitement of "getting one".

MA does not have a "cooling off period" for car sales.

 

[machefan]

You are buying a used MME and not new one, most DEMO's get beat upon period. In this case it sounds like it was driven hard but it's not any real damage. My only real concern would the touch up job, but a dealers body shop should be able to take care of it the right way. The rims can also be redone or dipped. The trunk clip is a simple fix but as you noted $7500 would be a deal breaker for me too. Note if you are not in a rush there are enough MME's to be purchased as new, just have to be very persistent. If you are willing to pay the $2400 ADM the market is even larger for you.

However welcome to the club, heck it's only a car. If the $ works then the rest is really just cosmetic. Unless you get PPF the front hood will get chips especially in states with poor road conditions.

Enjoy it if you keep it!!

 

[zee]

If it's any consolation, then you can just get the rims fixed. It doesn't cost much. Instead of getting the hood painted, I'd get just the car wrapped. You'll have a super unique car.

 

[shadowsjc]

The trunk cover things clip on or off. It's unlikely that they're actually broken. Each side is made up of two pieces that clip onto each other

 

[Motomax]

Did you get 7500 off MSRP or the ADM price. Dealers trying to play off the 7500 rebate discount as a deal on dealer demos is pretty funny.
you got a bad deal but compared to the people that pay 10k ADMs you did okay. It is what it is, just enjoy the car. Trading it in for a new one will just add more cost in the end.

 

[EVready]

Sorry for the situation; I believe that MA has a law that provides the buyer 3 days to return the vehicle for full refund, if I remember correctly....for future reference.

 

[Zordude]

The trunk cover things clip on or off. It's unlikely that they're actually broken. Each side is made up of two pieces that clip onto each other

it was sheared off, both the mount part and the the place where the holes would be were “flat”, but yeah hopefully they will fix this one quick and easy.

 

[Zordude]

Did you get 7500 off MSRP or the ADM price. Dealers trying to play off the 7500 rebate discount as a deal on dealer demos is pretty funny.
you got a bad deal but compared to the people that pay 10k ADMs you did okay. It is what it is, just enjoy the car. Trading it in for a new one will just add more cost in the end.

7500 off the total deal price, so it was MSRP + 2400 markup - 7500 “can’t claim the tax credit” concession

 

[one5460]

Personally, I would not buy a vehicle in that condition unless it's heavily discounted. They would have to swallow that markup and I'm not paying for the wheel or any other repair.

Another thing I'd recommend before driving off is having them put it on a lift and inspect the underside. If you can have a mechanic with you to look over the suspension, even better.

 

[machefan]

Personally, I would not buy a vehicle in that condition unless it's heavily discounted. They would have to swallow that markup and I'm not paying for the wheel or any other repair.

Another thing I'd recommend before driving off is having them put it on a lift and inspect the underside. If you can have a mechanic with you to look over the suspension, even better.

I wouldn’t either but each to their own however there are no discounts to be found right now on anything. Best thing is xplan on a new purchase which is also becoming harder to find.

Have you seen the underside of the MME?

Not sure this advice will yield any results aside from seeing belly scrapes. Guess you can take the panels off but doubt dealer will entertain that. If the buyer passes which they didn’t there’s another buyer waiting.

 

[peoples1234]

I’m sorry that you now own a car that you don’t want, but maybe your story will help someone else.

You really got a bad deal, but what’s done is done. Personally buy yourself some aftermarket wheels/tires, skip the paint repair, and try and enjoy it.

I cannot wait for dealers to go away. Such a shame. The dealerships interest and the consumers are never aligned.

 

[SpacePony]

I’m probably unique here in saying that at long as the dealer makes the things right that they have promised, then I think it’s not a terrible deal. The ADMs are crazy right now, but you’re getting $7500 off up-front. In my state that also means you’re not paying sales tax and property tax on that $7500, so it ends up being closer to $9000 off (I don’t know how MA works), and also not financing that extra amount.

if you’re someone that needs a pristine new vehicle, then it may bother you. But if not, then you can take solace in the fact that those first few “character marks” are already out of the way, while the rest of us dread our first chip or door-bang.

Full disclosure, my previous vehicle was a 2018 volt, with 8k miles and right at a year old (sold as used). I loved it, had a couple tiny paint chips, but I didn’t have to worry about acquiring them myself, since it was already a known quantity. I didn’t collect the tax credit, but saved nearly 10k from what I’d be paying new. It’s a different market right now, but you’re still coming out at least 5k ahead of where you’d be otherwise, and more if your state charges sales and property taxes on that amount.

I will say that mileage is surprisingly high for a “mannequin” (and in my state would well exceed any possibility of being sold as new), but I’d you’re planning to keep it more than a couple years, then it’s not much in the grand scheme of things.

 

[theo1000]

So is that a Red or a Blue. If it is a blue that is an absolute steal for the price. Back in 2013 I bought a volt that had sat on a dealer lot in Texas sun for 2 years! All 4 tires were flat, dust everywhere. Paint chips and sand abrasion. They took $4000 off it, fixed all the paint and I got the tax credit pushing it under $30k which was a big deal back then. but worried I was getting a lemon. Today 8 years later it still drives perfect and has been a zero issue car for me. Happy that I took the chance.

Sponsored