Caveat Emptor - Ford fines dealerships

[Scott Asheville]

Today's Detroit Free Press has an article (behind a paywall) about Ford fining some dealerships for either incorrectly performing Ranger Takata airbag recalls, or charging but doing anything at all.

It reminds me of a friend who took his Honda Civic in to have a pair of hatchback struts replaced. He marked them beforehand. The dealer only replaced one. He confronted the dealer service advisor, who lied. Then he dragged the dealership owner out to the car and pointed to his markings. The owner of the dealership was pissed.

Ronald Reagan said it best: "Trust but verify".

It actually makes me feel good about Ford for chasing this down. Maybe not so good about dealers - even though many are very good people. The few bad apples drags down trust.

Sponsored

 

[CurtisB]

Taking shortcuts regarding airbags isn't good. Glad this was brought out.

 

[FamousAmos]

Today's Detroit Free Press has an article (behind a paywall) about Ford fining some dealerships for either incorrectly performing Ranger Takata airbag recalls, or charging but doing anything at all.

It reminds me of a friend who took his Honda Civic in to have a pair of hatchback struts replaced. He marked them beforehand. The dealer only replaced one. He confronted the dealer service advisor, who lied. Then he dragged the dealership owner out to the car and pointed to his markings. The owner of the dealership was pissed.

Ronald Reagan said it best: "Trust but verify".

It actually makes me feel good about Ford for chasing this down. Maybe not so good about dealers - even though many are very good people. The few bad apples drags down trust.

Henry Kissinger said it best, "95% of the lawyers give a bad name to the other 5%."

 

[mdsalemi]

Too bad Ford didn’t make good on their promise to cut off dealers screwing around with above MSRP prices

 

[Ponyprez]

Today's Detroit Free Press has an article (behind a paywall) about Ford fining some dealerships for either incorrectly performing Ranger Takata airbag recalls, or charging but doing anything at all.

It reminds me of a friend who took his Honda Civic in to have a pair of hatchback struts replaced. He marked them beforehand. The dealer only replaced one. He confronted the dealer service advisor, who lied. Then he dragged the dealership owner out to the car and pointed to his markings. The owner of the dealership was pissed.

Ronald Reagan said it best: "Trust but verify".

It actually makes me feel good about Ford for chasing this down. Maybe not so good about dealers - even though many are very good people. The few bad apples drags down trust.

Now if they could just do something about ADM (Additional Dealer Markup) of which all goes to the greedy dealership and none to Ford Corp.

 

[1929]

I have access to the articles on FREEP without a subscription.

• That 1.5% of vehicles that have been checked have incorrect or unfixed air bags upon reinspection.

Expectation is zero tolerance for fraud or mistakes on safety system recalls and repairs. It's worth considering 1.5% is at or below the error rate for any repairs performed.
This does not appear to be a common problem.

 

[ndmiller]

Now if they could just do something about ADM (Additional Dealer Markup) of which all goes to the greedy dealership and none to Ford Corp.

And none to the greedy flippers trying to accomplish the same thing for the past couple years.

 

[arcnsparc]

Too bad Ford didn’t make good on their promise to cut off dealers screwing around with above MSRP prices

agreed.

I'm from the Minneapolis area and all of the Ford dealerships hiked Maverick prices on average $7K - $10K above sticker. I ended up spending $75 on an airline ticket (ultra cheap carrier) and another $100 in gas and a days drive from an Atlanta dealership that sold my Maverick $500 below sticker. I was happy to go out of my way to buy the Maverick. I did leave two dealerships poor Google reviews. It was the least I could do for those sharks. Especially when you read dealership websites when they talk about giving back to the community.. Hmmm.

 

[fossil]

https://www.aol.com/key-takeaways-fords-unfixed-air-161446547.html

 

[mdsalemi]

agreed.

I'm from the Minneapolis area and all of the Ford dealerships hiked Maverick prices on average $7K - $10K above sticker. I ended up spending $75 on an airline ticket (ultra cheap carrier) and another $100 in gas and a days drive from an Atlanta dealership that sold my Maverick $500 below sticker. I was happy to go out of my way to buy the Maverick. I did leave two dealerships poor Google reviews. It was the least I could do for those sharks. Especially when you read dealership websites when they talk about giving back to the community.. Hmmm.

I have the added situation of having "A" Plan since my wife worked for Ford in various financial positions for 31 years. In Michigan, A Plan was a non-issue. If you didn't honor A-Plan you would be blacklisted by your customers! My dealer there does most of his business from employees, friends, family and retirees. So, mostly A and X plan.

Here in NC they typically don't honor it...which is why we still get our cars in Michigan.

Sponsored