Dealer experiences in the Phoenix metro area??

[shutterbug]

Last night, finally brought it home! Love driving it, though it will take some time to figure out what settings I prefer. Plugged it in on the 110V outlet and got about 30 miles added (13kWh) overnight. I was also able to charge both my cars at the same time (both on 110V) with no issues.

The Earnhardt "No Bull" dealer experience could have been better. I posted my Wednesday afternoon story in the "grumpy" thread, so I won't repeat it all here.

• The slow-walk - Like most dealers, they made us sit through their slow-walk process, even though we had already agreed on X-Plan with no add-ons before we arrived. I hope I never need to step foot into a traditional car dealership again because this is always so frustrating. Just let me talk to the people who have access to the information and can make the decisions. The intentionally slow back and forth with intermediaries is painful and wastes my time!
• Financing - they said this was the first Ford Options loan they have done. First they tried to make it like the program doesn't exist, then they tried to tack on 2% to the APR because it's more work for them. After walking out Wednesday night, then returning on Thursday afternoon, they had the docs prepared, but had never asked me the mileage limits I wanted. Of course they chose the 15,000 mile option, which results in a lower balloon (or residual) and higher monthly payments. When I asked the finance manager to change it, he said he didn't know how to make the change and that it would have to wait until the next day. I was not about to go home empty-handed a second time and then return a third time for them to get the paperwork the way I wanted it. Maybe I can call Ford Credit and get them to change the loan or I might refinance with my credit union now that I got the $1000 incentive. He also told me he was surprised they agreed to the terms I expected because they could have sold the car for more if I walked. Lovely!
• Tech setup - they have no level 2 chargers for now, until their renovations are complete. My car had 46% charge on Wednesday and was up to 68% Thursday (and only because I asked the sales rep to charge it the night before. The delivery tech was very nice and seemed to know his way around Sync4, but rushed through a bunch of initial settings, then insisted on trying several times when the Set up PAAK option wouldn't appear on my phone. Then he almost bailed when we asked about setting up a second profile for my wife.
• My satisfaction score:
  • Sales Rep - she gets a 5 out of 5. Very helpful, always responded to my e-mails within a couple hours, and doing her best for us given the process she has to follow.
  • Delivery - I'll give him 4 out of 5. Knows the system, but not the best at teaching a new user and wasted too much time when PAAK wasn't popping up.
  • Finance - 0 out of 5 - everything I said up above and on the Grumpy thread. These guys insisted on delivering the traditional dealership experience. Hated it! They won't let you walk away feeling like you got the deal you expected. Just because of them, next time I may limit my choices to companies like Polestar, Rivian, Lucid, and Tesla or buy used from Vroom, CarMax, or Carvana.
  • The car - Looks great! Once I figure out all the settings and features, I think I will love it!

First, congratulations on getting your. Separately some comments on your key points.

• The slow-walk — I don't know what it is but dealers seem to always do this. In my case it took 3 separate efforts. (1) shortly before my car arrived, I spent 4 hours there going over the numbers, getting them to recognize the correct VLT amount, remove charges for dealer add-ons that I didn't want, figuring Options with correct mileage (I chose 7,500), reminding them of the $500 deposit, and realizing that they weren't going to make a reasonable trade-in offer. (2) on Friday after the car arrived, I spent 3 hours applying for Credit over the phone and filling out a bunch of online forms. (3) The following Tuesday, actually picking the car up and getting 2nd FOB configured. That took 3 hours and a bunch of additional forms.
• Financing — I made the finance guy get on the phone with Ford Credit and figure out correct way to set up Options the way I wanted. Frankly, I am skeptical that in 8+ months, yours is the first request for Options financing. I have to think they were lying to you.
• Tech setup — I told my sales guy that I'll figure out the setup myself. So while I was doing that, he took a bunch of pics of my car. I am pretty sure that I saved a couple of hours by configuring the car myself. That was in March and my car was one of the first at that dealer. I would expect that by now they can at least handle basic setup.

