Have not shopped Ford in a while. Why the old-school slime tactics?

I am looking at a lease on a Fiesta ST, the website quotes about $200 a month for 24 months at 10,500 miles. But you cannot do a search of local dealers to find one that has one on the lot. You just get your local dealership. They list 10 on the lot, but actually have zero. So you have to call around a while. Without checking credit or asking questions about down payments, they are quoting $415 or more a month. Huh? I can see a little more or less, but more than double? They say "come on in and let's talk about what I can put you in..." I thought that tactic went away in the 80's! Are you going to take my keys and not give them back next? Jeez, forget it. I'll keep my money of you don't want it.

Oh, and the first three salespeople I left messages with (I'm interested in a Fiesta ST, please call me) never followed up. Is business that good that they can ignore leads? And I submitted an inquiry online with a request to email me, and no one ever did. Again, are you that busy selling F-150s that you can't reply to an email?

When shopping for my Taurus I contacted Ford in my town about the any competing offers. A local internet sales person got back in touch with me and offered me my choice of 3 different Focus ST's locally. She knocked off almost 6k from the msrp in the initial contact. I'm pretty sure it was right before the model year turnover so I'm sure that had something to do with it.

I then scheduled a test drive at the dealership. I showed up. Drove the car to lunch. Came back. Said it was just too small for my use. I have small children and a Focus couldn't swallow two car seats in the back.

After that we parted ways. No harm, no foul.

How did you email them? Via autotrader or via the Ford website?

Had a similar experience last year when I was helping my Dad look for a new car. After my Mom passed away he was looking to downsize. Ended up in a loaded Fiesta from a dealer that treated us decently but I couldn't get over the old school tactics at most of the other dealerships we visited. We also discovered that we were invisible, at least in a Mercedes dealership. We went in to look at the B250 and the showroom was empty. Nobody came near us. We ended up asking a guy in the service department if anyone was working in the sales department. It turned out to be the dealership owner. He walked into the middle of the showroom and shouted "Does anyone feel like selling a car today?" about four heads suddenly popped out of cubicles. At a Honda dealer we asked about the Fit and the salesman explained to us that he wasn't really up to speed on the Fit because he concentrated on selling the Accord and CRV. I asked him how long he'd been there, he replied seven years. Are you kidding me? In seven years I'd think that you'd find the free time to memorize at least the basics of every car in the fleet.

The salesperson at final Ford dealership was nice though. She knew her stuff and only talked in out the door numbers. It was nice and refreshing.

I had a similar experience when shopping for a Mustang GT last year. I was looking for a specific version that would probably have to be ordered (you know, performance stuff, no extras), and they were not in the least bit interested in doing so. Mustangs on the lot started at $30k for a V6, and on up to $50k plus for the used Boss 302 they had there. The cheapest GT they had was like $36k or so, while the one I had built on line was around $30k. It was take what we have or hit the road. They would be happy to show me the Explorer next to it and was sure it would meet all my needs. I mean it had Bluetooth and everything.

I try to research everything before I walk in, then I tell them what I want and how much I'll pay. They have about two minutes to say yes to a deal or I turn and leave. It works about 50% of the time.

They are able to keep the unethical tactics because most of the car buying public earns 40K a year and are not buying 3 year old and less cars from an individual. They also have the political power by trying to legislate new manufacturers like Tesla from selling straight to the customer.

In reply to Deadskunk: I'm surprised it only works 50% of the time.

Was that $200/month 10500 mi/year with $0 down?

I looked at the residual for a 2014 Fiesta st and it shows to be 67% for 24 mo/10000mi and the money factor was .0002 which is pretty good.

I think that one particular salesman or dealer just really didnt want to move a car.

I cast a wider net, and contacted some dealers a little further out. At this point, it's more experiment than anything else.

• Ford Website Chat: Useless. They just give you the "contact your local dealer" line and nothing more.
• Local Dealer Chat: Useless. They take your information and hand you off. Same as filling out an email form.
• Local Dealer Email Form: Useless. Submit it and forget it, because no one acts on it. Even if it comes in from a chat.
• Call local dealer: Useless. They are with a customer, on a call, out to lunch, just got back from vacation.
• Local dealer voicemail: Useless. Leave a message, it will be ignored.
• Ford.com form submit: Useless. Gets to your local dealer, who will ignore what you wrote on it completely.
• Stop by Dealer: Useless. Walk around, look at cars, be ignored, drive off.

So I have inquiries in with a few other dealers, it has been a few hours and no call back yet. Apparently no one wants to sell any cars near the end of the month.

It seems that every time we talk about new car buying, this is a predominant theme. It was, for the most part, when I was truck shopping. You would think there would be some kind of incentive to sell more new vehicles.

Ojala wrote: Was that $200/month 10500 mi/year with $0 down? I looked at the residual for a 2014 Fiesta st and it shows to be 67% for 24 mo/10000mi and the money factor was .0002 which is pretty good. I think that one particular salesman or dealer just really didnt want to move a car.

Ford figures 10% or so down on one of these leases.....in my case, the car I want is $24k.....the lease is $2,400 down, $214/mo for 2yr/10k mi lease. Nearly half the cost of the car total for the term of the lease. If they told you $415/mo, that was most likely a zero down bad credit car loan for 72 months......I bet they'd love to get you hook, line, and sinker to the tune for $32k+ interest after 72mo

And I'm thankful the dealers in my area are very good compared to where the rest of you are(except the most local GM dealer) Then again, the ford dealers in my area know either my family or I know the owners.....

