Shady dealer tactics still going strong

[808Goose!]

HONOLULU FORD HONOLULU FORD HONOLULU FORD...a part of the Lithia chain of dealerships.
I ordered a Lariat EB during the 2023 open ordering bank period last year and it arrived at honolulu ford in February. I was told of a $5000 mandatory markup upon ordering. If I was to purchase one off the dealer inventory, there's a $10k markup, non-negotionable. I went ahead with the order anyway.
This past February, I went to drive and purchase. The spray in bed liner was omitted and not credited and the salesman said MAYBE he could get me a bed mat in place of it. I could only drive around the block because the truck had no gas and he wasn't interested in getting some put in for a more thorough test drive. Back in the showroom, he shows me an estimate sheet showing a $12k markup but said that he'll knock $6k off of it since it's my order. I told him to call me back if he makes the other $6k go away and of course he never did. To me, that's okay because I've never worked with a Lithia dealer before and now I never will and neither will anyone who'll listen to my experience. The dealer's practices are shamefully unethical and the sales rep's unwillingness to tempt me to purchase is just pure full of it. FWIW, another dealer offered me a lesser markup, but still a markup nevertheless. I'm encouraged to see the 2024 price for the Lariat to be about the same and every option package I ordered is now standard. However, I'll probably wait until the frenzy dies down and I can get a fair price. I really enjoy this site, but I'll probably not be a Maverick owner for another couple of years.

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[5ninefish]

I am sorry you are going through this. Unfortunately, honor in business is dying. I can assure you that not all dealerships are s**t, or money grabbers or opportunistic. Now I do understand the thought process from a dealership point of view. Ford has struggled to make vehicles to deliver to dealerships to sell to the public thus the supply is low and demand is still high.

How does this affect dealerships? Well, Imagine you own a candy store and you went from the shelves being stocked by your manufacturers to then only having one or two shelves available that have candy.... yet you still have staff you need to pay as they have families to feed and bills to pay. The ONLY way you can meet the supply to pay your staff is to raise the price of your product. (This truly was a Ford problem to begin with that enticed dealers to mark up their products.... it was a panicked time with unknown timeframes of when more inventory would come).

Now on the flip side, I do work for a family run single point Ford dealership (not one that calls themselves family run but is actually a corporation because they have multiple points) who has integrity and cares for the community. Our owner does not condone, bait and switch tac tics, he does not like lying nor does he condone selling vehicles over MSRP. We have NOT sold a single vehicle over MSRP during the pandemic, or in the past and not in the future. (Yes, specialty vehicles that we may see one unit a year such as a GT350/ 500 or Raptor will have a premium but not a price gouge) because our owner does not want to impact the community. We have managed our business for 90 years and have placed ourselves in a good position. Are we the largest dealership in the area? NO! Do we behave with integrity? YES. Our customer satisfaction score is 4.98 out of 5.0 which comes from the top and is passed down through the ranks and onto the interaction with our guests. Are we supported in the way we feel we should be from Ford? Not as much as we could be for an integrity dealership! We follow the rules, take care of our customers.... yet it seems the bigger dealerships that have broken the rules, marked up their vehicles still seem to get the inventory they need.

We will not sell a Maverick that a customer has ordered over MSRP and will honor any rebate that is associated with the customer too. (not that Ford makes it easy to do price protection and sometimes when a guest says they have a rebate it doesn't always show in the SmartVincent ..... that is a whole other story/headache.)

Now on the other side of that, we also have guests trying to trade out of their Mavericks and want ALL the money and then some - so the "price gouging" goes both ways!! You can't shout "fire" and then deny that you are also holding the torch when you want to trade (this is not directed at you the OP but just a general nudge to the majority..... I get it, we all want the most for what we have). So with that, we DO NOT pay over MSRP on a trade of a Maverick either.

Anyways, I am starting to ramble.....

Iʻm not naive that markups exist. That being said, I would not be on this forum if they had disclosed the 6K from the beginning. They are adamant that the fee was disclosed from day 1, and it absolutely wasnʻt. Charge whatever you want, just be somewhat upfront about it. Sneak it in the fine print if you have to, I actually read all that stuff. They needed the trucks to be delivered, and they knew I would never have made the order if the 6K was even hinted at.

I appreciate that there are dealers out there like the one you work at. My last 2 vehicles were purchased from a family-owned dealer who sold me vehicles straight off the lot for zero markup - and this was in the middle of the extreme vehicle shortage the last couple years when EVERYBODY was marking stuff up. I know they missed out on lots of money, but they stood by it and gained tons of loyalty. I have a Toyota and a Chevy from them, and it looks like Iʻll be driving their cars for a while longer since Honolulu Ford shit the bed with this Maverick order.

 

[Maverick Life]

by going to the list of recommended dealers' thread

...a little help please? Search on mobile is coming up short. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Thx.

 

[earlyhike]

Sorry to hear that. The dealer's attitude is beyond unprofessional. If the argument comes down to disclosure then the burden is on him to provide a paper with that disclosure which you signed. If you didn't sign such a thing then it wasn't disclosed.

If the argument is whether the dealer can add ADM regardless, I think that is a gamble we are all taking with these flimsy Maverick order agreements.

It's one thing when you get hit with an outrageous markup. It's another thing when the person you are confronting can't have a calm coherent discussion about it. Hopefully you can have a conversation with someone else.

