Ford seems to be fed up with it's Dealerships

outofyourmind said:
It all points to the fact that Dealerships are Dinosaurs now, and that model just isn't going to happen going forward.

I think the days of walking onto a lot with 300 cars/trucks, picking the one you want, and driving it home, are long gone.

I like the idea of ordering a vehicle the exact way I want it.
I've done that 3 times and have liked it, except for the wait.
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but then who would sell me on the undercoating and extended warranty?
 
RoyMunson said:
but then who would sell me on the undercoating and extended warranty?
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And the gap insurance? or try and get me to lease the car instead of buying it so they'll make more money off me? Or try to finance for longer at higher rates to make more money?
 
I can see some drawbacks.

How do you handle someone's 'Trade In' when the new vehicle is months away.
 
outofyourmind said:
I can see some drawbacks.

How do you handle someone's 'Trade In' when the new vehicle is months away.
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I've ordered 2 vehicles, getting my trade discounted was a concern of mine both times.

It was like 2-3 months both times, no problems either time, one was at a chevy dealership and one at a ford dealership.

They told me they'd stand by the deal no matter how long it took and they did.
 
outofyourmind said:
I can see some drawbacks.

How do you handle someone's 'Trade In' when the new vehicle is months away.
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You can do that now already with other ordering sites. As long as the order coming in is within a few months, and unless you total the vehicle in the meantime, the value is about the same a few months from now as it is currently.
 
outofyourmind said:
I can see some drawbacks.

How do you handle someone's 'Trade In' when the new vehicle is months away.
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Maybe the concept of “trade in” just needs to die? I’m sure they won’t go that far. But if the new model of a showroom is a thing and you had to sell your car another way there would be places to sell your older car to. You just keep it until your new car is ready.

And maybe hope the price you can get for your old car doesn’t drop while waiting for the new car, I guess.
 
MAIZEandBLUE09 said:
But you don't need a dealer for that. Ford could simply operate showrooms instead of dealerships, like Tesla does. Smaller facilities with basically no on the lot stock. You test drive the car, can see the models and then you can place an order online.
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I looked at ordering a truck once with that in mind...but at that time, I couldn't get the truck discounted anywhere near what they had on the same vehicle on their lot or close enough to ship in from another dealer who had one on their lot.
 
dikowt dowg said:
I looked at ordering a truck once with that in mind...but at that time, I couldn't get the truck discounted anywhere near what they had on the same vehicle on their lot or close enough to ship in from another dealer who had one on their lot.
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That's the one thing that will go away, dealers trying to get rid of inventory. But I think that's pretty much gone now anyway.
 
dikowt dowg said:
I looked at ordering a truck once with that in mind...but at that time, I couldn't get the truck discounted anywhere near what they had on the same vehicle on their lot or close enough to ship in from another dealer who had one on their lot.
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I ran into this on my last truck, and it was because of the 'rebate' they had on inventory 90 days or older.
I ordered it anyway, because they had zero trucks configured the way I wanted it.

Also the Ford CEO was talking about 'One Price Shopping' or a 'non negotiated price' set by the factory, so in essence there wouldn't be any rebates like the one above.

It ends floor plan costs, and also rebates on inventory levels that need to be discounted to move.
 
outofyourmind said:
I ran into this on my last truck, and it was because of the 'rebate' they had on inventory 90 days or older.
I ordered it anyway, because they had zero trucks configured the way I wanted it.

Also the Ford CEO was talking about 'One Price Shopping' or a 'non negotiated price' set by the factory, so in essence there wouldn't be any rebates like the one above.

It ends floor plan costs, and also rebates on inventory levels that need to be discounted to move.
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But theoretically, Ford could also do that; depending on what vehicles they want to push. Or just offer up certain sales on vehicles the same way they currently do. "Order now to get the 4th of july sale on the X vehicle for X off the order price"
 
MAIZEandBLUE09 said:
But theoretically, Ford could also do that; depending on what vehicles they want to push. Or just offer up certain sales on vehicles the same way they currently do. "Order now to get the 4th of july sale on the X vehicle for X off the order price"
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The CEO didn't go that far into their pricing strategy, but I could see some of that.
 
outofyourmind said:
Rut Roh
Looks like Ford has pushed back the date they will take orders for the Maverick from tomorrow, August 2nd, to well into September now.

No word on the Bronco.


That's just fucked up.
If I had placed an order last Friday for one, I would be one hot mother fucker right now.

Maybe that explains the lack of 'drive' from the salesmen.
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They did the same thing on the Bronco for like 5 years. Well, not the orders part. But place an order and wait a year to hear back, and then when you did it was 50/50 if they would honor the expected price or not. Told em to pound sand and bought a Nissan.
 
outofyourmind said:
I ran into this on my last truck, and it was because of the 'rebate' they had on inventory 90 days or older.
I ordered it anyway, because they had zero trucks configured the way I wanted it.

Also the Ford CEO was talking about 'One Price Shopping' or a 'non negotiated price' set by the factory, so in essence there wouldn't be any rebates like the one above.

It ends floor plan costs, and also rebates on inventory levels that need to be discounted to move.
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It ends a LOT of overhead for the manufacturers.
 
MAIZEandBLUE09 said:
But theoretically, Ford could also do that; depending on what vehicles they want to push. Or just offer up certain sales on vehicles the same way they currently do. "Order now to get the 4th of july sale on the X vehicle for X off the order price"
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So it will be like mattresses going on sale for Memorial Day? :)
 
fordman84 said:
So it will be like mattresses going on sale for Memorial Day? :)
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I think they will take a lot of the pricing changes out of their strategy. Probably some 'sales'. But more in relation to their manufacturing system being 'over taxed' or 'under taxed'

It's the peaks and valleys that costs a company money, so most will move away from that, especially the issues they create themselves.

I've been wondering for years how the Industry will move away from the manufacturing/sales model it's had for generations, and it took a Pandemic to do it.

When car companies are able to 'see' past their old ways of doing business, and know how the new way helps, they will be in high gear.


Some obstacles of course.
 
outofyourmind said:
I think they will take a lot of the pricing changes out of their strategy. Probably some 'sales'. But more in relation to their manufacturing system being 'over taxed' or 'under taxed'

It's the peaks and valleys that costs a company money, so most will move away from that, especially the issues they create themselves.

I've been wondering for years how the Industry will move away from the manufacturing/sales model it's had for generations, and it took a Pandemic to do it.

When car companies are able to 'see' past their old ways of doing business, and know how the new way helps, they will be in high gear.


Some obstacles of course.
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I think it will go the way of all other online stores. You can go online and find/order the exact specific trinket you want and then wait for it to be created and shipped, or you can shop for the ones out already and see if one meets your needs and just go pick it up. It would be so nice to go on ford.com and be able to price and build and see the delivery and everything else cost. In the digital age there is no reason to need a dealership beyond commercial fleet needs. In that case let them just have standard volume discounts from manufacturers like any other business would have.
 
outofyourmind said:
This has been my feeling about it.
However, if I want to by a Maverick, driving one first isn't really an option.
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Never buy a car the first year out anyway. You always want them to work the kinks out.
 
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