[HN Gopher] Ford F-150 Lightning reservation holders face $30k d...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Ford F-150 Lightning reservation holders face $30k dealer markup as
       demand high
        
       Author : harambae
       Score  : 86 points
       Date   : 2022-01-02 16:08 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.notebookcheck.net)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.notebookcheck.net)
        
       | avelis wrote:
       | There are dealers that don't do markups like this. Sad to see
       | this happen but it's not surprising.
        
       | HelloNurse wrote:
       | The article is unclear and comments seem contradictory: is it a
       | price hike for new reservations or a bait and switch for old
       | ones? The former would be merely sad, the latter _should_ be
       | illegal.
        
       | jmspring wrote:
       | Many in demand vehicles have seen dealer markups. Sprinter vans -
       | two different dealers in the Bay Area - markups for 4x4 and high
       | roof.
        
       | Gelob wrote:
       | These dealer markups in the chip shortage are insane. Went into a
       | Kia dealership that had two Seltos on the lot. Prepared to pay
       | sticker price of 24k even with bullshit delivery mark-up. Then
       | they ran our credit and told us it would be 38k because they
       | added bullshit mark-ups. We walked out the door.
        
       | short12 wrote:
       | Why are things like the PS5 not being handled the same way and
       | squeeze the scummy scalpers out of the game
        
         | NikolaeVarius wrote:
         | Because that would cause an uproar that Sony is scalping
         | gamers. Same with Nvidia.
        
         | rossjudson wrote:
         | One of the graphics card makers (PNY?) created an invitation
         | system and would sell to randomly selected invites at MSRP.
         | They stopped doing it, though -- I suspect they got flooded by
         | scalpers adding immense numbers of email addresses into the
         | "pool".
         | 
         | Defeating the scale part of the scalper attack means charging
         | an entrance fee, or using some other "proof" that hard to get
         | at scale (like a credit card number). I like the idea of a
         | long-term refundable reservation fee (pay $25 to get on the
         | lottery list via _distinct_ credit card, and if it 's not
         | delivered in a year or two you get your money back).
         | 
         | Something like a Gamestop membership is somewhat useful as
         | well, but I'd just really rather see the manufacturers adopt
         | reservation systems.
         | 
         | Of course this is all just idle speculation. Lots of smart
         | people (on both sides) have been thinking about this problem
         | for a long time.
        
         | kbenson wrote:
         | You say scummy scalpers like it isn't every random person also
         | doing it. Every time I've heard of someone coming across an
         | extra one the last year they've had zero qualms about selling
         | it for a profit. The only difference is that some people decide
         | to do it more often.
         | 
         | As a sibling comment bored, there are ways to deal with this,
         | but honestly other than selling them at market price or somehow
         | making more, most options are limited, because that's just how
         | the market works.
        
         | avidiax wrote:
         | What I would like to see is PS5's sold at market price by Sony,
         | but the overage is donated to a charity of the buyer's choice.
         | 
         | It pushes the scalpers out of the game, which means there's
         | less idle inventory, and the price can come down a little
         | faster.
         | 
         | Another alternative is to sell at MSRP, but bind it to the
         | buyer for a year. This means that it can be only be resold as a
         | brick within a year, which is obviously unattractive to
         | scalpers. To prevent scalpers selling a sale-sniping service,
         | just take orders from qualified buyers anytime, then fill them
         | randomly in e.g. a 7 day window. Within a week you either get a
         | PS5 bound to you or a refund and a chance to try again.
        
           | hogFeast wrote:
        
       | CogitoCogito wrote:
       | I don't understand business rationale of not just returning the
       | deposit to those who don't want to pay the extra. Seems like a
       | good way to burn basically all potential future customers while
       | simultaneously pulling in more money than expected.
       | 
       | Maybe I'm kissing something? Are the dealers themselves paying
       | more for the trucks?
        
         | avidiax wrote:
         | Dealer's know about the sunk-cost fallacy. Very few people are
         | going to walk away from that new truck that they were so
         | enthusiastic about put down $5k to reserve it.
         | 
         | Dealerships are typically a low-margin business, and probably
         | negative margin during the early part of the pandemic. An
         | e-truck is probably going to last 10+ years and rarely go to
         | the dealer service dept. (the high margin part of the
         | business).
         | 
         | So if you ran a dealership, and you knew that the market price
         | for this e-truck was much higher than MSRP, and you aren't
         | going to make anything on the back-end with dealer service, and
         | you've been starving for many months, what would you do? Leave
         | the money on the table? Worry that your customer won't return
         | sometime in the next 3-10 years, long after the sting of being
         | forced to pay market price wears off?
        
