Frankfort Ford stole my Maverick

[aircooled]

I was concerned when I read the story from ce2nite. But I had already ordered from Frankfort Ford and the order books were closed.
Here's my story in hopes that Ford looks at these messages and takes some action with this dishonest (close to criminal) dealership.
The truck arrived at the dealership 4/12/22. I scheduled to visit the morning of 4/13/22 to finalize the transaction. Someone took my trade-in for a test drive and I sat with the salesman at his desk. He started showing me rather high interest rates to soften me up. I explained I was only interested in the Ford incentive rates and would pay cash if they were not available. On the day I ordered the truck I had told the salesman I would probably pay cash but if Ford had free money (0%36) I would probably go with that. After an hour or so of the typical salesman leaves to talk to the manager stuff, the finance manager arrives with the final offer.
He will only sell me the truck if I agree to finance with his third party at a very high rate. I insisted that I had a valid contract and was prepared to write a check for the balance due. The real final offer was to take my cash if I paid $5,000.00 over the contract price. The finance manager told me in effect that the value of the truck was much higher than the contract price and his business was slow and he needed to make more money. The contract price was MSRP plus $689.00 Doc Fee.
I'm a retired senior (it hurts to say that) and been involved in many high value transactions in the past. This dealer is by far and away the most unscrupulous I have ever encountered.
To add to the insult, while waiting for my deposit refund I could hear one of the salespeople on the phone offering my Maverick for sale. I finally had to find my salesman outside to get him to get my refund and keys as all the managers had left the sales floor.
For anyone interested look out for VIN 3FTTWF99NRA53108

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[MLowe05]

Why do you guys keep walking away from this? Have you not heard of refinancing?

Just sign the papers and take your truck. The dealership will see dollar signs - then you refinance it IMMEDIATELY upon receiving an account number. This will reverse any kickbacks to the dealer and there is nothing they can do about it. You will have your truck and they won't have made the money they were trying to con you out of. I've had this trick pulled on me more than one time before, and I have told them as I signed the papers that I would never make the first payment on this agreement. They've never cared, I guess they either assume that I'm bluffing (I wasn't) or they just want it to look a certain way on paper.

 

[aircooled]

The finance manager actually suggested this. I asked to see the finance documents to check for termination or pre-payment fees. Documents were never presented. The salesman popped in to the office to tell me there were such fees on the loan they were offering.

 

[Gmood1]

If you're going to pay cash. Just finance the darn thing and then pay it off. Sorry this happen to you. But there's always more than one way to skin a cat.

 

[MLowe05]

The finance manager actually suggested this. I asked to see the finance documents to check for termination or pre-payment fees. Documents were never presented. The salesman popped in to the office to tell me there were such fees on the loan they were offering.

I have never heard of prepayment penalties on loans from a real franchise car dealership.

It sounds like you could have still got your Maverick, but you chose to walk on principles which is fine.. The dealer was slimy but there were ways around it.

 

[Grozk72]

Sorry this occurred, but as noted “coulda, shoulda, woulda” just taken it and paid it off the next day...

 

[DryHeat]

I insisted that I had a valid contract and was prepared to write a check for the balance due.

Sorry to hear that this happened to you.

Could you tell me what kind of contract you had? There's been a lot of talk about DORAs, purchase orders, buyer's orders, motor vehicle sales contracts, etc. I'm trying to get an idea of which ones are vulnerable to this kind of trick.

Thanks...

 

[Samus L. Jackson]

Why do you guys keep walking away from this? Have you not heard of refinancing?

If a dealer basically forces you to finance with them, how do you immediately refinance?

Asking out of curiosity, only thing I've refinanced is my home, I haven't bought in vehicle in over ten years, and last time I did I just paid the whole thing up front cause I had the spare cash at the time.

 

[robb01]

If a dealer basically forces you to finance with them, how do you immediately refinance?

Asking out of curiosity, only thing I've refinanced is my home, I haven't bought in vehicle in over ten years, and last time I did I just paid the whole thing up front cause I had the spare cash at the time.

Consumer lender here - You can usually get financing at your local lending institution (Bank, Credit Union). They'll then send the lender that the dealer financed you through payment for payoff. You'll likely end up owing ~10 days of the higher interest rate, but it's an option if the dealer is playing hardball

 

[DryHeat]

If a dealer basically forces you to finance with them, how do you immediately refinance?

If your existing loan doesn't have a prepayment penalty, you just get new financing from your credit union (or whatever) and they pay off the existing loan.

The OP planned to pay cash, so for him it would be even easier. Just pay of the loan at the first payment date. I've done that before to get a financing-based incentive on the purchase.

