What I learned from a week+ trying to buy a Mach E

MachEnation

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This is specific to NJ, but my guess is there will be some similarities to others nationally and wanted to share my experience so others can avoid some of the frustrations I ran into.

  1. If using the Ford.com "search inventory" tool to find one in the spec you want--while it's better than nothing , at least half those MMEs won't be on the lots or are otherwise tied up, sold, or one way or another not available. Don't bank on it being there unless you've got someone on the phone who just looked it up and told you it is.
  2. If you find one you like, just get up off the couch and get it. I had my "unicorn" spec about 30 miles away but dithered with negotiations back and forth for a couple days. Yeah, that one was GONE in no time!
  3. Skip over those "in transit" listings on the dealership websites and look for those weird photoshopped ones that make it seem the car is in front of the dealership, but it's just a bad hatchet job. That means they are (or were) on the lot--although even some were already sold despite being on the website.
  4. Pick up the phone and call and call and call. They won't call you back. But if you get the attention of sales for a couple hours, you might luck out with someone hustling for you to get your spec.
  5. Although they'll tell you that "no one is doing dealer trades"--there's more going on than you think. The tight market means that some dealers are swapping sales back and forth and you might luck out. I had one dealer with a relationship with another dealer that had quite a few MMEs, just not one I wanted. But I could have gotten one this way.
  6. If you go to the dealership, bring a laptop or otherwise have everything you need to be able to do the deal then and there. I finally found an available base MME, but the dealership was crazily enough a union shop and their sales contract did not allow deposits or other ways for customers to "reserve now, negotiate later." Maybe just unique to the dealership, but I'm glad I brought a check and a laptop so I could unfreeze my credit and compare #s with the Ford website on the Options Plan (that alone saved me $50 month).
  7. Don't be so hard and fast with your color choice if you haven't seen it in person. I absolutely did NOT want black. I wanted Space White/Star White or maybe Silver. Well guess what? I now have Shadow Black. It was available, and it looks awesome. No color on this car is "bad."
  8. Finally, if you're in NJ and have dreams of driving an MME with $12,500 off (NJ $5K rebate + $7,500) GET MOVING. Those base model selects are slim pickings.
Ok, that's all I got. It was quite the journey. Maybe none of this is helpful, but I've been buying cars for almost 30 years and this was the most work I ever did to get one.
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