       | ramesh31 wrote:
       | Everyone knew the $39k Lightning was as much of a fantasy as the
       | $30k Model 3, and this markup puts them right in line with
       | Tesla/Rivian. But now we get to wait another 5-10 years for an
       | actually affordable EV work truck to be a thing. Unfortunately
       | battery prices are going to keep EV's in the realm of rich person
       | toys and second cars for years to come still.
        
         | jjtheblunt wrote:
         | Used EVs probably will be very well equipped and seriously
         | affordable?
        
           | thrower123 wrote:
           | In any place where road salt is used in the winter, they'll
           | be just as rotten out as ICE vehicles at the end of a five or
           | six year auto loan.
        
             | seattle_spring wrote:
             | Where does this myth come from? I grew up in Utah where the
             | roads are basically made of salt for 6 months a year. There
             | are old cars everywhere. I had two that lasted to 200k
             | miles, and it wasn't rust that pushed them over the edge.
             | Just wash your car and it'll be fine.
             | 
             | I'm not saying there's no affect at all, but suggesting the
             | car will be unusable in 5 years (less than 100k on average)
             | is an exaggeration bordering on dishonesty.
        
               | blackguardx wrote:
               | The 5 year thing is an exaggeration, but it definitely
               | isn't a myth. The midwest and new england area gets a lot
               | more snow than the western US outside small mountain
               | towns. Also, the western US tends to use more
               | environmentally friendly road salts that also don't cause
               | as much corrosion as rock salt (NaCl). In the east, roads
               | are heavily salted with rock salt and it is (or was
               | common when I lived there) for cars to to be heavily
               | rusted out 10 years in. People still drive those cars,
               | but parts break more frequently.
               | 
               | When I moved to California in 2007, a local mechanic
               | freaked out about all the rust on my 2001 car and advised
               | me to sell it immediately. I kept that car and eventually
               | sold it on to someone from the east coast who didn't see
               | any issues.
        
               | brewtide wrote:
               | Maine here. Not only do they sand and salt a ton, but I
               | believe it is Calcium-Chloride that they spray down
               | _before_ storms are about to hit. Liquid, onto the roads.
               | You should see cars following 10 ft behind them on the
               | highway when this is being done... eeek.
               | 
               | You can _literally_ hear it eating at your car if in a
               | quiet place.
               | 
               | "Not too rusty" around here is... Well, you're familiar.
        
               | rossjudson wrote:
               | Decades ago my Canadian family had a Volvo that made it
               | for nearly 20 years, and was a total rust bucket at the
               | end of that time ;)
               | 
               | Somewhere near the end of that, a brand new Acura was
               | bought. That made it through the next 20 years (on the
               | same roads), and had next to no corrosion.
               | 
               | The manufacturers really did get a lot better!
        
               | sixstringtheory wrote:
               | I wonder if your experience also resulted from changes in
               | use of road salt? I found this work done around the early
               | 2000s: https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-
               | change/services...
        
               | sixstringtheory wrote:
               | Look into the "salt belt", and the references there
               | regarding anti-lock brake and air bag sensor recalls only
               | from these states:
               | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Belt
               | 
               | Note that the airbag recall included Utah, while the
               | antilock brake probe did not. Also note that as
               | mentioned, "other states such as ... Utah are also
               | considered part of the Salt Belt but use less corrosive
               | substances."
               | 
               | Did you exclusively drive on salted roads in Utah?
               | There's also the whole part of the state that is desert.
               | I don't think it compares to humid coastal states that
               | also receive heavy snowfall and happen to include several
               | huge metropolitan areas, with all the car commuting that
               | entails.
        
             | ghaff wrote:
             | >at the end of a five or six year auto loan
             | 
             | Varies by where you are and how much you drive, especially
             | in snowy conditions. But my experience is that most
             | vehicles are better than that these days. You should be
             | able to get to 10 years pretty reliably--and often 5+ years
             | beyond before you start getting into expensive rust-related
             | repairs. My prior SUV (a Ford) I definitely held onto about
             | a year too long with a couple of expensive repairs
             | associated with corroded fluids lines but that was almost a
             | 20 year old vehicle in New England.
        
