Price Protection

[RickMachE]

The price protection process stinks.

Either my dealer is incompetent or Ford as a corporation is unable to communicate policy effectively to the dealerships.

I had to fight for a couple hours just to convince the leadership at Mall of Georgia Ford that they should call for help. I talked to three different escalating managers explaining to each that I was guaranteed price protection and the dealership would get $2000 from Ford.

I provided them with a copy of the Ford memo explaining the price protection that came into existence with the December 8th 2021 price increases. Their follow up was if it is not on the vincent it does not exist. So is this a problem with Ford corporation not putting the price protection in vincent so the dealers can see it or is the management at Mall of Georgia Ford unable to read and comprehend memos sent to them by Ford Corporate?

I showed them the Youtube video from Long McArthur Ford that talks about price protection.

After over 6 months of waiting I left the dealership after 3 hours and told them to figure it out.

About 30 minutes after I left I got a phone call that we were all good.

I returned to the dealer and completed the purchase at the price protected MSRP.

At no point when I returned did any of the escalated managers come out and speak to me. All they needed to do to greatly improve my experience was come up to me, shake my hand, and say sorry for the confusion over price protection. But none of the three were apparently willing to do that or did not think that I deserved any more of their time. I was at the dealership another 2 hours so they had plenty of time to come and see me.

In the end I love the car but HATE to dealership model. The management at Mall of Georgia Ford has continued down the adversarial model of sales.

I no only had to fight over price protection but I also had to fight for the $750 incentive that was clearly in vincent. I also question how long it will take to get my deposit back. They were unwilling to credit the deposit towards the purchase as they believe the $500 paid online was never sent to the dealership. They claim they will return the $500 to my credit card but I have doubts it will go that smoothly. I fully expect to have to fight for the deposit to be returned.

Fight for your price protection.

Don't take no for an answer.

Since they were calling Ford anyway, couldn't you get the deposit issue clarified then? On your credit card statement it clearly shows the dealership's name.

When you get the survey from Ford about your purchase, rate them accordingly. Some will say this will take money out of pockets, including the salesperson. Too bad.

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[PalsyWalsy]

The price protection process stinks.

Either my dealer is incompetent or Ford as a corporation is unable to communicate policy effectively to the dealerships.

I had to fight for a couple hours just to convince the leadership at Mall of Georgia Ford that they should call for help. I talked to three different escalating managers explaining to each that I was guaranteed price protection and the dealership would get $2000 from Ford.

I provided them with a copy of the Ford memo explaining the price protection that came into existence with the December 8th 2021 price increases. Their follow up was if it is not on the vincent it does not exist. So is this a problem with Ford corporation not putting the price protection in vincent so the dealers can see it or is the management at Mall of Georgia Ford unable to read and comprehend memos sent to them by Ford Corporate?

I showed them the Youtube video from Long McArthur Ford that talks about price protection.

After over 6 months of waiting I left the dealership after 3 hours and told them to figure it out.

About 30 minutes after I left I got a phone call that we were all good.

I returned to the dealer and completed the purchase at the price protected MSRP.

At no point when I returned did any of the escalated managers come out and speak to me. All they needed to do to greatly improve my experience was come up to me, shake my hand, and say sorry for the confusion over price protection. But none of the three were apparently willing to do that or did not think that I deserved any more of their time. I was at the dealership another 2 hours so they had plenty of time to come and see me.

In the end I love the car but HATE to dealership model. The management at Mall of Georgia Ford has continued down the adversarial model of sales.

I no only had to fight over price protection but I also had to fight for the $750 incentive that was clearly in vincent. I also question how long it will take to get my deposit back. They were unwilling to credit the deposit towards the purchase as they believe the $500 paid online was never sent to the dealership. They claim they will return the $500 to my credit card but I have doubts it will go that smoothly. I fully expect to have to fight for the deposit to be returned.

Fight for your price protection.

Don't take no for an answer.

My experience was not this, but more of the one like Moosting's. I would blame the dealership much more than Ford, as they were protecting their perceived pocketbook if they could get more out of you. Car quality is on Ford, sales experience is the dealerships.

It sucks yours was bad, as mine had no problem calling Ford to clarify anything and talked to people quickly. Yours seemed to be consciously unwilling.

Keep going in prepared people to get your desired result.

