Ford Wants to Move to Online-Only Sales for EVs

Yup....that happened to me with my gladiator purchase. We ordered that truck through the dealer. 11 weeks later it was delivered. We show up to sign the papers and take delivery. I noticed $2000 extra on the bottom line. They tried to add in paint protection, fabric protection, tinted windows, PPF door edge guards and a lojack type service for that $2000. Granted they did the tint and door edge guards, and did install the lojack (it was a OBD piggy back device), I never asked for or agreed to any of that when I signed the papers and gave a deposit at the time of order. They said all of "their" vehicles receive those items, it's not an option. I told them "this isn't your vehicle, it's my vehicle that I ordered and gave a deposit for. You don't own it. And if you don't take off that $2000 you will own it, as I'll drive my azz to the next dealer and order another one. I don't care if it's $0.01 over what we agreed on. You can take that truck and suck it" .... So, yeah, they tried to force upsells on me. Nope. All that came off, I got tint and door edge guards for free, and they applied zero paint or fabric protection to the truck. That paint was squeaky new.

I don't trust dealers. Even when I'm ordering and have an agreed upon price, they try to screw you.

Rats, all of them. You can't tell me different. 35 vehicles over the past 28 years from two dozen different dealers.
 
I used to keep a car for a few months, sell it off, buy another. All used. Only recently have I started to buy new and keep them for 3'ish years.
 
DrezKill said:
That is an insaaaaaaaaane amount of cars!!! I'm on my 2nd car, which is 23 years old, and which I have been driving for 22 years.
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I got my drivers license in 1998 in Sweden when I was 18 years old. (The soonest you could get a drivers license over there)

I didn't have a car of my own until the summer between my junior year of college when I got an internship I needed to commute to. At that point I bought a six year old, late 90's Mercury Sable with 90k miles on it as a "remainder of college" beater.

After I graduated, and was working professionally for maybe a half a year was when I bought my first "nice" car, a 3 year old Saab 9-5 Aero with 27k miles on it.

Since I got my license in 1998, 24 years ago, I've had 7 cars. 6 of them I've owned outright, 5 bought from dealers, 3 of them were actual brand dealers, the other two were used car dealerships. 1 of them I bought from a private seller, and one of them I leased once new.

Honestly, I can't picture myself ever buying a new car. I do envision myself having future interactions with official dealerships

Right now I own two cars, which is a (relatively) new thing for me. One newer sedan as a daily driver, and one older wagon to help me haul stuff. In the past I've only ever owned one car at a time, usually bought as a 2-3 year old car with 20-30k miles on it, and driven until 100-120k and then gotten rid of.

I would probably have three fewer cars in my history if it weren't for one of them being totaled by an idiot not stopping for a red in an intersection, needing replacement, Saab going out of business and me getting rid of my lease instead of negotiating buying it out (like I had planned) because I was concerned about parts availability, and the purchase of my old wagon for moving stuff.

4 cars in 24 years sounds like a more normal cadence for me.
 
You know, I was thinking about this.

While the general public hasn't quite accepted it yet, most automakers are planning for a fully electric future.

If their plan is to only go direct to consumer for electric vehicles, maybe that is their super sneaky way to eliminate 3rd party dealerships all together in the future?
 
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