 

[KenJ45]

I was concerned when I read the story from ce2nite. But I had already ordered from Frankfort Ford and the order books were closed.
Here's my story in hopes that Ford looks at these messages and takes some action with this dishonest (close to criminal) dealership.
The truck arrived at the dealership 4/12/22. I scheduled to visit the morning of 4/13/22 to finalize the transaction. Someone took my trade-in for a test drive and I sat with the salesman at his desk. He started showing me rather high interest rates to soften me up. I explained I was only interested in the Ford incentive rates and would pay cash if they were not available. On the day I ordered the truck I had told the salesman I would probably pay cash but if Ford had free money (0%36) I would probably go with that. After an hour or so of the typical salesman leaves to talk to the manager stuff, the finance manager arrives with the final offer.
He will only sell me the truck if I agree to finance with his third party at a very high rate. I insisted that I had a valid contract and was prepared to write a check for the balance due. The real final offer was to take my cash if I paid $5,000.00 over the contract price. The finance manager told me in effect that the value of the truck was much higher than the contract price and his business was slow and he needed to make more money. The contract price was MSRP plus $689.00 Doc Fee.
I'm a retired senior (it hurts to say that) and been involved in many high value transactions in the past. This dealer is by far and away the most unscrupulous I have ever encountered.
To add to the insult, while waiting for my deposit refund I could hear one of the salespeople on the phone offering my Maverick for sale. I finally had to find my salesman outside to get him to get my refund and keys as all the managers had left the sales floor.
For anyone interested look out for VIN 3FTTWF99NRA53108

Firstly, you should contact Ford directly. And secondly, "take" their offer to finance it, make sure there's no penalty to pay it off early, then the first chance you get pay off the balance.

 

[Dun4791]

If a dealer basically forces you to finance with them, how do you immediately refinance?

Asking out of curiosity, only thing I've refinanced is my home, I haven't bought in vehicle in over ten years, and last time I did I just paid the whole thing up front cause I had the spare cash at the time.

Call the bank they got you the loan through the next day, ask for payoff and loan number and where to send payoff check. Send certified overnight payoff. I’ve done this before. It’s really not a big deal

I also have added a hundred bucks over the payoff before just to make sure it covers any interest for a day or two and also to give them some work to do getting me a check

 

[Cad]

Why do you guys keep walking away from this? Have you not heard of refinancing?

Just sign the papers and take your truck. The dealership will see dollar signs - then you refinance it IMMEDIATELY upon receiving an account number. This will reverse any kickbacks to the dealer and there is nothing they can do about it. You will have your truck and they won't have made the money they were trying to con you out of. I've had this trick pulled on me more than one time before, and I have told them as I signed the papers that I would never make the first payment on this agreement. They've never cared, I guess they either assume that I'm bluffing (I wasn't) or they just want it to look a certain way on paper.

Did the same thing when we purchased a Cadillac xt5 (horrible, now gone). We could only get the cash back offer by using gmac financing, but rate was higher. Next day I called usaa and got a great rate. A month later the dealer called back asking why we refinanced and that we would lose the cash back incentive, we told him to go for it and hung up. Nothing happened of course.


man, these horror stories. So glad I had a fantastic dealer from order to delivery. Wouldn’t hesitate to order or purchase from them again.

 

[xiaowei]

Call the bank they got you the loan through the next day, ask for payoff and loan number and where to send payoff check. Send certified overnight payoff. I’ve done this before. It’s really not a big deal

I also have added a hundred bucks over the payoff before just to make sure it covers any interest for a day or two and also to give them some work to do getting me a check

Why paying off or refinance can cover the 5k markup over MSRP? Sorry for my poor financial knowledge.

 

[HybridOnOrder]

I'm sorry that happened to you. That sounds like a horrific experience. I'm also sorry that the dealer gets away with such an underhanded, unethical way of conducting themselves. If I were you, I would contact your local news TV channel to do an expose/story. So people in your community are aware of their 'business' practices. Just posting on a forum is not enough bad publicity to change things. Unfortunately. I hope @Ford Motor Company can assist you in any way.

I have been waiting for my order since Aug/Sept. I believed my dealer when they said it would be a month or two before I got my Maverick. So, I sold my vehicle in anticipation. I have been walking every since. It has been SO stressful. I'm assuming/hoping they just didn't anticipate the evolving chip situation. But your story scares me.

I actually just bought a 'gap' vehicle a few weeks ago. I went to a transmission place today to have the fluid changed and found out this $10,000 vehicle needs a new $5000 transmission.
All of this because I ordered a truck. It's a LOT!
I think people really ready to minimize the effects of the stress of this situation on the buyers. But it IS very stressful. I'm sad to read that someone had to go through this bullying and just plain crap.

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