 

[ChuckInFlorida]

My dealer was willing to look into it and did not give me a hassle. They just needed to call their rep twice to fully understand it. This is why I suggest getting this conversation started early so there are less (or hopefully no) hassles when your baby finally arrives!

 

[yngwenli]

The price protection process stinks.

Either my dealer is incompetent or Ford as a corporation is unable to communicate policy effectively to the dealerships.

I had to fight for a couple hours just to convince the leadership at Mall of Georgia Ford that they should call for help. I talked to three different escalating managers explaining to each that I was guaranteed price protection and the dealership would get $2000 from Ford.

I provided them with a copy of the Ford memo explaining the price protection that came into existence with the December 8th 2021 price increases. Their follow up was if it is not on the vincent it does not exist. So is this a problem with Ford corporation not putting the price protection in vincent so the dealers can see it or is the management at Mall of Georgia Ford unable to read and comprehend memos sent to them by Ford Corporate?

I showed them the Youtube video from Long McArthur Ford that talks about price protection.

After over 6 months of waiting I left the dealership after 3 hours and told them to figure it out.

About 30 minutes after I left I got a phone call that we were all good.

I returned to the dealer and completed the purchase at the price protected MSRP.

At no point when I returned did any of the escalated managers come out and speak to me. All they needed to do to greatly improve my experience was come up to me, shake my hand, and say sorry for the confusion over price protection. But none of the three were apparently willing to do that or did not think that I deserved any more of their time. I was at the dealership another 2 hours so they had plenty of time to come and see me.

In the end I love the car but HATE to dealership model. The management at Mall of Georgia Ford has continued down the adversarial model of sales.

I not only had to fight over price protection but I also had to fight for the $750 incentive that was clearly in vincent. I also question how long it will take to get my deposit back. They were unwilling to credit the deposit towards the purchase as they believe the $500 paid online was never sent to the dealership. They claim they will return the $500 to my credit card but I have doubts it will go that smoothly. I fully expect to have to fight for the deposit to be returned.

Fight for your price protection.

Don't take no for an answer.

Good details and sad to hear about the major hassles. Obviously, dealers are making less without pocketing our $2k, but after a few of these fights (remember, someone has to stand up to them), future customers at the same dealer will not have as much of a hassle. If folks put up with it, they'll keep doing these games.

It sorta still surprises me that some dealerships still don't know about Ford Options and stuff like that, but my guess is dealers/salespeople are lazy, don't want to learn, claim ignorance to try to pocket the $$ and say they didn't know about it (because they purposely don't want to learn).

I hope Ford ensures dealers who just move cars at MSRP or agreed to price are greatly compensated even more than what they cheat/mark up in the short term. Maybe make the surveys worth even MORE $$ so for a salesperson, bad dealership experience means $0 while great survey means $5k or something more than any mark up can add.

That's a win-win I think.

 

[Scooter72]

Couple late questions on the December price increase and price protection. When we ordered our MME it was somewhat on a whim and we hadn’t done a lot of upfront research on the process as we just wanted to get the order in to “get in line”.
1) When in December did the price increase go live?
2) Does price protection start from the day you submitted the order (online not dealership) or the day the Dealer accepted the order?

We ordered a Premium Ext AWD on November 30. That is the Order Date shown online through Ford. Received email from Ford with Dealer Accepted on Dec 16.

we met the dealer in person before ordering - for a test drive - which is where they said we could order online and list them as dealer. Never got a formal order quote (wasn’t aware of all the issues of ADM, etc), though I do have emails from Dec 2 asking whether we needed to do anything with them on a sales order with pricing and the response being - no, order is done. Also didn’t take a screenshot of our online order showing the pricing on Nov 30 (never crossed my mind). It now shows the 2022 pricing with increase.
I do have an email from my sales rep saying they don’t add ADM and honor pricing (Sheehy of Gaithersburg MD). Just don’t know if that will be before or after the increase - or what price I’m actually entitled to since I honestly don’t recall the details from Nov 30 online order and the confirmation emails from Ford just provide link to online site vs anything showing pricing.

 

[kdonnel]

Since they were calling Ford anyway, couldn't you get the deposit issue clarified then? On your credit card statement it clearly shows the dealership's name.

When you get the survey from Ford about your purchase, rate them accordingly. Some will say this will take money out of pockets, including the salesperson. Too bad.

