I know why Ford can't sell all Lightnings on dealer lots.

[Bills R Electric]

It's the dealerships. Say one thing to get you in the door and another when you try to buy.

Why would I have assumed things have changed.

I may end up with a CT or a Rivian, but I won't need to work with a crappy Ford dealership. I thought there may be one, but I guess I'm wrong.

In the long run I'm pretty sure I'll be a much happier buyer.

At one point I had a Rivian reservation (April 2019), a Cybertruck (Nov 2019), a Lightning (May 2021) and a Silverado.

If you aren't a Cybertruck reservation holder high on the last, you won't get one....for about 3 years. Silverado availability is unknown. So it is down to you can get a Rivian pretty quickly, ditto the Lightning.

Which one meets your needs better? Family, hauling, camping, etc. Ignore the dealer. You can get one with making phone calls, and just pick it up at the dealer or service center.

As I wait for my Cybertruck, I bought a Ford Lariat Lightning, and love it more than I expected. I almost bought the Rivian. It came down to their being no Rivian service center anywhere near me at the time, and the size of the Ford's backseat and size of the frunk over the Rivian.

PS I thought I was getting the Lightning to hold me over for the Cybertruck but I have been pleasantly surprised.

Life is short. Get something now if you can. Don't let a dealer stand in your way.

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[chl]

I wound up buying mine, but my dealer experience, specifically one person, means I won't be taking my service needs to that dealership.

Shouldn't be many service needs anyway...EV's need almost no service.
Rotate tires, check this, check that, inspect this, inspect that, change brake fluid once a year, cabin air filter now and then....

Unless there's an accident or something major goes wrong - alas, some early Lightnings had major issues and required recalls.

I found a good local mechanic to handle my 2001 Ford Ranger service and repairs and inspection after being gouged one too many times at the Dealership service dept.

They tell me Dealerships make most of their $$ on service and repairs.

Me expericence is that somethings really need the Dealership repair/service mostly when the hunk of metal is under warranty.

But after that expires, service and repair is fine elsewhere.

Sales people at car dealerships have an incentive to gouge the customer for every penny they can get, I get that, and the service dept. keeps the dealership afloat. Capitalism sometimes runs amok there though and they forget the value of willing consumers and repeat customers, or maybe they don't care and have the 'there's a sucker born every minute' philosophy?

When buying a vehicle at a dealership I use the 'just say no' and the 'get up and leave' methods.
I wait until the end of the model year has passed and they are anxious to sell.

And before I bite, I ask myself - is that vehicle worth its price to me?

If not, I can wait for abetter deal.

Why I cancelled my reservation for a Lightning when the prices went up 40%.

Still looking at them though...and waiting...

 

[Lytning]

"Shouldn't be many service needs anyway...EV's need almost no service. Rotate tires, check this, check that, inspect this, inspect that, change brake fluid once a year, cabin air filter now and then...."

... Plus the recalls and CSP's, which only Ford dealerships can perform. All Lightning owners will be forced to interact with a dealership. I agree there should not be many service needs, but in reality there are.

 

[davehu]

All positive with my Dealer, Risor Ford, in Hot Springs AR. can't say the same about FMC while going through my Lightning delivery. (see 1/30/2023 build week thread). I'm having the heated steering wheel installed and they offered to pick up my truck at my house and return it when finished...no charge.

 

[cal]

As I wait for my Cybertruck, I bought a Ford Lariat Lightning, and love it more than I expected. I almost bought the Rivian. It came down to their being no Rivian service center anywhere near me at the time, and the size of the Ford's backseat and size of the frunk over the Rivian.

PS I thought I was getting the Lightning to hold me over for the Cybertruck but I have been pleasantly surprised.

Life is short. Get something now if you can. Don't let a dealer stand in your way.

I had the same experience. Bought a Lightning while waiting for a CT order And now I love it so much that I seriously doubt I’ll buy a CT. Tomorrow is the Tesla 3rd quarter earnings call. Rumor they will announce the CT delivery event. Maybe some details. Nothing I’ve seen so far has me even remotely considering buying one. We’ll see.

I don’t understand why anyone would insist on a new over used. You can get the next level trim for less than a new lower level trim. Four months agoI bought my 22 Lariat for $70k with just 3500 miles. There are listings here and the other Lightning forum for less than $70k. I just don’t get it. You’re not stuck with just a dealer‘s mark up or games. I would have bought new but all of the local dealers were not even remotely interested in selling at MSRP. Maybe the tax incentive is bigger than I realize.

 

[Txxthie]

In comparison, my Tesla is going in for recall work - also next week (1.5 month lead time) and I had to argue with them as they wanted to charge me for the recall - had to threaten complaints to the NHTSA for them to “waive” it for goodwill. Despite screenshotting NHTSAs website with my vin and recall notice. I have to drop it off an hour away from me, take a rideshare on my own dime back and then back to the SC to pick up the car when they’re done.

The Tesla sales experience is amazingly quick, if there isn’t a problem. Most of the paperwork is completed via the app prior to pickup. Is any manufacturer capable of doing this besides Tesla? Tesla has fully optimized the vehicle and sales experience with some caveats. Due to the increasing sales, many vehicles are delivering with shipping damage when thoroughly scrutinized. Tesla keeps the buyer is a vulnerable state. There is pressure to accept the vehicle quickly, as more deliveries are incoming. It’s also likely that the sale/trade in was completed prior to seeing the new car. If you find a problem with the car and don’t want to accept that vehicle, your original terms change, your trade-in value changes and you might have to pay another $250 order fee. There is very little time spent by staff members during the delivery process. It is purely a sales transaction with little to no fanfare.

