Dealer sold my reserved car

[Mache65]

After reading many comments, I guess is a time to CA consumer protection to step in with a clear guide lines if dealers are violating or not

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[TonyaE]

Yup.

And the fine print on Ford.com also spells out that it’s not a contract and doesn’t guarantee delivery, pricing etc.

Agreed, I hope when Ford reopens online ordering again it’s revised. Website should provide more transparency from dealers on pricing extras for the buyer.

 

[dml105]

Offer, acceptance and consideration are required for a contract to exist. When you provide a deposit on the Ford site, there is no offer or acceptance with the dealer. The site is run by Ford.

I still don't understand why people think that matters. If a Charles buys Betty's obligations on a contract made between Abe and Betty, Charles is obligated to do the same terms that Betty had.

So if I contract with Ford, and a dealer takes over the contract, it simply isn't true that the dealer doesn't have to abide by the contract.

 

[Mach1E]

I still don't understand why people think that matters. If a Charles buys Betty's obligations on a contract made between Abe and Betty, Charles is obligated to do the same terms that Betty had.

So if I contract with Ford, and a dealer takes over the contract, it simply isn't true that the dealer doesn't have to abide by the contract.

But you never had a contract with Ford!

Again, it’s spelled out in the fine print on the website.

Something along the lines of “this is not an agreement to purchase a vehicle, nor does it guarantee delivery, final pricing will be determined by the dealership..”

not an exact quote but I remember reading this when I made my reservation and deposit.

And even with the dealership, it’s NON-BINDING on both sides. Either party can back out at any time for any reason.

Dealers pull this crap all the time unfortunately and so do buyers (back out at the last minute). There’s good reason each time doesn’t turn into a lawsuit.

Now if you have a signed agreement, that’s different. They have to sell at agreed price (with terms and conditions of course, you can’t just let the car sit for weeks without buying). And if you back out, you lose your deposit (depending on the State you live in).

 

[RickMachE]

Contract? Contract? What contract?

 

[Mach1E]

Contract? Contract? What contract?

The one you signed that says “contract” at the top.

 

[Mache65]

Contract? Contract? What contract?

Price quoted by Ford should be considered a final price. Can not go up but can go down in my opinion.

 

[Mike G]

Sharing my experience about a local shady dealership (Putnam Ford of San Mateo, CA).

I ordered a Mustang Mach-E online on 8/17/21, placed a $500 deposit, and assigned the car to a local dealership. I was told on 4/26/22 afternoon that the car had arrived. The salesperson and manager told me it would be fine to pick it up on 4/29 afternoon. They said they would NOT honor Ford's price protection policy, despite telling me months earlier that they would try to, so I would need to pay $2000 more than the initial order price from 2021. I asked if I could sign paperwork on 4/29 and take receipt of the car, and the salesperson and manager said that would be fine. Instead, I was sent a contract via email on 4/27 which did not include my initial deposit. They did not provide a corrected contract when asked. I did not sign this. I spoke with the owner on the morning of 4/29 who threatened to cancel my order, but also said he would have his staff look into the situation and reach out to me. When I did not hear back I started calling the dealership to let them know I was coming over, but nobody would pick up the phone. I was finally able to reach someone in the afternoon, when I was told that nobody could handle the paperwork that day, and also the car was no longer on the lot. I was told on 4/30 they had actually sold the car to someone else on 4/29 in the morning.

I know these cars are in high demand but this feels totally crazy to me. They wanted to charge me more than the expected price. They threatened to sell the car if I didn't pick it up ASAP, and ended up selling it before 72 hours had elapsed, without my consent or knowledge. They also ghosted me so that they could sell the car to someone else. The deposit and reservation and order seem totally worthless.

The owner doesn't seem to think he did anything wrong, and he is currently offering to sell me a future vehicle with usual dealer markup (LOL)

I left some bad reviews online, and I opened a complaint with Ford corporate but they said they could take up to 30 days to get a response from the dealer.

The only thing I can say other than what has already been said is....if somebody had told me my new MME had arrived...I would have been down there in about 20 mins to do the paperwork in person.

I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm sorry this is happening to others as well, as I'm sure it must be. The market is crazy, but as my salesman told me when I placed my order for my Lightning, charging way over MSRP is a double edged sword. It's very likely that you'll lose a repeat customer if you treat them that way. And he wants me and all the other local folks he deals with to come back to him. That's not to say he doesn't stick it to out-of-state or internet orders or brokers, cause he says he does and has no problems with that.

Best of luck getting this sorted out or finding another MME. They are great cars!

Mike

 

[yngwenli]

I still don't understand why people think that matters. If a Charles buys Betty's obligations on a contract made between Abe and Betty, Charles is obligated to do the same terms that Betty had.

So if I contract with Ford, and a dealer takes over the contract, it simply isn't true that the dealer doesn't have to abide by the contract.

That's really the problem. Folks look at the price and line items and assume that's final, but pretty much every line item had a footnote and when you click on the note, you see the usual disclaimer/fineprint that all pricing wasn't set/agreed upon at all.

I remember even the deposit is not a guaranteed refund and I asked my dealer before my order if that will be refunded if I choose to cancel/not buy.

 

[SnBGC]

The only thing I can say other than what has already been said is....if somebody had told me my new MME had arrived...I would have been down there in about 20 mins to do the paperwork in person.

I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm sorry this is happening to others as well, as I'm sure it must be. The market is crazy, but as my salesman told me when I placed my order for my Lightning, charging way over MSRP is a double edged sword. It's very likely that you'll lose a repeat customer if you treat them that way. And he wants me and all the other local folks he deals with to come back to him. That's not to say he doesn't stick it to out-of-state or internet orders or brokers, cause he says he does and has no problems with that.