I dug up my credit card statement from September 2021 and this morning sent them an email with the a screen capture showing the payment went to Mall of Georgia Ford and expressing my displeasure in their inability to have applied the $500 to the deal.

I just got a response that yes it should have been applied to the deal and they will cut me a check.

I should not have to tell them how to do their job but apparently I must.

 

[PalsyWalsy]

Good details and sad to hear about the major hassles. Obviously, dealers are making less without pocketing our $2k, but after a few of these fights (remember, someone has to stand up to them), future customers at the same dealer will not have as much of a hassle. If folks put up with it, they'll keep doing these games.

It sorta still surprises me that some dealerships still don't know about Ford Options and stuff like that, but my guess is dealers/salespeople are lazy, don't want to learn, claim ignorance to try to pocket the $$ and say they didn't know about it (because they purposely don't want to learn).

I hope Ford ensures dealers who just move cars at MSRP or agreed to price are greatly compensated even more than what they cheat/mark up in the short term. Maybe make the surveys worth even MORE $$ so for a salesperson, bad dealership experience means $0 while great survey means $5k or something more than any mark up can add.

That's a win-win I think.

The price happened on Dec 8, and the letter from Ford to dealerships regarding price protection can be found throughout this thread and here.

Start that conversation now with your dealer as others have suggested and get what you can in writing (or at least an email confirmation) as insurance to getting what you deserve. Hopefully your dealer is more like mine and no hassles, but better to go in informed for what you deserve.

 

[Godawgs]

I dug up my credit card statement from September 2021 and this morning sent them an email with the a screen capture showing the payment went to Mall of Georgia Ford and expressing my displeasure in their inability to have applied the $500 to the deal.

I just got a response that yes it should have been applied to the deal and they will cut me a check.

I should not have to tell them how to do their job but apparently I must.

I was going to go with them or Gwinnett Place Ford and at the moment I’m glad I went with GPF based on your story. Thats disappointing though that they were like that as my dad bought an F150 from them in 2015 and it was a great experience. It was the primary reason I was going to go with them initially. Only reason I didn’t was because GPF is right around the corner from my office and I could visit them at lunch and place my order easier than getting up to Buford. Glad you got your deposit back.

 

[WNKent]

The price protection process stinks.

Either my dealer is incompetent or Ford as a corporation is unable to communicate policy effectively to the dealerships.

I had to fight for a couple hours just to convince the leadership at Mall of Georgia Ford that they should call for help. I talked to three different escalating managers explaining to each that I was guaranteed price protection and the dealership would get $2000 from Ford.

I provided them with a copy of the Ford memo explaining the price protection that came into existence with the December 8th 2021 price increases. Their follow up was if it is not on the vincent it does not exist. So is this a problem with Ford corporation not putting the price protection in vincent so the dealers can see it or is the management at Mall of Georgia Ford unable to read and comprehend memos sent to them by Ford Corporate?

I showed them the Youtube video from Long McArthur Ford that talks about price protection.

After over 6 months of waiting I left the dealership after 3 hours and told them to figure it out.

About 30 minutes after I left I got a phone call that we were all good.

I returned to the dealer and completed the purchase at the price protected MSRP.

At no point when I returned did any of the escalated managers come out and speak to me. All they needed to do to greatly improve my experience was come up to me, shake my hand, and say sorry for the confusion over price protection. But none of the three were apparently willing to do that or did not think that I deserved any more of their time. I was at the dealership another 2 hours so they had plenty of time to come and see me.

In the end I love the car but HATE to dealership model. The management at Mall of Georgia Ford has continued down the adversarial model of sales.

I not only had to fight over price protection but I also had to fight for the $750 incentive that was clearly in vincent. I also question how long it will take to get my deposit back. They were unwilling to credit the deposit towards the purchase as they believe the $500 paid online was never sent to the dealership. They claim they will return the $500 to my credit card but I have doubts it will go that smoothly. I fully expect to have to fight for the deposit to be returned.

Fight for your price protection.

Don't take no for an answer.

Your story makes me so angry. I know that I'll have to fight too, it's already started. My Salesperson is like 19 and he knew NOTHING about this. I feel sorry that his incompetent management team will bounce him around like a ping pong ball. I sent him that memo that was supposed to be sent to the dealers AND that video with no results so far after a couple weeks.

