Ford drops 2023 Maverick COVP name match policy threshold to 60% on retail orders!

[jibbersmav]

I do not believe a deposit would reduce the number of sales; it would decrease people making multiple orders hoping to get a Maverick as quickly as possible. If the buyer cannot afford to put 500 or a thousand as a deposit, he/she must really consider if he/she can really afford to buy the vehicle. Just my two cents worth.

The bottom line is why would Ford make any significant or unruly changes at this time. They are in the business of selling vehicles, and they are selling every vehicle they make with ease right now. You don’t change strategy when you are on a winning drive.

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[Hdang1980]

Just got this interesting tidbit from @fordvideoguy weekly live stream. Ford has dropped the COVP name match policy to 60% on 2023 retail orders and has no official sanctions in place for going below it. They said they will just "monitor" it.

In other words, dealers are not at real risk of losing allocations when customers who ordered walk away. As such, this only means that many dealers will actually WANT customers who ordered to refuse the orders upon delivery so they can add massive ADM and make big $$$$.

It's also concerning from the standpoint of dealers who add "surprise" markups when retail orders arrive. Without any penalty for not having a name match, what's to stop dealers from just tacking $3,000 or $5,000 onto every Maverick order that shows up and telling customers, "Hey, if you don't like it, we'll sell it off the lot for $8,000 or $10,000 over sticker."

My personal opinion is this is a pretty lousy move by @Ford Motor Company and will benefit dealers a lot and do NOTHING to benefit consumers!

I've always believed in my heart of hearts that all the past statements from Ford about reigning in ADMs was just lip service. Their bark was, is, and will always be worse than their bite.

 

[commadorebob]

I've always believed in my heart of hearts that all the past statements from Ford about reigning in ADMs was just lip service. Their bark was, is, and will always be worse than their bite.

I think Ford is serious. The question is can Ford really do anything beyond give a firm finger wag given existing contracts? Also, in the grand scheme, Maverick is a low revenue product. Ford can make it hurt more with F-150 and Lightning.

 

[CG - All the way]

The bottom line is why would Ford make any significant or unruly changes at this time. They are in the business of selling vehicles, and they are selling every vehicle they make with ease right now. You don’t change strategy when you are on a winning drive.

I am not saying Ford should make any significant changes. I was only replying to a poster who said people ordering from multiple dealers provided the dealers with an excuse to ask for lower COVP matches. I will give you the benefit of the doubt on whether ford can require deposits because of licensing agreements. I do think these licensing agreements are open for renewal/revision on some timetable. If ford can dictate storefront design for a dealer to stay in business, I would guess they could require a deposit somewhere along the line if they so desired.

If there were not multiple orders or persons not sure if they want the vehicle, but what the heck, there is nothing to lose, more mavericks could be delivered to serious buyers and not end up going to the dealer for a large ADM. Ford should be concerned with customer satisfaction if they are concerned with long-term profits.
Another two cents worth and I am now out of money!!

 

[gte105u]

I am not saying Ford should make any significant changes. I was only replying to a poster who said people ordering from multiple dealers provided the dealers with an excuse to ask for lower COVP matches. I will give you the benefit of the doubt on whether ford can require deposits because of licensing agreements. I do think these licensing agreements are open for renewal/revision on some timetable. If ford can dictate storefront design for a dealer to stay in business, I would guess they could require a deposit somewhere along the line if they so desired.

If there were not multiple orders or persons not sure if they want the vehicle, but what the heck, there is nothing to lose, more mavericks could be delivered to serious buyers and not end up going to the dealer for a large ADM. Ford should be concerned with customer satisfaction if they are concerned with long-term profits.
Another two cents worth and I am now out of money!!

I agree things could be done. I tried to pay a deposit and my dealer wouldn't let me. I want to say it's not going to be an issue, but there is a worry they could sell it out from under me.

My concern is the current system rewards dealers for a customer putting an order in and walking away. The dealer gets to sell for a big markup. Only risk was a hit to allocations. So dealers cry foul over this check by Ford citing the multi order issue and a lack of control. Ford has no real reason to care since they are selling out in a week...

I personally believe, with no facts to support this, that the low dealer allocations we read about is also a factor. These mega dealers, who have pull with Ford and state legislators, did shady things and got hit with allocation reductions. They cried about it, so Ford caves instead of fight.

