the chance of ford actually doing something is….slim

Ford doesn’t really have any leverage since they are prioritizing retail orders instead of full filling stock orders so dealers don’t have much to lose at this point. Historically ford hasn’t been as discounted as Chryslers but the dealers’ margins on new vehicles were not that great compared to CPO, used, and service anyway.

 

Surely Ford is going to crack down on these... check this bump in the price... Doubling the price? WHAT?

 

The issue isn't with dealers that upcharge like that, the issue is with those that pay it. If no one paid it then the dealer would stop charging it.

 

Your probably right, but the chance of Ford doing something if no one tells them is zero. Just because something that is wrong has a slim chance of being corrected does not mean the community should stay silent and just deal with it. I can see and understand a markup in this time of inflation and ridiculous prices, but $120,000 for the Lightning is ridiculous.

Maybe a call to the local news station would be a better course of action.

Recently Subaru of America went after a few dealers that were hiking the prices up on new vehicles. The dealers were fined and told if they did not bring the prices back down to the "allowed" amount that their ability to sell Subaru vehicles would be removed.

 

I haven't worked for Ford in 18 years but i can tell you one thing is certain, Ford will make good on its promise to strip a dealer of their ability to sell Lightnings for the rest of the year if they know about what that dealer is doing.

Back when the 7.3DI Turbo diesel (power stroke) came out in 1994.5 they told my dealer they had to have a tech certified to work on them by a certain date or they would send a transport truck to remove every single one of them.

I enjoyed that 2 week paid vacation getting the training Ford required that my dealer had to pay for.

 

The issue is both, the criminal intent on the dealers part, and the jackass with more money than sense that would actually pay the amount.

 

you are right, it is better to do something rather than nothing.

one thing ford may know, and I hope they care about, is that their extended warranty depends on people’s trust in their local dealers’ service department. And people like me who had a sour taste from ordering a vehicle is making me think twice about buying an ESP. Do I trust the techs to treat my SD right if their counterpart in sales are more than willing to try to screw customers who made special orders? Sure, I know the service department is separate thing than their sales office, but do I want to keep going back to the place that tried to stiff me with a markup on a retail ordered truck that went through the COVP process? I’m not sure.

I used to be a HUGE defender of dealers and thought the direct sales method is bad for consumers, but after my most recent Ford purchse(I have three fords right now) I’m like, bring it on Bill Ford, can’t be worse than what people,are going through today with their retail orders.