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rdr854

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So, if the dealers do everything correctly, the make 10% on the sale of the Lightning - whether an ordered vehicle or a vehicle on the lot. With a front end profit of $4,000 to $8,000 just for doing what you are supposed to do, why do they need ADM? They certainly should not claim that the invoice price is their cost, and if the bulletin is authentic, it certainly tells a story -- namely that Ford is trying to hide dealer cost from third party websites.
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DadBald

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Are you saying that a 10% gross return on investment/profit margin is inappropriate? Remember, the dealerships have fixed costs that must be met irrespective of whether they sell a vehicle or not.

What has most people frosted is the added dealer mark up (now called the politically correct adjusted market value). The point is that selling at MSRP should give the dealers sufficient profit on a per vehicle basis

It will be interesting to see what “Customer Onboarding“ means.

Yes, I understand all that. My point was we are paying all that to an unnecessary middle-man any way you slice it. Those who put ADM on top are even worse and nothing but scalpers. I just hate dealerships and the whole experience, generally speaking. You could probably convince they they have some merit, but I dread car shopping with a passion. IMO, mfr direct to consumer should at a minimum be allowed as an option.

I'll get off my soap box, didn't mean to rant or hijack the thread. I understand dealers have costs and that needs to be met.
 

rdr854

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Yes, I understand all that. My point was we are paying all that to an unnecessary middle-man any way you slice it. Those who put ADM on top are even worse and nothing but scalpers. I just hate dealerships and the whole experience, generally speaking. You could probably convince they they have some merit, but I dread car shopping with a passion. IMO, mfr direct to consumer should at a minimum be allowed as an option.

I'll get off my soap box, didn't mean to rant or hijack the thread. I understand dealers have costs and that needs to be met.
I will say that dealership sales departments have an valuable role if done correctly. They provide the brick and mortar experience to look at/touch and feel the physical product and get information. This is no different than shopping for a TV or a major appliance or a piece of furniture. Most of these transactions or shopping experiences have some component that occurs in a brick and mortar store even if it is finished up on line. And, in that regard, even if finished up online, you are generally not purchasing directly from the manufacturer, but instead are dealing with a retailer - even if it is Amazon, target.com, bestbuy.com or homedepot.com.

I will say that the few times I have looked at manufacturer websites, the prices were always higher than at general retail establishments or associated websites.

Please note that there are no endorsements and I have no financial gain by mentioning those online store fronts.
 
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GarageMahal

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Dealer Invoice is the same as MSRP. But Dealer Invoice is not the Dealer cost. So Invoice and MSRP will be the same regardless of the dealer. Dealer cost will vary.
This makes sense. I think I was confused by "blended invoice" which in my head was the same thing as "dealer invoice" but I guess that isn't true. It looks like blended invoice equals dealer cost and replaces the current holdback model.
 

BennyTheBeaver

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For the Lightning:

Dealers are doing squat and getting $4k - $8k.

Ford sold these trucks direct to us through Fords own marketing.

There are no vehicles on lots for us to touch or test drive, the only thing close to that (the roadshow Ford has been putting on) has been conducted and paid for by Ford.

This is why the dealer model is broken.

We are all ordering our cars from Ford, but have to pay the mostly useless middleman.

I'd rather Ford keep all that extra money (or reinvest in tech and research, or even give us back a few bucks off the price) and deliver my truck direct to me or let me pick it up at a "delivery center" which should be a Ford Service Center.

The dealers are clueless (not their fault as Ford isn't telling them anything), and some are even spewing BS to customers and making things up.

This is such a broken system, these dealers need to be converted to Ford Delivery and Service Centers.
 

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Snakebitten

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Just a question. I don't know the answer although I have a hunch.

Does Tesla pass some kind of savings to the buyer or do they just sell the car with a higher manufacturing profit than they would with dealerships.?

It's not like they seem like a bargain, in my opinion. I don't look at their prices and think "wow, that's 8 thou$and less than I expected"
 

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The dealers are clueless (not their fault as Ford isn't telling them anything), and some are even spewing BS to customers and making things up.
Actually it is their fault. When I was picking up my MME, the dealer's finance guy was utterly clueless about Ford Options. I know for a fact that Ford Credit had, at that point, spent months feeding them information about it. I know because I was prepared with printout, screenshots, and links that explained how it was supposed to word. Another item: in Arizona through the end of the year, VLT on a BEV is next to nothing. The dealer presented me with paperwork showing over $1,000 in VLT. I also found out that 2 weeks later same dealer did the same thing to someone else. That person didn't catch it and a month later received normal plate instead of alternative fuel plate (that entitled him to use carpool lanes). He then had to navigate DMV bureaucracy to get the correct plate and a refund of VLT.
 

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Why so much “Overhead”. As anyone besides me noticed the amount of overhead these dealerships have to support? Last time I had my vehicle serviced, I saw one person actually performing work on my truck but, 1 guy walked around asking if anyone wanted a ride into town, another guy walking around outside receiving vehicles to be serviced, another guy on the computer generating work orders for each service, another guy setting at a desk fielding questions from customers, course we have coffee, popcorn and big screen TVs to watch while setting in big lounge sofas. Not to mention the architecture that went into the building design, property taxes and utility bills. Who pays for all this stuff, WE DO! Next time you walk into a dealership, stop for a second, and see where your money goes.
 