Lots of conjecture there I know. But I'd be willing to bet there are kernels of truth to what I just said. And some of it ties back to customers selfishly putting in multiple orders with no intention of buying all.

 

[Last Truck Ever]

What about people who purposely made multiple orders using different dealers. How is a dealer supposed to know that is happening?

Not sure the dealer can tell, possibly, but I know Ford sees them. If Ford knows some of these folks are just clearly dealer-shopping, maybe they intend to send the customer one and the dealer one MUCH LATER, without penalty to the dealership for someone placing an order with them just as a Plan B. ?? Just speculating, my guess is as good as any I suppose.

 

[Pikey87]

Probably because so many people selfishly ordered multiples with no intention of buying the extras. Dealers go "look how many people will back out and we have no control" because these customers handed them the argument on a silver platter. Reap what you sow.

It's hard to ignore that ford intentionally sold far more mavericks than they could build, and have shown no care on the customer service end.

 

[commadorebob]

I agree things could be done. I tried to pay a deposit and my dealer wouldn't let me. I want to say it's not going to be an issue, but there is a worry they could sell it out from under me.

My concern is the current system rewards dealers for a customer putting an order in and walking away. The dealer gets to sell for a big markup. Only risk was a hit to allocations. So dealers cry foul over this check by Ford citing the multi order issue and a lack of control. Ford has no real reason to care since they are selling out in a week...

I personally believe, with no facts to support this, that the low dealer allocations we read about is also a factor. These mega dealers, who have pull with Ford and state legislators, did shady things and got hit with allocation reductions. They cried about it, so Ford caves instead of fight.

Lots of conjecture there I know. But I'd be willing to bet there are kernels of truth to what I just said. And some of it ties back to customers selfishly putting in multiple orders with no intention of buying all.

This is likely closer to the truth than not. Ford may want to come down hard but may not actually be able to. With state laws and current contracts, all Ford can do is look upset at dealers but can't actually do anything to punish them. The only thing that will actually affect dealerships is if they actually ignored Ford's 65/35 ratio and went full hybrid on the preorders. Ford could then at least justify the lack of allocation to constraints.

Ultimately, this is going to come down to how honorable your chosen dealership is. If it is run well, this news is not going to make any difference because they will value their reputation over a cheap buck. A cheap buck on my Escape is why I now take all of my service business to another dealership. Good dealerships will not risk that ongoing cashflow relationship by screwing you over.

But if the dealership is known to be a source of scumbag behavior, then expect them to exploit this immediately.

 

[Mav101]

Ford:

We want to go to a customer based online ordering system.


Talk is cheap.

 

[JakRussll]

Probably because so many people selfishly ordered multiples with no intention of buying the extras. Dealers go "look how many people will back out and we have no control" because these customers handed them the argument on a silver platter. Reap what you sow.

*I suspect there is a lot of truth there. Going from 75% to 60% is quite a jump though. You can be sure that this is a dealer driven request. It's already starting to smell like another train wreck over Maverick deliveries, communication and expectations this model year. Left hand, meet right hand.

 

[gte105u]

It's hard to ignore that ford intentionally sold far more mavericks than they could build, and have shown no care on the customer service end.

True. But there can be multiple issues going on at the same time. There's a lot of ways that Ford could handle this differently. But ultimately they want to sell as many vehicles as possible. The only thing that's holding the back from just taking orders and letting it flow is damaged to image. Ford has the least skin in the game of anybody in this process because the vehicle is going to sell either way.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

That is frustrating if true. Or maybe it means Ford is confident in their ability to produce lots of Mavericks quickly?

I have no doubt Ford will be able to adequately supply demand by 2024. In 2026 even if they choose to produce a standard 5-10 packages with more dealer installed options. Think about hearing over the the speakers at the plant "everyone enter your safe zone and push your button, when last person is clear 5k mavericks will be made. This run will be hybrid lariat PKG 2"!

 

[earlyhike]

Ford:

We want to go to a customer based online ordering system.


Talk is cheap.

I'm pretty sure they legally can't. There is a federal law that says if a manufacturer has a dealership in a state then that manufacturer is required to sell through the dealer. It's why Tesla has zero dealerships. They have "galleries" and can loophole themselves past this law. It's also why Ford is creating a completely separate business for their electric vehicles. In coming years they will be able to argue that no Ford-Electric dealerships exist in any state, only galleries, and finally be free from this law to sell direct to consumers.

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