             | gpm wrote:
             | What parts usually rot out on ICE's and do they have
             | equivalents on EV's? Getting rid of a large percentage of
             | the moving parts seems like it might be a win (but I'm
             | really not sure).
        
               | ghaff wrote:
               | In my experience, frame/body (though that's better than
               | it used to be). Fluid lines (brakes, power steering),
               | muffler, other power train components [ADDED: Not so much
               | powertrain itself but some of the associated hardware].
               | So some is common. Some is not. But presumably the motors
               | in an EV could rust out as well.
        
               | bri3d wrote:
               | Corrosion usually affects the body, the suspension, the
               | exhaust, and bolts. The only thing the EV doesn't have is
               | an exhaust system. And compared to the Model 3, which is
               | mostly steel, there are some ICE cars which could do
               | better - for example, the Ford F-150 has had a majority
               | aluminum body for a few years now.
               | 
               | Regardless, this isn't a win for the EV column, it's not
               | the powertrain that rots.
        
               | thrower123 wrote:
               | Rocker panels, wheel wells, fenders, cab corners. If that
               | bodywork is rotted out on a modern unibody vehicle, it
               | will fail safety inspections and has to be repaired.
        
           | xeromal wrote:
           | If used EV trucks are anything like real trucks, they don't
           | really drop in price until it's such a piece of shit that it
           | needs major repairs.
        
         | TedDoesntTalk wrote:
         | > realm of rich person toys
         | 
         | Unfortunately 7 year and 8 year car loans are a thing and make
         | expensive vehicles accessible to those with more meager
         | incomes. They are terrible ideas though (for the consumer)
        
       | secabeen wrote:
       | Another sign of the challenges of the dealer system. Ford took
       | reservations, but then depends on dealers to close the sale, and
       | they can increase the price.
       | 
       | For all their faults, Tesla held to their original pricing on S,
       | X, and 3 for early reservations, even giving them free upgrades
       | when the production model had higher specs than the original
       | announcements. More recently, Tesla has hit some reservation
       | holders with modest price increases, but not at over 50% of the
       | base price of the vehicle like we're seeing here.
        
         | dragontamer wrote:
         | The issue is that if Tesla does it, you have no recourse.
         | 
         | If a random dealership does this to me, I walk down the street
         | to the other dealership and buy a car from them.
        
           | notatoad wrote:
           | That's the theory. The reality is that if there is actually
           | multiple dealers in your region, they're probably all owned
           | by the same group.
           | 
           | There's four Ford dealerships within reasonable distance of
           | me, they're all the same company.
        
           | clintonb wrote:
           | What happens if there isn't another dealer down the street,
           | or if every dealer is marking up the price?
        
             | bmitc wrote:
             | Don't buy it.
        
               | dcdc123 wrote:
               | Then in this case, you lose your deposit and they sell it
               | to someone else for the same markup you declined.
        
               | lukevp wrote:
               | The deposit is refundable
        
               | dcdc123 wrote:
               | > An additional non-refundable US$5,000 deposit is
               | apparently also required to place an order for the
               | electric pickup truck.
        
               | tromp wrote:
               | Isn't the deposit with Ford directly rather than a
               | particular dealer?
        
         | yumraj wrote:
         | > Tesla held to their original pricing on S, X, and 3 for early
         | reservations,
         | 
         | That's some serious rewriting of history, at least for Model 3.
         | Musk announced Model 3 at $35K price, took reservation money,
         | and later announced that it will be a $45K Model 3 (or was it
         | higher?). The $35K Model 3 came much much later, after the Fed
         | credit had ended, and I believe was only there for a short time
         | (I stopped checking after the above bait and switch).
        
           | hnburnsy wrote:
           | As the owner of the cheapest Tesla ever sold in the US, let
           | me tell you my story. I placed a day 2 reservation for the
           | $35,000 Tesla. It took over two years, but the final price I
           | paid excluding destination was $36500 and I was eligible for
           | the tax credit at 50% off (3500).
        
         | sklargh wrote:
         | I give VW a lot of credit here, they somehow got dealers to
         | hold the line on the ID.4. It was a long wait but a good
         | delivery and purchase experience.
        
           | kmonsen wrote:
           | No they did not. I recently tried to buy an id4 and was told
           | by the dealer that there was a 5k markup from sticker price
           | and no reservation system. They have a list of people they
           | will call when a car gets to the dealership and the first to
           | shore up in person will get it.
        
