Dealer transfer question: Why not buy from Ford for stock ?

[Kakkerlak]

Maybe folks on the Forum can give me some perspective on this. I doubt the dealer reads this Forum, so I'll name names.

Sound Ford in Renton, WA has two FFE's on the lot, with 25 or so miles on them. I've only ever seen one or two in their inventory and every time I've spoken with a salesman they have said "oh, we don't get many of those".

Both FFE's had stickers in the window stating that they were ordered by Landmark Ford in Tigard, Oregon. The stickers even specified a special "Local Dealer Charge" of $990 ! I also saw on a bit of inventory paperwork that the ordering dealer was Landmark Ford, and that the car was ordered in February 2014 and that it was built in April 2014.

The salesman told me "oh, these cars are in demand and we buy them from all over the place !".

I don't believe that. Why wouldn't they order them from the factory ?

With just 25 miles on them, I doubt they've been test-driven more than 3 or 4 times.

Landmark Ford only has three FFEs in stock themselves, and if anything electric car demand is higher in Portland than in Seattle.

The dealers aren't owned by the same company, as far as I can tell.

I would expect Sound Ford to lose the holdback value if they didn't buy direct from the factory. Why would they buy from another dealer ?

The only reasonable things I can think of are:

1. They really do have demand for the cars and want a couple on the lot faster than they can get them ordered. Based on the super-low FFE sales volume nationally and the total lack of interest I got from the dealer previously, I doubt it.

2. They had to take them from Landmark in order to get a couple of high-demand cars.

Once I make or break the deal I'll dish dirt on a couple of salesman faux pas. A preview: "I just checked the Web and it says you plug it in for 3 hours and you can drive for 4 days."

 

[jmueller065]

Most likely dealer trade cars like your #2 option. Perhaps they got them because they traded for something else. Dealer trades are quite frequent (we recently picked up a new Escape via a dealer trade; I even found the car at another dealership and told my sales man about it. About three of our last vehicle purchases were dealer trades).

"I just checked the Web and it says you plug it in for 3 hours and you can drive for 4 days."

This can be quite true:

• If you have a Level 2 charger and
  You only drive for about 15 miles a day

 

[ElSupreme]

There is a dealership in Atlanta that does this as well. They dealer transfer as many FFEs as they can in the area. Then sit on the cars. They do this with other limited availability vehicles as well.

They do this for a few reasons:
1. The can limit the negotiating power customers have as there aren't any local options other that ordering a vehicle and waiting 2-3 months.
2. They are located in the middle of large wealthy suburbs and people will pay their price for convenience.
3. They are very high volume dealer, so they have the means to sit on cars for a few months without worry.


And as far as I know Ford only makes a few FFEs per EV certified dealership, and after that they only make FFEs per order. Which makes sense for a very low volume vehicle.

 

[Kakkerlak]

Thanks for the comments, guys.

The dealer's playing games with me. Last night they told me the Candy Blue one I wanted had just been sold that very day. This morning it showed up on their website as new inventory, and "in transit". Same stock number and VIN.

I'm surprised they don't want to at least make a counteroffer on the last day of the month. Usually you can't keep a car salesman off the phone, but they haven't called me.

If they really do have people lining up to buy FFEs, you would figure they would be more familiar with how to sell them. The finance guy I worked with didn't know the lease discount, didn't know the residual percentages, and seemed genuinely astonished when I told him that electric cars are exempt from sales tax in Washington.

Sound Ford has never had more than 2 FFE's in stock, so they're definitely not cornering the market. They are in the industrial midlands south of the city, not in the wealthy suburbs.

Again, thanks for the comments. The sun's out, and the Blue Angels are screaming overhead. I can buy a car anyday.

 

[Kakkerlak]

I have to eat some of my words above; the new Candy Blue isn't the same VIN or Stock Number; they're both just one digit different.

I finally called the dealer at the end of the day and they were confused why I was calling. I'd made them an offer last night and the salesman said "I'll run this past my manager and call you tomorrow". No call.

During the phone call they seemed confused about why I expected them to call me. I asked for an e-mail address so I could get the negotiations in writing; they agreed only to e-mail *me* so I could respond to them, and of course nothing.

I realize that I'm making an aggressively low offer on the last day of the month on a car they're not super interested in selling, but I would expect at least a phone call. Maybe it's just these particular inexperienced or confused guys, but boy howdy, I'm unimpressed.

 

[fbitz777]

I don't know about your dealer but I did look for one online on a Thursday night and they called me by the next morning and I had one ordered by Saturday. Took a week to get because I wanted leather and all the options and they had to flatbed it 240 miles which they did at no extra charge.

I dealt with their division that dealt with "Internet Sales" and they knew a lot about Electric Focus.

