Dealer sold my reserved car

Maquis

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I signed a New Vehicle Buyer’s Order with my dealership that specified out the door pricing. I also received a Vehicle Order Summary that showed Msrp, invoice and x-plan pricing as well as my order number. All this was done on Oct 2nd, my order date, at a time when Ford didn’t have x-plan pricing on 2022s yet (we used 2021 pricing). Then on Oct 21st, x-plan pricing was released, so I asked the dealer to update all pricing info and we both signed the same set of papers.

10 days ago, I picked up my vehicle. Zero discussion about price protection, x-plan, active park assist discount, incentives, etc…because I had a legally binding contract.

I only provide the above so others know that dealers who say we can’t look up info, we can’t provide OTD pricing until VIN is known, you will get paid when we get paid, etc, etc are dishonest and are lying to you. Honest dealers will provide you with a contract that spells out the terms of the deal. If they are unwilling to do it, walk. I was going to order online like many did. Don’t order online. Go to a store, sign on paper and get a copy for your records. If you want to order from your iPhone, buy from Tesla, not Ford, GM or other traditional car companies.
I ordered my MME online and everything went perfectly. Not all dealers are sleazeballs.
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You mean the online order? That I have, but nothing with wet signature as I would think that is once you actually go to do the final purchase. That final purchase is what they gave me the runaround while they sold it.
Hate to be the one to tell you, but the on line process is not an order. It is an order request. Ford sends the request to a dealer but until you get the full deal (the out the door price) from the dealer, you don't have anything. Of course they can verbally promise whatever they want, and it is true that contracts can be verbal, but you have no proof if you don't have it in writing.

You can start the process on line with the request, but then you have to finish the process directly with the dealer. You are buying the car from the dealer, not Ford.

As Steve said in the prior post, if they won't agree to give you a signed order, don't buy from that dealer. There is only one reason they refuse to do that - it gives them the option to change the deal later. Mostly I think it is just so they can add stuff like fabric protection, because they know it is easier to sell that when the car arrives and you are getting ready to pick it up. But sometimes it is because they might want to sell your car to someone else. Or jack up the price with ADM at the last minute.
 

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I ordered my MME online and everything went perfectly. Not all dealers are sleazeballs.
Others have reported that also, but it isn't worth the risk IMO. It isn't hard to get a signed order from the dealer and then you are protected with a real contract.
 

Maquis

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Others have reported that also, but it isn't worth the risk IMO. It isn't hard to get a signed order from the dealer and then you are protected with a real contract.
If you don’t know or already have a relationship with the dealer, I agree. I will confidently repeat my MME process when it (if it ever) comes time to order my Lightning.
 

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I ordered two identical GTPEs from different dealers because I saw enough stories here and wanted optionally in case something went bad with the dealer or the transport of the car. So long as the deposits are refundable it doesn’t make sense not to do this…
 


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If you don’t know or already have a relationship with the dealer, I agree. I will confidently repeat my MME process when it (if it ever) comes time to order my Lightning.
No such thing as relationship in business. This is a commercial transaction where having a clear set of terms acknowledged and agreed to by both party is essential. If you enjoy taking risks, that’s your choice. But to ensure you don’t end up writing a thread titled: “dealer sold my reserved car”, you ought to protect yourself with a legally binding contract.

Btw, 70% of mme sales are conquest. Many of us are stepping foot in a Ford store for the first time....probably the last too.
 

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I signed a New Vehicle Buyer’s Order with my dealership that specified out the door pricing. I also received a Vehicle Order Summary that showed Msrp, invoice and x-plan pricing as well as my order number. All this was done on Oct 2nd, my order date, at a time when Ford didn’t have x-plan pricing on 2022s yet (we used 2021 pricing). Then on Oct 21st, x-plan pricing was released, so I asked the dealer to update all pricing info and we both signed the same set of papers.

10 days ago, I picked up my vehicle. Zero discussion about price protection, x-plan, active park assist discount, incentives, etc…because I had a legally binding contract.

I only provide the above so others know that dealers who say we can’t look up info, we can’t provide OTD pricing until VIN is known, you will get paid when we get paid, etc, etc are dishonest and are lying to you. Honest dealers will provide you with a contract that spells out the terms of the deal. If they are unwilling to do it, walk. I was going to order online like many did. Don’t order online. Go to a store, sign on paper and get a copy for your records. If you want to order from your iPhone, buy from Tesla, not Ford, GM or other traditional car companies.
Very helpful. Question, I assume with this approach you are also obliged to purchase the vehicle upon arrival or you can still back out if you want/need?
 

Maquis

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No such thing as relationship in business. This is a commercial transaction where having a clear set of terms acknowledged and agreed to by both party is essential. If you enjoy taking risks, that’s your choice. But to ensure you don’t end up writing a thread titled: “dealer sold my reserved car”, you ought to protect yourself with a legally binding contract.

