Dealership experience - How was yours?

[BigMach-E]

I’m lucky, the dealer closest to me is really interested in EVs. They are a small dealership, and they are fair, but there is no chance you are going to get a screaming deal from them. I may keep going back to them for service, but I don’t know if I would buy from them again if I could find a better price elsewhere.

Main thing: make sure your service advisors call people back when they say they will. It’s been a big problem that I’ve had with this dealership, and it’s pretty basic, but important.

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[Richard L.]

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

I have asked them not to clean. I prefer to do it myself.

 

[KeyWestEViking]

I’m lucky, the dealer closest to me is really interested in EVs. They are a small dealership, and they are fair, but there is no chance you are going to get a screaming deal from them. I may keep going back to them for service, but I don’t know if I would buy from them again if I could find a better price elsewhere.

Main thing: make sure your service advisors call people back when they say they will. It’s been a big problem that I’ve had with this dealership, and it’s pretty basic, but important.

Thanks for the feedback. It can be tough being a small dealership but I'm glad to hear they're EV focused.
We are also proactive in our service department (I was an advisor here for 4 years) and I'm sort of tooting my own horn here but our service department is really good at that. Couple slips here and there as they can get swamped but overall they're dedicated to a good service experience

 

[KeyWestEViking]

I have asked them not to clean. I prefer to do it myself.

We have some of those customers as well. As long as they offer and made a note on your file to not wash, things should be good. I do agree there is a nice sense of satisfaction cleaning your own vehicle

 

[Dear_OP]

I see you are in Metro Van. I have to say my experience while researching on MME was less than stellar. As others mentioned, I find the Ford dealership experience pretty bad. Sales people either aren't interested with selling MME or low knowledge of EVs in general. It explains why there are still a glut of 2023 MMEs. These are not angel tears, dealerships should just drop them like hot potatoes as we are deep in 2024.

I posted my exp. here when visiting a local Ford dealerships in the Fraser Valley. At one of the location the sales person didn't know much about MME and at one point walked us to a nearby Lincoln Corsair. Spouted incorrect info. My wife later asked me if this is how we want to spend our money and deal with this outfit for maintenance/repair. It's too bad as the MME is a decent product.

 

[MrLoganRoss]

I had a nice purchase experience, but the service is so so.

They followed a TSB knowing it would not solve my leak issue, Forcing me to continue to experience the pain and bring the car back a second time.

Car SW updates are like kryponite, and they went back in their purchase time promise to fully update the car. I had to fight over 3 visits to get them to meet their promise.

Other dealers won’t return my call if I ask about SW updates.

As much as I don’t want to, I bought what I needed to do my own SW updates. I won’t do everything (since I am concerned about powertrain/brake type stuff), but at least I will know where I stand.

I didn’t buy a Tesla but now I sure understand why they bypassed the established legacy dealership structure. I don’t want dealers and the great people that work there to go away, but they need to improve overall or it will happen.

 

[valfam]

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?

I don't want to get to deep I to it, but to sum it up. I took the car in for the light on the button to open the door was not lighting up. Once I dropped off the car to fix the button they wrote that the car was not charging too. After a month with the car and 3 new replacement parts that they could not get working to fix the charging problem they created they put the original part back in and gave me the car back. The light on the door button was working now but I could not open the door then they scratched the front fender and bumper and dented the drivers door.

 

[KeyWestEViking]

I see you are in Metro Van. I have to say my experience while researching on MME was less than stellar. As others mentioned, I find the Ford dealership experience pretty bad. Sales people either aren't interested with selling MME or low knowledge of EVs in general. It explains why there are still a glut of 2023 MMEs. These are not angel tears, dealerships should just drop them like hot potatoes as we are deep in 2024.

I posted my exp. here when visiting a local Ford dealerships in the Fraser Valley. At one of the location the sales person didn't know much about MME and at one point walked us to a nearby Lincoln Corsair. Spouted incorrect info. My wife later asked me if this is how we want to spend our money and deal with this outfit for maintenance/repair. It's too bad as the MME is a decent product.

Thanks for your response. This is exactly the type of information I was looking for. I'm sorry to hear about your lackluster experience. We have been seeing a lot of dealers in our area push EV's to the side and almost refuse to learn about them. We have seen some come around a bit, but they're usually in more densely populated areas. We created our specific EV team to combat that and provide Guests with all the info they need, both in purchasing and with ownership. I do agree that if your sales rep didn't know much, there is a good chance your servicing would be equally as frustrating. Hopefully more and more dealerships realize how large the EV market is and find people interested and passionate about helping potential customers find the right vehicle for them

 

[Rpellicciotti]

Good Morning MME friends,
I am looking to get some real world data for how people's experience's were at your Dealership. This could be anything from ordering, delivery, shopping on the lot, service visits, buying/installing accessories, or calling in asking a question.
I work at a dealer in Canada and am a part of the dedicated EV Team. I am hoping to use your experiences and feedback to better support our Guests, both those looking to purchase and those who already have.
We have seen a huge uptake in EV ownership in the last year or two and would love any feedback you have! I'd also love to be able to use real world examples to debunk EV myths and try and sway the naysayers.

