After 520 Days of Waiting, Elder Ford Purposely Sold My Hybrid To Someone Else

[Disappointed B]

Sorry about the long post but I need to vent. I'm very disappointed and slightly heartbroken after waiting 520 days for my HPR Hybrid.
Hopefully this post will help someone else in the future, or at least steer them away from this shady-ass dealer in Tampa, FL.
The dealer's name is Elder Ford and I strongly recommend avoiding them if at all possible.

• Ordered a 2022 Ford Maverick Hybrid back in late October 2021. They never placed the order until I called them almost a week later. Dealt with all the delays for well over a year, got rolled to a 2023 model, and finally was lucky enough to get built in January of this year. During this entire process, I received 0 updates from the dealer unless I called in to check on stuff. They always made it seem like it was an inconvenience to help and look up any information about my order. Lucky for me, I knew better than to rely on them so I kept up with the progress through the ford vehicle tracker.
  

• I got a call from the dealership on the day they claimed the Maverick arrived at their dealership, and in the same conversation, I asked the salesman to take possession of the truck exactly the way it comes off the truck (I had my own plans to customize the truck exactly the way I envisioned it - custom color spray-in bedliner). I wanted to pick up the truck 3 days later on the weekend since I no longer live in the Tampa area and it takes me about 3 and a half hours to get to Tampa. I work M-F so there's no way I could have made it to the dealer during the week before they close.
  
  
  
• The salesman told me this was not possible and even though the truck had just arrived 15 minutes ago, the windows were already being tinted and the regular spray-in bedliner was already added (lies....). The same goes for the floor mats, nitrogen tires, wheel locks, and a few other BS items that jacked up the order $1,500.
  

• Feeling like I had no other option, I agreed to take the truck with the additional accessories because hey, I've been waiting on the truck for a year and 5 months, things could be worse and I could still be waiting right?! I told them the next weekend I had any time available was Saturday, April 1st and they said picking up the truck that day would be no problem! (they only said this because they knew the truck would be theirs at this point so they could sell it to someone else for more money by that time).
  

• I let them know I wanted to complete as much paperwork and get everything lined up before I made the drive over there, to help speed up the process once I got to the dealership. I told them I had a vehicle I would be trading in, as long as they could match or come close to Carvana's offer. LOL, they were $8,000 less than Carvana and said they couldn't touch that price. No problem, I was happy with the offer from Carvana so I was going to sell it to them.
  

• Well after 7 days of struggling to get a buyers order sent over so I could get financing through my credit union, I got a call from the RUDE General Sales Manager named Nacer letting me know that since it has been longer than 7 days since the dealer received the Maverick, they no longer had to hold it for me and they were going to sell it for more money to someone else.

• They claim they sold the vehicle to someone else the same day I received that call, less than 3 hours later... The vehicle that was ordered in my name, the one that arrived at the dealer in my name, the one that I had been waiting a year and 5 months for.
  
  
  
• The only reason that the truck was at their dealership was that I ordered it through ford.com...
  

• When I called the Assistant GM trying to figure out what happened, he basically spewed a bunch of BS trying to make me feel sorry for him and saying that not everyone at the dealership is shady.
  He said that Nacer did not want to sell me the vehicle that I ordered from ford.com because he did not feel that I would leave a 5-star review for the dealership, and because they could make a lot more money selling it to someone else with their aftermarket adjustments.
  
  
  
• I had already assured them that I would leave a 5-star review because I wanted the vehicle so bad. That didn't matter to them and they went ahead and sold it to someone else regardless of our agreement of me picking it up on April 1.

I will never do business with any Elder Automotive dealership again, nor will I ever order or purchase another Ford vehicle. This dealership is absolutely shameless and the ONLY thing they care about is stuffing as much money in their pockets as possible.

I can't even describe how disappointed I am with this entire experience with everyone at Elder Ford.

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[Donaldw]

My contract for an unscheduled Mav., says dealer gets it if I do not pick it up within 48 hours after they receive it. Fortunately, they are not far away. Still it might be a fairer system if there were a way to extend that a bit, perhaps with a deposit increase, or perhaps with a non-refundable increase. It's not like retail customers are trying to screw the dealers.

 

[710-oil-614]

Man, I am really sorry that happened to you. The dealer add ons would be hard to swallow but you had to know that they weren't going to hold your vehicle for you for 2 weeks and you needed to close it fast.

You did not order your Maverick through Ford.com though - you ordered it through Elder Ford.

Regardless - that sucks. I wish Ford would control their dealers more. I knew when I bought my Tesla I had 72 hours to pick up from when they notified me or else they would sell it and I lost my $250 deposit. There was no interpretation.

@Ford Motor Company doesn't care that there are shady dealers out here besmirching their good name.

 

[Hot Runr Guy]

• I got a call from the dealership on the day they claimed the Maverick arrived at their dealership,

Can I ask the date you got this call? It seems like this dragged-on to a 2nd weekend, while you were waiting on documentation for your CU financing.

