"When dealers attack" R&T Article

[CaptainUnderpants]

It's not supply and demand!!. The fact dealers have 2016s still means they overpriced the cars

BINGO! For the last year, I watched my local dealer, Worthington Ford in SoCal's Long Beach market hold on to 2 - 2016 with a 20k ADM. They finally just sold one of them. The other is still on the showroom floor.

If a supposedly "Hot" car sits on the showroom floor for well into the next model year, one could only conclude that the car is a dud. But the dud in the story is the dealer. The article is spot on.

Ford should not give a dealer like this anymore allocations.

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[zipline]

Ford specifically limits supply.

Really? Then why are there 2016 units looking for a home when order banks on 2018s open soon? BS. Ford can and has always built more than enough Shelby Mustangs of whatever iteration. Take all the nonsense about "limited production, "supply and demand" and shove in down the toilet. That is the crap that grease ball car salesman pitch to suckers who will swallow it. Wake up!

 

[firestarter2]

I think Ford could of sold some number more cars if ADM want a thing. I know lots of guys who wanted one but once they heard rumors of the ADM they didn't even look. In the end ford is aware of the issue and it seems to be a common thing to the company. They need to align the dealers interests with theirs.

 

[Blk2015GT]

Not really. The dealerships buy the cars from Ford on a "loan" and pay interest monthly. So Ford is making money every month the cars sit on the lot in interest PLUS the money the dealership already owes on the car once it's sold; minus the holdback.

As long as the dealer gets enough ADM to cover the interest (and car cost of course) then it doesnt care either, it made holdback PLUS a good portion of the ADM.

That is why Ford doesnt care, it is making money on these sitting on lots. The cars are essentially "sold" to the dealership and Ford doesn't have a ton of control over what happens after that as dealerships are independently owned.

After all it is not the only car out there with ADMs, so saying that it's tarnishing Ford's reputation is a bit extreme. Demand is still EXTREMELY strong for the 350. It's highly praised by many publications and won or close to the top of sports car of the year for many competing with 6 figure cars.

Not saying this mentality is right or wrong but just reality.

 

[mike.s]

ford could easily fix it by making the dealers sign a contract to not sell the car for over msrp when they buy into the gt350 program, i dont think ford cares

 

[thePill]

Be prepared for a Direct Ford, Secure Online Ordering system to be implemented in the future. Soon, a customer won't require actual dealing with a dealership. Instead, you will deal directly with Ford on Special Orders and use your local dealership as a Shipping Location.

You will still need to pay Sales Tax AND, build ONLY what is in demand (nothing sits for 6-9 months), could actually save the dealers money and a headache. They would still acquire the profit but literally zero effort goes into a sales except pick up. Paperwork is accomplished at home, either in direct contact w/ your institution OR, Ford Financing.

There is some literature on this topic somewhere on the Internet.

 

[Mspeedster]

I think the article is spot on.

No doubt if all dealers sold the car at MSRP or at a discount, there would be very few GT350s left on the lots. But the leftover '16 Tech Packs are also unfortunate victims of getting a bad rep, exacerbated by the class action suit. Yet many dealers are still clinging to ADMs on them, which is unbelievable. Had dealers not been so greedy, I believe many of those unsold '16s would have been sold before the recall forced the dealers to sit on them for more than 4 months.

My state is worse than California. ADMs are common practice by most dealers, even on normal cars of any make, not only the specialty or LE types of cars. Yet every '16 & '17 GT350 that has come in has been sold, except for a lone leftover '16 Tech Pack (which the dealer is still asking a 15K ADM). As long as the dealers can get ADM, things won't change unless Ford forces the issue.

Wouldn't surprise me if the author of the article wanted to buy a GT350 or Focus RS, got turned off by the ADMs and decided the write this article to seek some revenge.