             | technothrasher wrote:
             | I just heard a story from a local guy who ordered a custom
             | build Porsche, put down a sizeable deposit, waited six
             | months, and then got the call that it was in at the
             | dealership. When he went down there the next day to do the
             | paperwork, they told him somebody that morning made them a
             | cash offer and so they sold the car out from under him.
        
               | Matheus28 wrote:
               | Damn, that's a way to lose a customer for life. I'd be
               | fuming if I were that customer.
        
               | technothrasher wrote:
               | The guy told me this story as a way of warning me against
               | ordered a car from this particular dealer. Problem is,
               | the other Porsche dealer in the area I have heard
               | different but just as terrible stories about. One was
               | that they are selling cars as new that had already been
               | put "in service" months ago, so if you bought from them
               | without checking, you wouldn't get your full warranty
               | period.
               | 
               | I've had plenty of terrible experiences with pretty much
               | all local dealers I've dealt with, Audi, BMW, Ford, VW...
               | dealers can get away with being terrible because they all
               | are and there's nowhere to go.
        
               | protomyth wrote:
               | Each state has a office that deals with and licenses
               | dealerships. If he put down a deposit and had paperwork,
               | it might be worth it to look them up. They can basically
               | close down a dealership at will.
        
         | Tempest1981 wrote:
         | > Ford took reservations
         | 
         | iirc, for a Mach-E reservation, Ford made you choose a local
         | dealer as part of the process.
         | 
         | Anyone know how that played out? Were you locked into that
         | dealer, and could they adjust the price?
         | 
         | The Mach-E $500 was refundable, like with Tesla. I'm reading
         | that the Lightning deposit is $100, refundable. So the $5000
         | must be the step beyond that.
        
           | tw04 wrote:
           | Yes you were locked in and yes they could adjust the price. I
           | got around that by going through a dealer in the Costco
           | network. I figured the full force of Costco would be enough
           | to prevent shenanigans and it worked.
        
             | chihuahua wrote:
             | I tried the Costco dealer thing once and there were still
             | shenanigans, so nothing is guaranteed.
        
         | brightball wrote:
         | I can't speak to Ford, but last year we order a Chrysler
         | Pacifica plug-in hybrid direct from Chrysler, shipped to the
         | dealer for pickup and we had no issues with dealership upsell.
         | It was exactly what it said we were getting. We love it too.
         | Probably put gas in every 2-3 months if we don't go out of
         | town.
        
           | spaceisballer wrote:
           | Do you like the vehicle? We have a Town and Country and while
           | I'm not a fan of the minivan life it's just so damn practical
           | with kids. The Pacifica seems more car like than our Town and
           | Country (seems like it sits lower, maybe handles better).
           | Looking into options, we use the Model 3 almost all the time
           | but sometimes you need the extra luggage space or just
           | ability to sit a little further away (separate the kids).
        
             | brightball wrote:
             | We love it. Have a 2020 and the plugin hybrid approach is
             | similar to the Chevy Volt where the first 35 miles you
             | drive everyday is all electric. For us, even driving into
             | the next town everyday, that covers us.
             | 
             | The vehicle is great. Bells and whistles are solid. Really
             | the only downside to it is that the battery sits in the
             | space where you would have been able to fold down the
             | middle row of seats. Instead, if you need to get the middle
             | seats out of the way, you have to remove them and they are
             | a little heavier than I expected.
             | 
             | Still though, the practicality can't be beat. When you fold
             | down the back and remove the middle seats it's almost like
             | having a covered pickup truck with as much as you can fit
             | in there.
        
         | FireBeyond wrote:
         | Well, except for the LR reservation holders who were lead on
         | and on that their vehicles were "about to enter production"...
         | only to find it canceled, their place in the system lost, and
         | Tesla barely able to say sorry, let alone offer an alternative.
         | 
         | > More recently, Tesla has hit some reservation holders with
         | modest price increases, but not at over 50% of the base price
         | of the vehicle like we're seeing here.
         | 
         | You mean _three_ price increases in 2021 alone that have bumped
         | some Model 3 prices by about 30%? I'm not sure how "modest" an
         | increase that is.
        
           | jsight wrote:
           | Those price increases didn't affect the reservation holders
           | that the person you are replying to was talking about.
        