Btw, 70% of mme sales are conquest. Many of us are stepping foot in a Ford store for the first time....probably the last too.
I know people treat each other quite poorly in Chicago - I lived there for 3 long years! 😂
 

Mach1E

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Very helpful. Question, I assume with this approach you are also obliged to purchase the vehicle upon arrival or you can still back out if you want/need?
It’s a non-binding agreement. The only thing agreed upon is price……. If you buy it.

At most you lose a deposit. But more likely, the dealer wants you to back out so will give deposit back because they can sell to another buyer.

My dealer gave me X plan, no deposit. Said when it comes in if I like it I buy it, if not they’d sell to someone else. I bought it.
 
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Same dealership, same thing happened this week. Ordered in Nov. 2021, placed the deposit, car arrived second week of July. Had told the dealership I was going to be out of town and will be picking up once I was back. Came back called the dealer the next day as I had received the notification from Ford that it had been delivered. They gave me excuses about the software update, shor staffed. I went in person to get an explanation. Called again a few days later to get an update. Same excuse about the software update said it would take at most two weeks.
Then over the weekend I go online to the Ford profile, and see the notification that the vehicle status had changed to sold (the same they I had spoken to the dealer and they said there would be a 2 week delay at most). I called this week and they have been avoiding me, no returned calls. Followed up with Ford and they confirmed the VIN number is under someone else's name, confirming it was sold to someone else. The dealer has yet to refund my deposit. These are despicable/disgusting practices. I will write negative reviews and tell people to avoid this dealership at all cost!

Sorry. Wish I could say I was surprised. They are supposed to refund the deposit in order to sell the car to someone else. If you can file a chargeback on your card I would do so. At the very least you can email Ford corporate to try and get the deposit back.

The same scumbag Putnam family owns most of the car dealerships in San Mateo. I would avoid buying any vehicles from them if at all possible.

Ford corporate's response to the whole thing was useless. They said they would contact regional distributors to see if anyone had a car to sell me. I never heard back from them. I asked if I could place another order and be bumped up in the line. They said no. It's unclear why they even bothered to reach out to me at all.
 

GreaseMonkey

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I know people treat each other quite poorly in Chicago - I lived there for 3 long years! 😂
The horror stories are not coming out of Chicago. Out of ~30 people in our build group, best three experiences were from Chicago and NW Indiana. Worst I’ve heard is that one suburban Chicago dealer is refusing to service EVs, so the owner went to another of the 51 Ford dealers.
 

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Pretty bad on the dealership. def. have it in writing. I just don't like I'm paying dealer 1K for processing fee when I did most of the work ordering and got the financing done.
 

Guss-E 2021

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Write up everything with as much detail as you can and send it to every EV/Auto website and blog you can, especially the Tesla-stan ones. Blow the story up.

As much as I love my Mach-E and appreciate Ford going all-in on EVs, they need the bad publicity to make them start cleaning up these messes the dealerships are making for them. This is not the first time this has happened and they're not going to start taking serious action until a wider audience becomes aware of this being a possibility on a car someone waited 6-14 months for.

Reading a story like this before I placed my order would have made me completely reconsider my order.
To add to this, right now, it is still very difficult to get ANY BEVs. But from what I'm reading, that is likely to change by next summer. Even VW has finally started building and delivering BEVs in the US. Once other, viable BEV options become more plentiful, the BS the OP just dealt with will simply send buyers to other brands. I am apparently very fortunate my limited interactions with my dealership have had zero drama. My sympathies to the OP.
 

Maquis

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The horror stories are not coming out of Chicago. Out of ~30 people in our build group, best three experiences were from Chicago and NW Indiana. Worst I’ve heard is that one suburban Chicago dealer is refusing to service EVs, so the owner went to another of the 51 Ford dealers.
I know….my comment was out of line. Of all dealers in my town, the Ford dealer is the only one I would trust on a handshake.
 

yngwenli

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To add to this, right now, it is still very difficult to get ANY BEVs. But from what I'm reading, that is likely to change by next summer. Even VW has finally started building and delivering BEVs in the US. Once other, viable BEV options become more plentiful, the BS the OP just dealt with will simply send buyers to other brands. I am apparently very fortunate my limited interactions with my dealership have had zero drama. My sympathies to the OP.

I'm of the mindset that things won't be better anytime soon. EV demand is crazy high and it'll take much longer to ramp everything up. Even VW building them here won't appease the demand since I feel we're at that inflection point where demand multiplies now since charging has improved greatly and EVs will be sold out I feel for the forseeable future. Range being 200+ for pretty much everything coming out will appeal to anyone who has more than 1 vehicle.

Also, I think outside of the Bolt, EV prices will be higher in 2023 than 2022. When you have that much pricing power, waiting doesn't help with very high inflationary pressures now across the board.
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