Is there any Mach E training for dealer personnel?

[JMCH]

We have a reservation for a Mach E GT & the order completion went live yesterday. We’ve been very excitedly awaiting this day for a year and a half, but now I’m considering canceling. I didn’t expect some kind of magical red carpet experience, but I’m disappointed and concerned. During the online order completion process, I had questions about options, so I called the dealership I’d chosen when making the reservation. The representative (who had made contact repeatedly since we reserved) knows less about the car than I do... including options specifics. Hanging up with her, I initiated an online chat thru the Ford website, which was an unpleasant experience in its own right. They suggested I call Ford Marketing, and gave me the number to call. Twenty five minutes of boilerplate customer service drivel later, I believed I had been able to discern that Ford provides no Mach E specific training to its frontline personnel. The representative couldn’t come up with an “EV certified” dealership within several hundred miles of me (Las Vegas), and I had to look up the name & address of each dealership for the representative to look it up in their system. In disbelief, I called back to our designated point of contact person. Somewhat sheepishly, she admitted to her own frustration with Ford’s lack of attention to anything resembling real education for their frontline representatives (overall... not just regarding the Mach E). Aside from the simple reality that what I experienced today was very poor customer service, the concerning aspect is that the problem clearly lies with Ford, not their personnel or that of the dealerships. So, my fellow Mach E fans, my questions for you are... why would I give over $64k to a company that doesn’t even train their customer contact personnel when I have other competent options? What sort of product support can I really expect? Have the dealerships’ mechanics gotten any training? I now know that Ford has a customer interface tech deficit... can I realistically expect better from the car itself? Are we entirely on our own as to getting to know our first Ford and our first EV? What does my experience today portend for the experience of owning a Ford? Please help me believe again!!

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[ARK]

From what people have posted on here, it seems very hit or miss with how knowledgeable any given dealer is. It seems Ford does make a lot of material available to the dealers but it is ultimately on the dealer how much they take Ford up on it and have their people learn about the Mach-E.

I would recommend using the forum to see which dealers in your region people have had good, great, or bad experiences with and order accordingly.

For the vehicle itself, aside from a few issues that some people are experiencing, I think the average buyer is on balance extremely pleased with their purchase, I certainly am. Also it’s worth noting that many dealers also have Ford Courtesy Transportation Program Mach-Es that they might let you borrow for an extended test drive before ordering.

 

[THXDIAL]

Do Auto Dealerships Have A Future In Post-Pandemic, Electric Car Market? (insideevs.com)

 

[Jimrpa]

To answer your question: yes, Ford DOES provide dealers Mustang Mach E specific training. I’m not sure if that training is on-going, but my salesperson did undergo that training (it was all virtual) prior to vehicle availability at the dealerships. Ford Options is a different thing. I’m not sure how much training dealer finance people (or sales people have received on it). I wasn’t going to use it, so I didn’t care, but during the purchase process, I asked the business manager if he was aware of Ford Options and he told me he hadn’t heard of it. I suggested he go through the on-line purchase process to see what I was talking about. My experience was that the dealership personnel are enthusiastic about the vehicle but are still trying to get used to “the new way things will work.”

 

[ChasingCoral]

Yes, there is required training and investment (mostly two L2 chargers) for dealers to be EV-sales certified and additional training and investment to be EV-repair certified. If you search the Forum thread titles for "training" you will find the threads on the training, including copies of the materials.

Mustang Mach-E Info From Dealers Training
Mach-e dealership training site
Ford EV and Mach-E training for dealers - intro video

 

[smp]

I don't know any specifics on what Salesperson training is available, but when I returned to my Dealer for additional charging the day after I purchased, I got familiar with the Service folks. The Service-person assigned to me was not yet trained, but quickly asked and found the two Service-people who had been recently trained and I got my few questions answered quickly.

Seems to me that Mach-E training for Dealership people exists, and is trickling out - albeit perhaps more slowly that I would have expected.

smp

 

[JMCH]

Thank you all very much! Good info. Based on our misgivings, we shopped for comparable vehicles (other than Tesla... wife hates ‘em). We ended up test driving a used E-Tron and, finally, a Mach E. While the E-Tron is an impressive piece of German engineering, it looks like we’re gonna stick with the plan of waiting for the Mach E GT. Fingers crossed that Ford does a much better job at post-purchase product support than they have with pre-purchase.

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