'09 FEHL On A Lot

[GaryG]

My local dealership called today and said they have a '09 Escape brochure with my name on it. Let my Son (just got his driving permit) drive me down in my '09 FEH to pick it up. I noticed as I turned into Mullinax Ford they had a FWD FEHL, Black Pearl Slate W/Nav and side steps (fully loaded) sitting on display. Billy Stamboulides a sales associate, came out to meet me and ask me where I got my '09 FEH. We talked a bit and I was curious what they where looking to get for the '09 FEHL. He said I could drive it away for window sticker with no dealer fees. He said they also have a Lt Blue FEH coming in.

 

This dealership is 11 miles south of Jupiter in a small town called Lake Park. If anyone is interested in avoiding the $1,000 price increase Aug 1 and getting the $3,000 tax credit this year, call Billy and say you got my message (Gary Gattis). I would use my credit or debit card on the phone for a down payment before it is sold. Make sure Billy agrees to the terms above. This one was just in and displayed today. I think the sticker was $34,070

 

Good Luck

 

BTW, my Son averaged 49.2mpg on his first drive in my '09 FEHL on a ~25mile round trip that started with a cold engine.

[dwg]

Wow, That $34,000 price does not include the latest price increase. I bought my 2008 FEH 4WD a year ago and the MSRP was about $30,200. The only major option I did not not order was the navigation system. Including the navigation system there is still almost a $2,000 difference and the 09 is FWD. I am assuming the 09 has the naviagtion system at that price.

 

The tax credit was a big factor in justifying the price when I bought my FEH bringing it in line with a gas limited model. Whats going to happen when the credit is no longer available? I wonder how many buyers will decide it's not worth the difference in price between a gas model and the hybrid.

[tazjedi]

Wow, That $34,000 price does not include the latest price increase. I bought my 2008 FEH 4WD a year ago and the MSRP was about $30,200. The only major option I did not not order was the navigation system. Including the navigation system there is still almost a $2,000 difference and the 09 is FWD. I am assuming the 09 has the naviagtion system at that price.

 

The tax credit was a big factor in justifying the price when I bought my FEH bringing it in line with a gas limited model. Whats going to happen when the credit is no longer available? I wonder how many buyers will decide it's not worth the difference in price between a gas model and the hybrid.

Loosing the tax credit will hurt the sales for Ford, but right now they can't meet the demand so I don't think the credit is the only reason people are buying a Hybrid.

[burnsva]

Wow, That $34,000 price does not include the latest price increase. I bought my 2008 FEH 4WD a year ago and the MSRP was about $30,200. The only major option I did not not order was the navigation system. Including the navigation system there is still almost a $2,000 difference and the 09 is FWD. I am assuming the 09 has the naviagtion system at that price.

 

The tax credit was a big factor in justifying the price when I bought my FEH bringing it in line with a gas limited model. Whats going to happen when the credit is no longer available? I wonder how many buyers will decide it's not worth the difference in price between a gas model and the hybrid.

 

Actually, prior to the price increase the MSRP for a fully loaded 2009 FEHL FWD was only $210 more than 2008 ($34,070 vs. $33,860) - the limited includes many features that were options before and includes the SYNC system. And most impresively the second generation NAV system is $300 less than the previous version.

Edited August 11, 2008 by burnsva

[09feh]

Ford has alot of learning to do when it comes to keeping customers happy.

It does not surprise me one bit that Ford is struggling to keep customers.

 

How sad it is that I have waited almost four months for my 09fehl on the west coast of Florida, yet Ford ships one for stock to a dealer only 4 hours away.

 

How sad it is that Ford will not insure that dealers will do what it takes to make their customers happy, rather let me continue to wait because I am financially committed to the West coast dealer to buy it there.

 

Instead, the dealers will not work together, so I am penalized for walking into my local dealer and not going to a bigger player.

 

I will wait for my ordered truck (six more weeks), BUT I will never forget this Ford.

 

never.

 

Shame on you and your old school, good ol' boy mentality.....

 

09FEH

[GaryG]

Hi Sean

 

I told the salesman the '09 FEHL was ordered under a false buyers name and he told me he had a black FEH and a blue FEH coming in any day. I think the reason they only wanting sticker was it had to be sold fast and they knew if Ford found out they were for Lot sales they would cut their allotments. It's the dealer who is playing games, not Ford. Same thing with my '09 FEHL, my sold date (7/17) was backdated before the arrival date of 7/28. I was a priority 14 so my dealer ordered 4 other units before mine. I tried to place my order the first day (April 17) but the dealership stall till the 22nd for my first VOC and it shows up from VP as 4/29/08 as received.