           | md2020 wrote:
           | I agree that Tesla isn't immune to the same mechanics of
           | supply and demand that make dealerships do these markups, but
           | I think it's important to note that Tesla honors the price of
           | the car from the time you _placed the order_. I ordered a
           | Model 3 in October and the price of the car has increased
           | since I placed that order, but I'll still be paying the
           | original price when I take delivery. I see that as a positive
           | over what this article is saying, which is that the
           | dealership hit reservation holders with a sudden markup,
           | which probably wouldn't have happened without the dealership
           | as a middleman between Ford and the buyers.
        
       | andygrove wrote:
       | FWIW, my dealer is not adding any markup. Here is the email I
       | received from them explaining the process:
       | 
       | "We finally received an update from Ford regarding the Lightning!
       | This will be a completely unique process from Ford and they will
       | send a detailed guideline in January, however I wanted to let you
       | know in advance that things are in motion.
       | 
       | This process is going to be based on invitation to convert as
       | demand has outweighed production capability by far. Due to
       | demand, not all reservation holders will recieve an invitation to
       | place an order for a 2022 model year. Ford will begin inviting
       | reservation holders to place orders in waves starting in January.
       | Subsequent waves will receive an invitation in two-week intervals
       | until 2022 model year capacity is reached. Invitations are based
       | on reservation timing, and our estimated allocation. You will be
       | directed to an online configurator (Build and Price tool) where
       | you will then be able to spec out your order and then submit your
       | finalized order. At that time, we will provide you with complete
       | pricing including MSRP, taxes, and dealer handling fee. We are
       | not charging any dealer markup above MSRP. Once the 22MY
       | production capacity is met, all remaining reservation holders
       | will be notified that their next ordering opportunity will be for
       | the next model year."
        
         | sk5t wrote:
         | > dealer handling fee
         | 
         | Still a bit ominous.
        
           | chihuahua wrote:
           | "No dealer markup above MSRP", but the dealer _handling fee_
           | could be $25,000 ...
        
         | rossjudson wrote:
         | Sounds like you have a local dealer that's transparent and
         | (relatively!) honest. From other posts it seems that Ford can't
         | necessarily set the prices that the dealers charge...but what
         | they _can_ do is let dealers know that their allocations are at
         | risk. In other words -- Ford can separately survey invitation
         | receivers and find out what prices they pay. Excessive markups
         | can be used to reduce allocations to dealers.
        
       | jdhn wrote:
       | I wonder how Ford will combat this. I know they're limited as to
       | what they can do due to state laws, but from what I've seen
       | they're not a fan of high markups.
        
         | maxerickson wrote:
         | They are probably reaching out to their media contacts
         | encouraging them to write articles about dealers marking up the
         | prices.
        
       | travisporter wrote:
       | When I was looking a Honda Accord a couple decades ago I walked
       | into a dealer who was asking 3000 above MSRP in an Atlanta
       | suburb. I asked him are you serious, dude didn't even flinch and
       | said bye as I walked out. I got the same car at MSRP with leather
       | seats thrown in about 20 miles out of the city.
        
       | ourmandave wrote:
       | _...at least one Ford dealership [...] informed them that an
       | additional price adjustment of US$30,000 would be necessary in
       | order to receive a unit from the first batches of Ford 's new
       | electric truck.
       | 
       | An additional non-refundable US$5,000 deposit is apparently also
       | required to place an order for the electric pickup truck._
       | 
       | At ONE dealership, if you want a first batch its +$30K. If you
       | wait, it isn't.
       | 
       | If you want to reserve one now it's $5000 down. That's not extra
       | and you don't lose it if you take delivery.
       | 
       | I'm not a Ford fanboy, just saying.
       | 
       | And I wouldn't buy (let alone pay extra for) _any_ first gen
       | vehicle.
        
         | mulmen wrote:
         | > And I wouldn't buy (let alone pay extra for) any first gen
         | vehicle.
         | 
         | I generally agree with this. I'm curious where you draw the
         | line though. This isn't Ford's first EV and other manufacturers
         | have been building them for _years_. At what point should we
         | acknowledge this is as a mature technology? I wouldn 't
         | hesitate to buy a car with a new ICE, what will it take for EVs
         | to reach the same level of trust?
        
