I'm giving up

[Iknownothing]

Thanjs for the info! I'm in Colorado. I've been looking at dealers within 500 miles of me. RI would be a bit of a trip. Shipping is an option.

Tl;dr: I was able to work with my dealer (Sil-Terhar in Broomfield) to get a used car for several months while I waited. The process was excellent and gave me a lot more flexibility than a lease. It might be worth talking with them if you really need a temp solution.

Details: We got hit by a drunk driver who totaled our car in February. I decided I wanted the Mach-E as a replacement but knew the timeline would be “summer” to fall. I looked at different options like leasing, those car “subscriptions” like Audi and BMW offer, etc. but wasn’t I happy with the various cost/time commitments. I called Sil-Terhar and just told them my situation and asked what options they could offer. They found me a reasonable used car they felt would hold its value and made the process super simple; it took like 3 days. I haven’t gotten delivery of the Mach-e yet but they’ve asked me a few times if I’d be willing to sell the car back early because of their low inventory. It’s worked out great for us so far. YMMV but my interactions with Sil-Terhar have been nothing but great.

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[Rfehl62]

I was in a minor car accident (just a fender bender, everyone is OK, both cars are drivable) that has made my search for a new car much more urgent. I no longer want to wait the months it will take for my ordered Mach-E to arrive. So I've been calling and emailing dealerships to see if they have any abandoned customer orders or dealer allotments for sale. I've run into so many issues that as of today, for my own sanity, I've decided to stop looking entirely. I'm not going to cancel my order. I want a Mach-E so much. But I can't deal with the poor customer service, incompetence, and downright unethical behavior I'm encountering at Ford dealerships over and over. I'm usually a pretty calm and chill person but this has broken me. I haven't decided what I'm going to do. There's still the GT that is allegedly arriving in October that they're only asking $2000 above msrp for. The original person dropped out. But it is out of state and doesn't have everything I want.

A word of advice, you should look into buying a cash car and driving it for a few months. With the used car market the way it is you are likely to get more than what you paid for it when it is time to trade. Also, I am unsure if you are aware but, Ford created a new pricing structure with the Mach-E. Essentially the MSRP is the invoice and Ford created a sort of "kick back" but, it is difficult to get the full amount and this is resulting in higher ADMs than normal for such a rare car. I am sorry that you're in such a bad situation. Hope this info helps.

 

[Caramel]

Well this behavior is not limited to Ford dealerships unfortunately.

This is the first time I've purchased a car from Ford and while Honda, Mazda, VW and Toyota had their good and bad points, I've never had to deal with this much craziness. And supply chain issues doesn't make someone say "well ma'am since you want a blue car, I've got a nice big blue F150 in stock."

 

[Caramel]

Tl;dr: I was able to work with my dealer (Sil-Terhar in Broomfield) to get a used car for several months while I waited. The process was excellent and gave me a lot more flexibility than a lease. It might be worth talking with them if you really need a temp solution.

Details: We got hit by a drunk driver who totaled our car in February. I decided I wanted the Mach-E as a replacement but knew the timeline would be “summer” to fall. I looked at different options like leasing, those car “subscriptions” like Audi and BMW offer, etc. but wasn’t I happy with the various cost/time commitments. I called Sil-Terhar and just told them my situation and asked what options they could offer. They found me a reasonable used car they felt would hold its value and made the process super simple; it took like 3 days. I haven’t gotten delivery of the Mach-e yet but they’ve asked me a few times if I’d be willing to sell the car back early because of their low inventory. It’s worked out great for us so far. YMMV but my interactions with Sil-Terhar have been nothing but great.

I'm so sorry you got hit by a drunk driver! How awful! Sil Terhar is actually who my order is with. They've been great so far still looking at an eta of April. While my car hasn't been totalled, and it's drivable, I'm more than ready to get into a new (safer) one.

 

[NmbrsNvrLie]

I’m in Dallas but about to be trading in my Grabber Blue First Edition when my Cyber Orange GT arrives next week. Happy to sell it for what I would bet on trade (which is trade in plus sales tax savings in TX). Let me know if interested.

 

[yngwenli]

I don't have a problem with paying $2k over msrp for a GT. I've seen $11k over msrp for a base select. The main issues with the one I mentioned are it doesn't have the prep package for blue cruise and it's on chip hold and it's out of state.