The dealer also slow-walked filing registration paperwork. They didn't submit it until 3 weeks after delivery.

Sponsored

 

[Anvesh11]

Here’s a review from another San Tan Ford customer buying an EV from them which I believe is a Mach-E. His experience is extremely similar to mine.

https://goo.gl/maps/CmVTWZQaNgb7JryK9

 

[crushinit]

I just put in my online order for a Star White w/ Ice appearance Premium AWD SR this week with Bell Ford. Been emailing with them (Erick or someone replying as Erick) saying all the right things so far: no ADM above MSRP, X plan accepted, all dealer add ons optional. Guess we will see, hoping to hear of anyone getting theirs through Bell.

 

[BMT1071]

I just put in my online order for a Star White w/ Ice appearance Premium AWD SR this week with Bell Ford. Been emailing with them (Erick or someone replying as Erick) saying all the right things so far: no ADM above MSRP, X plan accepted, all dealer add ons optional. Guess we will see, hoping to hear of anyone getting theirs through Bell.

I definitely don't remember reading anything bad about Bell. You didn't end up at one of the B-H dealers so you should be ok.

 

[DYohn]

If you are in the East Valley, we had a very positive experience with Robert Horne Ford in Apache Junction. Professional and friendly, no pressure up-sales, no ADM nor attempts to add any other fees, and a professional and friendly service department. I am happy I went through them with my on-line order.

 

[crushinit]

What's a BH dealer?

 

[shutterbug]

What's a BH dealer?

Berkshire Hathaway. In Phoenix it's Camelback Ford. A few more in the Valley.
https://www.berkshirehathawayautomotive.com

 

[Anvesh11]

Reading through another thread on setting up PAAK and FordPass at delivery reminded me about San Tan’s goof up with this aspect as well.

The delivery rep tried setting up FordPass with me and it did not complete. Then, I had to suggest restarting the Sync screen and also provide instructions on how to do it.
Then, he asked if I could come back the next day for for the second keyfob as it was locked inside some delivery room and he did not have the key to it.

I called the next day, asked to keep the second keyfob and user manual ready, and went to pick it up.
The delivery manager went in, came back after 10mins and said there is no second key fob or user manual provided by Ford for Mach-Es.
I showed him the SSM regarding second keyfobs and also reminded him that his colleague told me about my second keyfob being in the delivery room the previous night.
He went inside and came back with another person from sales/ finance who started spouting BS about only GTs getting second keyfobs. Once I refuted that, he started saying orders placed before July not getting a second keyfob. I showed that any Mach-E manufactured after July 6th should have the second key fob included in the car dash along with the user manual.
He kept insisting that nothing else came with the car and in that moment, the delivery manager found a bag that had my second key fob and manual!
I thanked the delivery manager, threw a dirty look to the sales/ finance guy and walked out immediately without another word.

Another incident that really upset me during the actual delivery/ purchase. At one point, the sales guy started threatening me that they have no obligation to sell me the vehicle and asked me to leave.

Buying a car this way sucks!

 

[RonOinAZ]

It's worth consider the sales tax rate where the dealer is located. The City component in some AZ communities is significant. (GF is General Fund)

 

[PhoenixGuy]

Berkshire Hathaway. In Phoenix it's Camelback Ford. A few more in the Valley.
https://www.berkshirehathawayautomotive.com

In the valley, Camelback, Peoria and Surprise Ford stores are all berkshire hathaway.

 

[mdpmdp]

Reading a mixed bag of reviews on SanTan here and just wanted to add my 2c. I ordered a 2022 on 10/1 and almost cancelled/raised hell to get it transferred to Earnhardt. Got multiple different answers from multiple different people all the way up to the "General Sales Manager". Everything from "We charge ADM on orders" to "We don't charge ADM on orders but we do charge add-ons" to "We won't charge you add-ons but we don't take X-Plan" to finally "We won't do ADM, add-ons, and we will take X-Plan". Expecting to be frustrated at delivery time, but I mostly chose SanTan because it seemed like they were getting a steady flow of Mach-E deliveries compared to Earnhardt (based on website inventory).

