For many years now, some of the dealers in Ford’s network have been acting shady when it comes to highly desired Ford cars and trucks. One of the most despicable practices as far as many Ford fans are concerned is the extremely common occurrence of dealerships adding “market adjustments” to the MSRP of high-performance and off-road Ford vehicles. For example, anyone who’s tried to purchase a high-end or limited-edition Mustang has had to deal with dealerships that tack thousands and thousands of dollars onto the MSRP, simply because they can.
Market adjustments and the act of marking up prices on vehicles that people have reserved very much turns Ford fans off from the brand, not to mention hurting the reputation of the company and its dealer network. In the past, Ford did get tough with one dealership that was tacking a significant markup onto the Mustang Mach-E. It looks like Ford is now taking additional steps to stop price gouging F-150 Lightning dealers.
A new report has surfaced that started with the F150gen14 forum, where one members posted a message Ford apparently sent to specific dealerships. Before we get into the content of the message, it’s important to note the forum now has a notice up that says the bulletin sent to dealers was removed at Ford’s request. Like anything that goes on the Internet, though, once it’s up, you can never take it down.
was able to copy the bulletin and still has it available on its website as of writing. Essentially, the bulletin outlines some shady goings-on at a limited number of dealerships. Ford says in its message that these dealerships are interacting with customers in a way that negatively impacts customer satisfaction and damages the company name and dealership network.
The bulletin calls out an example of “these negative interactions,” pointing to dealerships reaching out to customers on the reservation list for the Lightning and attempting to leverage more deposits or payments from them. The deposit to purchase an F-150 Lightning started at $100 when the automaker opened its reservations process after announcing the pickup. Ford says in its statement that trying to get reservation holders to make additional deposits or payments is not allowed under the Sales and Service a
Specifically, that paragraph says that the dealer is barred from any type of “bait,” illegal advertising practice, and deceptive or misleading marketing or sales tactics. For any dealership that continues to act shady regarding reservation holders for the Lightning, Ford points out some serious consequences.