 

Also, every time I go to the Lake Park dealer I see a GT 500 on the lot. Ford could not be letting those vehicles go for Lot sales either since they are even higher in demand.

[09feh]

Hi Sean

 

I told the salesman the '09 FEHL was ordered under a false buyers name and he told me he had a black FEH and a blue FEH coming in any day. I think the reason they only wanting sticker was it had to be sold fast and they knew if Ford found out they were for Lot sales they would cut their allotments. It's the dealer who is playing games, not Ford. Same thing with my '09 FEHL, my sold date (7/17) was backdated before the arrival date of 7/28. I was a priority 14 so my dealer ordered 4 other units before mine. I tried to place my order the first day (April 17) but the dealership stall till the 22nd for my first VOC and it shows up from VP as 4/29/08 as received.

 

Also, every time I go to the Lake Park dealer I see a GT 500 on the lot. Ford could not be letting those vehicles go for Lot sales either since they are even higher in demand.

 

No offense Gary, with all due respect,

 

As you saw when you helped me post my vin, my order went in a day before yours (04/28/08).

You have your fehl, we both live in the same state, mine JUST got a vin on 08/07/08 and doesn't even have a blend date yet.

 

That is 100% FORD, not any dealer...

 

If my order went in before yours, how is your truck in first, unless Ford is penalizing the customer that goes to the small time dealer..

 

Two things seem pretty obvious,

 

1) Ford plays favorites at the cost of customers.

2) Ford could care less that they do.

 

I hope they have lots of "other" customers to replace the ones they are losing....

 

It seems pretty simple to me, Ford wouldn't piss off any customers by building and shipping them in order of "ordered" date. Everyone waits their turn..It's a simple philosophy really, it's called first come first served.

 

Ford will and IS pissing off customers by playing favorites with their "buddy buddy" dealers...

 

I sure hope they can afford to do it, especially in this day and age...

 

Shutting down plants, laying off tons of workers, stock in the toilet AND pissing off those that are TRYING to purchase their product...

 

Keep driving us away and forcing us to look at other manufacturers!

 

Sean

[Hook686]

...

 

Shutting down plants, laying off tons of workers, stock in the toilet AND pissing off those that are TRYING to purchase their product...

 

Keep driving us away and forcing us to look at other manufacturers!

 

Sean

 

Sean ... So you think other manufacturers/dealers do it differently ? Dealer 'incentives' seem pretty widespread from my view.

 

Stop whining ... it is undignified.

[GopherM]

Ford has alot of learning to do when it comes to keeping customers happy.

It does not surprise me one bit that Ford is struggling to keep customers.

 

How sad it is that I have waited almost four months for my 09fehl on the west coast of Florida, yet Ford ships one for stock to a dealer only 4 hours away.

 

How sad it is that Ford will not insure that dealers will do what it takes to make their customers happy, rather let me continue to wait because I am financially committed to the West coast dealer to buy it there.

 

Instead, the dealers will not work together, so I am penalized for walking into my local dealer and not going to a bigger player.

 

I will wait for my ordered truck (six more weeks), BUT I will never forget this Ford.

 

never.

 

Shame on you and your old school, good ol' boy mentality.....

 

09FEH

 

Toyota is doing the same thing. A friend here ordered a Prius and after waiting quite a while, found that the dealership had received several that were sold off the lot as open stock. Toyota and the dealership thought they had a lock on the custom orders and were out to make more profit on what could be moved from the lot. Never called any customer with a Prius on order to see if they wanted what was sitting there available.

[petegolf99]

Sean ... So you think other manufacturers/dealers do it differently ? Dealer 'incentives' seem pretty widespread from my view.

 

Stop whining ... it is undignified.

 

I happen to agree with Sean. Ford needs to make customers happy, not dealerships.

If dealers are playing games, Ford needs to have some oversight and crack down.

Building brand loyalty starts at the top.

If first time car buyers have a bad experience, they will go somewhere else next time.

 

Ford could keep track of customer complaints or positive experiences concerning all

dealerships, and customers could track on the Internet and make their own decisions on

which ones to use.

[akirby]

I happen to agree with Sean. Ford needs to make customers happy, not dealerships.

If dealers are playing games, Ford needs to have some oversight and crack down.

Building brand loyalty starts at the top.

If first time car buyers have a bad experience, they will go somewhere else next time.

 

Ford could keep track of customer complaints or positive experiences concerning all

dealerships, and customers could track on the Internet and make their own decisions on

which ones to use.

 

Dealers are protected by state franchise laws that dictate dealers order vehicles from Ford, not customers. Any attempt by Ford to circumvent the dealers and their allocations would be met with a lawsuit before the vehicle hit the ground. Unfortunately all Ford can do right now is buy out bad dealers and negotiate with the remaining ones to do the right thing.