           | artificial wrote:
           | Every so many years a new platform arrives. The generations
           | built upon it iterate. The later iterations address issues
           | and are considered superior. "The window seal on the driver
           | side no longer potentially develops a leak, the headlight
           | daytime running LED burnt out due to poor semiconductor fab
           | you can see the new part number, the entertainment system
           | revamped to support carplay" etc.
           | 
           | The down side is once they're mature the body style changes
           | and the cycle repeats.
        
           | sokoloff wrote:
           | I didn't read GP's comment as particular in any way to EVs.
           | I'm not generally in the market for new cars (terrible
           | value), but to the extent I consider them, I'd much rather
           | buy a second-generation (or minimum, second model year) than
           | a first-off car.
        
             | mulmen wrote:
             | What do you mean by "generation" though? Take the Camry for
             | example, that is a "new" car every ~8(?) years. That can't
             | be what you mean by "generation" so I assume you just mean
             | "a few years after release"?
        
               | sokoloff wrote:
               | Anytime there's a significant refresh of the model (when
               | the Mustang got the Coyote motor, Corolla switched from
               | rear to front drive, etc), I'd avoid the first year of
               | that generation as well, but I'd particularly avoid the
               | first year of a first-gen car.
               | 
               | My post above could have been much more clear. For a body
               | refresh with an already proven engine/trans combination,
               | I wouldn't be as concerned (which is what I was trying to
               | get at, albeit clumsily).
        
           | mholm wrote:
           | Not the commenter, but first gen vehicles have a particularly
           | bad history of unreliability, even in ICEs. Later incremental
           | model years tend to be the more reliable version of the car
           | by a noticeable amount.
        
             | mulmen wrote:
             | Ah I think I misunderstood. My most recent purchase was a
             | mid-lifecycle refresh of an existing model, I guess that is
             | what GP meant.
        
         | halpert wrote:
         | This kind of highlights a flaw in the dealership model,
         | however. Ford took the reservation money and made a promise
         | that they're unable to fulfill to the reservation holder.
        
           | seastonATccs wrote:
           | They know how to take the reservation, but the don't know how
           | to hold the reservation. The holding part really is the
           | important part.
        
             | lavezza wrote:
             | Unexpected Seinfeld
        
             | mxuribe wrote:
             | Not sure if you were making a Seinfeld reference there.
             | Kudos if so...And if not, here's what I'm referring to:
             | https://youtu.be/4T2GmGSNvaM?t=35
             | 
             | :-)
        
           | wlesieutre wrote:
           | Ford ought to let customers place reservations and shop
           | around which dealership they want to purchase though at
           | delivery time.
           | 
           | If the dealership tells me "It's $30,000 markup or we're
           | taking your built-to-order vehicle and selling it to someone
           | else" then I should be able to take that reservation and move
           | my order to a different dealer.
           | 
           | Or maybe they could require the dealer to sign a contract on
           | the final out the door price in order to submit an order.
        
             | brianwawok wrote:
             | No, they should backstop direct to consumer.
             | 
             | Buy a car for 45k? Sure, dealer can deliver it at any
             | markup you want. But, we will also drop it off at your
             | house for exactly 45k. So not much room..
        
         | VWWHFSfQ wrote:
         | why are people caring about this. go to a different dealer or
         | wait 5 minutes if you want to buy it at msrp
        
           | cinntaile wrote:
           | That's not gonna help, they're all sold out. It's part of a
           | new crypto consensus algorithm called Proof of Transport
           | (PoT). You need a mean truck to get the most rewards.
        
           | seattle_spring wrote:
           | I doubt either of those strategies will yield results. The
           | RAV4 Prime and Ford Focus RS are 2 examples of many of cars
           | that pretty much were never available for MSRP except from a
           | select few dealerships. I'm sure a couple people will respond
           | and say, "wait but I got a Prime at MSRP so that invalidates
           | your comment!" Nope, they just got lucky or were OK calling
           | 20 dealerships to find one that wasn't OK ripping their
           | customers off.
        
             | therealdrag0 wrote:
             | Is it a rip off? Supply and demand. Charging more
             | incentivized more production. Which we desperately need.
        
               | detaro wrote:
               | How is dealers adding additional markup to the MSRP
               | helping improve supply?
        
