Necessary, NO but it's built into many State's laws. It's similar to the 3 Tier Laws that Breweries, Distillers and Wineries have to deal with. From there it will go to a distributor and then to a retail establishment for end consumer to purchase. I have been in Beer, wine and Spirits distribution for 27 years. Think of me like a Dealer but not shady! Lol
Agreed 100%. But is Ford gonna do anything? Can they? How about Ford says: "If you don't honor order holder pricing, future allocations will be reduced by 50%".....Or whatever. I see a lot of dealers around me marking up Rangers. Like $2k-$5k. I'm not talking Tremors, I'm talking every Ranger on their lot. Crazy. Service departments and used car sales make good dealers their money and volume on new sales, not price gouging. Volume is down across the country because of supply, so it's level playing ground for all of the dealers. Why not lean on them? Especially service with all these used vehicles being sold. Dealers are gonna burn a lot of bridges if they do this crap to loyal customers who have been waiting, months or even a year. Remember when NASCAR alienated it's base and started building more profitable cookie cutter tracks for big money? They can barely sell 60%-70% of their tickets now because the loyal people left and so did the fair weather fans after a few years. I will walk away from anything over MSRP. Have a hard time accepting that I have to pay that quite honestly.
The subject matter also discussed the assumed legal avenues against a dealer that indicated it would hold its pricing to MSRP, then recanted that promise to adjust its pricing to an upward market adjustment and all the posts of threatened lawsuits as a result. That's what my post was about.
The second Ford tries this, they get sued in court for trying to short circuit dealer autonomy. Many states have strong laws protecting dealers if their franchise agreement doesn’t cover this already.
If you have a signed order agreement, they cannot do this. It doesn't sound like you got the price in writing. This is common, it is why I tell people to always get everything the dealer promises you, in writing, with a Sales Manager's signature, and your signature. Otherwise, they can change anything and you must accept it.
Every Ford dealership is independently owned and operated. Ford Motor Company plays no role in the negotiation or sale of the vehicle. You must get all of the details in writing with a managers signature, your signature, and pay a cash deposit, in order for the agreement to be binding and enforceable.
Early on, I had contacted Lithia Ford about their pricing strategy......more on the acceptance of X Plan than honoring MSRP. I give them credit as they were quick to reply to my email that they would not be honoring X Plan pricing under any circumstances (this was before Ford made the decision to disqualify the Bronco from X Plan eligibility). Others had warned me of a negative reputation of Lithia Ford, so I'll leave it at that.I posted this on a different thread, but I think this one needs it too.
There is a list on the forum of dealerships that are not adding ADM. Of few of the dealerships showed "unknown". So for the benefit of the forum I started sending emails out to those dealers Just to see where they stood. Lithia Ford in Fresno California got back to me and they are adding $5999 ADM to all reserved and ordered Broncos. Pretty shady of them.
Lithia Ford also has a green window sticker WT listed "for sale" that says call for price. I'd go almost anywhere else.I posted this on a different thread, but I think this one needs it too.
There is a list on the forum of dealerships that are not adding ADM. Of few of the dealerships showed "unknown". So for the benefit of the forum I started sending emails out to those dealers Just to see where they stood. Lithia Ford in Fresno California got back to me and they are adding $5999 ADM to all reserved and ordered Broncos. Pretty shady of them.