I didn't even mention paying over msrp as one of my frustrations so I'm not sure why people are focusing on that? I want to give these dealers my money. I just want to be treated professionally and honestly in the process by people who, if they don't know what they're talking about, are willing to admit it.

Maybe this is just me, but remember you are buying a Ford. They sell $10k cars and what, $60k cars/trucks? I'm guessing, but I assume they don't have the highest hiring standards?

If you want great service or something special, I'd suggest going much much higher in scale...like a Porsche (or maybe Rivian/Lucid where the minimum to play is 60-70k+, Tesla has crap service as well since they sell cheap EVs too):
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/com...nd-with-the-best-customer-service/ar-BB1euti5

Ford is near the bottom of that list as well.

Ford (and practically any normal dealer) 'aint' the place for professionalism nor honestly (look at all the crap with ADM and posts here).

I think nearly ALL regular car dealerships have negative comments with professionalism, honesty, etc...It's the dealership model and they are independent frachisees. Ford doesn't own them and dealers will do what's in their best interest (which IMO, is going away eventually when EVs are more mainstream). I think Norway just hit 85% EVs in sales now from that Elek site article.

I look at buying a car as simply a 1 time transaction and move on with my life. I assume I and almost everyone here knows more about the Mach-e than almost all the salepeople. I've noticed this for a lot of things in society actually. When someone does that job just to put food on the table, they are not going to spend tons of time researching it since they have sales commissions to worry about (I've been in sales).

You didn't say what really ticked you off, but just have to look for hopefully, 1 dealer that you can get things in writing from and order, wait, buy and move on.

 

[generaltso]

They sell $10k cars

In what country?

 

[SnBGC]

I was in a minor car accident (just a fender bender, everyone is OK, both cars are drivable) that has made my search for a new car much more urgent. I no longer want to wait the months it will take for my ordered Mach-E to arrive. So I've been calling and emailing dealerships to see if they have any abandoned customer orders or dealer allotments for sale. I've run into so many issues that as of today, for my own sanity, I've decided to stop looking entirely. I'm not going to cancel my order. I want a Mach-E so much. But I can't deal with the poor customer service, incompetence, and downright unethical behavior I'm encountering at Ford dealerships over and over. I'm usually a pretty calm and chill person but this has broken me. I havent decided what I'm going to do. There's still the GT that is allegedly arriving in October that they're only asking $2000 above msrp for. The original person dropped out. But it is out of state and doesn't have everything I want.

Good thinking. It isn't worth the stress. Sometimes stepping away for a bit does wonders and next thing you know a good opportunity will present itself. If so, jump on it and enjoy. If not, then it's not the end of the world either.

 

[DYohn]

This is why I specified my car on line from Ford and chose the dealership for delivery after evaluating the several Ford dealers in my area. I chose the one with the best reputation, and I paid only exactly the on-line price (MSRP.)

I ordered and waited eight months for my car, but that is what I expected when buying a brand new high-demand vehicle.

All cars are at premium prices right now, including used. If you can't find a MME on a lot and must have a vehicle now, and you want electric or close to it, buy a lease returned Tesla or a used PHEV like a Chevy Volt or Hyundai Ioniq. Then trade it in on the MME when it's ready. You'll lose money of course but if you need something right now, you really don't have much MME selection.

 

[Jimrpa]

I happened to be talking to my dealer a few weeks ago and he told me that all premiums and all GTs are spoken for and any abandoned orders are being immediately snapped up. He said the only thing dealers have “in inventory” are Selects. Apparently, those aren’t that popular (or ford screwed up the product mix).

 

[Caramel]

Typing this out is going to do no favors for my blood pressure lol but here are just a few of the frustrations I've dealt with. Also, many of these things are, taken as a single instance, not a big deal. But I've been running into to these on a daily basis for coming on to a month now.

