Dealer who sold me my truck is not allowed to work on it.

[Muerg]

Sorry if this should be placed elsewhere.

Today I finally got around to scheduling the recall service for the defrost heater solder problem and the customer satisfaction 12 volt battery monitor replacement.

Service person at the dealer stated Ford has barred them from servicing any lightnings or mach e vehicles due to the dealership not getting the full service kit that includes DC fast chargers. Might be true might not but they sent me to a different dealer to get the service done. This recomended dealer is 43 miles from the selling dealer.

Just wanted to see if others have been turned away and given this reason.

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[invertedspear]

Here's an article from back in November: https://www.automotivedive.com/news/ford-modele-certified-elite-evs-dealers-charging-program/700625/

It says "reduced" the charger requirement but not eliminated them, so it means they wouldn't be a "Model E Certified" dealer, but I don't see why it would bar them from servicing them, I thought it was more about steering customers to places we would be more confident in.

This artilcle https://heyauto.com/blog/heyauto/everything-you-need-to-know-about-fords-ev-certified-program gives some more info on what the cert requires. Nothing is super clear that I can find about if it should prevent dealers from servicing them, but I would choose the certified dealer over the non certified one. Sounds like your dealer might just want to avoid EVs

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

If your dealer is turning you away, I would take that as the sign of an honest dealer.

Many dealers lack the training or equipment to handle EVs, so it's better that you look for a dealer who has the right people and tools to get it done right than it would be for them to try to do it with their existing capabilities.

Unfortunately, my dealer admitted they only have one person and they still lack many of the tools they need so they're backlogged. So my truck has been sitting in their lot along with other EVs that need work since March 25th.

 

[mrau]

May as well name the dealer so others don’t go there and waste both of their times.

 

[Muerg]

Thanks all for the comments and those articles. The person I spoke to was EV certified on a different brand himself. He also commented that once they sell off their current stock of the lightnings and mach e's they will not be able to get more to sell.

I cannot say that the recommended dealer is actually certified as it was said they did not purchase the "kit" either, they just somehow were "grandfathered" in to keep servicing the EVs.

I'll work through it for myself not a huge issue, I was just curious if others have been told the same story.

I'm personally an auto mechanic with PA inspection licenses so I'm not a rube on the way of things and hold no malice to the selling dealer so I won't share names.

 

[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

Thanks all for the comments and those articles. The person I spoke to was EV certified on a different brand himself. He also commented that once they sell off their current stock of the lightnings and mach e's they will not be able to get more to sell.

I cannot say that the recommended dealer is actually certified as it was said they did not purchase the "kit" either, they just somehow were "grandfathered" in to keep servicing the EVs.

I'll work through it for myself not a huge issue, I was just curious if others have been told the same story.

I'm personally an auto mechanic with PA inspection licenses so I'm not a rube on the way of things and hold no malice to the selling dealer so I won't share names.

Ford drew a line in the sand a while back by essentially spinning off their EV models as part of an entirely new division (Model E), then requiring each dealer to apply for a new franchise with the new division.

To be approved, they need to make a significant investment which some may not be in a position to pay, so with the eventual transition to all EV sales in about 10 years, they're essentially out of business.

This is the first time I've heard of them enforcing the new franchise terms, so we're probably going to see a lot of legacy Ford dealers with the same restrictions on sales and service.

 

[RickLightning]

Thanks all for the comments and those articles. The person I spoke to was EV certified on a different brand himself. He also commented that once they sell off their current stock of the lightnings and mach e's they will not be able to get more to sell.

I cannot say that the recommended dealer is actually certified as it was said they did not purchase the "kit" either, they just somehow were "grandfathered" in to keep servicing the EVs.

I'll work through it for myself not a huge issue, I was just curious if others have been told the same story.

I'm personally an auto mechanic with PA inspection licenses so I'm not a rube on the way of things and hold no malice to the selling dealer so I won't share names.

There are 3 levels of Ford dealerships to my knowledge.

Model e Certified Elite
Model e Certified
Not Model e Certified

Your dealership is the latter, so they are done with EV sales, and servicing, as of 12/31/2023 to my understanding.

 

[mrau]

You can search for EV Certified dealers on the Ford web site by doing an Advanced Search and checking the "EV Certified" filter

https://www.ford.com/dealerships/

 

[Muerg]

You can search for EV Certified dealers on the Ford web site by doing an Advanced Search and checking the "EV Certified" filter

https://www.ford.com/dealerships/

Mrau,

Thanks for this idea. i thought it would work but it actually lists the dealer I called that says they are not allowed to work on the vehicle. with EV certified selected it has basically listed every nearby Ford dealer. I tried other filtering options and it changed a few dealers but EV Certified still lists my selling dealer.

Things are getting interesting.

I really was hoping that FORD would respond to this post as they have for other things.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I really was hoping that FORD would respond to this post as they have for other things.

They are reading .... but won't enter into a public discussion over ~issues~ that seem incongruent to what we expect.

Hopefully @Ford Motor Company observes this and sales/support analysts will perfect the tool so that we're accurately steered to the qualified service shops.

 

[Muerg]

Taxman thanks for the comment. I haven't seen the full breadth of the corporate responses so I had some hope. I also understand that the group that monitors this likely has official limitations on what they can discuss.

 

[farmtruck]

My dealer is only allowed to provide warranty service on vehicles they have sold. Fords beef with them is they have not installed any DCFC chargers. Traffic density is so low here that the dealer would be guaranteed a loss on a DCFC charger.

 

[FastMover]

2 months ago my Dealer in NY told me that not only can thet not work on my Lightning but can't take it in as as trade if I wanted to sell

 

[2sleep]

I was told initially by the dealership that I used to go to that they gave up their ev cert as there we just not the demand. They have 2023 lightnings and mach-es on the lot that they haven't even opened them up since they got them 6 months ago. No intrest in them.

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