Ford Greed

Ford is enjoying screwing customers made possible by the hoax known as Covid. We need a recession just to correct these greedy bastards.

https://www.kbb.com/car-news/ford-ceo-well-move-to-fixed-prices/

Ford plans to move to non-negotiated prices for all its vehicles, CEO Jim Farley told investors yesterday. Farley did not place a time frame on the decision.

The announcement came as part of Capital Markets Day — the first in-person conference for investors Ford has held since 2016.

Move May Apply to All Vehicles or Just EVs
Reports differ on exactly what Farley said. The Associated Press reports that the CEO “said Ford will go to non-negotiated vehicle prices.” But the Detroit Free Press says, “Non-negotiated prices will be part of improving the customer experience for electric vehicle [EV] shoppers,” suggesting that the policy may apply only to EVs.

They’ve already said a few times they were going to go this way. He also wants to get rid of dealerships.

Sometime last year they came out with 2 types of EV certifications and if the dealers didn’t want to play along, they were going to have their franchise license revoked. Ford wants to just go to a DTC model with fixed pricing because they see it like buying a T shirt online.

Looking it up again, it looks like they’ve amended a few of the things they’ve said because the dealerships have bucked it a bit

I'm not averse to fixed pricing, they don't make anything I can't say no to.

Yea...I don't care what Ford does. Not a fan of any of their products.

Won't need another vehicle until the wheels fall off the one I have now.

Still the best trucks on the road!

I said many years ago they need to get rid of the salesmen, pay their employees by the hour and put in a kiosk where I can get the keys to the truck I like on the lot and test drive it, look at the price and submit my financing if I choose to. And I was a car salesman, but it is a stupid game that most customers do not want to play.

You want to feel the impacts of a recession just to stick it to Ford? Why not just purchase a vehicle from one of the other 13 OEMs out there?

Sounds like a free country and capitalism to me. They can charge what they want and nobody has to buy their products either.

I believe all of them have been trying/wanting to move to a similar model.

Oh , that's just a statement about the state of everything in general that is F***** up as a result of Covid and BS that followed it. Just had an air conditioner replaced last week, it was a 2 ton unit that was over twice the price of a pre-Covid quote. Sometimes corrections are good for the long term.

My buddy buys his Fords from a dealer out in Sealy as their sales team doesn’t get commissions, so they aren’t pressuring the hell out of folks

I don't see a need for car dealerships and have zero problem with fixed pricing.

Bet they never get rid of the "Finance Manager." 'Got into a screaming match with one woman. We were paying cash, had had the vehicle for a week, but she didn't want to release the title until we'd sat through her hour-long bs sales pitch (aka How else can we screw the customer?") We got our title without following her "commands."

It is indeed a stupid, archaic business model. I'm gonna try to never buy new ever again, hopefully buy from another private seller. But Her Majesty might demand something new again. Maybe she'll be a widow by then.

Just another reason not to own another Ford. Their transfer cases don’t hold up in the woods if you actually need to use 4 wheel drive several times a week. Ford makes street trucks, for the nascar pants crowd.

Yep. Makes the process easier.

Chicken and the egg issue from my perspective. The dealers had "market adjustments" and the factories couldn't keep supply up. This is all repercussions of the mess the market was in 2020/2021.

I was buying used, then for a while it wasn't financially viable to buy used and then it was again the way to go in late 2021. I haven't looked recently but it appears my wife is starting to push for a new ride...be interesting to see what the market provides. I told her whenever she was ready we'd do it but the longer she waits I think the better the deal will be...I think 3rd/4th quarter things will get slim, starting to see people hang onto their money and the market start adjusting right now...with everything not just autos.

The salesmen will just move to a model where they are being paid on the vehicle financing.. sort of like mortgage brokers. You'll still have lot lizards trying to push you into a deal and trying to get you to finance over the longest period possible.

Looks like Stellantis will be gaining customers.

They’re already in that game. Seeing financing for up to 84 months or some crap now is just ridiculous. It’s that “what monthly payment do you want” BS game. Then they wrap up the lift kits and big tires and all that into the financing that gets interest on it too. Guess some folks out there just absolutely don’t want any equity in anything

Some of my funds probably have stock in them. I want all of them to be greedy and make money.

Very accurate

The wife has recent interest in a new Bronco to replace her 2015 Jeep. Not looking forward to any of this.

Owned a 1975 ford from 77-78 and never again.

If the purchase process is streamlined and pricing is transparent I am in.

Fixed pricing or no, they'll still have to be competitive with GM, Ram, Toyota, etc.... If a customer can get a truck with no haggle for the same price as one they have to fight for, they're going to take the no haggle option every time. If Ford goes the other way and says our MSRP is the same as our competitors, but we're not going to move off of it, then they'll die a quick death if the others keep dealing.

I think we'll see that COVID killed dealerships as we know it. No more need to inventory a bunch of vehicles, or have a bunch of employees. It'll be like how Tesla does it. Very small store, a car or two inside, and then you order what you want and come back in 6 weeks or whatever to pick it up. Much lower cost model.

If Ford can take the money the dealer gets out of the equation, they're already on par with the competitors and pocketing all of the money for themselves. They'll just have to figure out service.

I agreed with this until I remembered that cockroaches can even survive a nuclear blast.

Service departments are the future revenue generators for the dealerships.