[petegolf99]

Dealers are protected by state franchise laws that dictate dealers order vehicles from Ford, not customers. Any attempt by Ford to circumvent the dealers and their allocations would be met with a lawsuit before the vehicle hit the ground. Unfortunately all Ford can do right now is buy out bad dealers and negotiate with the remaining ones to do the right thing.

 

 

No.......Ford can provide information to the public about which dealerships are getting the most complaints, and which ones are getting positive feedback.

Passing along information is not unlawful.

 

Information is gold.

Let the customer's decide which dealerships to patronize based on other customer experiences.

 

I'm not talking about buying back dealerships or messing with their allocations.

Let them earn a good name or not.

[akirby]

No.......Ford can provide information to the public about which dealerships are getting the most complaints, and which ones are getting positive feedback.

Passing along information is not unlawful.

 

I wasn't talking about that comment, I was talking about this one:

 

I happen to agree with Sean. Ford needs to make customers happy, not dealerships.

If dealers are playing games, Ford needs to have some oversight and crack down.

 

Besides, most buyers won't go to a website to see how a dealer is rated.

[petegolf99]

I wasn't talking about that comment, I was talking about this one:

 

 

 

Besides, most buyers won't go to a website to see how a dealer is rated.

 

Everybody on this site and has a computer would check out a site that had

reviews about dealerships, if they were interested in buying a new car.

Ford has the ability to create a site that accepts comments about their dealers.

That would be enough to make some dealers tow the line.

That is what I meant by cracking down, right now the dealers fear nothing.

 

I've learned alot from the people and their experiences just from reading this site,

and I am thankful to all the people who have taken the time to post their

experiences.

[tazjedi]

I wasn't talking about that comment, I was talking about this one:

 

 

 

Besides, most buyers won't go to a website to see how a dealer is rated.

That is true, I choose the dealer according to who I use for Oil Changes for my other Ford.

[fmorriso]

Sean ... So you think other manufacturers/dealers do it differently ? Dealer 'incentives' seem pretty widespread from my view.

 

Stop whining ... it is undignified.

I am in the same boat as Sean, but unlike you, I have the experience of custom ordering six (count em!!! SIX) vehicles since 1980 from non-Ford manufacturers and NONE of them took more than three months from order to delivery, even the 1986 Chrysler LeBaron Turbo when UAW went on strike two weeks after I ordered it back in November 1985.

 

If it's whining to ask that Ford make even a slight effort to fill orders in near-as-possible-FIFO sequence (allowing for material availability holds), then I proudly wear that badge with zero apologies to anyone.

[09feh]

Sean ... So you think other manufacturers/dealers do it differently ? Dealer 'incentives' seem pretty widespread from my view.

 

Stop whining ... it is undignified.

 

 

Yep, That's exactly the Ford attitude I'm talking about... do you work for Ford? If not, you would fit right in...

 

[tazjedi]

Yep, That's exactly the Ford attitude I'm talking about... do you work for Ford? If not, you would fit right in...

 

In searching online there are a lot of options if you don't want to wait for a custom order. With eBay, autotrader, and other web sites I am sure you can find an Escape Hybrid available that meets the specs you are waiting for at this point. You may have to drive a little or pay for it to be shipped, but this may be a good options for anyone who does not want to wait.

 

I agree I hated waiting until I got my VIN, but that was not because of the wait. That was because of the repairs I keep having to do on the vehicle I am going to be trading in. Back in 04 when the Escape Hybrid first came out I did not have the pleasure of having a service like this and I just waited until the dealer called. I was in the first group to order one. So atleast now there is an option to track orders, or atleast this time I found this wonderful service offered by Ford employees. Thank you for providing these services to help ease the pain of waiting.

[09feh]

In searching online there are a lot of options if you don't want to wait for a custom order. With eBay, autotrader, and other web sites I am sure you can find an Escape Hybrid available that meets the specs you are waiting for at this point. You may have to drive a little or pay for it to be shipped, but this may be a good options for anyone who does not want to wait.

 

I agree I hated waiting until I got my VIN, but that was not because of the wait. That was because of the repairs I keep having to do on the vehicle I am going to be trading in. Back in 04 when the Escape Hybrid first came out I did not have the pleasure of having a service like this and I just waited until the dealer called. I was in the first group to order one. So atleast now there is an option to track orders, or atleast this time I found this wonderful service offered by Ford employees. Thank you for providing these services to help ease the pain of waiting.

 

You are right Taz,

 

As I posted, just a few hours away, the clone to the truck I ordered is sitting in the showroom, waiting to be bought...