 

[PencilGeek]

I found a few things I disagreed with in the article. The author seemed to emphasize that people most interested in this car are "buying up" into it. I disagree with that. Myself and others that I know all want this car. We are buying down into it. By that I mean that we're not stretching our budgets to buy the car. This car is cheaper than other cars we may own, or cheaper than other cars we were considering. We want this car because of what it is, not because we're Ford fans, etc. Most of my friends own Porsche 997's, 991's, GT3-RS's, an occasional GT4, and a bunch of GTR owners. They were all lined up at a shop this last week, and all the other owners said they wanted to own the GT350. Granted, that doesn't mean they're rushing out to buy one, and maybe like me, they really only wanted the GT350R, but the point is there's a market of people who want this car for what it is, and are willing to "buy down" into the market just to get one.

My friends knew I paid some amount of ADM and asked me if I had any buyers remorse. I told all of them without hesitation that if I knew this car was this much fun to drive, my only regret was not buying it sooner.

 

[firestarter2]

I found a few things I disagreed with in the article. The author seemed to emphasize that people most interested in this car are "buying up" into it. I disagree with that. Myself and others that I know all want this car. We are buying down into it. By that I mean that we're not stretching our budgets to buy the car. This car is cheaper than other cars we may own, or cheaper than other cars we were considering. We want this car because of what it is, not because we're Ford fans, etc. Most of my friends own Porsche 997's, 991's, GT3-RS's, an occasional GT4, and a bunch of GTR owners. They were all lined up at a shop this last week, and all the other owners said they wanted to own the GT350. Granted, that doesn't mean they're rushing out to buy one, and maybe like me, they really only wanted the GT350R, but the point is there's a market of people who want this car for what it is, and are willing to "buy down" into the market just to get one.

My friends knew I paid some amount of ADM and asked me if I had any buyers remorse. I told all of them without hesitation that if I knew this car was this much fun to drive, my only regret was not buying it sooner.

Yeah but maybe the ADMs pushed the car out of reach. If you think most people can afford gt3 RS you are living in a bubble. I have friends in tech in northern Cali and they all say the tech guys have little money sense so everything is inflated. Not saying that's you or your kin.

There are plenty of 2016s left so the"buyers down" have been satiated

 

[cking]

Here's what happen to my dealer. First two Gt350's were sold on orders with nice ADM's so he decides to put one on the floor. Ford announces 2018 models. It's the end of the year and they want it off the books. This is a small dealer who is stocking only trucks. It sat for more than thirty days with no serious offers from walk in traffic, lots of can I test drive it? I find it online and make an email offer MSRP, they say yes and email a quote. It's got $800 closing cost added. I email back MSRP IS THE OFFER. They say no, I say goodbye. Christmas goes bye one evening I get a phone call from dealers internet sales person, why didn't I buy? $800. About 30 minutes later they call back they will take the offer if I will close before end of year. FedEx papers a guy shows up at my house we notary the paper work and its my car. Two weeks later I drive 400 miles to pick it up.

 

[PencilGeek]

Yeah but maybe the ADMs pushed the car out of reach. If you think most people can afford gt3 RS you are living in a bubble. I have friends in tech in northern Cali and they all say the tech guys have little money sense so everything is inflated. Not saying that's you or your kin.

There are plenty of 2016s left so the"buyers down" have been satiated

That wasn't my point, and I'll admit I'm one of the tech guys living in Silicon Valley who probably drives the prices up. My view on the market for this car is short-lived (I'm a newbie), without much history or perspective, and I was only in the market to buy an R. That means I could very well be wrong. Regardless, the local feedback from other car owners who can afford the car all seemed unanimous. I should have mentioned, these guys all track their cars too. This was a demographic I think the author failed to consider even if it wouldn't have changed his conclusions.

Edit: Here's another perspective on the Silicon Valley guys. I know business, capital, and tech guys in the valley. The business capital guys with money have tons of it, but are usually very frugal. These guys often times get amazing deals on cars like these because they're such good negotiators. I don't know any of them who own this car (yet), so I can't say if that's true here. But it's been very true of the other cars they own.