Wonder what that will do to impulse buying.

My last 2 trucks were "impulse" buys while I was getting an oil change service!

Yep, the one I have now was an impulse buy, got it on my way home one day. Just because.

How does Tesla do service? Never asked or even looking into it, interesting concept though.

Almost every dealership owner I've ever met was an egomaniacal buffoon. And I met a lot in my line of work. Good riddance.

Gumbeaux is right. GM and the others will eat them alive by under pricing them. Never met a CEO that didn’t have a bloated ego.

you think Ford cares? Ford sees what everyone else but tesla and Amazon sees…

A) biggest recession in US history is shaping up currently.. Cutting costs and over head is a must
B) most profitable and quickest way to adjust prices is direct to consumer model.
C) most profitable division is always internal credit/loans, direct to consumer model is more competitive in offering Ford credit this way

GM just got their company back from Goverment, I wouldnt bet on anything the company does

I’ve seen a lot of manufacturers go to fixed prices. On the first day when someone sells it for less, that model goes right out the window.

I remember GM’s Saturn experiment with fixed prices. Didn’t go well.

Local Ford dealership tried that. The true blue, pre-negotiated pricing model didn’t last.

I wouldn’t mind if vehicles were all a set price. It’s the hassle of haggling and inflated msrp’s and dealer premiums that pizz me off.

I haven’t bought a Toyota in years but they used to stay extremely close to sticker….maybe come off $500 but that was about it.

I never bought a Toyota, but that's the way most of the luxury European cars work. You may get a few bucks off, but nothing like the $10-15K I used to get off of Ford trucks.

The big hurdle is going to be the decades of history they have to overcome. The price hasn't been the price for decades.....when they now say the price is really the price, no one is going to believe it and they're not going to buy for full MSRP unless that MSRP is competitive with the fully discounted deals that GM and Chrysler offer.

100% true. Local F*** dealer General Manager told me the same (not "our" F*** dealership, another close-by) and that he was one of the last in the Nation to refuse the $100K worth of equipment and another $80K in advertising for the EV stuff. F*** threatened the franchise agreement. He was ticked because at the time, they had about 12 new vehicles on the lot due to supply issues.



Pretty sure that was before Saturn was fully engulfed by GM. That was when Saturns did not have any GM parts or engineering.

COVID taught corporate America that they can make more by producing less and charging more

It’s the new way.
So pay up and like it.

^^^

Yep, embrace the suck!

The Ram dealer I am using right now is fixed 11.5% off msrp on new truck orders before incentives.No haggle. Trade in and financially is not talked about at time of order. They are the number one volume Ram dealer in in the country with this business model. I think this is the future all new auto sales are headed to. Other than the wait it has been a wonderful experience. Ford gets it. People are tired of the used car salesman tactics. A local dealer manager asked me why I would not buy from him. I told him because I found a fixed price out of state almost $11,000 cheaper than what he was able to offer. Really better than that, because mine has more add on packages with it.

Where is this Ram Dealer?

Mark Dodge, Lake Charles. But know orders for 2023 HDs closed a few days ago and pricing on the 2024s is not available yet. The ramtrucks build website does not reflect ordering closed, but it was reported on an HD truck forum.

This^^^^^

I really don’t think we need to worry about ‘no haggle’ truck pricing in the future. Too much competition in the marketplace to allow it to survive. It’s just some dumb a__ idea from some unseasoned new guy that thinks this is a radical new winning idea to sell trucks. Probably not old enough to have watched the dumb a__ Saturn disaster that was going to be a radical new idea to sell cars.

I was in corporate America for a long time, and I observed some seriously brain deficient ideas from folks in high positions. Our job as underlings was to say out loud “you are a genius Big Guy”, while thinking “God have mercy on us, this is stupid”.

My boat mechanic bought a new 1/2 ton RAM about 2 months ago for over 7K off sticker price in Eastland.

My wife would like a new SUV with leather seats but they all come with sun roofs; dealers say that's the only way to get leather seats.

lhare, that may be a combo that is not produced unless ordered.

I was told by a Ford dealer I couldn't have an XLT trim (on a Super Duty) with the center console and without leather. I went to a different dealer, ordered exactly that, and got it.

My dad got his 2014 Sierra 6.2L custom ordered when GM was making 8% of 6.2L orders even though the dealership I worked at told him GM would not build it. I gave him a contact that got it done.

You can make an order for nearly anything but it actually showing up, right now especially, is another story.

One of our best repeat sales and service customers ordered a new Yukon Denali in September of 2021. By summer of 2022 it was still not built and she could have either gave up, ordered a 2023 (because they were stopping the 2022's), or bought one that happened to come in. She picked the last of those options.

“It’s only greed when the other guy does it”

My wife's last 4 Yukons/Tahoes all had leather and none have had a sunroof.

Surely y'all don't think what's going on after the last 3 years is real capitalism

Sure it is...supply vs. demand. It's YOUR money, if you don't like the price then go elsewhere.

BTW...not a fan of any of Ford's products.

Considering you have to order every vehicle right now it makes sense to streamline the process and cut out the middle man. Dealerships should be a thing of the past. Turn them all into service centers and get rid of the entire sales force, financing crew, prep crew and the babes that sit up front. They can deliver vehicles to whatevet address you choose rather than a dealers lot.