In reply to yamaha:

When we bought my wife's car Ford motor credit required their financing to get an extra $1500 rebate. I think that is just slimy. We put $0 down and took the rebate, but they only offered a sucky 4.99%. By the next Monday we refinanced the loan for 1.74% and put about 25% down. There was no way I was giving that cash to ford credit though.

In reply to pinchvalve: I've had almost identical experiences with my local Ford dealers. I wanted a Fiesta ST and trying to track one down without a moonroof via their super craptastic web search was neigh impossible.

autotrader chat with the dealer worked well for me, i got a sales guy who answered all my questions then kept in contact and made the deal in the next few days via email. maybe i just got lucky.

From comments some made on another thread, it appears this tactic is just fine. A business is allowed to be as deceitful as they wish.

why is it important for a salesman to "know their stuff?" Who the F cares? What are you guys doing, going in there and giving out some kind of car quiz? Comparing who has more car knowledge, you are some dip$hitt sales moron? Look, fuhgetaboutit, you can't want a car this badly, go buy something else.

Try truecar, they will have dealers ringing you up.

Datsun1500 wrote: If you build it on ford.com it shows $3400 due at signing, plus tax and tags. In Maryland that would be $5200 at time of purchase. If he quoted without that, It would be right at $415. With $1000 down, plus tax and tags it's $335

That's crazy. I just bought a 2015 WRX with $2500 down and am paying $380/month and that is buying not leasing. When I looked at the Fiesta ST it was even better obviously. Had to look to find a non sunroof non Recaro car but it wasn't too hard. i used Truecar,Costco Auto service and USAA services with good experiences for GTi,Fiesta ST and WRX but ended up stumbling across a WRX base at a different dealer and bought it when they didn't add dealer upcharges and gave me more for my trade in then I would have listed it for private sale.

Ford in Las Vegas was the worst buying experience in my life. They refused to accept that I wanted to buy what I wanted to buy. I said I wanted the payments to be the same as was in my WRX which was a huge mistake. They would craft absurd payment plans and try to sell me fully loaded top end mustangs when I just wanted the basic v8 no matter how many times I said no.

kanaric wrote: Ford in Las Vegas was the worst buying experience in my life. They refused to accept that I wanted to buy what I wanted to buy. I said I wanted the payments to be the same as was in my WRX which was a huge mistake. They would craft absurd payment plans and try to sell me fully loaded top end mustangs when I just wanted the basic v8 no matter how many times I said no.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Las Vegas is quite likely the worst major metropolitan area in the US to buy a car.

Why? Geography. Anyplace else in America, if you don't like the deal at the nearest dealer, you can always go to the one in the next town over. Not Las Vegas. Even with a big brand like Ford, the next closest dealers are all 100 miles away. And those are small-town dealers, where you'll be even less likely to find what you want, due to smaller inventories. Past that, you have a 5-hour (each way) drive to LA or Phoenix to try to find a decent dealer.

That's the big brands. Something like Subaru, it gets even worse. I'll be doing my deal online and on the phone, and flying somewhere to pick up my new car.

plance1 wrote: why is it important for a salesman to "know their stuff?" Who the F cares? What are you guys doing, going in there and giving out some kind of car quiz? Comparing who has more car knowledge, you are some dip$hitt sales moron? Look, fuhgetaboutit, you can't want a car this badly, go buy something else.

I don't care about the salesman's general car knowledge but they should be able to demonstrate the features on the cars they sell. After seven years selling the same line of cars I expect the salesman to know how to fold down the back seats.

EvanR wrote:

kanaric wrote: Ford in Las Vegas was the worst buying experience in my life. They refused to accept that I wanted to buy what I wanted to buy. I said I wanted the payments to be the same as was in my WRX which was a huge mistake. They would craft absurd payment plans and try to sell me fully loaded top end mustangs when I just wanted the basic v8 no matter how many times I said no.

I've siad it before and I'll say it again, Las Vegas is quite likely the worst major metropolitan area in the US to buy a car. Why? Geography. Anyplace else in America, if you don't like the deal at the nearest dealer, you can always go to the one in the next town over. Not Las Vegas. Even with a big brand like Ford, the next closest dealers are all 100 miles away. And those are small-town dealers, where you'll be even less likely to find what you want, due to smaller inventories. Past that, you have a 5-hour (each way) drive to LA or Phoenix to try to find a decent dealer. That's the big brands. Something like Subaru, it gets even worse. I'll be doing my deal online and on the phone, and flying somewhere to pick up my new car.

Previous car I bought I went to Oceanside in California to buy it and it was excellent. Without question i'm never car shopping in Vegas again.

Datsun1500 wrote:

DrBoost wrote: From comments some made on another thread, it appears this tactic is just fine. A business is allowed to be as deceitful as they wish.

And just like that thread, it all comes down to reading comprehension. The Ford website quotes $200 with $3500 plus tax and tags down. The OP says the dealer did not discuss down payment and quoted $400. According to Ford.com it will be $400 with no money down. How is the dealer being deceitful?

I'm not saying they are. Just like the other thread, I really don't care. But in the other thread people spoke loud and clear that the dealer can do anything they want, regardless of stipulations they put in place. Naturally, I assume that holds true here.

To be clear, I said to the dealer that I was going to do the standard 10% down, tax and title and maybe even a little more. What he did not ask about was my credit worthiness or if I was going to do a larger downpayment, he just quoted $415 and that was that.

I shopped around and found a dealer that was able to listen, and work me a deal. I have the ST for a day to see if I like it, watch for a post soon if I take it.