Dealership experience - How was yours?

[zvez]

My purchase experience was horrible but not from an EV specific perspective. It was obvious I knew much more than them about the MME but that didn't matter to me.

What mattered to me was how they tried to cheat me and had no remorse when caught.

Over the decades buying cars and motorcycles. Almost always, I went in knowing more than the sales person. I'm not sure if it's just me, but to be fair the sales staff have a huge number of vehiclles to know about, and they'd tend to focus on the ones they sell the most of, or make the most $$ on.

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[KeyWestEViking]

I had a decent experience but still hated dealing with all the upsell stuff while doing the paperwork signing.

I was getting ready to buy an Edge, like literally walking into the dealer to write up the deal, and the salesperson asked if I had ever driven an MME as we walked past them. This was Sept 2023 so the lot was full of MME's. I laughed as I thought electric wouldn't work for me living in a rural area. I also like to take road trips. I took it for a test drive out of curiosity. The hook was set and I went on an EV info binge to see if it would work for me.

4 days later, the sales manager let me take an MME for a weekend test drive which is what ultimately sold me on it. I put about 300 miles on it on during Sat and Sun driving my kids to their soccer games. I did a DCFC to get the whole experience. Fell in love with the car and put a deposit down on a CR1 that arrived later that week.

I had a little hiccup in November when my car stopped accepting any charge. I had to wait 3 months for a charging port to be manufactured, delivered, and installed. Other than that, no issues, and that wasn't a dealer issue, it was a Ford issue.

I just had my 10,000 mile service last week.

Thank you for the feedback. We have been looking into the 48 hour test drive as well. Did you find it was the deciding factor?
We have also run into some part shortages from Ford and I will be the first to say it's very frustrating. Glad you've had an overall good experience though!

 

[valfam]

The dealer I bought my mme was great. They were very easy to deal with with no pressure to buy the car, they even offered me a reasonable price for my trade in. I had to take my car in for a simple fix. I made the mistake taking it to the dealer near me and that was a one month nightmare to fix a simple light on a button.

 

[KeyWestEViking]

Good points so far. You should also focus on transparent upfront pricing for EV buyers. An increasing number of us want to buy online, or at least have a simple out the door price. Price games anger me to the point I’ve walked out the door.

I also recommend doing a charging consult before the sale so people are aware of gotchas. You want to make sure someone in an apartment realizes they will have to set aside extra time for public charging, etc before they commit to purchase. Or that they realize road trips will take longer. And know the difference between AC and DC charging. If you have a DC charger, you should demonstrate how to use it.

Thanks for the feedback. I completely agree with that. Our sales managers and staff do the best to layout price as a first contact and show how EV's save money in the long run (most of the time)
I'm also glad you mentioned the charging. It is one of the first things our EV team asks when a customer is interested (and hasn't thought about it yet, which is rare as almost all car buyers do research) If they have or can have home charging, we're all good and jump right to the road trip info. If not, we go over that as best we can. We also have 2 DC fast chargers on site and do a demo and the team and I are currently building a charger display stand for the Guests to interact with.
Luckily our charger infrastructure here is good and most people have seen many of them in their area

 

[RickMachE]

Thank you for the feedback. We have been looking into the 48 hour test drive as well. Did you find it was the deciding factor?
We have also run into some part shortages from Ford and I will be the first to say it's very frustrating. Glad you've had an overall good experience though!

We reserved a Lightning (HA!). Then we ordered a Mach-E, told 6 months (it became a year). 5 weeks after ordering the Mach-E, the identical one was on the dealer's lot. Went and looked at it, drove it. Wife was not convinced, she could care less about all the "features". The GM said "here, take the demo for 2 days and decide". That was what one her over. Or, I should say, that was what got her to go "fine, buy it if it will shut you up". ?

 

[KeyWestEViking]

That part would really be pushing it, for some of the dealers I visited during my recent search for an EV.

We've noticed the same with some of our competitors. We have had people come in who bought at another dealer and nothing was explained to them. And by the time we go over everything, they're happy and much less anxious

 

[KeyWestEViking]

The dealer I bought my mme was great. They were very easy to deal with with no pressure to buy the car, they even offered me a reasonable price for my trade in. I had to take my car in for a simple fix. I made the mistake taking it to the dealer near me and that was a one month nightmare to fix a simple light on a button.

Thanks for the feedback
I'm glad the sales process was good but sad to hear the service was less so.
In regards to the fix, was it a parts issue or the service departments unfamiliarity with the vehicle?