 

[nhammerschmidt]

i wholly agree the problem is with Ford and Dealers. The Dealers being incompetent and Ford being horrible in its process. You know the owner and car so notify dealer and customer of price protection. Or give the coupon similar to the 750$ with the 2000$. ITs as simple as that. You put that 2750 into vincent or any system are we are good. If i donot buy it and dealer sells it to somebody else they donot get that discount. Could be so simple but then we are dealing with Ford.

The process could not be any simpler. The dealer is reimbursed automatically as long as the ordered unit is reported sold in the same name as the original order. Your original build sheet has a price level indicated on it. Dealers have access to those price levels through FMC Dealer. Dealers are also able to contact the VOPC by phone or chat and get their questions answered.

 

[vortix]

Can anyone confirm if Price Protection also applies to the Ford Options interest rate and available incentives at the time of order? I have a Mach E Select that was ordered in March. My local dealer is not confirming whether the current Ford Options 2.49% interest rate and $1,000 regional incentive will be price protected at the time of delivery several months from now.

 

[RickMachE]

Can anyone confirm if Price Protection also applies to the Ford Options interest rate and available incentives at the time of order? I have a Mach E Select that was ordered in March. My local dealer is not confirming whether the current Ford Options 2.49% interest rate and $1,000 regional incentive will be price protected at the time of delivery several months from now.

At time of delivery, you get the promotions in effect at time of order, or delivery, whichever are better.

You should note that while Ford Options shows a rate, that rate can be adjusted upwards by dealers. The only exception to that is a Ford A/Z plan customer. Many dealers don't adjust the rate, but some do.

And, to be clear, it's not the rate TODAY. It's the incentives at time of order.

 

[vortix]

At time of delivery, you get the promotions in effect at time of order, or delivery, whichever are better.

You should note that while Ford Options shows a rate, that rate can be adjusted upwards by dealers. The only exception to that is a Ford A/Z plan customer. Many dealers don't adjust the rate, but some do.

And, to be clear, it's not the rate TODAY. It's the incentives at time of order.

Thanks, I appreciate the info. Forgot to mention, this would be via A/Z plan pricing (which the dealer confirmed they will honor). Sounds like I'm good with the $1k Ford Options incentive. And with interest rates on the rise in general, hopefully the 2.49% Ford Options interest rate that was offered at the time of the order will be locked and available when I take delivery down the road.

Like others, the sales manager I'm working with is young and relatively new. He typically has to escalate any questions like this to the GM directly, and the answers don't always come back crystal clear. Everyone has been cordial and reasonable so far, though the dealership clearly has some things to learn regarding Ford's policies and procedures.

 

[Rocketman]

Couple late questions on the December price increase and price protection. When we ordered our MME it was somewhat on a whim and we hadn’t done a lot of upfront research on the process as we just wanted to get the order in to “get in line”.
1) When in December did the price increase go live?
2) Does price protection start from the day you submitted the order (online not dealership) or the day the Dealer accepted the order?

We ordered a Premium Ext AWD on November 30. That is the Order Date shown online through Ford. Received email from Ford with Dealer Accepted on Dec 16.

we met the dealer in person before ordering - for a test drive - which is where they said we could order online and list them as dealer. Never got a formal order quote (wasn’t aware of all the issues of ADM, etc), though I do have emails from Dec 2 asking whether we needed to do anything with them on a sales order with pricing and the response being - no, order is done. Also didn’t take a screenshot of our online order showing the pricing on Nov 30 (never crossed my mind). It now shows the 2022 pricing with increase.
I do have an email from my sales rep saying they don’t add ADM and honor pricing (Sheehy of Gaithersburg MD). Just don’t know if that will be before or after the increase - or what price I’m actually entitled to since I honestly don’t recall the details from Nov 30 online order and the confirmation emails from Ford just provide link to online site vs anything showing pricing.

I am also in the same bucket. I played the order 10/18 but the dealer accepted the order after the price increase notification on 12/13. Not sure how its going to play out once the vehicle is delivered.

 

[AKgrampy]

I am also in the same bucket. I played the order 10/18 but the dealer accepted the order after the price increase notification on 12/13. Not sure how its going to play out once the vehicle is delivered.

Why wait - contact Ford and see if it does or does not. This will save the hassle!

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