Dealership experience - How was yours?

[KeyWestEViking]

I had already done my due diligence on the car (well, as much as can be expected over a year before the first deliveries). I placed my reservation with a dealer that was well over an hour from me because I hate the two closest dealers to me. When I converter to an order, the dealer was very good and communicated throughout the process. I got more communication from the dealer than I did from Ford Corporate (even though a lot of it was “I am sorry, but Ford isn’t giving us visibility in this”). The actual purchase was painless and pretty quick (I was their first Ford Options purchase so they had to research that for about 15 minutes). ??

Unfortunately, I chose one of the two dealers that I hate for my service. Let’s just say that the service advisor I had was well below sub-par. He never returned phone calls or texts asking for status. When I finally went to the dealership to ask For status his response was “Huh, your car was done yesterday.” ??

I appreciate the feedback. Sounds like the sales side went well but service was lackluster. We have had a few advisors like that over the years and they did not last long. Have you tried any of the other advisors? Hopefully you have a better experience in the future!

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[KeyWestEViking]

My selling dealer is no longer around, but they did not seem to have much experience with selling EVs. I did place my order online and never talked to a sales person until I was trying to get information on delivery. I definitely got more information from the various tracking links posted here.

Service has been mostly misses. I took my car to the selling dealer, and they seemed to do a decent job. At least the service advisor took calls and responded fairly quickly.

Unfortunately, that was the best service experience I have had. The experiences that I have had most recently have been severely lacking. The worst case was when the dealer took close to 45 minutes to answer the phone (I wish I was exaggerating!), kept the car for 2 days by telling me that the updates were slow to download, only to find out that my car had been sitting in the front lot and had not even been looked at! That was frustrating, to say the least.

I think I would have been ok if the dealer had simply said their one EV tech (I wish they had more) wouldn't be able to get to it for a couple days, then they could have at least set expectations. It was the lying that turned me off, especially since that is such a low bar.

I would love to have you export your plans/model to the US!

Thanks for your feedback. I have heard a lot of service centers doing that and it is very frustrating. Honesty is always the best policy. We have our appointment coordinators schedule EV repairs on a set schedule to make sure one of our EV techs are free. Hopefully you have a better experience next time!

 

[HuntingPudel]

I appreciate the feedback. Sounds like the sales side went well but service was lackluster. We have had a few advisors like that over the years and they did not last long. Have you tried any of the other advisors? Hopefully you have a better experience in the future!

It’s just the dealership. I purchased from a different dealer. I am considering taking my car to a different dealer for service that is farther away but has a much better reputation. ??

 

[KeyWestEViking]

With my service experience, the dealer where I had to leave my car for repairs had no loaners (mine stopped charging while travelling), and the dealer that I purchased from had no loaners.

Getting a rental from Ford was also very frustrating. I finally received a rental 2 weeks into the 16 weeks total that I did not have my car. The lemon law seemed to make this happen. I also had the rental company asking me to get in touch with Ford and the dealer so that they could get paid since neither would return their calls.

Having a "fleet" of loaners, whether MME's or old Ford ICE's, would have made my service experience MUCH better.

That is very frustrating. We are a very high volume dealer and the multiple loaners have been both a boon and a source of frustration. We generally reserve them for case such as yours but it also leads to some guests thinking they get one every time they visit. When a rental is involved, we use a rental place that is almost specifically there for us and we have worked with them for years. Our warranty admin is also great at making sure Ford of Canada is involved and responsive
Hope you have a more pleasant experience in the future

 

[LeanneL]

I have now bought 2 from the same dealership/sales person in Richmond BC. The experience was pretty decent, the knowledge gaps were huge. When picking up my first one, I basically taught them a ton, including that Bluecruise WAS available in Canada. The 2nd one, I just jumped in a did the car reset/setup etc and told them to not bother sending out the "setup/delivery" specialist as last time I had to teach them.

That being said, they have been very accommodating and worked hard to get me a great price on my 2 trade ins as well as a great deal on the vehicles as well.

 

[Dear_OP]

Recurring theme of poor dealerships is not just Ford however.
We wandered into a Tesla store out of frustration after visiting VW (ID4). VW salesperson read off the window sticker to us. My wife even declined the test drive after. She prodded me to visit the nearby Tesla store which I reluctantly agreed.

The experience in the Tesla sales centre while not perfect is a playbook for seamless engagement. No pressure. Staff (not sales person. no commission)ticked off a few boxes on the ipad and just handed us the card key. Gave us 5-10mins features walk-through and said "Enjoy the car. There's a highway nearby you should check out." Later I discussed with the staff about dealership experience. He simply said they rather visitors to spend more time on the Tesla than themselves. Let the car sell itself. That moment... my perspective of Tesla has changed.

We live in a highly connected world. The old days of dealership song and dance is a waste of time. With EVs, I feel that the traditional dealership model has to be completely overhauled or removed altogether. I understand this is counter-intuitive and even would affect your livelihood, but recognize automotive consumerism is evolving.

 

[KeyWestEViking]

I have now bought 2 from the same dealership/sales person in Richmond BC. The experience was pretty decent, the knowledge gaps were huge. When picking up my first one, I basically taught them a ton, including that Bluecruise WAS available in Canada. The 2nd one, I just jumped in a did the car reset/setup etc and told them to not bother sending out the "setup/delivery" specialist as last time I had to teach them.

That being said, they have been very accommodating and worked hard to get me a great price on my 2 trade ins as well as a great deal on the vehicles as well.

Thanks for the feedback. We have had a few experiences where the knowledge was lacking on our end but we have done as much as we can to train and teach our staff. I am pleased to hear they were accommodating with your trade in and got you a great deal!