A friend ordered from Earnhardt instead and received a very simple response "We don't charge ADM and we will take X-Plan" which is why I was raising hell to switch my order to Earnhardt.

 

[az-paco]

Reading a mixed bag of reviews on SanTan here and just wanted to add my 2c. I ordered a 2022 on 10/1 and almost cancelled/raised hell to get it transferred to Earnhardt. Got multiple different answers from multiple different people all the way up to the "General Sales Manager". Everything from "We charge ADM on orders" to "We don't charge ADM on orders but we do charge add-ons" to "We won't charge you add-ons but we don't take X-Plan" to finally "We won't do ADM, add-ons, and we will take X-Plan". Expecting to be frustrated at delivery time, but I mostly chose SanTan because it seemed like they were getting a steady flow of Mach-E deliveries compared to Earnhardt (based on website inventory).

Important to note that most dealers do not list the customer-ordered cars on the web. San Tan and Chapman are the two most notable exceptions in the valley. This gives the false impression that they are selling dozens more MMEs than other dealers.
Also, I did not order with San Tan because the salesman I spoke to said there would be ADM, add-ons, and no X-plan if I ordered from them.

A friend ordered from Earnhardt instead and received a very simple response "We don't charge ADM and we will take X-Plan" which is why I was raising hell to switch my order to Earnhardt.

I got mine at Earnhardt. They were good about X-Plan and no add-ons, but their finance managers did not want to do Ford Options and made it very stressful and difficult for me. In the end, I have my awesome car and I have my Ford Options loan.

 

[mdpmdp]

Also, I did not order with San Tan because the salesman I spoke to said there would be ADM, add-ons, and no X-plan if I ordered from them.

This is where the frustration came from, because I had gone to test drive the one they had back in August when they had 2 on the lot, but they were not the color I wanted and had ADM. Sales guy told me I could order and wait for no ADM or add-ons. Of course when I wanted to get it in writing, everything changed and I went through 3 different salesmen, the general sales manager, and finally the "Mach-E Specialist".

Edit to add the original post where I noted this headache: https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...dm-mach-e-ford-dealers.95/page-26#post-252666

 

[mdpmdp]

Just an update to my experience at SanTan - as noted elsewhere on the forums, the online MSRP has been adjusted for most orders even if they were ordered prior to the increase. While I'm more or less OK paying the extra MSRP (although I certainly don't want to), the page also shows a new $1,299 "difference from MSRP" markup that was not there previously.

Reached out to the "Mach-E Specialist" that got me the email confirming X-Plan, no ADM, no dealer adds if unwanted - no response yet (email last week, voicemail yesterday) which is pretty frustrating, but I'm hoping that this is just an artifact of the price increase. I do see that if I build a new order via SanTan, the $1,299 is listed (as opposed to $0 at Earnhardt), but I have a screenshot from my order previously that showed a $0 line item there.

 

[OctopusWrangler]

I want to add my experience with Sanderson Ford in Glendale as I just picked up my MME Friday night. In short, it was fantastic. I worked with Dallas and he was great to work with and everything went off without a hitch.

Besides the ridiculous wait, and infuriating delays on Ford's end (ordered 05/15, submitted to Ford late August, original prod date of 11/08 then 11/15 then 11/22 then into prod 11/28 then produced 12/06, original delivery of 1/15-01/22 then 01/22-01/28 then 01/24-01/30 then 01/29-02/04 then showing up out of the blue on 01/27 and picked up 01/28) the experience was really was painless and easy. They honored Xplan, no dealer addons, no markups, car was delivered with all stickers and dirt from transportation still on it as requested, no finance manager shenanigans. I was able to do everything online ahead of time so there really wasn't much to do in person when I got there.

I highly recommend Sanderson Ford and Dallas there. I'm looking forward to working with him on my Bronco order (day 1 reservation but I'm waiting for the dual top option which might be MY23 if I don't get selected for a Bronco Raptor first instead.)

Sponsored