Salesperson low-to-no knowledge

Mickey the T

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I went for a test drive today of Mach-E...on the way there I told my wife I expected to know more about the car than anyone we would speak with. But they may have actually come in below those low expectations. I was assigned the "expert that knows all about the car." The first thing I did in getting the car was to search through the display because I wanted to make sure I was in "engaged" mode and I wanted to make sure one-pedal driving was active. When asked what I was doing, I was informed (very confidently) that the way to select the driving mode was via the gear select dial. I was also told one-pedal wasn't a thing. After finishing my drive, he told me that if I ordered a car he'd have it in 4-6 weeks. (Again, he was very confident about this.)

BTW, I was surprised at how many MMEs that they had--the website shows six vehicles, but I also saw an FE and a Route-1 that weren't listed on the website. (Maybe those were spoken for?) I didn't ask if there was any ADM on the cars on the lot as my current lease lasts through summer so I wasn't interested in engaging any further. In the greater scheme of things, I suppose a poorly informed salesperson doesn't make any difference as long as the dealer doesn't mark up the car and will accept my X-Plan pricing. But somehow I prefer to do business with guys that are as excited about the car as I am...
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Same here...I knew a lot more than the dealership salespeople (even their in-house MME 'expert'). I remember after my test drive (during which I drained the battery from 100% to 94%), the salesperson was going to attempt to plug the vehicle in to their Level 2 charger (at the end of the day with no more test drives until the next day). I told him it was better to leave it overnight at at <100% SOC and not plug it in. Fortunately, he took my advice.
 

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I almost wish we could act as liaisons or something at our local Ford dealer to help people out with the Mach-E. There's a lot to these cars and I am guessing there will be a lot of misinformation floating around. Even with the Mach-E tour people coming around, I think we knew more than them.
 


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I went for a test drive today of Mach-E...on the way there I told my wife I expected to know more about the car than anyone we would speak with. But they may have actually come in below those low expectations. I was assigned the "expert that knows all about the car." The first thing I did in getting the car was to search through the display because I wanted to make sure I was in "engaged" mode and I wanted to make sure one-pedal driving was active. When asked what I was doing, I was informed (very confidently) that the way to select the driving mode was via the gear select dial. I was also told one-pedal wasn't a thing. After finishing my drive, he told me that if I ordered a car he'd have it in 4-6 weeks. (Again, he was very confident about this.)

BTW, I was surprised at how many MMEs that they had--the website shows six vehicles, but I also saw an FE and a Route-1 that weren't listed on the website. (Maybe those were spoken for?) I didn't ask if there was any ADM on the cars on the lot as my current lease lasts through summer so I wasn't interested in engaging any further. In the greater scheme of things, I suppose a poorly informed salesperson doesn't make any difference as long as the dealer doesn't mark up the car and will accept my X-Plan pricing. But somehow I prefer to do business with guys that are as excited about the car as I am...
I hope Ford gave you an opportunity to evaluate them.
 

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I had the same experience with a couple of dealers that I talked to in shopping around, they also knew very little about the various EV incentives, rebates etc. It is clear that nobody spent any time learning the ins and outs of the vehicle before it arrived on the lot. I finally found one dealer who knew what they were talking about and so I bought my MME from them.

As far as the online listings go, many dealers list all of the models they have coming in even if they are pre-orders that are spoken for. if you were to ask, you would find that most if not all of the models listed are not actually for sale. But they are hoping that will drum up interest and perhaps if one of those deals falls through they will have an easy backup buyer. That's actually how I wound up getting my model, I just contacted the dealer and told him to let me know if one of the deals on the particular models I wanted fell through and it did.
 

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I almost wish we could act as liaisons or something at our local Ford dealer to help people out with the Mach-E. There's a lot to these cars and I am guessing there will be a lot of misinformation floating around. Even with the Mach-E tour people coming around, I think we knew more than them.
I totally agree, I could sell the MME a hundred times better than any sales rep I talked to. While I was at my dealer the other day, I educated no less than six people looking at the MME who were getting incomplete or incorrect information from the sales rep
 

efisher

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I almost wish we could act as liaisons or something at our local Ford dealer to help people out with the Mach-E. There's a lot to these cars and I am guessing there will be a lot of misinformation floating around. Even with the Mach-E tour people coming around, I think we knew more than them.
Like Subaru's Brand Ambassador program.
 

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Last year I went into a Hyundai dealership to see if they had any Kona EVs available to test drive (they didn't), and while chatting with the salesperson, he noted that he didn't really recommend electric cars because if they got into an accident "they would explode and take out a city block". I took a moment to talk to him about energy storage technology, and how a full battery pack on an EV has about as much thermal energy in it as 3 gallons of diesel fuel, so there was nothing to fear. He seemed a bit relieved, honestly...
 

MarknKC

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I almost wish we could act as liaisons or something at our local Ford dealer to help people out with the Mach-E. There's a lot to these cars and I am guessing there will be a lot of misinformation floating around. Even with the Mach-E tour people coming around, I think we knew more than them.
Actually that's what I'm going to do. I chose my dealership because a high school buddy works there. When they get their loaner and the weather turns, he offered to let me have it for a day. I offered to spend the day at the dealership with any salesmen who want to learn how to sell a Mach E. He couldn't believe I was serious. Why drive around by myself all day when I can spend the day geeking out and evangelizing EVs? Added bonus will be a semi-direct line to Ford if any interesting questions arise that we can't figure out.
 

trutolife27

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The amount of info here. Yes, you're going to know more about your mache than just about anyone. Salesman come and go, just like any job.

How many people have you all talked to about each part of the mache to the point they know more about it than they would ever imagine also. lol
 

phidauex

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The salesperson doesn't have to be an expert - they do have a lot of different cars to sell, after all, but I don't think it is too much to ask that they know the basics, how to operate the car, what financing options and incentives are available, etc. I do know sales people who think "you just sell, don't need to know anything about the product, just hustle" and they are insufferable. Salespeople who at least make an effort to be able to answer your questions and understand the options available will do better, long term.
 
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Mickey the T

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I suppose my real issue with the salesperson and the reason that I started the thread is not so much that the salesperson didn't know about the car, but that he insisted he did know about it when it was clear he had no clue. (Plus, he was introduced as the MME expert!) He wasn't so much ignorant, as he was *aggressively* ignorant.

One other (somewhat minor) thing...it wasn't clear that one of the specific vehicles was a demo since there were three lined up in a row. So I asked if we could specifically drive a Premium SR RWD (it was sitting right there) and he said "no, they all drive the same." I nearly asked, so why does Ford have an AWD and a RWD model if they all drive the same, but decided I should just be quiet.
 

trutolife27

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The salesperson doesn't have to be an expert - they do have a lot of different cars to sell, after all, but I don't think it is too much to ask that they know the basics, how to operate the car, what financing options and incentives are available, etc. I do know sales people who think "you just sell, don't need to know anything about the product, just hustle" and they are insufferable. Salespeople who at least make an effort to be able to answer your questions and understand the options available will do better, long term.
the more that is out and the time they get in one the better it will get. It's not like going from an ICE TO A ICE. This is brand new.
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