Thanks in advance and stay charged!

You asked so here it goes:

When we decided to move on a Mach-e (after the price reductions and the finalizing of the Tesla Supercharger deal) we reached out to our local dealer where we have bought numerous Fords in the past. They were not aware of the price adjustments nor did their advertised prices on inventory reflect the adjustments.

We started looking around a larger radius and we found that a dealer about 45 minutes from us had several 2023's in stock and they had adjusted their prices. We found the exact car we wanted there, a Premium in red, RWD and extended range battery. We did our homework and researched what our trade was worth (we had written offers from two different dealers), had our cash on hand and was ready to buy before we got there. When we arrived on the appointed day and time, the car was up front at the dealer and we felt like that was a good sign. The salesman greeted us, said he was expecting us, and then said, "there is a problem with the battery on this car. The service manager is going to look at it". Not a good way to start a sales effort, especially considering they knew we were coming for several days in advance.

The salesman then said, "I have another car just like it only a different color that you can drive while he is working on yours." We went to that car and it was also dead as a brick. He then went and got a third set of keys and this one was live and we took it out on a drive. Again, not very impressive. When we got back from the test drive, the salesman told us the 12v battery on "our" car was dead and the service department was replacing it. We went inside and set down to do the usual car salesman dance. After some discussion the salesman put a piece of paper in front of us with "our deal" on it. The price was higher than the same car was advertised on their own web site! Ridiculous. I told them that and he adjusted the price to the website price. Then we started talking about our trade and even after giving him the written offers from two other dealers, they offered us about $2000 less for our car. At that point we got up and left.

We kept looking around and found another car at a small, family owned dealership about 200 miles away. Again, it was exactly what we wanted. The folks there were very friendly, helpful, and were able to do everything over the phone or email. We drove down there and the car was ready, everything was in order and in a couple of hours we were headed home in our new Mach-e. Fantastic folks. We will go 200 miles to do business with them in the future. It is interesting to note that this great dealership is located in a small town and not some EV centric metropolitan area. Eckenrod Ford in Cullman, AL if anyone is looking for a great place to buy a Mach-e or any Ford. When we left to go home, we had Ford Pass all set up, Phone as a key on two phones, some training on how to operate the features on the car and our Tesla adapter on order. All with the assistance of the salesman and their EV specialist. It is the way.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I had already done my due diligence on the car (well, as much as can be expected over a year before the first deliveries). I placed my reservation with a dealer that was well over an hour from me because I hate the two closest dealers to me. When I converter to an order, the dealer was very good and communicated throughout the process. I got more communication from the dealer than I did from Ford Corporate (even though a lot of it was “I am sorry, but Ford isn’t giving us visibility in this”). The actual purchase was painless and pretty quick (I was their first Ford Options purchase so they had to research that for about 15 minutes). ??

Unfortunately, I chose one of the two dealers that I hate for my service. Let’s just say that the service advisor I had was well below sub-par. He never returned phone calls or texts asking for status. When I finally went to the dealership to ask For status his response was “Huh, your car was done yesterday.” ??

 

[KeyWestEViking]

I had a nice purchase experience, but the service is so so.

They followed a TSB knowing it would not solve my leak issue, Forcing me to continue to experience the pain and bring the car back a second time.

Car SW updates are like kryponite, and they went back in their purchase time promise to fully update the car. I had to fight over 3 visits to get them to meet their promise.

Other dealers won’t return my call if I ask about SW updates.

As much as I don’t want to, I bought what I needed to do my own SW updates. I won’t do everything (since I am concerned about powertrain/brake type stuff), but at least I will know where I stand.

I didn’t buy a Tesla but now I sure understand why they bypassed the established legacy dealership structure. I don’t want dealers and the great people that work there to go away, but they need to improve overall or it will happen.

Thank you for your feedback. I am sorry to hear you had a frustrating experience. Did the dealer you took it to have a certified EV tech? TSB's can be frustrating. My stint as a service advisor had a few of those cases. Our EV techs have been very careful to report and inform Ford engineering about the difficulties they face in EV updates and hopefully things get smoother as time goes on

 

[MrLoganRoss]

Thank you for your feedback. I am sorry to hear you had a frustrating experience. Did the dealer you took it to have a certified EV tech? TSB's can be frustrating. My stint as a service advisor had a few of those cases. Our EV techs have been very careful to report and inform Ford engineering about the difficulties they face in EV updates and hopefully things get smoother as time goes on

In the world of EVs, it is very much about an ever-improving experience. My dealer experience is that the dealer only views themselves as a “help the customer get out of a hole” service provider. Unless you can’t drive the car or it is going to cost ford more if they wait, they simply don’t care. It’s getting hard to continue to support an industry that won’t change.
I have only had the car for 5 months and 2K miles. Let us see what the future holds.

