Ford gives dealers 2 months to accept new rules or stop selling EVs.

[ridgebackpilot]

Hmm...

Ars Technica: Ford gives dealers 2 months to accept new rules or stop selling EVs.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/0...ic-vehicles-must-have-transparent-set-prices/

Great to see Ford cracking down on unscrupulous dealerships and their obscene markups of EVs.

Personally, I don't care if a certain percentage of dealers refuse to go along with Ford's new rules and get EV certified. Perhaps the new requirements will help weed out those unscrupulous dealers who are just selling EVs to make a quick buck anyway.

Soon, it sounds as if all Ford EV dealers will be compelled to act like my go-to dealer if they want to continue selling EVs. I'm certain The Ford Store Morgan Hill will become an Elite EV dealership under the new rules. Their business practices including long-term customer commitment and policy of never charging dealer markup have been industry-leading for years.

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[Kamuelaflyer]

Great to see Ford cracking down on unscrupulous dealerships and their obscene markups of EVs.

Personally, I don't care if a certain percentage of dealers refuse to go along with Ford's new rules and get EV certified. Perhaps the new requirements will help weed out those unscrupulous dealers who are just selling EVs to make a quick buck anyway.

Soon, it sounds as if all Ford EV dealers will be compelled to act like my go-to dealer if they want to continue selling EVs. I'm certain The Ford Store Morgan Hill will become an Elite EV dealership under the new rules. Their business practices including long-term customer commitment and policy of never charging dealer markup have been industry-leading for years.

Sounds nice. But, the fact is the dealer profit per mach-e is minuscule. You won't pay the bills selling MME's.

 

[DennisD]

Sounds nice. But, the fact is the dealer profit per mach-e is minuscule. You won't pay the bills selling MME's.

If you go back a year or so, one could easily find a new car on the lot and purchase it for around $300 over what the Dealership had in it. In other words, the profit on most new car purchases were next to nothing and that has changed considerably.

The Dealerships today, are making much more than they ever have on new car sales. They don't keep an inventory on the lot like they did in the past as well.

Dealerships bread and butter never were the sales of new cars but rather add ons along with the Service and Parts Department and used car sales. That is where they "rape" the consumer many times.

Now if a Dealership doesn't want to invest in an expensive charger, that is their choice. I personally think that most if not quite all will decide to invest in this. It is a no brainer.

After all, many of them have had to change the front of their building (costing close to a million or more) for nothing more than aesthetics directed from Ford, Toyota etc.. They complied.

This is just a small drop of water in a very large bucket when all things are considered.

No worries, the "bills" will be paid......................by the consumer in the end.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

If you go back a year or so, one could easily find a new car on the lot and purchase it for around $300 over what the Dealership had in it. In other words, the profit on most new car purchases were next to nothing and that has changed considerably.

The Dealerships today, are making much more than they ever have on new car sales. They don't keep an inventory on the lot like they did in the past as well.

Dealerships bread and butter never were the sales of new cars but rather add ons along with the Service and Parts Department and used car sales. That is where they "rape" the consumer many times.

Now if a Dealership doesn't want to invest in an expensive charger, that is their choice. I personally think that most if not quite all will decide to invest in this. It is a no brainer.

After all, many of them have had to change the front of their building (costing close to a million or more) for nothing more than aesthetics directed from Ford, Toyota etc.. They complied.

This is just a small drop of water in a very large bucket when all things are considered.

No worries, the "bills" will be paid......................by the consumer in the end.

We shall see.

 

[Billyk24]

And how long was he "parked" at a 350 DC fast charger? Again, half-truth. Even if he could have added a 100KW, still would have been below $50. You have to pay for the "speed".

Let me see. $2.00 for hookup. .49 cents per kWh $15.00 parking fee for Rivian Jim who drives an RT1. Battery pack is labeled 135kWh. Read it yourself.

 

[Logal727]

If they were that bad, then yes: good riddance to them.

I hope the dealer that sold me mine does buy-in, but I don't know that they will. They're a small family owned business and I don't think they'll be able to afford it.

These kind of buy-ins aren't regularly paid in cash, are they? I thought Ford or someone else offers financing or some sort of loan to dealerships so they can opt-in

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

These kind of buy-ins aren't regularly paid in cash, are they? I thought Ford or someone else offers financing or some sort of loan to dealerships so they can opt-in

Well beyond our security clearance level.

 

[sotek2345]

Sounds nice. But, the fact is the dealer profit per mach-e is minuscule. You won't pay the bills selling MME's.

For the Lighting, dealer profit is 10% of MSRP if they follow all of the rules - so anywhere from $4k to $9k (closer to $5 k to $10k for 2023s). Seems like a heck of a lot of profit for maybe an hour or 2 of work on the PDI since they are all coming in custom ordered.

 

[Fixbear]

If you go back a year or so, one could easily find a new car on the lot and purchase it for around $300 over what the Dealership had in it. In other words, the profit on most new car purchases were next to nothing and that has changed considerably.

The Dealerships today, are making much more than they ever have on new car sales. They don't keep an inventory on the lot like they did in the past as well.

Dealerships bread and butter never were the sales of new cars but rather add ons along with the Service and Parts Department and used car sales. That is where they "rape" the consumer many times.

Now if a Dealership doesn't want to invest in an expensive charger, that is their choice. I personally think that most if not quite all will decide to invest in this. It is a no brainer.

After all, many of them have had to change the front of their building (costing close to a million or more) for nothing more than aesthetics directed from Ford, Toyota etc.. They complied.

This is just a small drop of water in a very large bucket when all things are considered.

No worries, the "bills" will be paid......................by the consumer in the end.

