Dealership experiences?

[pyrophilus]

Back when I got my last car, it was such a horrible experience that when I did find the good dealer, I started a thread on that car's forum for dedealership recommendations.

Should we have one for Ford dealers here as well?

I hahad a negative experience from one hyundai dealer, left horrible review on the car's forum, called 800-customer service and told them. Had them rearrange a derive visit. The new derive have me a free high end loaner car, gave me coffee, and just about stopped at polishing my shoes.

Anyway, let me know what you gus think. I ssure would have appreciated a sales experience info before I went going from a really bad dealer to another.

Maybe we should have a thread for purchase experience and another for service experience?

Maybe we should have a format, perhaps? such as:

Dealer location: Town, State:

Who I am : an optional description of what kind of person you are when you walked into the dealer, as in ethnicity, sex, age, etc... As I am sure they will treat a 19 year old differently than a 45 year old.

Recommended: Yes or No

Experience:
Detailed explanation of the experience

Summary:
A short review of why you recommend or not recommend them

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[Max57]

Sounds like a great idea. Although I haven't bought my Mustang yet, I have a great dealership here in Virginia that has been in business since 1939 and is still owned and operated by the same family. To be in business that long, along with having a great customer satisfaction reputation both in sales and service, makes this dealership number one on my list even though there are other dealers closer to my home location.

I'll post the name if the moderators approve this type of thread.

 

[KCTom]

My experience went great. I was searching for a car with a certain set of options and color. The Midwest Ford Dealers website allowed me to search every Ford dealer's inventory by distance from my house. Well, 161 miles from me, Dick Edwards Ford in Manhattan, Kansas had one, a Race Red GT P.P optioned how I wanted. I called them in the morning asking if they had the car. Salesman said yes. I said, "You just sold a car". Told him I was an A Plan buyer, no trade in and financing already approved. Asked if this was going to be a problem? I could tell he was in a bit of a state of shock, but managed to say no, not at all and he was going to let me talk to his sales manager. Got him on the line, told him I was going to pick the car up the next afternoon. No problem. Showed up and looked the car over. Perfect. Was told no one else had even driven it. After inspecting it head to toe, told him I need to drive it. And as long as it drove with no issues, we'd do the paperwork. Pulled it out in front of the dealer and blasted it through third gear! Paperwork took an hour or so and we were on our way. Besides not being close to my house, whole process could not have been easier.

 

[evo8904]

I have seen on another forum a dealership review section. It does help to be able to see reviews of different dealers. I have come across a lot of bad sealerships. I am only 33 y/o but my mustang will be the 17th car that I have bought. I have heard all of the sealership BS. One tired to get me to come back in after I had already signed the contract and the deal was done. They claimed that there was a mistake and that I either had to put more money down or have my APR increased. I told them to f**k themselves and that i'm not coming in. I told them that I will have my attorney call them if they would like. The sealership hung up and never called back. The key is to stand your ground with these people. Never back down and know that your can always walk out. I will flat out refer to them as sealerships in front of the salemen. However, I have to admit, my best experience with buying a car was at the Ford dealer with my Mustang. Will at Parks Ford in Welsey Chapel didn't try to play any games. I told him that I wanted to order a Mustang with xplan pricing and I was out doors in 30 mins. However, a few of the other dealers in Tampa did try to play games and I told them bye.

 

[Papaya]

My experience with dealers here in Edmonton AB:
July, start to find a dealer who would actually take orders for a 2015 Mustang.
12th of August - finally! Kentwood Ford took me serious as a customer. Signed the order contract. Every 14 days, my sales guy called to keep me somehow updated.
Car arrived in Edmonton on the 8th of December and my sales guy called me that it arrived at the rail yard. Released on the 10th - finally! Car arrives at the dealership on the 11th. We picked it up on the 12th. Got the key. 2 Minutes checking the car. No help and explaining the gadgets. Sales guy has to give out 3 cars at the same time - what I thought was to many cars to handle for him. So we drove with a "bye, bye" from us off the lot. Got a call in the evening from the sales guy - after hours - that he apologize for not having enough time for us. The experience was very nice with that dealership.

