Amid unease, dealers get clearest look yet at Ford's restructuring plan

[akirby]

My old dealership knew me well so I was able to take the vehicles out by myself no questions asked. When I bought my F150 from a different dealer (small town) the sales assistant (24 yr old girl who just graduated college) came along for the ride on 2 different trucks. She was great - just told me which route to take and showed me some of the features that a new buyer may or may not know about. Pulling out onto the 4 lane divided highway I got on the gas pretty hard and she said “way to go!”. She knew I knew more about the truck than she did so we just had a pleasant conversation. I don’t mind that. If somebody tried to give me the hard sell I wouldn’t like that at all. I used to sell furniture in high school and college and I hate pushy salespeople.

[SoonerLS]

Where do you live that they just let you drive off with the car?

I haven't had a salesman ride along with me in, oh, 20 years or so. Actually, most of my test drives have been sans salesman.

Edited October 26, 2018 by SoonerLS

[fordmantpw]

I mean, telling you about the car is kinda their job. ...and there's no better time to do that when you are in the car driving it.

 

I like to focus on the vehicle when I'm driving, not listen to a salesman's BS.

[SoonerLS]

I like to focus on the vehicle when I'm driving, not listen to a salesman's BS.

Yeah, it's so hard to pay attention to the car when they're screaming in terror.

[rmc523]

My old dealership knew me well so I was able to take the vehicles out by myself no questions asked. When I bought my F150 from a different dealer (small town) the sales assistant (24 yr old girl who just graduated college) came along for the ride on 2 different trucks. She was great - just told me which route to take and showed me some of the features that a new buyer may or may not know about. Pulling out onto the 4 lane divided highway I got on the gas pretty hard and she said “way to go!”. She knew I knew more about the truck than she did so we just had a pleasant conversation. I don’t mind that. If somebody tried to give me the hard sell I wouldn’t like that at all. I used to sell furniture in high school and college and I hate pushy salespeople.

 

Before I got the Mustang, I wanted to drive an EcoBoost model just to see how it drove. I had some time to kill in a different area than I'm usually in, and I decided to swing by the Ford dealer to see the EB Mustang. They wanted me to fill out this questionnaire form of what model I'm interested in, what trim, and they wanted to know what my credit score was.........just to take a test drive!

 

Needless to say, I'll never go to that dealer again.

[T-dubz]

 

Remember, we are the minority when it comes to in-depth vehicle knowledge. Most people are clueless when it comes to features and what specific vehicles/trims, etc have to offer.

 

Sometimes I'm amazed at how clueless my wife is about what she drives. But then again...I don't know anything about celebrity baby names, so she's got me there.

True. Lucky for me, I know the finance guy and Im A plan, so I just skip the salesman altogether.

[jasonj80]

Also the courts have ruled dealerships can be held liable for an accident IF the sales person is in the car. If there is no sales person in the car the individual is liable for the accident.

 

This could also be a major reason why more and more are just letting people drive the without an employee in it.

[snooter]

My old dealership knew me well so I was able to take the vehicles out by myself no questions asked. When I bought my F150 from a different dealer (small town) the sales assistant (24 yr old girl who just graduated college) came along for the ride on 2 different trucks. She was great - just told me which route to take and showed me some of the features that a new buyer may or may not know about. Pulling out onto the 4 lane divided highway I got on the gas pretty hard and she said “way to go!”. She knew I knew more about the truck than she did so we just had a pleasant conversation. I don’t mind that. If somebody tried to give me the hard sell I wouldn’t like that at all. I used to sell furniture in high school and college and I hate pushy salespeople.

Is this 24 year old college kid now the mother of your kids????

[akirby]

Is this 24 year old college kid now the mother of your kids????

You really should stop drinking this early in the morning.

[fuzzymoomoo]

You really should stop drinking.

FTFY

[Fordowner]

I initially was concerned about Ford dropping its "cars" But when I see things like Volkswagon's new T-Cross, i realize these CUVs are closer to hatchbacks than SUV's and are something I'd be interested in. The EcoSport doesn't do it for me but I think that's a stop gap and hopefully the future stuff will have more personality and more sporty or Focus/Mustang style interiors.

 

 

Wonder if Volkswagon is going to bring the T-Cross to the U.S. - its interior is an improvement over what they have here now and I like that it apparently comes with pedestrian avoidance features.