Let's not forget that there is already a wholesale cost well below the MSRP that the dealer pays. That can get eaten up with floor plan interest. That was the encouragement to mark down the selling price. And when a model doesn't move, they also get a further discount. With the supply chain shortage that seems to have gone away. You'll notice that the small dealers have empty new lots. Yet the mega dealers are getting cars. So FMC is kind of generating this to increase profits.

 

[DennisD]

Let's not forget that there is already a wholesale cost well below the MSRP that the dealer pays. That can get eaten up with floor plan interest. That was the encouragement to mark down the selling price. And when a model doesn't move, they also get a further discount. With the supply chain shortage that seems to have gone away. You'll notice that the small dealers have empty new lots. Yet the mega dealers are getting cars. So FMC is kind of generating this to increase profits.

My nephew is the GM at a relatively small Dealership that has close to no cars on the lot. I asked him how they are weathering the storm and he said that they make more now than they used to. Almost every car is an ordered car and it doesn't sit on the lot but rather straight to the consumer. There is very little overhead carry over cost and they are making 1000's more than they use to on every new car sold.

In other words, they are killing it. I fail to understand the sympathy that many on this forum are giving to the Dealerships? If they want to spread the sympathy, it should be directed more towards the buyer IMO.

Now if the lots were full and the economy went into a Recession, I can almost (emphasize the almost) feel just a tad bit sorry. Whether we are actually in a Recession or not is hard to tell. The vehicles are still selling strong.

As of right now, the vehicles (especially the electric) are flying off the lots with very little effort and time consumed. They are selling like hotcakes. The Dealerships (if they are wise), will make the investment to continue to sell ALL vehicles they can get a hold of. They see the writing on the wall and know they will need to anyways.

 

[Fixbear]

My nephew is the GM at a relatively small Dealership that has close to no cars on the lot. I asked him how they are weathering the storm and he said that they make more now than they used to. Almost every car is an ordered car and it doesn't sit on the lot but rather straight to the consumer. There is very little overhead carry over cost and they are making 1000's more than they use to on every new car sold.

In other words, they are killing it. I fail to understand the sympathy that many on this forum are giving to the Dealerships? If they want to spread the sympathy, it should be directed more towards the buyer IMO.

Now if the lots were full and the economy went into a Recession, I can almost (emphasize the almost) feel just a tad bit sorry. Whether we are actually in a Recession or not is hard to tell. The vehicles are still selling strong.

As of right now, the vehicles (especially the electric) are flying off the lots with very little effort and time consumed. They are selling like hotcakes. The Dealerships (if they are wise), will make the investment to continue to sell ALL vehicles they can get a hold of. They see the writing on the wall and know they will need to anyways.

I agree with that. I tried to buy a Ionic5 in July. Found one in Utica and came out there to close the purchase. Then they wouldn't sell it to me because someone offered them a bunch over MSRP. They instead returned my $500. 200-mile trip for nothing.

 

[timbop]

I fail to understand the sympathy that many on this forum are giving to the Dealerships? If they want to spread the sympathy, it should be directed more towards the buyer IMO.

In my case it has nothing to do with sympathy for dealers; it has to do with pragmatism. There are 2 driving concerns in capitalism: how much am I making now, and how much can I make in the future if I do something different? If that second one compels enough dealers NOT to sell or service Ford BEVs then existing BEV buyers are screwed - both on maintenance and future resale. If Ford can't sell enough BEVs or have to suddenly roll out a network of service and sales centers, that money and logistical drain also will screw existing Ford BEV owners somewhere.

So my concern is in fact for current and future BEV buyers, but expressed in terms relative to the potential cause of difficulty for those individuals.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

In my case it has nothing to do with sympathy for dealers; it has to do with pragmatism. There are 2 driving concerns in capitalism: how much am I making now, and how much can I make in the future if I do something different? If that second one compels enough dealers NOT to sell or service Ford BEVs then existing BEV buyers are screwed - both on maintenance and future resale. If Ford can't sell enough BEVs or have to suddenly roll out a network of service and sales centers, that money and logistical drain also will screw existing Ford BEV owners somewhere.

So my concern is in fact for current and future BEV buyers, but expressed in terms relative to the potential cause of difficulty for those individuals.

Well put.

 

[DennisD]

In my case it has nothing to do with sympathy for dealers; it has to do with pragmatism. There are 2 driving concerns in capitalism: how much am I making now, and how much can I make in the future if I do something different? If that second one compels enough dealers NOT to sell or service Ford BEVs then existing BEV buyers are screwed - both on maintenance and future resale. If Ford can't sell enough BEVs or have to suddenly roll out a network of service and sales centers, that money and logistical drain also will screw existing Ford BEV owners somewhere.

So my concern is in fact for current and future BEV buyers, but expressed in terms relative to the potential cause of difficulty for those individuals.

There is only one driving concern to keep/staying in business.

Stay competitive.

Now while a few of them will elect to not go into the deal that Ford is offering, I think it would be suicide to continue with a model that will be going instinct in the relative near future.

This will be like what happened a few years back when GM and others were thinning the herd. The Dealerships that were small and were not selling many cars had their new Dealership License to sell taken away. Many of them are used car Dealerships now while some folded shop altogether.

This is almost the exact situation but rather with a choice if you will.

Stay selling new cars or say goodbye to your new car franchise if you don't invest now.

It is not that complicated.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

It is not that complicated.

You live in an area with dealer competition don’t you? Some of the smaller dealers that may not be able to swing the cash for an elite classification, allowing more than a handful of BEVs per year, aren’t in those areas. Failure to have contingencies for those areas will backfire. There are at least 5 manufacturers I can think of right offhand that either prohibit sales here or mandate an acknowledgement that there is no service, warranty or otherwise, here. And GM had to break all their new rules just to have a Chevrolet presence here. Do we want Ford to join those ranks for their BEVs?

This is a very large country, one size does not fit all.

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