 

[KeyWestEViking]

You asked so here it goes:

When we decided to move on a Mach-e (after the price reductions and the finalizing of the Tesla Supercharger deal) we reached out to our local dealer where we have bought numerous Fords in the past. They were not aware of the price adjustments nor did their advertised prices on inventory reflect the adjustments.

We started looking around a larger radius and we found that a dealer about 45 minutes from us had several 2023's in stock and they had adjusted their prices. We found the exact car we wanted there, a Premium in red, RWD and extended range battery. We did our homework and researched what our trade was worth (we had written offers from two different dealers), had our cash on hand and was ready to buy before we got there. When we arrived on the appointed day and time, the car was up front at the dealer and we felt like that was a good sign. The salesman greeted us, said he was expecting us, and then said, "there is a problem with the battery on this car. The service manager is going to look at it". Not a good way to start a sales effort, especially considering they knew we were coming for several days in advance.

The salesman then said, "I have another car just like it only a different color that you can drive while he is working on yours." We went to that car and it was also dead as a brick. He then went and got a third set of keys and this one was live and we took it out on a drive. Again, not very impressive. When we got back from the test drive, the salesman told us the 12v battery on "our" car was dead and the service department was replacing it. We went inside and set down to do the usual car salesman dance. After some discussion the salesman put a piece of paper in front of us with "our deal" on it. The price was higher than the same car was advertised on their own web site! Ridiculous. I told them that and he adjusted the price to the website price. Then we started talking about our trade and even after giving him the written offers from two other dealers, they offered us about $2000 less for our car. At that point we got up and left.

We kept looking around and found another car at a small, family owned dealership about 200 miles away. Again, it was exactly what we wanted. The folks there were very friendly, helpful, and were able to do everything over the phone or email. We drove down there and the car was ready, everything was in order and in a couple of hours we were headed home in our new Mach-e. Fantastic folks. We will go 200 miles to do business with them in the future. It is interesting to note that this great dealership is located in a small town and not some EV centric metropolitan area. Eckenrod Ford in Cullman, AL if anyone is looking for a great place to buy a Mach-e or any Ford. When we left to go home, we had Ford Pass all set up, Phone as a key on two phones, some training on how to operate the features on the car and our Tesla adapter on order. All with the assistance of the salesman and their EV specialist. It is the way.

Thank you for the feedback. I appreciate the details.
We try and emulate what your second dealer did. Make everything as seamless as possible and have the customer educated and happy with their choice. Our EV Team does the delivery process when a customer finally gets their keys and activating all those little features goes a long way. Which is exactly why you're willing to drive 200 miles to see them again. I'm very glad you were able to find a good dealer and hopefully your testimony gives them a nice bump in business!

 

[dcheng]

My selling dealer is no longer around, but they did not seem to have much experience with selling EVs. I did place my order online and never talked to a sales person until I was trying to get information on delivery. I definitely got more information from the various tracking links posted here.

Service has been mostly misses. I took my car to the selling dealer, and they seemed to do a decent job. At least the service advisor took calls and responded fairly quickly.

Unfortunately, that was the best service experience I have had. The experiences that I have had most recently have been severely lacking. The worst case was when the dealer took close to 45 minutes to answer the phone (I wish I was exaggerating!), kept the car for 2 days by telling me that the updates were slow to download, only to find out that my car had been sitting in the front lot and had not even been looked at! That was frustrating, to say the least.

I think I would have been ok if the dealer had simply said their one EV tech (I wish they had more) wouldn't be able to get to it for a couple days, then they could have at least set expectations. It was the lying that turned me off, especially since that is such a low bar.

I would love to have you export your plans/model to the US!

 

[B177y]

... We have a fleet of EV loaners as well and we found it has been a huge bonus. ...

With my service experience, the dealer where I had to leave my car for repairs had no loaners (mine stopped charging while travelling), and the dealer that I purchased from had no loaners.

Getting a rental from Ford was also very frustrating. I finally received a rental 2 weeks into the 16 weeks total that I did not have my car. The lemon law seemed to make this happen. I also had the rental company asking me to get in touch with Ford and the dealer so that they could get paid since neither would return their calls.

Having a "fleet" of loaners, whether MME's or old Ford ICE's, would have made my service experience MUCH better.

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