Dealer ownership change, and now my order says "Sorry to hit the brakes"

[mattalbrecht]

Ordered 10/1/2021 from Gillis Auto Center in Shelton, WA. Car was scheduled for 9/5/22 build date. Received a VIN and a "Built" email on 9/12/22. It's on the way to the dealership. Yay. Finally.

But Gillis Auto Center is now known as Bruce Titus Ford Shelton. I got an email saying my $500 deposit was being refunded, which it was on 9/9/22.

Now when I look at my "Reservations and Orders" on Ford's site, I get the following message:

SORRY TO HIT THE BRAKES
We apologize for the inconvenience, but Bruce Titus Ford Shelton won't be taking online orders at this time. Though no need to worry - your Order number of 11255852 for your Mustang Mach-E PREMIUM is still good. This just means you should contact your dealer directly to place your order to get you back in the fast lane.

I'm worried that the dealer is about to pull something. I called and told my salesperson that I was expecting a price protection of about $2k. When I ordered it, it was $57,935, and the sticker now shows $59,610 ($2k minus $325 for active park assist). So in fact, I suppose I should hope for $57,710. When I asked him about it, he said he had no idea about price protection but if I was owed anything they'd send a check.

My fear, of course, is the dealer is going to want to change his tone on selling it to me at MSRP a year ago ("Well, ownership changed and the new owners have a strict $10k over MSRP policy") and by refunding my deposit, they've done something to my order, thus eliminating my price protection or potentially cancelling my order so they can sell it on the lot.

I'm a bit paranoid, but I've been waiting a year and it's on a train somewhere and it feels so close.

Should I be worried?

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[mattalbrecht]

One other thing. When I go to the Ford Vehicle Order Tracking site, it says "Invalid Order Number."

My VIN is 3FMTK3SU0NMA46579 and order number is 11255852; maybe someone here has a better lookup method than Ford's site.

 

[bbulkow]

Do you have this "price protection" in writing? If so, who do you have it with, the dealer or the owners? Is the dealership changing hands, or the dealership is going broke and replaced with a new dealership?

If you don't have it in writing, it doesn't exist. If you do have it in writing, and it's with the dealership, I think they still have the upper hand, because can't they cancel any order at any time? Or if not, you would seem to have leverage.

 

[Mach-Lee]

They cancelled your order, no more price protection.

 

[StillWaitingForMachE]

That's really sleazy if they're really not going to honor existing orders from before the change of ownership.

 

[ElectricChicago]

One other thing. When I go to the Ford Vehicle Order Tracking site, it says "Invalid Order Number."

My VIN is 3FMTK3SU0NMA46579 and order number is 11255852; maybe someone here has a better lookup method than Ford's site.

One thing is that the order number on that page is not your reservation number. I had to get my order number, which was only 4 digits, from the chat system.

Good luck.

 

[ChuckA]

When I ordered my ‘21 Premium in Feb ‘21, my dealer changed hands in May ‘21. I got the same messages as you did on Ford.com, got a refund, and had no visibility for about a week.

My order transferred without issue to the new dealer and so did the x-plan price. There was no price protection necessary when my deal closed on 08/31/21.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

See what sort of answers your given by the new owners. If they’re not be above board write the Customer Experience Officers at Ford. Among other things.

https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/ford/

 

[RickMachE]

Many people have posted that this happened when ownership changes. Totally normal.

 

[Jax_GT]

Under item number on your window sticker (box below Rail or Convoy) the four digits after the hyphen is the four digit order number. Google ford order tracking and use those four plus your vin. That page gives you more info, albeit not much, but it should still show there.

 

[Jax_GT]

There are also a few people on the forums with VVR or some other access that might show more details.

 

[moche]

One other thing. When I go to the Ford Vehicle Order Tracking site, it says "Invalid Order Number."

My VIN is 3FMTK3SU0NMA46579 and order number is 11255852; maybe someone here has a better lookup method than Ford's site.

Try order 7717. I was able to find your order online showing Ordered On 10/07/2021

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