Customer Complains of Mach-E ADM on Twitter, Ford's Mike Levine Has ADM Removed

[Ixoye]

AND the guy made it seem like "First Editions" will be coming back to order again lol he clearly doesn't know what he's talking about.

i corrected him on that as well.

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[MitchAK]

I was looking at some Washington state dealer websites, they’re not even shy about it ?

 

[jimbobiii]

I mean I don't totally begrudge the dealers. I was a little annoyed at Towne Ford in Redwood City when I told them the car was available, they were unaware, confirmed it, and on the next call asked for a 5k ADM.

Galpin Ford in LA wanted 5k extra on their Grabber Blue, they maybe woulda come down to 4k. Looks like it sold tho.

Worthington Ford in Long Beach wanted +12k. ?


I don't know if other dealers saw this and panicked or also got wrist-slapped? One San Fernando Valley dealer who wanted +5k on Premium RWD models yesterday suddenly called back today saying they'd take X-Plan pricing.

 

[AllenXS]

Dealers need to become service centres. Their business model will be fixed like a franchise. Time to move from the model T to the Model E.

The only horse play should be in our Mustangs!

 

[Dmhccs]

If the dealer had marked up the car by $1000, let's call it a skip the line, no reservation wait thing, then maybe it could be considered just business, but $10k? That's pure car dealer nonsense.

For me they are asking a lot to get sticker. Cool that Ford took some action.

The MME I test drove listed a $10k ADM. I actually had never heard the term before at any other dealership. I asked the sales person about it and he was so vague regarding cars that were ordered thru Ford if they would include an ADM. I was clear I wouldn’t pay it. This feels like a sleazy process.

 

[mburtsvt]

In the future history will show this is when the dealer model collapsed and a Mach E will lead them. History books will show not only the Ford contribution to assembly line manufacturing but there will be a side note regarding the dealer model change by the first of the major US auto makers.

 

[Mickey the T]

It's sort of like buying concert tickets. If you manage to buy the tickets when they're first offered, you pay the list price. (And a ton of fees.) But once they hit the secondary market, all bets are off and prices are determined by supply-and-demand. What's unique in this situation is that the dealer is acting like the secondary re-sale market, as well as fulfilling internet orders at MSRP.

 

[jimbobiii]

It's sort of like buying concert tickets. If you manage to buy the tickets when they're first offered, you pay the list price. (And a ton of fees.) But once they hit the secondary market, all bets are off and prices are determined by supply-and-demand. What's unique in this situation is that the dealer is acting like the secondary re-sale market, as well as fulfilling internet orders at MSRP.

honestly that isn't even unique now. How many events have "premium" tickets already marked up for original sale wildly. Front row seats etc.

Again, it's why it's hard to begrudge the dealers totally when they've been doing this on Raptors and Shelbys for years and are just trying to capitalize on the limited inventory they get

 

[EVS]

I'm confused. If you told them you won't pay ADM, why should they have told you about one with ADM?

I don't like dealers either, but the anger over ADM has never made sense to me. If you don't want to pay ADM, find another dealer (there are plenty who aren't marking up) or order the car and wait (for a loooong time). I would much rather have a dealer disclose an exorbitant ADM (as it appears these guys did) rather than try to make their money with back-end shenanigans in the finance office.

Why do people find supply and demand and honest capitalism so offensive? This is actually one of the dealers I called when looking for my grabber blue with x-plan pricing. The dealer told me they were charging ADM, I said no thanks, and that was that.

Well said! I was going to say the same thing. For cars not ordered by customers directly from Ford, it should've ok to charge ADMs based on demand & supply. After some time, they have to discount many of the inventory cars to move metal. So I don't blame the ADM while it lasts.

About the tweet itself: IIRC, John Voelcker is the editor of greencarreports.com. Mr. Levine didn't just pick up a random customer's comment, which would have been more impressive. It's similar to Musk only caring to resolve the complaints of blue checkmarked twitter people.

ADMs are by no means illegal. I've seen $12k ADMs proudly displayed on some special edition Chevy Camaro in the dealership. Not sure how Ford can force dealers to remove ADMs.

 

[EVS]

And how does the Amazon or Tesla method solve this mark-up issue? I have been around when Tesla Model 3 reservations were taken. Many people waited in line to place the first reservations to pocket some profits mostly. The res numbers were huge because people put in extra orders to sell at a mark-up. In the early days, you could see e-bay full of new Tesla Model 3s sold at massive mark-ups. There were also many reservations on sale at mark-ups. People were asking $4k-$5k for a $1k reservation! If somebody wanted a car without waiting in line, he paid the price for it.

So I don't really see what is different here.

Disclosure: I have no relationship with any dealership. I am just a regular car buyer.

 

[SteelMach]

And how does the Amazon or Tesla method solve this mark-up issue? I have been around when Tesla Model 3 reservations were taken. The res numbers were huge because people put in extra orders to sell at a mark-up. In the early days, you could see e-bay full of new Tesla Model 3s sold at massive mark-ups. There were also many reservations on sale at mark-ups. People were asking $4k-$5k for a $1k reservation! If somebody wanted a car without waiting in line, they paid the price for it.

So I don't really see what is different here.

Disclosure: I have no relationship with any dealership. I am just a regular car buyer.

There's a psychological difference when it's "the man" doing it and not just a scalper.

Sony could be pricing PS5s at $2,000 now and people would still buy every single one, but they don't, because it's a bad look. People would be more angry at Sony doing it than at an eBay scalper doing it.

 

[Krimpy]

My dealership Eau Claire Ford is charging 2k ADM and I’m am struggling with it. I knew about it when I placed the order they were upfront about it. I thought everyone was paying that though. The hook is I could reserve the car 10 mins up the road at Toycen Ford and they do not have a markup. I’m in it for a grand already though with the first 500 when I reserved then the 500 I paid to actually order. If it wasn’t going to be another two years before I got mine I’d pull the plug for the mere principal of it. I had not yet discovered this forum so I had no idea!

Ford needs to step in. The fact that they let their dealers do whatever they want is giving the Ford brand a bad look.

 

[Maric]

Well said! I was going to say the same thing. For cars not ordered by customers directly from Ford, it should've ok to charge ADMs based on demand & supply. After some time, they have to discount many of the inventory cars to move metal. So I don't blame the ADM while it lasts.

About the tweet itself: IIRC, John Voelcker is the editor of greencarreports.com. Mr. Levine didn't just pick up a random customer's comment, which would have been more impressive. It's similar to Musk only caring to resolve the complaints of blue checkmarked twitter people.

ADMs are by no means illegal. I've seen $12k ADMs proudly displayed on some special edition Chevy Camaro in the dealership. Not sure how Ford can force dealers to remove ADMs.

Levine got my car released from purgatory with a Tweet. I'm nobody and have had several discussions with him on Twitter.

 

[Regularmache]

Dealers need to become service centres. Their business model will be fixed like a franchise. Time to move from the model T to the Model E.

The only horse play should be in our Mustangs!

Used car side is where the money is but being a new vehicle franchise gets them all kinds of inside auction runs, and access privileges non franchises, that only sell used, don't enjoy. Cheapest acquisition cost for Used Car dealers/Dept, is trade ins. No auction fee, no transportation cost etc.

 

[Regularmache]

Isn’t that what a trade is for? They aren’t gonna give you money on a trade in to break even.

Absolutely, no complaints. With the credit to us on Sales Tax of trade, it was very close to win/win which I always aim for. Dealers are like people, most are good and forthright, but some should be avoided!

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