Best of luck getting this sorted out or finding another MME. They are great cars!

Mike

I got a call from my dealer yesterday asking why I cancelled my reservation for the Lightning, backed out of the purchase for the eTransit stock order and wasn't interested in the Maverick (that I was asking about for my daughter).

My answer was simple. ADM fees. He apologized and said the owner is requiring additional mark up on all vehicles due to limited supply and then said I should have contacted him because he would have worked with me on the fees since I am also a Fleet customer and buy 3 to 5 trucks per year.

"Correction. I WAS a Fleet customer. The owner of the dealership should treat every customer the same irregardless of how many vehicles they buy. I specifically DID NOT call in any special favors just so I could see how average customers were treated. Now I know."

The reality is that we are at the mercy of the dealership model for companies like Ford, GM etc because of the supply shortage. In any other time, those companies could leverage that as a value added benefit but unfortunately it has turned into a liability for many consumers. I am now looking at sales models from companies like Polestar and Rivian because price protection still exists with those companies. I am also doing the same on the Fleet side. I am skipping the dealer and buying directly from the body builder and that is working out better for me so far.

Kinda curious what the market will look like in 5 years time. Shady dealers are going to have a hard time pretty soon.

 

[scubauke]

Depending how much energy you want to put in, I would get friends and family to picket the dealership. This will get local press coverage which no dealership would want. I would contact the local newspaper consumer reporter and hopefully they would write an article. No dealership wants bad press, they all want 5 star reviews. Put pressure on the dealership and expose their poor business practices any way you can.

 

[Avelli]

While you are saying things that are true, they’re completely off-topic.

We are talking about the economics of the auto industry. Any points made about the economics of other industries don’t really help the discussion (other than to disprove the use of the hyperbolic word “something”).

Economics of the auto industry is horrible, as it is not a free economy, but rather controlled at the state level, thanks to the Auto Dealer lobby (to wit, in this case it would be the CNCDA). The laws are setup to benefit the "small" dealer first and foremost, with the Manufacturers and Consumers getting shafted.

The offending dealer in this case is part of the Putnam Auto Group, who sell 18 brands across 17 different dealerships in the Bay Area. Not exactly the definition of "small"

 

[Pyrophilus]

I actually created an account to see what the ADM looks like.

My wife wants to get an EV, she really likes the Mach-E. I called area ford dealers and they ALL have $10,000 markups.

I used EV markup tracking site to locate a Ford dealer in Berlin, CT. I called them and said that I found their dealer from the EV Markup tracking site, and they are listed as one that has $0mark ups.

The person said, "yeah... the Mach-E premiums... Those three in stock are the only ones we will have for like... 8 months, so corporate decided to tack on $5000 mark up on them... But we usually don't have markups on other cars."

My wife is also interested in the Kia EV6, and while that also has crazy markups, I actually managed to find a bunch of dealers (really far away) that on the phone said will honor the MSRP and no additional hidden costs.

One Kia salesperson said it best. She said, "I know the market is crazy, and honestly I cannot go below MSRP. but that being said, we also don't want to get greedy because if we hit our customers with thousands over MSRP, when this price bubble bursts, and it will... They are never going to come back to us. And the ones we turn away from the mark ups, they wouldn't even think of us, so while it's nice to make a ton of money now, we are in it for the long term".

I just with other dealers saw it that way.

The ones that are trying to charge $10,000 ADM, I will NEVER go to them ever again.
And I am sure that when the prices and shortages get fixed, the ones that did pay the crazy ADM will feel like their dealer ripped them off, so they will probably go to a different dealer.

Anyway, I thought that I may find a thread on this forum of a deler in NY/NJ/CT area that does NOT charge ADM, but I think at this point a Mach-E is not going to happen for my wife.

Good luck to everyone who is in the market for a Mach-E.

 

[mkhuffman]

I actually created an account to see what the ADM looks like.

My wife wants to get an EV, she really likes the Mach-E. I called area ford dealers and they ALL have $10,000 markups.

I used EV markup tracking site to locate a Ford dealer in Berlin, CT. I called them and said that I found their dealer from the EV Markup tracking site, and they are listed as one that has $0mark ups.

The person said, "yeah... the Mach-E premiums... Those three in stock are the only ones we will have for like... 8 months, so corporate decided to tack on $5000 mark up on them... But we usually don't have markups on other cars."

My wife is also interested in the Kia EV6, and while that also has crazy markups, I actually managed to find a bunch of dealers (really far away) that on the phone said will honor the MSRP and no additional hidden costs.

One Kia salesperson said it best. She said, "I know the market is crazy, and honestly I cannot go below MSRP. but that being said, we also don't want to get greedy because if we hit our customers with thousands over MSRP, when this price bubble bursts, and it will... They are never going to come back to us. And the ones we turn away from the mark ups, they wouldn't even think of us, so while it's nice to make a ton of money now, we are in it for the long term".

I just with other dealers saw it that way.

The ones that are trying to charge $10,000 ADM, I will NEVER go to them ever again.
And I am sure that when the prices and shortages get fixed, the ones that did pay the crazy ADM will feel like their dealer ripped them off, so they will probably go to a different dealer.

Anyway, I thought that I may find a thread on this forum of a deler in NY/NJ/CT area that does NOT charge ADM, but I think at this point a Mach-E is not going to happen for my wife.

Good luck to everyone who is in the market for a Mach-E.

I got my GT from Mahwah Ford in NJ at X-Plan pricing. Now that was last year, and it was an order not stock, but maybe they will help you. https://www.mahwahford.com/

 

[jwraider]

Morgan Hill Ford sold me one at MSRP I’d try them.

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