HRG

 

[PlantMan]

My credit union will approve a generic car loan and issue me a check that I can use to pay the dealership once the final amount is known. I just apply for the maximum amount that the check is good for. No problem applying for $40K loan but only using $25K of it. I can sort of understand the dealer not understanding your delay in picking up the truck. You could always finance at the dealer and then refinance. Too bad your dealer wasn't more forthright with you. Lesson learned for your next purchase.

 

[Disappointed B]

My contract for an unscheduled Mav., says dealer gets it if I do not pick it up within 48 hours after they receive it. Fortunately, they are not far away. Still it might be a fairer system if there were a way to extend that a bit, perhaps with a deposit increase, or perhaps with a non-refundable increase. It's not like retail customers are trying to screw the dealers.

Can I ask the date you got this call? It seems like this dragged-on to a 2nd weekend, while you were waiting on documentation for your CU financing.

HRG

Yes, I received the call that the Maverick had arrived via truck on Wed, March 15th. I asked them if I could pick up the truck on Saturday, March 18th, or Sunday, March 19th since I was free that weekend (3 days after it was delivered).

I was told I could not pick up the vehicle that early since they had to inspect it/go through everything. I was told that it takes at least 7 days to process the vehicle before I could take delivery.

After hearing nothing from them for a week, I called on Wednesday, March 22nd to see if the vehicle was ready yet. They told me it was available and tried to get me to come pick it up that night (I couldn't - I work until 6pm and the dealer is 3.5 hours away).

Since I could not pick up the truck the weekend of the 18th or 19th, I let them know that I would be working a boat show the following week, and the next time I could make it over to that side of the state was on Saturday, April 1st. I was told that this was no problem and that the vehicle would be held for me.

I guess I'm stupid for believing the dealer would stay true to their word and hold the vehicle for me.

I just received the call that they sold it yesterday (March 27th) without any type of warning or notice they would try and sell it to someone else. They even sent me a buyer's order late last week that I could submit to my credit union for financing.

I sent over the buyer's order for the vehicle to my credit union last week and they were going to overnight a check to me today. Up until yesterday, I was still under the impression that I would be picking up the truck on Saturday, April 1.


My biggest issue is that by the time they were done "inspecting/going through the truck," it was already past 7 days, so technically they could sell it as retail from that point on. Since I no longer live in the Tampa area, they knew that they could lie to me and take possession of the truck to sell to someone else.

Talk about bad timing for having to work a boat show on the weekend...
There was never any contract from the dealership telling me I had to take possession of the truck within 7 days, nor was it mentioned to me at any point. I guess that's my bad for not knowing every single detail about the order process.

 

[Disappointed B]

Man, I am really sorry that happened to you. The dealer add ons would be hard to swallow but you had to know that they weren't going to hold your vehicle for you for 2 weeks and you needed to close it fast.

You did not order your Maverick through Ford.com though - you ordered it through Elder Ford.

Regardless - that sucks. I wish Ford would control their dealers more. I knew when I bought my Tesla I had 72 hours to pick up from when they notified me or else they would sell it and I lost my $250 deposit. There was no interpretation.

@Ford Motor Company doesn't care that there are shady dealers out here besmirching their good name.

Unfortunately, I did think they were going to hold the vehicle for me. They told me multiple times on the phone that I was all set to pick it up on Saturday, April 1st. They even sent me the buyer's order on Friday, March 24th, that I could submit to my credit union to get the financing all lined up.

Up until I got the call yesterday, I was under the impression that the order was still linked to my name/address and that I was going to receive my long-awaited truck on Saturday, April 1.

 

[Hot Runr Guy]

No doubt, sorry to hear all this. It is pretty obvious to me that they never had any intention to sell you the vehicle, unless you would have been willing to pony-up more $$$. You took away their opportunity to make money on your trade-in & financing, so they took away your ability to purchase. If you have followed the Forum for any period of time, you will see many examples of this kind of behavior.

HRG

 

[JBryant]

Hindsight is always better, but looking at your situation, you would have been better off to get them a deposit of a few hundred dollars and that might have kept it. Again, if they are shady, it might have not. At least you have learned how NOT to order and buy a vehicle. At this point, about the only choice you have is to find one a dealer has that will not charge you much ADM. There are some who will do them for around $3K, but you will probably have to travel out of state to get one.

 

[KevCuRaoi]

My biggest issue is that by the time they were done "inspecting/going through the truck," it was already past 7 days, so technically they could sell it as retail from that point on. Since I no longer live in the Tampa area, they knew that they could lie to me and take possession of the truck to sell to someone else.

Talk about bad timing for having to work a boat show on the weekend...
There was never any contract from the dealership telling me I had to take possession of the truck within 7 days, nor was it mentioned to me at any point. I guess that's my bad for not knowing every single detail about the order process.

Sorry that happened to you!

FYI, the "7 days" is either just that dealership's policy, or something they made up on the spot as an excuse.

 

[Disappointed B]

Man, I am really sorry that happened to you. The dealer add ons would be hard to swallow but you had to know that they weren't going to hold your vehicle for you for 2 weeks and you needed to close it fast.