           | Gelob wrote:
           | It's really hard to get any new car right now at MSRP and the
           | dealers that let you place a deposit may pull it from under
           | you if someone is willing to pay more
        
       | sithlord wrote:
       | The bigger problem is that it appears that the dealerships have
       | just done a big bait and switch, customers already preordered and
       | if my research was correct - they basically said F* you to the
       | customers that already pre ordered and said if you want it now -
       | you have to pay more - or you lose your deposit.
       | 
       | this video sums it up:
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pil6tB6MPws
        
         | chmod775 wrote:
         | > or you lose your deposit
         | 
         | Calling that a deposit is stretching the definition - you're
         | just paying a fee to skip ahead in line: a reservation. Suppose
         | though it actually was a partial, non-refundable, advance
         | payment of a yet-to-be-determined sum. Who in their right mind
         | would sign such a contract? Those people should find someone
         | else to manage their money for them ASAP.
        
         | darknavi wrote:
         | > The bigger problem is dealerships
         | 
         | FTFY
        
           | brightball wrote:
           | Aka - Sales Unions
        
             | adventured wrote:
             | The dealerships are more like a cartel because they're
             | focused on keeping the cost of the product artificially
             | inflated enough that they can scam their margin from
             | inbetween the customer and the producer. Unions focus on
             | keeping wages higher than they otherwise would be.
             | 
             | For example health insurance companies in the US fall into
             | the same cartel category as automobile dealerships. They
             | scam their margin / mark-up sitting - often with regulatory
             | protection - inbetween the patient and the care provider
             | (hospital etc) or producer (pharma company, device maker
             | etc).
        
               | brightball wrote:
               | Dealership groups push for the regulations that force
               | producers to use them. Tesla has had to fight hard to
               | avoid the dealership model because of it.
        
         | akvadrako wrote:
         | That would simply not be legal. As a sibling comment mentioned,
         | it may not have been structured financially as a deposit.
        
       | emptybottle wrote:
       | I hope that Ford is able to build an EV that runs reliably well
       | beyond the warranty period.
       | 
       | The F series are popular trucks, and it would be great to see
       | more EV adoption from truck drivers.
       | 
       | I think that will be heavily influenced by either a) reliability
       | or b) accessible repairs with cheap parts.
       | 
       | Ford's fuel trucks have essentially both today, but a botched EV
       | rollout could leave customers with neither and price hikes aren't
       | a great sign.
        
       | foobiekr wrote:
       | If the cellular automata theory of class and status
       | differentiation is true, electric vehicles are about to lose
       | their cache. It will be interesting to observe.
        
         | dqpb wrote:
         | What do you mean?
        
       | Maarten88 wrote:
       | So this year they'll build around 700.000 normal F-150 trucks and
       | only 15.000 electric ones, when they could sell many times more.
       | 
       | It seems they are out of touch with the market.
       | 
       | That may be understandable, as it is a bit nonsensical. 90% of
       | the people who buy these trucks buy them as a status symbol: they
       | are wasting resources, energy and emissions to signal they are
       | active/outdoor types while driving to work and the mall. I read
       | trucks do not count as part of manufacturer fuel efficiency
       | targets, which is why they started marketing them to consumers in
       | the first place. Buying an electric version of this still seems
       | quite wasteful.
       | 
       | I hope people will think again and buy something right-sized.
        
         | abawany wrote:
         | Ford also released the hybrid Maverick with a starting price of
         | 20k usd, which is much more right sized and extremely
         | practical. It is attracting a lot of non traditional buyers who
         | would likely never have considered the monstrosities that pass
         | as 'full sized' nowadays.
        
           | therealdrag0 wrote:
           | Wow. 37 combined mpg, that's great for a truck. Starting at
           | 20k??? How...
        
             | abawany wrote:
             | I found this review by Demuro to be useful:
             | https://youtu.be/ocHFC03Wmbw - it outlines the compromises
             | they made, such as using the tried-and-true components from
             | the Escape, focusing on function over shiny form, and
             | making a well thought out design. I've priced one for
             | myself a few times and the full msrp including destination
             | charge was under 24k usd after the options that I added.
             | The only reason I haven't ordered one yet is because of the
             | nasty experience at dealers though there is at least one
             | dealer in Iowa that is selling it for under invoice
             | pricing, provided I fly there and drive it back.
        
       | hourislate wrote:
       | I can understand someone who needs a work truck but most of these
       | trucks will be Vanity purchases, used to drive to Walmart or
       | Chickfilet. Ford needs to mark it up across the board and any
       | lost sales will be offset by large profit margins. Anyone buying
       | a vehicle like this should be able to eat an additional 30-60k in
       | markups.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | [deleted]
        
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