*BTW. I do not know if my experience should count at all. As I mentioned somewhere here already. I got hired same week we got our Mustang.

 

[pyrophilus]

Dealer location: Scarsdale, NY:

Who I am : I am a 42 year old successful Asian male, every dealership that I walked into, I did with my brother-in-law, a 39 year old, very successful Asian male.

Recommended: No

Experience:
While we were walking in, I opened the door, and a salesperson cut us off and walked in himself, and walked away. There were four old men each with completely white hair, congregating around a desk. two of them noticed that we were standing there, and they turned back and started to chat.

My brother-in-law walked over and said, "Hey, can you help us with a car?"
One of the guys looked at us up and down, and then said, "yeah, we'll get someone for you". a kid who looked to be wearing a suit that he is not used to comes to introduce himself to us.

I asked him if there is an Ecoboost Mustang that we can take a look at. His reply, "oh no, we don't have one in stock, can't seem to keep them in stock". I told him, "I just parked NEXT to a white ecoboost..." He said, "I'll check with the manager..." he said that I can take a look at it, even sit in it." I asked if I could test drive it, he went back to manager and the reply, "It's raining so you can't take it for a test drive". I asked to look at it then. He said we can turn it on, but it's a new car, so PLEASE don't rev the engine".

He then started to ask us if we knew about the "special features" of the new mustang, such as how they designed the hood so that when it rains, the drops form a "mustang logo" on the hood that appears when you unlock the car in the rain. I said, "that sounds completely unnecessary". I think he was talking about the mustang logo projection from the mirrors...

My brother-in-law asked me, "how many horsepower is this?" I said "310 and 320 torque" The salesperson interrupted me and said, "No, it's 320 HP and 400 torque". I said that those numbers do not sound right. I said the torque sounds more like the GT. He insisted that I was wrong.

My brother in law looked up the specs on his phone and showed it to me, but we kept it to ourselves.

He then said that we can go for a testdrive in a V6 manual but another day when it isn't raining. I said that I really want to test drive the EB manual to see how the new engine is. He said they are getting one in that weeekend.

He then tried to suggest a 2014 GT Automatic as an alternative. THey had three sitting in front of the dealer, and it's been there for past few months.

I setup a V6 manual testdrive (he asked why I want to do that, I told him that the V6 has a comparable horsepower and torque to EB, so I could at least get a feel for the tranny) and an EB manual (that was supposed to come in).

I called that friday to confirm. His reply, "EB is not here but it SHOULD be here tomorrow". I cancelled the testdrive. He emailed me Saturday wondering why I did not come in for test drive.

Summary:
I felt that they weren't serious about selling cars. The dealership is laughably small (barely enough room to fit two cars inside, cramped spaces, not that dealership size has anything to do with sales.
The salesperson knew NOTHING about the Mustangs, got all his numbers wrongs, and didn't even understand the "special features".

This is the dealer that is closest to my house (7 min), but alas, I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy.

If you want more details (names of people etc...), PM me.

 

[Todd15Fastback]

I think we should.

Yocum Ford in Lansdale, PA. Jeff Greenly was my salesman. Best car buying experience, EVER. I have bought 18 new cars over the last 25 years and never had an experience like this. I live in Atlanta and bought the car in PA. Going forward, I will be buying all my new Fords from him. He is a diehard Mustang enthusiast and it shows. I cannot recommend Jeff or the dealership enough. Every employee was so friendly and courteous.

 

[ScottsGT]

Dick Smith Ford, Columbia, SC. Excellent service! I called them up and asked if they honored the X-Plan. Got a big "Yes sir! Come on down at 3 and our order guy will be back"
I was there at 3 and the order guy walked in from picking his son up at school. Handed him my PIN and we walked through the options I wanted. He was shocked that I knew more about the car and options than he did. This was May 20th.
When it got in town I called and let them know it was at the rail yard and they said they would keep me posted and call me as soon as it hit the lot. Asked me how much dealer prep I wanted done and if I wanted to remove the window stickers. They also introduced me to the service manager, told me my first year of oil changes were on the house and feel free to call if I had any questions. They were going to set up My Sync for me, but I don't have a personal smart phone. Don't really want to use my work phone with it at this time.

