Are Ford dealers not held to "Bait and Switch" laws?

[Zappcatt]

I am trying to find a Lariot ER on the West Coast, and have visited 4 different dealer sites, all of which show/list specific VIN/Stock Numbered vehicles. Several of these have a "Start your deal" flow where you submit your drivers licence and other items required for an Online order.

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM have replied to my inquiries informing me that the vehicle I saw "for sale" on the site is a customer order, and they just need to get their sales specialist on the phone with me to get me something I could buy.

So frustrating.

P.S. Does anyone know a good/legit Ford Dealer in the relative vicinity of the SF Bay Area?

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[The Weatherman]

My experience with the Maverick a year ago tells me it may not be the dealers fault that those trucks show up on their website.

Ford Corporate has access to those sites and loads out any vehicle that is assigned to their allocations. One way I found to tell the difference between stock and retail ordered trucks was to try and access the window sticker. Stocks will come up and be Blue. The retail customer orders will not normally display and if it does it will be Green.

 

[Zappcatt]

Thanks for the tip, that sounds like it might be the issue since so many of their sites are like that. I went back to the one dealer and yep, 12 of 14 were green stickered, with only 2 being Blue/Dealer stock. Now to wait to see if they write back.

One of the dealers actually has a toggle which says 'In Stock-6" or "In Transit-8". I chose in stock, and while looking at those, 2 of them are actually in Transit

I keep seeing on here people saying the F150 is not selling...but man, can not find a single one on a lot in CA, OR or AZ (random site visits of course)

 

[ddimit]

I am trying to find a Lariot ER on the West Coast, and have visited 4 different dealer sites, all of which show/list specific VIN/Stock Numbered vehicles. Several of these have a "Start your deal" flow where you submit your drivers licence and other items required for an Online order.

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM have replied to my inquiries informing me that the vehicle I saw "for sale" on the site is a customer order, and they just need to get their sales specialist on the phone with me to get me something I could buy.

So frustrating.

P.S. Does anyone know a good/legit Ford Dealer in the relative vicinity of the SF Bay Area?

Hi, I ordered a oxford white Larat ER due to a dealer in Sacramento that i will not be taking,
reach out to me for more info

 

[flyct]

Sorry for the long posting.

Don’t assume just because it has a “special ordered” window sticker that it’s not available. Lots of people order and when trucks arrive they don’t buy them and it becomes a dealer stock truck.

I just bought one last week that was on a dealer’s lot that has a Green Special order window sticker on it.

When I was searching I went to Ford.com and built a Lightning Lariat 511a. Then I searched inventory within 100 miles of my zip. I narrowed the search for trucks priced between $77,000-$82,000 with the slider on the web site, so it would be a Lariat 511a with an extended range battery that would qualify for tax credit. Anything below sticker of $81,995 would be less than $80,000 after destination and delivery fees to qualify.

There were 49 within trucks meeting my specs within the 100 miles. Most of them wer “Dealer Ordered” and hadn’t hit The dealer lot yet.

I just looked today and when you set $77000-$82000 it displays trucks within that sticker range but the net cost actually subtracts the $7500 rebate.

Then I let my fingers do the dialing to verify that truck was available. If available I asked to send me an out the door price in writing. I had 4 dealers who had real trucks in stock that met my requirements, ie color and installed equipment. I negotiated best discount I could between the 4 and closed the deal on the phone. Then drove the 2 hours (77 miles) and picked it up.

Before driving to the dealership I had them apply the $750 PCO I had and apply the $339 in Ford points on my account. I did the final pricing via text.

There are 43 Ford dealers within 100 miles of my zip code.

This was my 67th new car purchase since 1970. 6 cars/trucks just in the last 12 months. I flipped 2 and kept 4. I currently have 3 / 2024 F-450s on order at present time, 2 Platinums and one Limited. The dealer I bought my lightning from offered me $10k over sticker on any of the 450s that come in because they can’t get them.

 

[Zappcatt]

Sorry for the long posting.

Don’t assume just because it has a “special ordered” window sticker that it’s not available. Lots of people order and when trucks arrive they don’t buy them and it becomes a dealer stock truck.

I just bought one last week that was on a dealer’s lot that has a Green Special order window sticker on it.

When I was searching I went to Ford.com and built a Lightning Lariat 511a. Then I searched inventory within 100 miles of my zip. I narrowed the search for trucks priced between $77,000-$82,000 with the slider on the web site, so it would be a Lariat 511a with an extended range battery that would qualify for tax credit. Anything below sticker of $81,995 would be less than $80,000 after destination and delivery fees to qualify.