You did not order your Maverick through Ford.com though - you ordered it through Elder Ford.

Regardless - that sucks. I wish Ford would control their dealers more. I knew when I bought my Tesla I had 72 hours to pick up from when they notified me or else they would sell it and I lost my $250 deposit. There was no interpretation.

@Ford Motor Company doesn't care that there are shady dealers out here besmirching their good name.

Yeah, I was really excited about this truck. Now I have a few accessories (bed cover, storage trays, etc) that I purchased on sale during Black Friday. Looks like I won't be able to use those and will have to try and sell them.

Also, if I still lived on that side of the state, none of this would have been an issue and I would have stopped by after work the first day it was available for pickup. Unfortunately, I moved about 6 months ago and had no way to change the order to a dealership closer to me (I tried). That and having to work a 5-day boat show on top of my normal work week prevented me from being able to make it over there sooner than April 1st.

There are some major flaws with this ordering process, but I'm sure that everyone is aware of them by now. My biggest issue is the blatant lies that I was told by the dealer on multiple occasions. Up until yesterday when I got the "it sold" call, I was under the impression that I was picking it up on April 1.

 

[NoVaJimmy]

Sucks and while elder Ford is definitely scum, based on things that have happened over and over it was your mistake for doing anything other than showing up the day it arrived and if needed using their financing and then refinancing with your credit union. These dealers are unscrupulous but at the same time it's our job to be informed and understand their methods and also learn from other experiences that have been posted over and over here. When my Maverick arrived at the dealer I knew it had thanks to United road tracking and I showed up at the dealer with a check in hand. I was also able to get a check from my credit union without any kind of paperwork from the dealer, all I needed was the dealer name and the VIN. People, don't let your Maverick sit there! Take a day off of work if you have to. I blame the dealer for being shitty but I also put some blame on you for making mistakes that have already been made many times here. I know it's harsh but maybe it will sink in for the next person who is in the same shoes you were in so they don't make the same mistakes.

 

[Disappointed B]

Hindsight is always better, but looking at your situation, you would have been better off to get them a deposit of a few hundred dollars and that might have kept it. Again, if they are shady, it might have not. At least you have learned how NOT to order and buy a vehicle. At this point, about the only choice you have is to find one a dealer has that will not charge you much ADM. There are some who will do them for around $3K, but you will probably have to travel out of state to get one.

Yeah, I guess a deposit could have helped, but I ordered this vehicle back in 2021. Lol, I never expected a situation like this to occur, and I had too much faith in what the dealer was telling me over the phone.

I'm fortunate enough to not need a new vehicle, so it's not the end of the world. I can assure you that I will never order another Ford (or even purchase a used one) unless they change their ways and start holding dealerships accountable.

As far as finding another one not marked up, I'm going to pass. I had the $2,750 private offer from Ford, along with the recent grad discount of $750, which made this truck very appealing.

 

[gte105u]

This sucks. Sorry your pain has to serve as a lesson learned to others. As soon as that truck hits the lot and the dealer would allow possession... take it. I'm not excusing the dealer. What they did is BS to the highest degree. Not blaming the victim, for which you OP very much are.

But don't let that truck sit on a lot and tempt the dealer. My truck came in on Saturday 2/11 late. They couldn't process it the same day (and were closed Sundays). Monday I was out of town for work, but told my boss I needed to fly back early to pick it up. I didn't want it on the lot a day longer than needed... and my dealer is top notch. Temptation is hard to fight for these dealers staring at dollar signs.

 

[Disappointed B]

Sucks and while elder Ford is definitely scum, based on things that have happened over and over it was your mistake for doing anything other than showing up the day it arrived and if needed using their financing and then refinancing with your credit union. These dealers are unscrupulous but at the same time it's our job to be informed and understand their methods and also learn from other experiences that have been posted over and over here. When my Maverick arrived at the dealer I knew it had thanks to United road tracking and I showed up at the dealer with a check in hand. I was also able to get a check from my credit union without any kind of paperwork from the dealer, all I needed was the dealer name and the VIN. People, don't let your Maverick sit there! Take a day off of work if you have to. I blame the dealer for being shitty but I also put some blame on you for making mistakes that have already been made many times here. I know it's harsh but maybe it will sink in for the next person who is in the same shoes you were in so they don't make the same mistakes.

Typically, I would agree with you. I can't skip work though and lose my job trying to work around their schedule picking up the truck.
As I mentioned in a different post, if I still lived on that side of the state, I would have picked it up from the dealer the first day it was available. Since I now live 3.5 hours away, it's not like I could swing over any day after work. I was going to head over there the very first chance I had.

I would have tried to pick it up last weekend but as I mentioned, I was working a boat show for work. I just started this new job 4 months ago after I moved to this side of the state, so it's not like I have any extra vacation time where I could have taken off to pick up the truck.

The order process does not favor people who placed an order and then moved. It's basically up to the dealer to honor the initial order or be scumbags like Elder Ford is.

I feel like I did everything in my power to secure this vehicle, without compromising my job.

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