 

[Jason Richardson]

I've never walked into a dealership period for all of that race age ethnicity stuff to kick in. Ordered my last 3 mustangs without ever going in. You call them up and find a dealer who will take X Plan and added rebates, and call it a day. No negotiation, no nothing. Either they can or can't. And youll always find one who will.

 

[pyrophilus]

Dealer location: Nanuet, NY:

Who I am : I am a 42 year old successful Asian male, every dealership that I walked into, I did with my brother-in-law, a 39 year old, very successful Asian male.

Recommended: No

Experience:
I located a couple of EB's including one manual.
I called them on a Monday, was transferred to a saleslady. She was extremely polite.
She said that I could come in a do a EB Manaual testdrive. We setup a date for that Saturday.
I called Friday and asked for her to confirm. She said it's fine. I told her that I already was given a "bait-and-switch", and since I am paying toll to cross a bridge to come see her, I would like to confirm that the car is actually available to test drive.
She put me on hold, then said, "the manager says that the car was special ordered for a customer so no one can test drive it". I asked her what she would have done had I just shown up on Saturday as agreed? She said, "I'm sorry". She then suggested a 2014 GT... I declined, thanked her and hung up.

Summary:
I think the dealer just wanted to get me to come in so they could get me to take a car off their lot. I don't think they had any intentions of selling me a car that I wanted.
It's been two weeks, and the car that was "special ordered" for customer is still in their inventory. I called them and they said it was available. Funny business going on here.

 

[pyrophilus]

I've never walked into a dealership period for all of that race age ethnicity stuff to kick in. You call them up and find a dealer who will take X Plan and added rebates, and call it a day. No negotiation, no nothing. Either they can or can't. And youll always find one who will.

I find that in two of the dealers, even on the phone, when I said my last name (definitely Korean), they seemed to back peddle and all of sudden say, "You know what? let me check with my manager... (long wait), I am sorry but the car was ordered for a customer, you can't test drive it at all".

Two of the dealers tried to tell me that they have bunch of Fusion that I maybe interested in!

 

[Jason Richardson]

I find that in two of the dealers, even on the phone, when I said my last name (definitely Korean), they seemed to back peddle and all of sudden say, "You know what? let me check with my manager... (long wait), I am sorry but the car was ordered for a customer, you can't test drive it at all".

Two of the dealers tried to tell me that they have bunch of Fusion that I maybe interested in!

Well I guess the test drive situation might be a bit different cause you gotta go there in person, use their vehicle, etc. But for strictly ordering, most of the big Ford dealerships using the call and xplan approach above dont care if youre blue, purple, or yellow. Its one quick sale they wouldnt have had. Dealers can order as many Mustangs as they want so its just an added sale with no work virtually.

 

[pyrophilus]

Dealer location: Rutherford, NJ:

Who I am : I am a 42 year old successful Asian male, every dealership that I walked into, I did with my brother-in-law, a 39 year old, very successful Asian male.

Recommended: Highly recommended

Experience:
When I did dealer search on Ford website, this dealer did not come up at all. The site even recommended a dealer that was over 2 hours away!

I found it on google banner ad. I emailed the dealer through their webpage. They had a Ingot Silver EB Premium Manual 201A.
I got an email back from a person within 2-3 minutes, saying that they will get the necessary info and call ASAP. 5 minutes after that, a nice sounding lady with hispanic accent called and said that car is available and wanted to know what I am interested in. she proceeded to answer all my questions, and said that the car is available for test drive. I told her my frustrations regarding bait-and-switch from other dealers. She said, "Although I do not work for the other dealers, I am sorry that you had such a negative experience. Let me double check with the managers to make sure the car is available". She said that everything was okay. I made appt to see her in two days.