But again I did not even haggle about the price since there was zero down and zero financing.

 

[EVA]

I've purchased two from the same dealer. The first one was the demo car they had on the lot. I liked the ingot silver, it had everything I wanted and I knew the car. So I bought it.

The second purchase was to replace that silver car (it was totaled). We really wanted ingot silver again. The dealership found a number of FFEs in the area. One had the exact car I wanted. That particular dealer would not release the car to them - apparently that dealer doesn't play nice with the other Ford dealers. They got the car from Kenosha, WI, and I had to settle for the fancy white. My dealer was super nice - didn't charge me for the expensive paint, added some pinstriping we liked, and a few other nice things.

There are dealers that don't play nice with car exchanges. I'll never buy a car from that dealer group. Not sure why they refuse to move a car out of inventory (they had many other FFEs and that one sat for a long time).

 

[hybridbear]

I have to eat some of my words above; the new Candy Blue isn't the same VIN or Stock Number; they're both just one digit different.

I finally called the dealer at the end of the day and they were confused why I was calling. I'd made them an offer last night and the salesman said "I'll run this past my manager and call you tomorrow". No call.

During the phone call they seemed confused about why I expected them to call me. I asked for an e-mail address so I could get the negotiations in writing; they agreed only to e-mail *me* so I could respond to them, and of course nothing.

I realize that I'm making an aggressively low offer on the last day of the month on a car they're not super interested in selling, but I would expect at least a phone call. Maybe it's just these particular inexperienced or confused guys, but boy howdy, I'm unimpressed.

Some dealers are difficult. That's how it was when we bought our white FFH. The dealer seemed to have no interest in selling the car even though it had been on their lot for almost 6 months and we were there at the end of the month.

 

[Kakkerlak]

My offer was low, but not unrealistic.

They pressed very hard on the usual "If I can do this, will you buy it today ?" and "it's the end of the month and this deal won't last". I expect that: I came ready to play, too !

But when it came time to try to make a deal, they fell into half-hearted attempts at sleight-of-hand with the residual, the interest rate, the taxes, and the fees. I don't mind going up against a slick, hard-nosed car salesman but when the same tricks get tried by guys who aren't good at it, I am disappointed.

 

[triangles]

I would imagine that with the Model Year change over and lack of inventory, you likely won't find a good deal until the 2015's are available. Who knows when that will be. I talked to nearly a dozen dealers before getting my car ordered as one of the few 2014's remaining to be built. I got a wide range of responses. Some dealers didn't want to sell me a car at all. Others wanted to sell me one but had none to sell and couldn't get one transferred in from another dealer at the price I wanted to pay. Some dealers that had the cars either didn't want to sell for anything less than sticker or didn't have one with the options I wanted. There was one exception. I had a signed deal with a dealer hundreds of miles away in NY The first person I talked to there blew me off and told me they would pass my info to their sales manager who would call me the next day. Not surprising I never heard from them. I then submitted a contact request thru their internet sales dept. I didn't even have to haggle the price. I almost bought one from them but I would have rather given my business to the WI dealer on here who was very helpful when I was about to give up and buy a Leaf. As it turns out, They were able to order me one from the factory at a price close enough to the deal I had in NY. So now I wait.

I'm guessing maybe there are extra costs in getting those two FFEs transferred from another dealer so that may leave them less wiggle room on price.

 

[michael]

I still don't get it...according to the Ford.com website there are 25 in stock within 10 miles of my home. Why does Ford make it so tough for people elsewhere?

 

[mcowger]

I always read these posts with fascination.

I live in Oakland, CA.

When I went to my local dealer (San Leandro Ford), for the entire month that I spent looking, they had at least 4 FFEs on the lot at any given time, one in each color.

I wandered onto the lot on a Saturday and drove away 90 minutes later down 1 Audi and up one FFE.

Amazes me other places have such supply issues.

 

[triangles]

It's Ford teasing the rest of us by sprinkling a FFE here and there so they can publicly claim it's not a compliance car. I could drive one home from the factory if they would let me but no I had to go to a dealer multiple states away to get one. And I still technically don't have it yet. Who know's how much longer I will have to wait.

 

[Kakkerlak]

Every time I call a dealer locally, they say either "we don't have any", "we don't get any", or "we just sold it."

Sometimes that's true, except for the "we don't ever get any"; I've physically seen them on the lot and attempted to buy one from the dealer who told me that.

I dropped in on another dealer today who has four in their online "stock" and the first words out of the salesman's mouth were "we don't have any of those." I blurted out "you show four in stock", and he said "those are already sold and they're in transit."

So maybe the demand really is higher than supply in Seattle. I did see Sound Ford sell three in the last week.

I've been dealing with so many car salesmen lately that I can't trust anything they say.