[grbeck]

Regarding the lack of product knowledge among many sales people at dealerships - years ago I interviewed for a sales position at a local chain of dealerships. The interview was with the new owner of the dealership group.

 

I quickly picked up that he wanted to hire people who were interested in SELLING, not interested in cars.

 

His goal was to move the metal as quickly as possible. His priority was not a sales force that could explain the details of the internal combustion engine, or the difference between an overhead-valve and an overhead-cam engine.

Edited October 26, 2018 by grbeck

[tzach]

Regarding the lack of product knowledge among many sales people at dealerships - years ago I interviewed for a sales position at a local chain of dealerships. The interview was with the new owner of the dealership group.

 

I quickly picked up that he wanted to hire people who were interested in SELLING, not interested in cars.

 

His goal was to move the metal as quickly as possible. His priority was not a sales force that could explain the details of the internal combustion engine, or the difference between an overhead-valve and an overhead-cam engine.

 

Since most people don't know anything about cars for the most part this is probably a sound business decision. After all the owner is in business to make money and might not care about cars at all. It is just for those of us who are savvy it makes some of the salesman seem like they nothing about cars in general or the specific one they are selling. They should at least have a knowledge of the features of the cars at the dealership though.

[ice-capades]

 

They're not going to stop going after conquests, they're just going to do more things to retain existing customers.

 

If you get 2 conquest customers but lose 2 existing customers that is a net zero transaction.

 

I would expect a multi-tier loyalty rebate depending on what and how many Ford products you currently own or have owned in the past.

 

Ford routinely offers incentives for conquest customers.

[ice-capades]

Yep..i did the same thing...the probe was a great car...

 

Our Dealer Principal drove a 1989 Probe GT (White w/Red Cloth Seats) for a while when they first came out. I ended up buying it for my wife at the time, who worked at the dealership. The Probe GT was a great car and I even drove one as my Demo a few years later before going back to Mustangs.

[ice-capades]

I am one loyal Ford customer that had been lost. I have lost all confidence in the management. There is never any indication that quality is a part of the Ford they are striving to get to...only margins to appease Wall Street.

 

I, and many others, gave been dumped by FoMoCo. 13 is the number of new Ford's I have bought. Only the first was a bottom dweller (Escort), the rest were middle to upper end models.

 

Perhaps there's a reason why Ford dropped "Quality is Job #1" as their advertising slogan!

 

Ford is historically consistent with their inconsistent upper management (CEO) that runs in cycles with the most recent being the real changes brought about by Alan Mulally. Now the company's paying the price for Mark Fields shortsighted decisions. Unfortunately, Ford never learns and keeps repeating the same mistakes.

[ice-capades]

I think I remember only one time having a salesperson ride along. Otherwise, it's just copy our license and off we go. That's the case at every dealership I've been to from small town to larger city here in MO.

 

Unless it's a long term customer that we know very, very well... no one drives a vehicle off our lot without being accompanied by a dealership representative. If there are any questions about the customer, etc. the vehicle doesn't leave the lot. Staff security and safety is the first priority.

[351cid]

Youre assuming Focus and Fusion buyers are core customers. Maybe the core customers are the truck, van and utility buyers now.

I might have been a truck customer. If I buy my wife a nicely equipped Impala or Honda; then I probably will go look @ GMC & Ram as a replacement for my 250.

 

That last statement would shock most people that know me. Ford had rarely been able to compete on price; but I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for. This is no longer true with Ford. Their quality had slipped & in my opinion (the one that would write the check), they're no better than Ram.

 

Bottom line is when you dump customers you assume are bottom dwellers, you may very well alienate your base.

[351cid]

 

When you explain a fairly simple concept backed up by hard data (market shifting to utilities, pricing pressure on mostly low end car sales reducing profits, limited factory capacity, investment in future programs) dozens of times and people still fail to grasp it or worse - don't even try to grasp it and complain just because they don't like it - then you're going to get responses that sound like condescending jackasses. You've earned it.

 

Nobody is saying you have to like it, but nobody is saying you have to switch to a utility. There are still dozens of sedans on the market to choose from if that's what you really want. They just won't have a Ford badge. If that means Ford loses a customer then that's ok because the alternative is to either build 2 new factories and greatly increase their overhead costs for what amounts to a few pennies profit and/or they have to cancel or delay the new projects that are putting them in position for the future. Those are really the only options.