It's a little amusing that the man asking you if you know how a business works, with his every spoken word, proves he himself doesn't. "No I'm not going to sell you an extended warranty and a dozen other add-ons because that benefits you the customer more than it benefits me."

Good luck.

 

[lajlmt]

You don't "order" anything on the Ford site. All it does it send the dealer an e-mail "Such and such person is interested in buying a vehicle with this configuration. Here's their contact information."

Are you affiliated with a dealer? You should disclose this when you make a comment.

 

[lajlmt]

So my salesman (the no markup here guy) has an XLT Maverick for sale. Contact Gary Warning at 616-421-5500.

Hurry it’s melting! I bet it’s sold!

 

[lajlmt]

I am sorry you are going through this. Unfortunately, honor in business is dying. I can assure you that not all dealerships are s**t, or money grabbers or opportunistic. Now I do understand the thought process from a dealership point of view. Ford has struggled to make vehicles to deliver to dealerships to sell to the public thus the supply is low and demand is still high.

How does this affect dealerships? Well, Imagine you own a candy store and you went from the shelves being stocked by your manufacturers to then only having one or two shelves available that have candy.... yet you still have staff you need to pay as they have families to feed and bills to pay. The ONLY way you can meet the supply to pay your staff is to raise the price of your product. (This truly was a Ford problem to begin with that enticed dealers to mark up their products.... it was a panicked time with unknown timeframes of when more inventory would come).

Now on the flip side, I do work for a family run single point Ford dealership (not one that calls themselves family run but is actually a corporation because they have multiple points) who has integrity and cares for the community. Our owner does not condone, bait and switch tac tics, he does not like lying nor does he condone selling vehicles over MSRP. We have NOT sold a single vehicle over MSRP during the pandemic, or in the past and not in the future. (Yes, specialty vehicles that we may see one unit a year such as a GT350/ 500 or Raptor will have a premium but not a price gouge) because our owner does not want to impact the community. We have managed our business for 90 years and have placed ourselves in a good position. Are we the largest dealership in the area? NO! Do we behave with integrity? YES. Our customer satisfaction score is 4.98 out of 5.0 which comes from the top and is passed down through the ranks and onto the interaction with our guests. Are we supported in the way we feel we should be from Ford? Not as much as we could be for an integrity dealership! We follow the rules, take care of our customers.... yet it seems the bigger dealerships that have broken the rules, marked up their vehicles still seem to get the inventory they need.

We will not sell a Maverick that a customer has ordered over MSRP and will honor any rebate that is associated with the customer too. (not that Ford makes it easy to do price protection and sometimes when a guest says they have a rebate it doesn't always show in the SmartVincent ..... that is a whole other story/headache.)

Now on the other side of that, we also have guests trying to trade out of their Mavericks and want ALL the money and then some - so the "price gouging" goes both ways!! You can't shout "fire" and then deny that you are also holding the torch when you want to trade (this is not directed at you the OP but just a general nudge to the majority..... I get it, we all want the most for what we have). So with that, we DO NOT pay over MSRP on a trade of a Maverick either.

Anyways, I am starting to ramble.....

So how much do dealers get if they just sell it at MSRP? Do you get a percentage or a flat dollar it can’t be different for every dealership.

 

[prsncat]

...a little help please? Search on mobile is coming up short. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Thx.

It might be a little tricky to see on a mobile device.

 

[Debbiemc1958]

Hurry it’s melting! I bet it’s sold!

I hope he got a sale. He's a good guy.

 

[elmo3000]

So how much do dealers get if they just sell it at MSRP? Do you get a percentage or a flat dollar it can’t be different for every dealership.

It's pretty much the difference between invoice and MSRP; which I may add, is NOT a lot! Every dealer has the same margin that Ford dictates.

 

[elmo3000]

It might be a little tricky to see on a mobile device.

Is this a list of dealerships that do not charge over MSRP?
You can add Plaza Ford in Bel Air MD too if you can. Thanks

 

[Old Man]

It's pretty much the difference between invoice and MSRP; which I may add, is NOT a lot! Every dealer has the same margin that Ford dictates.

Plus holdback. And I've heard advertising and floor plan.

 

[prsncat]

Is this a list of dealerships that do not charge over MSRP?
You can add Plaza Ford in Bel Air MD too if you can. Thanks

This is a list of dealerships that people who have bought -- or attempted to buy -- their retail orders and either had a good experience (Recommended) or want to warn people about before they place their retail orders (Warning).

Please submit your dealer recommendation (or warning) using the following Google form:
https://forms.gle/k1SuLHps6FL1ATPM7

 

[Maverstang]

@5ninefish :

Any luck making contact with Mike Levine at Ford?

Several people have contacted him about ADMs on ordered vehicles, and suddenly the problem went away. Basically he threatened their allocations. Can’t remember the specific cases, probably searchable in the forum (and other Ford vehicle forums).

Also, another Hawaii forum member ordered from Granger for under MSRP, then had it shipped to Hawaii. Might be a better solution next time.

 

[Fibrepunk]

I waited a year and a half for my maverick. It came in last month, dealer honored the price on window sticker. No markup. Your dealership is shady.

If you didn't make any change on your order after the price increase, your price should be when you placed the order. The dealer should have given you a printout of the preview - DORA, and that is the price. Not the window sticker, if you paid MSRP on the window sticker at time of delivery for your retail order, you also got screwed.

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