• called a dealership today that had a Premium on their website (under inventory - usually understood to mean stock on hand LOL) that hadn't been there a couple of days ago. I've been checking regularly. I asked if it was available. Salesperson said they would go find out and put me on hold. Salesperson came back and said they weren't sure. I said, "well, you said you were going to find out. What did you find out?" He said, "Well, the window sticker says special order, and that usually means someone pre-ordered it and we sold it already and they just haven't picked up yet, but I don't really know." I said, "okay, so it might not be sold already?" He said, "yeah, I think it might be available, but I don't know." I said, "I'll buy it sight unseen if it's available. Can you find out?" He said, "Yeah of course! I'll call you right back!" After several hours pass, I give him a call and he says, "Yeah, it was already sold." All of that is a minor frustration. But then he starts to lecture me in a very patronizing tone that "yeah, ma'am, that's a very popular car, all of our Mach-E's are special orders, we never have cars available for purchase directly" and so on, when clearly he himself did not know that when we spoke earlier.
• Alluded to this already, but I called a dealership that had a used grabber blue first edition for sale. The salesperson said it wasn't available, but since I liked blue, he could sell me another really pretty blue vehicle.
• Emailed a dealership about a Mach-E I saw on autotrader, asked it it was available. Received 3 emails from 3 different people in reply, none of which answered whether or not the Mach-E was available. I replied to each, repeating my question. No response from anyone. Received an email a few days later from someone claiming to be their "internet specialist," asking if there were any questions I had that hand't already been answered. I replied with, "Yes, actually, I wanted to know if you have any Mach-E's available or coming in soon." No reply for several days until I received another email from the same internet specialist asking if there was anyway to "win my business." I replied that she hadn't responded to my previous email. She responded with, "I'm sorry to hear that. I had no idea. I will let my manager know."
• Had a dealership claim they had changed the oil on a used Mach-E. (Now I admit that was kinda funny.)
• Came across a dealership just today listing $60,000 as the MSRP for a RWD/standard battery select with no other additions than the tech/comfort package. And yes, it said MSRP, not "asking price" or "dealer price". They also wanted thousands more for dealer-installed upgrades like "anti-theft registration," making the car close to $70K all in. I don't mind theoretically paying some ADM, but that was crazy. And if a dealer wants to add ADM, don't claim in writing it's MSRP when it's not.
• A salesperson emailed me maybe a week ago saying that they had a white premium onsite with a reasonable ADM. I immediately emailed and called saying I was very interested. I emailed and called again the next day. I sent one final email before writing it off. I got an email just today saying, "I don't want to pester you, but I haven't received any response from you." Maybe my 3 separate email responses got lost somehow, but what about my voicemails? I called again and spoke to a different person, but the car is already sold.

Again, this is just a small sampling of what I've been running in to. Note that I am willing to pay ADM if it's not insane.

 

[Caramel]

Good thinking. It isn't worth the stress. Sometimes stepping away for a bit does wonders and next thing you know a good opportunity will present itself. If so, jump on it and enjoy. If not, then it's not the end of the world either.

Thank you! Iwant to give you a big hug if that's not too weird lol.

 

[Caramel]

I happened to be talking to my dealer a few weeks ago and he told me that all premiums and all GTs are spoken for and any abandoned orders are being immediately snapped up. He said the only thing dealers have “in inventory” are Selects. Apparently, those aren’t that popular (or ford screwed up the product mix).

Interesting! That matches what I am seeing here too.

 

[deadduck]

Patience is a virtue, although I get why it's not as much of one in your case.

I've been sitting on a decision for months and once I pull the trigger it'll be months to get the vehicle even if were to decide on a more generic vehicle than a MME. I'd really like to do it now, because my trade is elevated and the MME will be at sticker, just like it will be a year from now but no matter what it's going to be a few months because the best alternatives are still months out.

I've kind of written off the Korean's at this point although I expect to see Ioniq's, in some form, in December. I was hoping the NX would come through but looking at the specs I don't believe I'll fit (not enough headroom). Thing is, I don't think the Lexus will show up any sooner for a PHEV.

The one big negative about the MME is I don't really trust the local Ford dealers. They might be OK, but I'm just not certain about any of them. The one I trust is about an hour away, which will make getting the car a little bit of a pain when it arrives.

But, things are what they are right now.

 

[SnBGC]

Thank you! Iwant to give you a big hug if that's not too weird lol.

Not weird. Most all of us here have gone though some wild ups and downs. My car was built late Nov 2020 and was almost nearly in my hands but fate stepped in and delayed it for months. I eventually received it in late Feb. Some days it looked it would never happen so I understand your frustration.

And I am one of the lucky ones. Others here have experienced more anxiety and despair. I think one person actually had the dealer sell their ordered car to someone else. Crazy market right now. I hope you find something that you like and works for you. Hopefully it will be a Mach-E. Crossing fingers.

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