There were 49 within trucks meeting my specs within the 100 miles. Most of them wer “Dealer Ordered” and hadn’t hit The dealer lot yet.

I just looked today and when you set $77000-$82000 it displays trucks within that sticker range but the net cost actually subtracts the $7500 rebate.

Then I let my fingers do the dialing to verify that truck was available. If available I asked to send me an out the door price in writing. I had 4 dealers who had real trucks in stock that met my requirements, ie color and installed equipment. I negotiated best discount I could between the 4 and closed the deal on the phone. Then drove the 2 hours (77 miles) and picked it up.

Before driving to the dealership I had them apply the $750 PCO I had and apply the $339 in Ford points on my account. I did the final pricing via text.

There are 43 Ford dealers within 100 miles of my zip code.

This was my 67th new car purchase since 1970. 6 cars/trucks just in the last 12 months. I flipped 2 and kept 4. I currently have 3 / 2024 F-450s on order at present time, 2 Platinums and one Limited. The dealer I bought my lightning from offered me $10k over sticker on any of the 450s that come in because they can’t get them.

Damn, nice.
Thanks for the info. I was originally planning to order, then waiting too long where ordering was not available(or at least not clear) and thus started hitting dealer by dealer. Will check Ford.com with zipcode ranges.

 

[mme_and_lightning]

I put a hold on a Platinum that was a Dealer Lot Order. The Lightning was removed from the site soon thereafter. I needed the VIN for insurance, and not up on the site I called the dealer and got the VIN. I was told when a hold is put on a vehicle they remove it from the site to not list unavailable vehicles. I thought it was a great practice.

 

[Zappcatt]

I put a hold on a Platinum that was a Dealer Lot Order. The Lightning was removed from the site soon thereafter. I needed the VIN for insurance, and not up on the site I called the dealer and got the VIN. I was told when a hold is put on a vehicle they remove it from the site to not list unavailable vehicles. I thought it was a great practice.

Yeah, that is awesome. I think that is what I am running into now that I am using the Ford.com radius search.
The first 3 which I ran into are not on the dealers website, so I am guessing they are on hold. I reached out anyway, how long does it take to send an email?

 

[medmondson]

Walnut Creek Ford has been great to deal with. Not a ton of inventory, but it seems accurate of what they have on hand, and the only one I could find near me without markups.

 

[chl]

Sorry for the long posting....

Around here, Northern Virginia, the ones that haven't sold are mostly Platinums, Lariats and XLTs, with XLT's being the most plentiful (28 within 100 miles of my zip), only 3 Pros nearby.

Price: The two Platinums are 87k and 92k, the 21 Lariats are 72k to 91k, the 28 XLTs are 57k to 74k, and the 3 Pros are 95k, 80k and 76k - the price is probably why these Pro's haven't sold, over-priced and/or with too many add-ons perhaps?

It's a long way from CA bay area so probably not on your radar.

Added sticker of one of the Pros - 19k in options added!

 

[invertedspear]

There are plenty of reason's this doesn't qualify as bait and switch from a legal perspective. Else all car dealerships would be sued into non-existence since they started listing ads online.

When I was shopping for a MachE a few years back I learned real quick to ignore the websites. I just started calling the Ford dealerships in order of distance from me. One quick question to the sales guy: "Do you have one on the lot or in transit that isn't already promised to someone?" and I wasn't giving any other info.

It took about 25 calls, but eventually tracked one down that I was on it's way to a dealer and reserved it.

 

[astricklin]

Around here, Northern Virginia, the ones that haven't sold are mostly Platinums, Lariats and XLTs, with XLT's being the most plentiful (28 within 100 miles of my zip), only 3 Pros nearby.

Price: The two Platinums are 87k and 92k, the 21 Lariats are 72k to 91k, the 28 XLTs are 57k to 74k, and the 3 Pros are 95k, 80k and 76k - the price is probably why these Pro's haven't sold, over-priced and/or with too many add-ons perhaps?

It's a long way from CA bay area so probably not on your radar.

Added sticker of one of the Pros - 19k in options added!

That window sticker is an XLT extended range.

 

[chl]

That window sticker is an XLT extended range.

The search web site called it a Pro but you're right, really an XLT - I didn't look closely at the window sticker, my bad.

Must be an issue with the search engine or else this is a bait and switch - the search for Pros came up with a lot of pricey ones, probably NOT really Pros - I widened it out to within 100 miles:

https://www.cars.com/shopping/resul...0_lightning-pro&year_max=&year_min=&zip=22206

Also, some of these are "In Transit" so...

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