Anyone more worried now about 11th hour ADM?

[PungoteagueDave]

No, nobody is making anyone close an unsatisfactory deal, but people have invested a lot of time (over a year) waiting, planning, and preparing for delivery, only to have the terms changed at the 11th hour. Dealerships know the value of this intangible investment and may attempt to exploit it. You can be assertive, polite, thorough, and pleasant all you like, and some dealers may still try to put you over a barrel because they're greedy sociopaths, and another sucker will be around soon enough. Without a signed contract your only recourse is generally to walk away which still counts as an "L" since you now have to find another vehicle which starts the cycle over again. Let's just hope these situations are few and far between, but there are many stories of dealerships doing this before, and it is right to be guarded while snake handling.

There can be a fine line between being paranoid and being prepared, but at the very least people should be prepared.

completely agree. I think it is wise to anticipate ADM and preclude it before reserving - but can understand how people fell into this trap. My current dealer does have inventory cars on the showroom floor with huge ADM (Shelbies & Raptors), so I made a point of getting email confirmation in writing that the Lightning deal would be at MSRP. And sent a nice bottle of wine to both the rep and sales manager at Christmas. And bring a six-pack of her favorite IPA to my service rep at every visit. Good treatment does not take much - but you have to take charge and remember that they all work for you, no matter how impressive the structure or how rigid the "policy" - every dealership (including chains except Autonation) is a small business in the end. We need them to be around AND we need them to be profitable. When we start with the premise that this is not about negotiating a win/loss, but a fair deal, with mutual respect, there is a positive, no-stress outcome.

When I walk into any vehicle dealer except Tesla, I have a price in my pocket, put it out, and say - here's the exact configuration and price, cash deal, here's how much you will make on the deal, I have an appointment, can we agree on the deposit and sign now? This requires knowing in advance the dealer invoice and margin on your configuration, and the amount of holdback. This information is all readily available, and a responsible consumer will go in prepared - and the dealer will respect you for it. It is slightly different with the Lightning, just an email confirmation that MSRP will prevail, no dealer packages, ADM or fees beyond their standard $450, good to go.

I understand the pain that some are having due to the last-minute ADM, also get why they did not know about it in advance. I precluded it, but don't have a dealer who would re-trade. That's tough, and I would be raising hell too, all the way to Ford. Honest dealing is just that, and IF the dealer committed to no ADM and reneged, you have a legit beef. If not, then you didn't protect yourself, lesson learned.

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[Ruination]

Your car salesmen must be way more knowledgeable than mine and more honest.

Mine try and inform.me they won't make any money selling below sticker.

Of course the finance guy couldn't even do basic math.

They are resting on having no inventory right now and like any scam they weed out those who know better.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

Your car salesmen must be way more knowledgeable than mine and more honest.

Mine try and inform.me they won't make any money selling below sticker.

Of course the finance guy couldn't even do basic math.

They are resting on having no inventory right now and like any scam they weed out those who know better.

Yeah, zero chance of getting any deal on an inventory truck - they can hold a few days and rape the next buyer. My comments above relate to orders, which is the only way I purchase vehicles. Dealers are way more professional when in that mode because it is an "add" to their total volume for the year when a customer comes in to order - it is one more unit that they would not get allocated from Ford - essentially a gift to them - so if you make sure they make a reasonable spread, everyone is happy.

On my '21 KR PB, the dealer offered me $5K cash on May 27 2021 to walk away from the truck that was parked outside for delivery, because it was going away for $5k under MSRP and they could sell it for $10k over MSRP. Plus I was a cash buyer, so none of the finance room shenanigans - they could have made way more giving me $5K and keeping the truck. But we all smiled, they ate the donuts that I brought, and I handed over the check. Just gotta be respectfully in charge. Not financing is a big element, as is always ordering vs looking for an inventory vehicle, especially in this environment. Almost impossible to avoid overpaying if you are in a hurry.

As a young CPA, I once had a managing partner with this motto:

"We offer three things:

Quality,
Speed, and
Low Price

Pick any two"

 

[vandy1981]

Honest dealing is just that, and IF the dealer committed to no ADM and reneged, you have a legit beef. If not, then you didn't protect yourself, lesson learned.

I'm not sure if you're responding to he OP or someone else, but they were concerned about dealers deciding to mark up beyond what was shown on the order page at delivery. That should be enough evidence that the dealer wouldn't play games at delivery and we shouldn't have to expect to need to provide a case of wine and a notarized affidavit from the sales manager to prevent games from happening.

 

[Ruination]

Yeah, zero chance of getting any deal on an inventory truck - they can hold a few days and rape the next buyer. My comments above relate to orders, which is the only way I purchase vehicles. Dealers are way more professional when in that mode because it is an "add" to their total volume for the year when a customer comes in to order - it is one more unit that they would not get allocated from Ford - essentially a gift to them - so if you make sure they make a reasonable spread, everyone is happy.

On my '21 KR PB, the dealer offered me $5K cash on May 27 2021 to walk away from the truck that was parked outside for delivery, because it was going away for $5k under MSRP and they could sell it for $10k over MSRP. Plus I was a cash buyer, so none of the finance room shenanigans - they could have made way more giving me $5K and keeping the truck. But we all smiled, they ate the donuts that I brought, and I handed over the check. Just gotta be respectfully in charge. Not financing is a big element, as is always ordering vs looking for an inventory vehicle, especially in this environment. Almost impossible to avoid overpaying if you are in a hurry.

As a young CPA, I once had a managing partner with this motto:

"We offer three things:

Quality,
Speed, and
Low Price

Pick any two"

Yea, and I knew that going in. Just no reason to lie. My current dealership and the one I ultimately bought the lightning from was much less shenanigans when I was shopping the trucks.l before deciding to "settle" on an XLT.

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