 

 

If I buy from another dealership now, I'll lose over 2k.

 

If Ford would simply not play favorites with DEALERS, then I would have taken delivery of my 09feh long ago.

 

If you look at the vin tracking page, my order was placed on 04/28/08...

LONG before many other orders that were placed AFTER mine and they already have their FEH's///

 

My original comment was on the fact the I (the customer) am being penalized for going to my local FORD dealer and not a dealer that sells many more cars.

 

The sign out front of BOTH dealerships says FORD (looks the same to me)....

 

Sean

Edited August 13, 2008 by 09feh

[DannyS]

Keep in mind that dealers don't just buy vehicles from Ford. They also buy them from other dealers.

 

When I test drove an 08MMH, my dealer in MN had two on the lot (apparently, a few days earlier, they had four). None of those 4 were shipped to them by Ford.

 

My dealer purchased them from a dealer in NJ. I was told that they purchased them from the NJ dealer for Invoice price, and thus could not sell them for below sticker. However, if I wanted to order one, they would be able to sell it for below sticker price. (Or in my case, X-Plan price.)

[Walt]

My original comment was on the fact the I (the customer) am being penalized for going to my local FORD dealer and not a dealer that sells many more cars.

 

Well, who's fault is that really?

 

Possibly yours? Now if you purchased more vehicles, a lot more vehicles, from your local FORD dealer, there could not be any other dealers who can sell more. Right?

 

Your local dealer doesn't turn away sales, do they? Their sales are lower than some other dealers because people like you aren't buying enough new vehicles from them. That's getting to the root cause of it, no?

 

[tazjedi]

Well, who's fault is that really?

 

Possibly yours? Now if you purchased more vehicles, a lot more vehicles, from your local FORD dealer, there could not be any other dealers who can sell more. Right?

 

Your local dealer doesn't turn away sales, do they? Their sales are lower than some other dealers because people like you aren't buying enough new vehicles from them. That's getting to the root cause of it, no?

 

Yes, but penalizing a buyer because they are not in a popular sales area is not a good idea.

[09feh]

Well, who's fault is that really?

 

Possibly yours? Now if you purchased more vehicles, a lot more vehicles, from your local FORD dealer, there could not be any other dealers who can sell more. Right?

 

Your local dealer doesn't turn away sales, do they? Their sales are lower than some other dealers because people like you aren't buying enough new vehicles from them. That's getting to the root cause of it, no?

 

 

Hey Third FORD purchase from this dealer in the past 4 years! I am doing the best that I can, but they sure aren't making it easy! I can't buy it from them if they can't GET IT!!!

 

Too bad for them but this will be my LAST Ford purchase as well....

[akirby]

Yes, but penalizing a buyer because they are not in a popular sales area is not a good idea.

 

For the umpteenth time - YOU don't buy cars from Ford - DEALERS do.

 

Let's say you're a dealer (dealer A) and you don't have any presold FEHs. The dealer in the next town (B) has 5 orders, all presold. By your logic, Ford should build and deliver the 5 presold orders to dealer B while you get none, even though you could easily sell every FEH you could get from stock within a week or two. So what would you do?

 

One way around that would be for Ford to assign your order to another dealer so the presales are spread out and match allocations. But the dealers won't like that either - in fact they'd sue Ford in a heartbeat, and win because Ford is dictating how they sell their vehicles.

 

This is a no-win for Ford - what you want and what the dealers want are 2 different things, and guess who wins?

[09feh]

For the umpteenth time - YOU don't buy cars from Ford - DEALERS do.

 

Let's say you're a dealer (dealer A) and you don't have any presold FEHs. The dealer in the next town (B) has 5 orders, all presold. By your logic, Ford should build and deliver the 5 presold orders to dealer B while you get none, even though you could easily sell every FEH you could get from stock within a week or two. So what would you do?

 

One way around that would be for Ford to assign your order to another dealer so the presales are spread out and match allocations. But the dealers won't like that either - in fact they'd sue Ford in a heartbeat, and win because Ford is dictating how they sell their vehicles.

 

This is a no-win for Ford - what you want and what the dealers want are 2 different things, and guess who wins?

 

Your analogy fails to take in the most important factor in business success....

 

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION... NO business can survive forever without it....

 

You ask, guess who wins??

 

 

I'll tell you who loses..... BOTH Ford and this dealer LOSE customers.

 

It would be like walking into burger king and ordering a whopper , the way you like it...

While you stand at the counter for 3 hours, the people in the back are MAKING the exact burger you ordered, yet they are all going to the people standing in the next line over.

 

You have already paid, and switching lines will cause you to pay again, and you can't get a refund.