Ford issues warning to dealers about markups on new F150 Lightning EV

[MayerMR]

I apologize if this has already been posted, but I thought it a decent sign that Ford Corporate Sales is at least aware of what some dealers are doing and that they are beginning to monitor what is happening. Granted, it may take some time for them to be able to gather enough data to be able to build a game plan for how to address the issue, but it sure can't hurt for folks that have a run-in with a bad dealer to call Ford and lodge a complaint.

Source of bulletin:
https://www.f150gen14.com/2022/01/0...s-no-resale-provisions-in-purchase-contracts/

Article:
https://electrek.co/2022/01/07/ford...ntage-f150-lightning-reservation-holders/amp/

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[ITSATRUCK]

This is why factory direct sales are the future. Ordering a specific vehicle and buying through a dinosaur dealership does not work. Let me place my order online. Let me know when the vehicle shows up.

My neighbor bought a model Y this way. Sounded great.

 

[MayerMR]

This is why factory direct sales are the future. Ordering a specific vehicle and buying through a dinosaur dealership does not work. Let me place my order online. Let me know when the vehicle shows up.

My neighbor bought a model Y this way. Sounded great.

I probably have a less-than-popular opinion on the matter, but I don't really have an issue with the concept of a dealer model, on the face of it, but I do feel that Ford/automakers in general, need to become more strict with dealers on what they can charge for their vehicles. All vehicles need to be priced at MSRP, but dealer ordered stock can have dealer-added options. Customer can choose to accept the increased price with the dealer options or go elsewhere. Custom-ordered vehicles are sold at MSRP, with nothing on top, unless the customer themselves choose to select *optional* dealer add-ons.

This way, it is not on the customer to have to shop multiple dealers to try to negotiate the best deal. The "deal" is the same at any dealership and the decision then becomes "which dealer treats me the best" - bad dealers will be filtered out over time because people just won't buy from them and they will close down. It puts the impetus on the dealers to be the best that they can be and hire the best people instead of on the customer.

 

[TacoHolder]

I posted a similar thing yesterday and a few people (the kind that are real fun at parties /s) just lost it over the part that says customers can't resell it in the first year.

 

[MayerMR]

I posted a similar thing yesterday and a few people (the kind that are real fun at parties /s) just lost it over the part that says customers can't resell it in the first year.

Ah, I think I saw that one. I'm kind of torn on that. On one hand, I like that it would get the truck in the hands of people who actually want it and just aren't trying to flip it for a quick profit. But on the other hand, sometimes life just happens and people lose their jobs or you name it, and they need to downsize. I'd hope that there would be some kind of buy-back clause that would allow an out should someone find themselves pinched. But I am all for them trying to prevent people from ordering a number of the things just so they can turn around and sell them to someone else at scalping prices.

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