Inconsistencies in pricing and Price gouging? - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

aaronmihe · 09-07-2003, 05:04

Just wondering if anyone else has felt that a dealer may be taking them for a ride with a new BA XR6T?

I've found a car, the dealer was made well away that it was a fleet sale to be priced accordingly (National Fleet price as the minimum drop)....

Yet the pricing provided to my fleet company and me matched a discounted retail price. As in if I walked in with cash I could pay the say $51.5K for the car (have $4500 worth of options on it). Ofocurse the first thing I've done is launch it into the fleet company wondering where my supposed Fleet buying power they spout on about went....

Anyway as it comes out the dealer is prepared to move only the actual original discount offered leaving me paying what is apparently well over the going fleet rate for an XR6T and if I don't want to pay their price I can stick my head into a pig... Ofocurse the configged one of their allocated cars already (I have SIDO) to my spec without a signature on an order so they loose in the long run... But Talk about not playing fair.

Is there anyoen I can whinge to at Ford about this? Really feeling like I'm getting screwed, the dealership has the car available, I have the abilityt o lease the car if the price is right, but to get the right price I don't get to secure the available car, instead sticking my order into the end of the current queue....

I know the car is worth it but its the principle... If the dealership wasn't goign to honour the National Fleet pricing I wouldn't have wasted their time, my Lease companies time nor my own.

A.

russellw · 09-07-2003, 06:34

While I do agree that you should have been informed, I can't blame the dealership for opting not to offer National Fleet on a BTO car.
Obviously they can't refuse to supply a car under that plan but in their position I'd be doing the same.

In simple terms we are talking about a car (the XR6T) that is in short supply which they can sell to a retail buyer at full whack compared to selling the same car to a Nat Fleet customer for zero profit. Which would you choose?

Speaking of principles. Personally I'm of the view that the whole preferential pricing structure for anything other than base repmobiles, especially performance vehicles, is in urgent need of an overhaul. FPV have taken the right step by not making fleet pricing available on the GT range as the system has been abused enough in the past. Hopefully more will follow. The simple fact is that the National fleet pricing plan was originally developed to support major fleet customers with their volume purchase of company vehicles. That we've now allowed that to be extended to every salary sacrifice punter in the country makes a mockery of the system and ends up screwing the retail customer.

No sympathy here. If you want the car then pay the price otherwise you can wait.

Russ

Aussie Pete · 09-07-2003, 17:21

Russ:
I disagree. The whole salary sacrifice deal is a move from companies supplying base repmobiles to end user choice. My company offered me a Falcadore Forexutive as a company vehicle however I chose to massage the offer so I could buy a car with a full engine. Why then should I not see the benefits of my company's fleet power?

The above is a classic reason why Honda CRVs sell so well and the market share of Falcadores has been dropping.

You have to compete at the end of the day.

aaronmihe · 09-07-2003, 17:52

Russ, whiel I understand supply and demand there's a point where the dealer should have said. "I won't do National Fleet on the car" but here's my retail price.. That's all it's that thing of smiling nodding and placing temptation in front of the customer and then not delivering what was asked for.

On principle I'd wait 5 months

And I don't need sympathy...

As for your view on SalSac, that's hardly relevant in this thread. All SalSac purchases are made through the lease company of the employee/company, whether it be a pool car, a user chooser car or a salsac car. No difference and if you want you can either sit back and trust the lease company to really offer the best deal or do some legwork yourself and do better. Mysefl I vote for doing better.

clyde · 09-07-2003, 20:25

I wouldn't have a problem with the dealer saying that the car that is available now is a retial price car and if you want a fleet discount car you have to wait in line. The problem is that the salesmen don't tell you any of this up front. They tell you, you can have a car now and then change their mind when they find out you are a fleet customer. The other thing I have a problem with is that once you are in line to recieve a car your position in the queue should not change but it seems that the dealers will shuffle fleet customers down the line in order to accomodate retail buyers.
I have experienced this and in the end I wrote to Geoff Polites because the dealer keep telling me every delay was Fords fault. GP replied to my letter personally,(which impressed me) but told me that the dealer has absolute discrection as to who and when they supply cars to. I think that sucks, but following my letter, Ford made a car available for me outside of the dealers normal allocation. I got lucky and will probably pick it up end of next week. If I did't write to Ford I would have been waiting for 7.5 months from the time I ordered a car.

Silver GT · 09-07-2003, 21:57

try a few other dealers......In tried 3 for my GT.....and I am pretty happy with the deal i got

aaronmihe · 09-07-2003, 22:50

Clyde - you've summed up exactly what Domminelli (sp) in Sydney told me. I was up there on the weekend and missed their Fleet team but had a good chat witht he Sales manager who ran through a few of the problems they've seen walk in ....

It seems they have a hard split between retail and fleet which means both suffer hard.... And like everyone agrees they'd try to ask a premium for a soon-to-be-built car but would make that clear up front and that's where my issue lies....

zeke · 09-08-2003, 05:30

Well, as a retail customer, I was simply given $5,000.00 discount on an "on-order" XR6T that I could spec to my own desires and have in about one month from order.

Was I happy - you bet!

Is the car all I expected? - you bet!!!

zeke