melissphillips
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Melissa
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2021
- Threads
- 12
- Messages
- 58
- Reaction score
- 104
- Location
- Jacksonville, FL
- Vehicles
- 2021 Mach E
- Thread starter
- #1
I have been eyeing the Bolt for almost a year now since they announced the 2021s. I had money down on a Launch Edition that was literally made and waiting on a few more computer parts to be ready to ship when the systemwide recall hit.
My 16 year old and I have been sharing my 2014 Ford Focus (Electric! She's a glorified street legal golf cart with a 50 mile range) since May and with school starting we really needed to get that 2nd car so I started looking around. The ID4s seemed to take forever and I thought with the model year changing soon, maybe the 2021 Mach Es would be easier to get. Wrong!
But that only created a challenge, we live in Jacksonville and pretty much there are no dealerships with anything in stock in North Florida, I even checked with the huge dealerships on 95 near Daytona, not deal. Then since we are Universal Orlando Annual Passholders, on a whim I used their zip code to search and a dealership just a few miles from the parks popped up with 7 of them on the lot. I was skeptical but dialed the phone. The receptionist immediately confirmed all 7 listed with photos and descriptions were indeed on the lot and ready to buy.
Still skeptical but decided what the heck it was Labor Day weekend we grabbed our passes and headed down. Got to the dealership and sure enough 6 on the lot, 1 in the showroom and no less than 4 customers circling them. No salespeople were available so we fidgetted a bit, finally got a salesperson and found out only one of them had the tech package. I told him, grab the keys we're test driving it now. 5 minutes on the road and I knew I was buying it. I also knew that I had absolutely no leverage to negotiate. They had a typical markup on it but I knew that was going to be the case. Turns out they had actually purchased 16 Mach Es from a dealership in Newark NJ that couldn't get them to sell. I've live up there in nearby Union City so I get it, everyone parks on the streets, very few garages or access to power. Anyway, they bought them the and had them shipped down and had sold all but the remaining 7 in a week or so.
We've settled the numbers and he comes back looking worried, we have a problem. There is only one finance guy and he just left for a family emergency. He'll come in tomorrow to finish the paperwork but for tonight we're done. What? I've never seen a car dealership that simply could not sell me the car. And at that point I didn't really want to drive home and back 2 hours the next day. I hinted they should comp my hotel, but he just laughed. (I'm still kind of pissy about that one)
But we made a quick reservation on Hotels.com and headed over to the park to watch football at City Walk and then crash at the hotel. In the morning we hit the park, picked up a new magnet for the car and headed over. The finance guy was there and actually a little fussy because we weren't there right at 12. He said he only came in to do our paperwork and would be leaving immediately - so no car sales the rest of the day.
Hit the road back home and we arrived with 60 miles to spare.
The other thing that chapped me a little, when the "detailed" it overnight they also put a dealer plate on the front which meant they drilled holes in the bumper. Needless to say the dealer plate and bumper sticker on the back were removed ASAP.
Oh and that magnet - she has to sit on back quarter panel, the entire back end is something other than metal
Can't imagine any other choices now. Luv her to pieces, except I can't remember to take my phone or keys to the darn garage with everytime I need to go grab something out of it.
My 16 year old and I have been sharing my 2014 Ford Focus (Electric! She's a glorified street legal golf cart with a 50 mile range) since May and with school starting we really needed to get that 2nd car so I started looking around. The ID4s seemed to take forever and I thought with the model year changing soon, maybe the 2021 Mach Es would be easier to get. Wrong!
But that only created a challenge, we live in Jacksonville and pretty much there are no dealerships with anything in stock in North Florida, I even checked with the huge dealerships on 95 near Daytona, not deal. Then since we are Universal Orlando Annual Passholders, on a whim I used their zip code to search and a dealership just a few miles from the parks popped up with 7 of them on the lot. I was skeptical but dialed the phone. The receptionist immediately confirmed all 7 listed with photos and descriptions were indeed on the lot and ready to buy.
Still skeptical but decided what the heck it was Labor Day weekend we grabbed our passes and headed down. Got to the dealership and sure enough 6 on the lot, 1 in the showroom and no less than 4 customers circling them. No salespeople were available so we fidgetted a bit, finally got a salesperson and found out only one of them had the tech package. I told him, grab the keys we're test driving it now. 5 minutes on the road and I knew I was buying it. I also knew that I had absolutely no leverage to negotiate. They had a typical markup on it but I knew that was going to be the case. Turns out they had actually purchased 16 Mach Es from a dealership in Newark NJ that couldn't get them to sell. I've live up there in nearby Union City so I get it, everyone parks on the streets, very few garages or access to power. Anyway, they bought them the and had them shipped down and had sold all but the remaining 7 in a week or so.
We've settled the numbers and he comes back looking worried, we have a problem. There is only one finance guy and he just left for a family emergency. He'll come in tomorrow to finish the paperwork but for tonight we're done. What? I've never seen a car dealership that simply could not sell me the car. And at that point I didn't really want to drive home and back 2 hours the next day. I hinted they should comp my hotel, but he just laughed. (I'm still kind of pissy about that one)
But we made a quick reservation on Hotels.com and headed over to the park to watch football at City Walk and then crash at the hotel. In the morning we hit the park, picked up a new magnet for the car and headed over. The finance guy was there and actually a little fussy because we weren't there right at 12. He said he only came in to do our paperwork and would be leaving immediately - so no car sales the rest of the day.
Hit the road back home and we arrived with 60 miles to spare.
The other thing that chapped me a little, when the "detailed" it overnight they also put a dealer plate on the front which meant they drilled holes in the bumper. Needless to say the dealer plate and bumper sticker on the back were removed ASAP.
Oh and that magnet - she has to sit on back quarter panel, the entire back end is something other than metal
Can't imagine any other choices now. Luv her to pieces, except I can't remember to take my phone or keys to the darn garage with everytime I need to go grab something out of it.