Dealer showed up at my door (2 hours away) said they need to take my MachE for recall, or they will "Deactivate It" - WTF

[hybrid2bev]

reached out to @Ford here 6 hours ago, no response whatsoever

I don't believe ford entering the legal sale into their internal proprietary system has any bearing whatsoever on ownership rights - but rather solely warranty initiation on their end and the resultant derelict actions of a dealer. banks don't check ford's internal systems before financing - nor would they have any access to thereof.

It’s @Ford Motor Company. Not @ Ford.

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[MarkP213]

I never for even a moment said the $40k/day was real, but the $21k fine is real. People were saying that the dealership can't be fined, but the stop sale clearly said they would be. But no, nobody is being fined $40k/day unless the government had made multiple attempts to get the dealer to fix this over the 7 months and maybe decided to put some other fine on them, but I doubt it.

The whole ordeal is crazy!

 

[AKgrampy]

reached out to @Ford here 6 hours ago, no response whatsoever

I don't believe ford entering the legal sale into their internal proprietary system has any bearing whatsoever on ownership rights - but rather solely warranty initiation on their end and the resultant derelict actions of a dealer. banks don't check ford's internal systems before financing - nor would they have any access to thereof.

But they would expect the title.

 

[MachEr]

I'd tell the dealer you'll bring it in for half the fine price. $10k check to you and you'll deliver it to the service lane in the am. Hold it hostage. Let it work out to your advantage. You cannot get in Trouble at all for this, only the dealer can.

 

[Regularmache]

Now if we can get this kind of service for the HVJB I'm all in!

 

[Mike G]

But they would expect the title.

There's a 90 day clock before anybody at the bank starts asking questions....

 

[scoopman]

dealership said they are getting fined $40,000 a day from Ford for not getting my car recall remedied. NHTSA shows no open recalls, Ford Pass shows no open recalls - but supposedly my car is unsafe to drive. I have asked for the recall be put in writing which they (Preston Ford, DE) said they will have tomorrow and bring me a loaner so that they can take my car. Has anyone had a similar experience? BTW, I had the OTA successful update for the high voltage connector done weeks ago.

tell them to go f themselves and if they show up again, you’ll call the police.

 

[Jax_GT]

There's a 90 day clock before anybody at the bank starts asking questions....

He’s had it for 7 months.

Also, it appears that it’s a real issue with the seatbelt but the dealer is just handling it poorly.

 

[mjs020294]

The dealer is obviously scared of a multi-million dollar law suit if someone was injured due to the potentially faulty seat belts.

 

[OON7]

Tell them you want a nice new HVJB installed for free for your troubles.

 

[AKgrampy]

There's a 90 day clock before anybody at the bank starts asking questions....

I found out that as long as it was not financed with Ford Credit then there will not be an issue with the title as the DMV process and Ford recording the sale are separate paths. Eventually though the DMV info will need to match the sales info or a flag will be raised. Probably what happened in this case. Sloppy administration no matter what.

 

[Madfry]

dealership said they are getting fined $40,000 a day from Ford for not getting my car recall remedied. NHTSA shows no open recalls, Ford Pass shows no open recalls - but supposedly my car is unsafe to drive. I have asked for the recall be put in writing which they (Preston Ford, DE) said they will have tomorrow and bring me a loaner so that they can take my car. Has anyone had a similar experience? BTW, I had the OTA successful update for the high voltage connector done weeks ago.

Ford MME's are having recall issues in the past has caused scammers to pull a fast one. If you have a ring camera or something to that effect I'd take the pictures of them to the dealership and confirm they are employees or just call the Police if they respond in your area to theft by deception and then put of a full-on thread out on here to make sure that all members are aware.

I saw a MME Select for sale and they were asking for 75k for the thing so if they were to take your car they would make bank.

 

[P. T. Magoo]

This whole thread is fascinating. So many examples of the ball being dropped it's looking like a game of European Football.

FWIW, I financed mine through the credit union where I've been a member for decades. Within about 30 days they were real interested in owning a copy of the title with them listed as the lean holder.

 

[tannerk89]

Please tell the dealer you will be assessing an ACM (Added Customer Markup) of $15k for how in demand your car is from the dealer

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

What an interesting read.

There is an innocent party in this saga — the OP.

Second, there’s a party that is lying about this— the dealer. They’re not being fined $40k per day. They know that. They’re trying to make their mistake your concern and ultimately your problem. It’s not.

Third, there’s an incompetent party here — the dealer. They sold a car with a hold on it. Strike one. They didn’t do a thing about it for 7 months. Strike two. Either they didn’t have any procedure to prevent this from happening or they ignored the procedure. Strike three. The salesperson who made the sale and apparently the sales manager are still employed despite facing a serious fine. Strike 4. (It’s not baseball apparently).

They need to stop threatening the OP as well (deactivating a car). The OP did not cause this. The dealer did. The OP also needs an apology from the GM and something tangible for the trouble they willfully put him through.

And …

The car needs to be fixed.

I would ask if they could come and do this as a mobile repair, it’s simple enough. That way you don’t have to hand it over.

THIS.

If the dealer can’t do mobile repairs, then this car needs to be their sole priority in the shop. Nothing gets done until this car is repaired in accordance with the recall and returned to you. And they need to give you their Mach-e (clean and shiny) demo car during its absence.

Also, have someone you know from your dealer pick the car up if they don’t repair on site. Your salesman (who should have been fired), or the sales manager (who should have been fired). They should show up with the aforementioned loaner electric car (I’d accept their loaner Lightning btw), a written apology and a free extended warranty or a very hefty, activated Visa gift card.

Finally @pbgear, unless you live on an island like me with exactly one dealer, you need to find a new dealer after this fiasco. I’d say these people are borderline incompetent, but I’d be too kind. Run, don’t walk away from them after this.

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