 

[Rogue]

I found a few things I disagreed with in the article. The author seemed to emphasize that people most interested in this car are "buying up" into it. I disagree with that. Myself and others that I know all want this car. We are buying down into it. By that I mean that we're not stretching our budgets to buy the car. This car is cheaper than other cars we may own, or cheaper than other cars we were considering. We want this car because of what it is, not because we're Ford fans, etc. Most of my friends own Porsche 997's, 991's, GT3-RS's, an occasional GT4, and a bunch of GTR owners. They were all lined up at a shop this last week, and all the other owners said they wanted to own the GT350. Granted, that doesn't mean they're rushing out to buy one, and maybe like me, they really only wanted the GT350R, but the point is there's a market of people who want this car for what it is, and are willing to "buy down" into the market just to get one.

My friends knew I paid some amount of ADM and asked me if I had any buyers remorse. I told all of them without hesitation that if I knew this car was this much fun to drive, my only regret was not buying it sooner.

Agreed - the author again is clueless about the demographic for the GT350 - it's not your average joe picking these up - most the owners seem to have 3+ high performance cars in the garage and some with Jay Leno size collections.

 

[stanglife]

You're right in a sense, but bringing the R's msrp up by 15k-20k would still allow the people who buy these still buy one without making ford look like scammers. Instead ford decided to market the R at least as an affordable sports car of today, but it's everything but affordable for the average

Almost $70k is twice what a GT costs. A GT is an affordable sports car of today, probably the best deal out there, IMO. A GT350 is next-level performance-wise but even more so, budget-wise.

 

[stanglife]

I found a few things I disagreed with in the article. The author seemed to emphasize that people most interested in this car are "buying up" into it. I disagree with that. Myself and others that I know all want this car. We are buying down into it. By that I mean that we're not stretching our budgets to buy the car. This car is cheaper than other cars we may own, or cheaper than other cars we were considering. We want this car because of what it is, not because we're Ford fans, etc. Most of my friends own Porsche 997's, 991's, GT3-RS's, an occasional GT4, and a bunch of GTR owners. They were all lined up at a shop this last week, and all the other owners said they wanted to own the GT350. Granted, that doesn't mean they're rushing out to buy one, and maybe like me, they really only wanted the GT350R, but the point is there's a market of people who want this car for what it is, and are willing to "buy down" into the market just to get one.

My friends knew I paid some amount of ADM and asked me if I had any buyers remorse. I told all of them without hesitation that if I knew this car was this much fun to drive, my only regret was not buying it sooner.

Respectfully, I think it's hard for you to say or know with any certainty if people are buying up or down for this car. Your personal experience is just that. I'll throw my personal info out there and say that I bought up. It's the most expensive thing besides our home that I purchased and I admit, it was probably more of a bucket list thing. I didn't buy it to flip, while that would have been the responsible thing for someone like me to do. I don't have so much money in the bank that I'd be able to turn down a high-offer on my car - but I haven't offered it for sale ;) I've thought to myself that if someone makes an offer "organically", then maybe it's meant to be.

Actually found a 2010 Carrera S with x51 and loaded that has excited me a little bit. ;) (and for a bit less money than my R).

 

[MCarsFan]

I have said this time and time again. Buyers determine the market price of these cars. Not dealers. It is YOU guys, yes YOU, YOU, and YOU right there (you know who I am talking about) who couldn't resist and paid ADMs because "you had to have it". This is a limited production car, only a handful of them are made and only a handful buyers exist. Its not like a porsche 911R. Everyone eventually gets one! If every one of you actually were man enough to hold your ground and calm down, this wouldn't have happened. Simple as that.

And for the record, how many sticker GT350s have I personally found literally when 2017s were hitting the showrooms? Remember that was the new model year, yet I was able to do it. Oh but you guys "had to have it" right? Life is too short. I had 4 different deals going on similtaneously for my personal purchase in the month of August on top of that I passed a number of deals to forums members. It wasnt even that difficult.

A new product (used products which become collectibles obviously do not follow this rule) is not worth a penny more than what the manufacturer of that product says it is. Period.

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