 

[KeyWestEViking]

Recurring theme of poor dealerships is not just Ford however.
We wandered into a Tesla store out of frustration after visiting VW (ID4). VW salesperson read off the window sticker to us. My wife even declined the test drive after. She prodded me to visit the nearby Tesla store which I reluctantly agreed.

The experience in the Tesla sales centre while not perfect is a playbook for seamless engagement. No pressure. Staff (not sales person. no commission)ticked off a few boxes on the ipad and just handed us the card key. Gave us 5-10mins features walk-through and said "Enjoy the car. There's a highway nearby you should check out." Later I discussed with the staff about dealership experience. He simply said they rather visitors to spend more time on the Tesla than themselves. Let the car sell itself. That moment... my perspective of Tesla has changed.

We live in a highly connected world. The old days of dealership song and dance is a waste of time. With EVs, I feel that the traditional dealership model has to be completely overhauled or removed altogether. I understand this is counter-intuitive and even would affect your livelihood, but recognize automotive consumerism is evolving.

I couldn't agree more. I do get that the best way to be sold on an EV is to drive it, but we recognize there needs to be some support from the dealer as well. If you come back with questions or concerns it's nice to know you have someone to connect with. We try our best to evolve with the automotive standard but do realize it can be a rocky road sometimes. Again, I appreciate the honest feedback, it's been very helpful!

 

[rmins]

My dealership doesn't know anything about EVs. They charge 130$ (USD) for maintenance and recommend it every 5k miles. It's painful. I had to specifically request only a tire rotation and inspection for the 10k maintenance.

 

[KeyWestEViking]

My dealership doesn't know anything about EVs. They charge 130$ (USD) for maintenance and recommend it every 5k miles. It's painful. I had to specifically request only a tire rotation and inspection for the 10k maintenance.

Thank you for the feedback. I find that very odd. Our ICE vehicle maintenance is about that (in $CAD) but that includes parts, labour, and taxes. Our EV package is $69.95 (again $CAD) and is just labour. We do recommend it once every 8K kilometers or every 6 months but that's just due to poor road surfaces and getting the most out of your tires. We even tailor the maintenance schedule to each customer depending on their driving habits.
Hopefully your dealer improves their process soon!

 

[Jman]

All depends of the salesperson knowledge. I was fortunate of dealing with a person able to discuss the differences between an EV and an ICE, the problems (and solutions) affecting previous versions of the Mach e, and the “extra” costs to be expected as part of a EV ownership.

 

[MellowJohnny]

Good Morning MME friends,
I am looking to get some real world data for how people's experience's were at your Dealership. This could be anything from ordering, delivery, shopping on the lot, service visits, buying/installing accessories, or calling in asking a question.
I work at a dealer in Canada and am a part of the dedicated EV Team. I am hoping to use your experiences and feedback to better support our Guests, both those looking to purchase and those who already have.
We have seen a huge uptake in EV ownership in the last year or two and would love any feedback you have! I'd also love to be able to use real world examples to debunk EV myths and try and sway the naysayers.

Thanks in advance and stay charged!

Sooooo....all told, fail.

Buying experience was decent, but I knew more than the sales guy did, which was almost par for the course. Where they really excelled was stepping up to the plate with Ford Canada when my original order was damaged in transit - CAD$20k worth of damage. Details here.

Since then service has been a bit of a joke - from a service advisor reviewing my "oil change" when I brought her in for the 15k EV service to my original dealership outright refusing to try and troubleshoot a L2 charging issue. You can read all about that one here. Gave me every excuse from "it's your wiring" to "it's your charger" to "there's no standards, it could be anything". Total joke.

Second dealership was not much better, but sort of tried. Ultimately they did not have an L2 charger powerful enough to reproduce what I was seeing (L2 fails at anything over 32A) and blamed it on an OTA from four months prior, even though the issue had just started. At least they gave me a Lightning loaner for a few days.

I'm still waiting for a dealership to actually be able to diagnose the issue and have the right equipment to test.

So overall, still unimpressed. I honestly think they have no idea where to even start. I'll try yet another dealership recommended by a YouTuber so we'll see.

 

[thekat03]

I went with my dealership because it had staff bring a couple EVs to a local drive electric week event, on a day off. They know and are happy to sell EVs, while the nearest dealership clearly was reluctant, and actually doesn't sell them anymore.

 

[MrLoganRoss]

This is a really interesting question. Specifically there is the issue of the service experience for EVs, and then there is the issue of the service experience generally. My last car was a Volvo (which is now my daughter’s). The reality is that over the last three years the Service experience at Volvo has been absolute torture. So I think it is an industry wide problem. I believe that having service centers is very important, and I also want to continue to support the existing car companies. They just need to learn how to change. It sounds like your dealership is on the right track. I only hope you can influence others to do the same .

 

[BadgerGreg]

My first Mach E purchase (April 2021) was ok. I taught the salesperson everything about the car, and he made the experience easy (and I got the X Plan pricing). All documents were signed electronically, and I just showed up at the dealership to get the key and drive away.

My second Mach E purchase (September 2023) was ok. We had the car identified on an incoming train, and he reserved it for me for pickup the following week when it arrived. The salesperson was better prepared with the user interface and helped my wife set up her preferences. The guy selling the add-ons and insurance was a bit surly (because I didn't purchase any of it), and he made a few comments about EVs being fire hazards and unreliable. I just chuckled and made my way towards the exit with my new keys.

In both cases, I was treated well (at least by the salesperson), and the transactions were quick. If I learned anything, it proved that the dealership model is antiquated and should go the way of the dinosaurs.

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