The automaker wants dealers to sell directly to enthusiasts and not to people who buy them to sell for a profit
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by Stephen Rivers
3 hours ago
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by Stephen Rivers
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Ford has confirmed to Carscoops that it has a policy in place to penalize dealers who knowingly sell special vehicles such as the Bronco, Bronco Sport Heritage, Raptor and Shelby GT350/500, to flippers. The move comes as a method of ensuring that customers who want to own and keep a Ford vehicle can buy directly from the dealer. It turns out that the dealers themselves get to choose how to implement the policy though.
This whole story comes from the revelation yesterday that one prospective Bronco Raptor buyer in Texas got a surprise when they arrived at the dealer to seal the deal for the rugged SUV. That dealer presented the prospective cash buyer with a contract that required them to offer the Bronco Raptor back to the dealership first if the they ever decided to sell it. Said buyer claimed that the dealer told him that if he’s unwilling to sign it then they’re going to tack on a $20,000 markup fee.
We reached out to Ford to find out if that contract was legitimate or not. Here’s what a Ford spokesperson told Carscoops: “Dealers are independent franchises and set the final contract with a customer. Ford has a company policy designed to mitigate against the improper sale of new vehicles to customers who broker, resell or export vehicles, and helps to protect customers looking to legitimately purchase a vehicle for their own use, our dealers and Ford. Any contract requirement beyond this policy is between the dealer and the customer.”
That language is very clear in that it aims at putting Ford vehicles in the hands of customers who want to own and drive one. At the same time, Ford is right that it helps to protect the brand image of the company. Data clearly links markups and paying over MSRP as a brand-loyalty-damaging experience for customers.
While it doesn’t directly hit at dealers who put markups on these same vehicles, it does remove one pain point that they’ve pointed to. If buyers can’t flip the vehicle themselves, dealers have a little less reason to complain when they’re encouraged to sell at MSRP or penalized if they don’t.
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At the same time, this statement doesn’t give us all of the information that we’d like. We’ve followed up with Ford for more details like how they determine what a flipper is, if it has a system in place to track transactions on special vehicles, and what, if any, action it’s taken in the past when it’s found evidence of these practices taking place. We’ll update you here if we hear back.
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