 

[RickMachE]

I think some dealerships have no clue as to the effort involved in getting their staff (support and sales, not techs) up to the level needed. I think that they realize that with the low commissions paid for an EV sale, it's hard to motivate a sales guy. As to the tech people, you have to immerse yourself in it to be knowledgeable. And own one.

At an EV show, we had our Mach-E and Lightning. The local dealer (our FORMER dealer who won't service the Lightning bought out of state when they had none) couldn't get the latch on the Lightning frunk undone, and had an open frunk. They had no idea that there was an interior release (which I used to get the latch unjammed). They were there selling EVs...

Or the tech that came to put my new BMS on, and had no idea that you had to close the frunk from the inside after being open too long. Or how to close it at all.

Two dealers near me have been saying for 2 years now, "it's hard to get the technicians fully certified" as to why they have only one. That tune don't sing anymore.

 

[KeyWestEViking]

We reserved a Lightning (HA!). Then we ordered a Mach-E, told 6 months (it became a year). 5 weeks after ordering the Mach-E, the identical one was on the dealer's lot. Went and looked at it, drove it. Wife was not convinced, she could care less about all the "features". The GM said "here, take the demo for 2 days and decide". That was what one her over. Or, I should say, that was what got her to go "fine, buy it if it will shut you up". ?

Was that back in 2021? We had the same issue with availability and now we have tons of stock on both MME and F150 Lightnings. Hopefully the fuel saving you've gotten since you bought it have convinced your wife further!

 

[B177y]

Thank you for the feedback. We have been looking into the 48 hour test drive as well. Did you find it was the deciding factor?
We have also run into some part shortages from Ford and I will be the first to say it's very frustrating. Glad you've had an overall good experience though!

Yes, the 48hr test was absolutely the deciding factor. Being able to put the miles on, charging at home, and doing a DCFC proved that an EV was a viable option for my circumstance. To be fair, the sales manager offered a "24-hour test drive" and I asked if I could take it for the Saturday/Sunday because I had to take the kids to Seattle for their soccer games, about 130 miles each way. This gave me the test of kids in the back seat and rural to city driving miles.

The charge port debacle almost ended in a lemon law buyback which was avoided at the last minute. It was absolutely the most frustrating thing I have ever been through involving a car.

 

[KeyWestEViking]

I think some dealerships have no clue as to the effort involved in getting their staff (support and sales, not techs) up to the level needed. I think that they realize that with the low commissions paid for an EV sale, it's hard to motivate a sales guy. As to the tech people, you have to immerse yourself in it to be knowledgeable. And own one.

At an EV show, we had our Mach-E and Lightning. The local dealer (our FORMER dealer who won't service the Lightning bought out of state when they had none) couldn't get the latch on the Lightning frunk undone, and had an open frunk. They had no idea that there was an interior release (which I used to get the latch unjammed). They were there selling EVs...

Or the tech that came to put my new BMS on, and had no idea that you had to close the frunk from the inside after being open too long. Or how to close it at all.

Two dealers near me have been saying for 2 years now, "it's hard to get the technicians fully certified" as to why they have only one. That tune don't sing anymore.

That's quite the story. Thanks for sharing.
We have put a huge amount of time and resources into EVs and it's been paying off. We seen large increase in interested people and a huge uptick in sales of EV's.
I agree that tune is getting old. Most MME fixes are software issues or wiring so I can see that coming from a tech who's been in the industry since carburetors, but a lot of younger techs in my shop are all in for learning. Hopefully that trend continues

 

[Babbit]

Since you are in Canada. Please make sure that a customer knows about cold weather and battery charge/life. I was lucky and knew about it from this forum before I bought the car. If I didn't know that I found out on my own I would've been VERY angry!

 

[Richard L.]

My purchase in February of 2021 was hassle free. No ADM or BS charges. Service has 2 EV techs and handled all of my recalls and other issues in a timely manner. Always provides me with a loaner. I rate my dealer very highly.

 

[KeyWestEViking]

Since you are in Canada. Please make sure that a customer knows about cold weather and battery charge/life. I was lucky and knew about it from this forum before I bought the car. If I didn't know that I found out on my own I would've been VERY angry!

We are in a mild part of the country so it doesn't effect it that badly, but it is a big part of our demo process!

 

[KeyWestEViking]

My purchase in February of 2021 was hassle free. No ADM or BS charges. Service has 2 EV techs and handled all of my recalls and other issues in a timely manner. Always provides me with a loaner. I rate my dealer very highly.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad to hear you had an excellent experience. We have a fleet of EV loaners as well and we found it has been a huge bonus. Does your service team wash and vacuum the vehicle as well? We have been doing that for years and found it's a high point for service satisfaction

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