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Just a question. I don't know the answer although I have a hunch.

Does Tesla pass some kind of savings to the buyer or do they just sell the car with a higher manufacturing profit than they would with dealerships.?

It's not like they seem like a bargain, in my opinion. I don't look at their prices and think "wow, that's 8 thou$and less than I expected"
Remember back when the $7500 tax credit ran out with Tesla (exceeding 200,000 units)?

I remember that at that time Tesla said they will lower their prices a bit to help compensate for that loss of money.

Just don't know if that is actually the case now that the new 3 and Y models are out.

Guessing Tesla has a much higher profit margin than Ford....:eek:
 

rdr854

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For the Lightning:

Dealers are doing squat and getting $4k - $8k.

Ford sold these trucks direct to us through Fords own marketing.

There are no vehicles on lots for us to touch or test drive, the only thing close to that (the roadshow Ford has been putting on) has been conducted and paid for by Ford.

This is why the dealer model is broken.

We are all ordering our cars from Ford, but have to pay the mostly useless middleman.

I'd rather Ford keep all that extra money (or reinvest in tech and research, or even give us back a few bucks off the price) and deliver my truck direct to me or let me pick it up at a "delivery center" which should be a Ford Service Center.

The dealers are clueless (not their fault as Ford isn't telling them anything), and some are even spewing BS to customers and making things up.

This is such a broken system, these dealers need to be converted to Ford Delivery and Service Centers.
First, we will not be ordering our cars directly from Ford. It will be ordered through a retailer, even if you configure it on line. Simply put, your contract is not with Ford - Ford is merely a facilitator of the reservation system so that it can control orders in a reasonable manner without it becoming a free for all at order time. Second, once there are production model, the dealers expect to receive manaqins that will be available for customers to touch and test drive. These will be units that are not for sale and must be retained by the dealers until Ford allows them to be sold. This is similar to what Ford has done with the Bronco and Bronco Sport and other OEMs have done as far back as the early 1990s with new models.

OEM marketing is what gets everyone interested in a particular product, whether it be cosmetics, soap, cars, grocery items, appliances, television sets, etc. With the exception of cars, I never hear people complaining that we can’t buy our soda directly from Coca Cola or PepsiCo or our soap from Unilever or our TV or refrigerator from LG or Samsung. We blindly go to the store or an online retailer to make the purchase - which many times will have a significant markup percentage wise. In this regard, the car dealership market is very similar. The big difference is that in this market some dealers are very greedy, but even worse, some dealers provide poor customer service. This is not to say that dealers are not entitled to make a profit, I’m just saying that it should be a reasonable profit. Of course reasonable people will differ on what that means.
 

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rdr854

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Remember back when the $7500 tax credit ran out with Tesla (exceeding 200,000 units)?

I remember that at that time Tesla said they will lower their prices a bit to help compensate for that loss of money.

Just don't know if that is actually the case now that the new 3 and Y models are out.

Guessing Tesla has a much higher profit margin than Ford....:eek:
I understand that Tesla just recently raised it prices $5K because they could.
 

Snakebitten

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Porsche nearly went bankrupt in the 90's and chose to expand their product line by adding "affordable" models with a much lower entry point. (996 Boxster, and SUV's)

Today Porsche is listed as the most profit-per-vehicle manufacturer in the world.

They have dealerships, of course.
And sure, they treat you special.

But if you want a new Porsche, any Porsche, be prepared to pay over MSRP. By a LOT on many of them.

And if you want to ORDER a Porsche, you have to get on a list and wait for a dealer to get an allocation spot. Can be as long as a year or more.

We aren't talking about a new release or special offer of any kind.

You can complain about doing business with a Ford dealership, and many complaints are valid. But pre-covid you could walk into a Ford dealership and choose between 200 F150's on the lot, and find the CrewCab XLT 302A Sport in the color you wanted and pay less than the Mazda dealer was asking for a Miata!

Think about that.

That truck is a LOT of vehicle and an incredible value equation.

Ford sells an F150 at the rate of every 43 seconds 24/7/365.
With all their faults they are the KING of designing, manufacturing, and delivering trucks to the public.

The recent Powerboost and now the Lightning are great examples of how Ford is simply crushing the competition in innovation. The ONLY reason there is so much gnashing of teeth is TIME. Now that we KNOW what Ford is building, we can't wait. Lol

They could have just not revealed much and we all discovered them the old fashioned way. You see one in your neighbors driveway hooked up to an extension chord and be thinking WTH? Lol
 
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Nick Gerteis

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So what I got out of this is... Our wonderful dealer sales model bestowed upon us by lobbyists is costing every consumer an extra 10%.
Yep, that’ll buy a ton of ads on local TV. And always tastefully matched to the closest upcoming holiday!
 

Snakebitten

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Take the dealership network out of the picture and I bet you the consumer doesn't get all that back in price cuts. No way
 

GarageMahal

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Take the dealership network out of the picture and I bet you the consumer doesn't get all that back in price cuts. No way
Probably not but I would be fine without any discount if it got rid of all the hassles with the current dealer sales model. Any price reduction is a bonus... My record time for buying a new car is about 4 hours and I would be happy just to get that time back.
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