 

I'm sure Windstar buyers felt the same way when Ford exited the minivan market. I'm sure Mercury buyers felt the same way when they killed Mercury. What customers want isn't always what's best for the company.

 

It's ok to be disappointed but please just try to see things from Ford's perspective and understand what they're doing, whether you agree with it or not.

Have you ever run a business? This is a sincere question & not an insult. Edited October 27, 2018 by 351cid

[351cid]

 

Perhaps there's a reason why Ford dropped "Quality is Job #1" as their advertising slogan!

 

Ford is historically consistent with their inconsistent upper management (CEO) that runs in cycles with the most recent being the real changes brought about by Alan Mulally. Now the company's paying the price for Mark Fields shortsighted decisions. Unfortunately, Ford never learns and keeps repeating the same mistakes.

They never do!

[msm859]

 

Unless it's a long term customer that we know very, very well... no one drives a vehicle off our lot without being accompanied by a dealership representative. If there are any questions about the customer, etc. the vehicle doesn't leave the lot. Staff security and safety is the first priority.

 

I can't remember the last time I test drove a car before buying. Every new car I have ever bought has been bought sight unseen. In 2013 when I was buying my wife's new Explorer Limited while doing the paperwork there was a break and the guy asked me what I thought of the car and I told him I had not even seen it. Test drives are overrated.

[akirby]

Have you ever run a business? This is a sincere question & not an insult.

I’ve worked at a very large fortune 50 company for the last 32 years. I’ve worked on 7, 8 and 9 figure business cases and outsourcing contracts.

 

I routinely deal with corporate budgets and trying to get funding for projects, which lately have not been very successful. I know how corporate finance works (or doesn’t work) and how you have to manage budgets with limited resources. Revenue drops, projects get cancelled or put on hold. A more important project comes along - your funding gets cut. Then there are layoffs. Just because your project has a positive ROI does not mean it can be funded. It’s all about priorities with a fixed pool of resources and that’s what Ford is having to do right now.

 

So I’d say that’s a yes.

[akirby]

I can't remember the last time I test drove a car before buying. Every new car I have ever bought has been bought sight unseen. In 2013 when I was buying my wife's new Explorer Limited while doing the paperwork there was a break and the guy asked me what I thought of the car and I told him I had not even seen it. Test drives are overrated.

 

I was the same way until we bought our 2014 Escape Titanium (downsizing from an Edge). Wife test drove it, I wasn’t with her. Neither one of us thought about the passenger seat as we’d never had an issue. Neither one of us like the passenger seat for some reason. It seemed like it was a couple of inches too high but it was manual with no height adjustment. The whole thing ended up being too small for us so we gave it to daughter and got a MKX. Now I won’t buy anything without a brief test drive.

[fuzzymoomoo]

What we did with our last 2 cars was about a mile loop just to make sure everything felt comfortable

 

I think the next family car might be a little longer drive since we will likely be looking at something larger with a 3rd row.

Edited October 27, 2018 by fuzzymoomoo

[akirby]

I might have been a truck customer. If I buy my wife a nicely equipped Impala or Honda; then I probably will go look @ GMC & Ram as a replacement for my 250.

That last statement would shock most people that know me. Ford had rarely been able to compete on price; but I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for. This is no longer true with Ford. Their quality had slipped & in my opinion (the one that would write the check), they're no better than Ram.

Bottom line is when you dump customers you assume are bottom dwellers, you may very well alienate your base.

That makes absolutely no sense. So Ford quality is the same as Ram which I assume is the same or better than GM but you’d rather buy the RAM? Why would buying an Impala or Accord make you look at GMC or RAM?

 

Or are you just saying you’re pissed off you can’t buy a new Fusion so you’re going to punish Ford and buy a lesser truck that you don’t like as well? Isn’t that cutting off your nose to spite your face?

 

This is a possibility and Ford knows that. But buyers today are just not as brand loyal as they used to be, especially younger buyers. And especially those who buy whatever is cheapest at the time. If Ford gets these new vehicles right they’ll bring in a lot of new buyers that would not have considered a Ford and even if they don’t make up all the sales, they’ll get a lot more profit.

 

The only way this doesn’t work out for Ford is if buyers reject hybrid utilities, Bronco and Baby Bronco and F series sales start to fall considerably. BEVs and AVs are nice but they won’t have a huge financial impact if they aren’t successful. And there is no data to suggest people don’t want utilities and hybrid utilities. So we’ll have to wait and see.