Wife said, "why don't you just go down there after work today?" I called back, the saleslady said no problem. I drove the 1 hour to get down there with my brother-in-law.

Upon entering the dealership, I was greeted immediately by the receptionist and when we told her that we were here for a test drive, she immediately fetched a manager (john). The manager introduced himself to us, and then he said "rick" will be handling us as he is the "mustang specialist". John said this with a smile (half jokingly I guess).

Rick turned out to be very knowledgeable about the s550 mustang. He even described all the paint to the "subtle" hues that they have. He took us for the test drive. He drove it to the gas station, and he had us check out the car while he was putting gas in it. Good effect as everyone at the gas station was staring at the new silver mustang (it was in the evening) . Talk about making the car feel special. Any dealers out there, I think this is a good ploy during a test drive. letting customers see how others stare at the mustang.

When we talked numbers, he was pretty straight forward. He only made two trips to his manager, second one a longer one. even when we kept bargaining, he didn't need to go back to the manager, I think he had the numbers all set in his head. I guess we could have wheeled and dealed longer, but I was sufficiently satisfied with our deal. so we shook hands on it.

Also, when I told him about my horrible experiences, he too, apologized on behalf of Ford (even though he said he doesn't technically work directly for ford), and promised that he wouldn't pull the rug out from under us.

Summary:
This is a dealer that knows about the cars that they sell. The salesperson was courteous. It was one of the most pleasant car buying experiences I have had. I told Rick that I had decided to walk away from Ford (been buying Nissan since '92, and my last venture out of nissan was Hyundai) but he was the reason why I am getting a Ford. And I do meant it.

If you are interested in the dealership, PM me and I'll be more than happy to introduce you to Rick.

 

[pyrophilus]

Well I guess the test drive situation might be a bit different cause you gotta go there in person, use their vehicle, etc. But for strictly ordering, most of the big Ford dealerships using the call and xplan approach above dont care if youre blue, purple, or yellow. Its one quick sale they wouldnt have had. Dealers can order as many Mustangs as they want so its just an added sale with no work virtually.

I totally understand what you mean. For me, it was a "leap" as I have never owned a mustang, and a 4 cylinder turbo on top of that. I was bit shy about putting money down and order a car that I have never seen/driven before.

I was confused on how people could just "order" a car that they have never test driven, but after owning a new mustang for a week, I can see how the mustang can create a bunch of loyal customers.

Honestly, I am happy with my EB manual, and when my lease it up, I wouldn't hesitate on getting another one. I just wish dealerships would understand that the EB is going after a market of Euroupean/Japanese/Korean 4 cylinder turbo sportcoupes, and these people need to get a positive testdrive experience to make the sale.

They all seem to have a GT manual PP for testdrive, but I think the Mustang purists that want the GT Manuals already know what they want, so I don't think they will have problem ordering a car...

 

[Jason Richardson]

I totally understand what you mean. For me, it was a "leap" as I have never owned a mustang, and a 4 cylinder turbo on top of that. I was bit shy about putting money down and order a car that I have never seen/driven before.

I was confused on how people could just "order" a car that they have never test driven, but after owning a new mustang for a week, I can see how the mustang can create a bunch of loyal customers.

Honestly, I am happy with my EB manual, and when my lease it up, I wouldn't hesitate on getting another one. I just wish dealerships would understand that the EB is going after a market of Euroupean/Japanese/Korean 4 cylinder turbo sportcoupes, and these people need to get a positive testdrive experience to make the sale.

They all seem to have a GT manual PP for testdrive, but I think the Mustang purists that want the GT Manuals already know what they want, so I don't think they will have problem ordering a car...

I bought my last 3 Mustangs sight unseen never having done a test drive so maybe Im an extreme example :-) But like I said in another post, there really isnt much to know about a RWD V8 car for 30K as far as driving dynamics. It is what it is, always exhillerating and really not much different because its a simple formula. I can totally see how you would need a test drive though for an ecoboost.

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