The after the sales experience is still better with a dealership. I just bought a TMY that requires paint in body work. It’s been a nightmare communicating almost exclusively via text.

My Lightning sales and delivery experience was good, albeit long. It required many visits for clarification of the sales terms and at delivery the specialist couldn’t get the app to pair with my truck. A major plus is the Ford dealership is located conveniently in town versus 45 minutes away for the Tesla service center.

 

[DudeTheObscure]

I only had two complaints about my dealership. 1)They knew basically zero about Lightnings. They only had one on the lot and my salesman told me they have never sold one. Thanks to this board and a lot of research I was much more knowledgeable than they were, and 2)I had to tell them about the $1,500 incentive for the XLT. I'm not saying they were trying to pocket the money, but the thought did cross my mind.

 

[Randall Stephens]

Shouldn't be many service needs anyway...EV's need almost no service.
Rotate tires, check this, check that, inspect this, inspect that, change brake fluid once a year, cabin air filter now and then....

Unless there's an accident or something major goes wrong - alas, some early Lightnings had major issues and required recalls.

I found a good local mechanic to handle my 2001 Ford Ranger service and repairs and inspection after being gouged one too many times at the Dealership service dept.

They tell me Dealerships make most of their $$ on service and repairs.

Me expericence is that somethings really need the Dealership repair/service mostly when the hunk of metal is under warranty.

But after that expires, service and repair is fine elsewhere.

Sales people at car dealerships have an incentive to gouge the customer for every penny they can get, I get that, and the service dept. keeps the dealership afloat. Capitalism sometimes runs amok there though and they forget the value of willing consumers and repeat customers, or maybe they don't care and have the 'there's a sucker born every minute' philosophy?

When buying a vehicle at a dealership I use the 'just say no' and the 'get up and leave' methods.
I wait until the end of the model year has passed and they are anxious to sell.

And before I bite, I ask myself - is that vehicle worth its price to me?

If not, I can wait for abetter deal.

Why I cancelled my reservation for a Lightning when the prices went up 40%.

Still looking at them though...and waiting...

you are correct that there shouldn’t be many, but one of my front parking sensors doesn’t like the rain and throws intermittent errors. Living in Seattle that’s a problem. Does anybody know if I can get to the front sensors easily or is that a rip the bumper off type deal?

also my console plastic was warped before delivery. They weren’t willing to fix it until after delivery. Also found a big gash in the center console when i was seated on the floor in the back seat. And then the rear anchor point area is missing paint on both sides, the tool that held the front radiator deformed it a bit…. The list of quality misses is long on these things, or at least mine, I wound up buying the 10/125 warranty on it because it was cheap relative to the total cost of these things. The paint was also a real shit show. I wish I hadn’t asked them to fix a pretty large inclusion before delivery since they bungled that fix. Been a loyal ford owner since 95, I’m going to probably replace it with something actually made in Japan when the time comes. The dealer attitude towards quality was very telling. “You should see what’s wrong with some of the 100k dollar Raptors” I was told. Not a good look at all. If this thing ever sits in the shop for 30 days, it’s gone.

 

[swajames]

I bought a Bronco and a Lightning when both were very much in demand, very much in short supply and when ADM was very much a thing. My dealer, one of the biggest in the San Francisco Bay Area, was a pleasure to deal with, sold at MSRP as they never charge ADM, didn't try to load up the deal with BS "extras" and generally gave me zero cause for concern or complaint. So certainly sympathize when I hear buying experiences that didn't reflect mine but there ARE decent dealers out there. The ones that didn't try to screw you when they could have probably gotten away with it because everyone else getting away with it are the ones to reward with your business going forward.

So a shout out to the Ford Store Morgan Hill for any Bay Area residents reading.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

The Tesla sales experience is amazingly quick, if there isn’t a problem. Most of the paperwork is completed via the app prior to pickup. Is any manufacturer capable of doing this besides Tesla? Tesla has fully optimized the vehicle and sales experience with some caveats. Due to the increasing volume of sales, vehicles are not being properly prepped for sale and most have transportation damage when thoroughly scrutinized. Tesla has the buyer is a vulnerable state. You have to accept the vehicle quickly as more deliveries are incoming. You also have likely completed the sale and trade in prior to visually seeing the new car. If you find a problem with the car and don’t want to accept that vehicle, your original terms change, your trade-in value changes and you might have to pay another $250 order fee. There is also no time spent by staff members introducing the new vehicle to the buyer. It is purely a sales transaction with little to no fanfare. This type of environment causes a lot of staff turnover.

The after the sales experience is where the dealership model still excels. I just bought a TMY that requires paint in body work. It’s been a nightmare communicating almost exclusively via text.

My Lightning sales and delivery experience was good, albeit long. It required many visits for clarification of the sales terms and at delivery the specialist couldn’t get the app to pair with my truck. A major plus is the Ford dealership is located conveniently in town versus 45 minutes away for the Tesla service center.

My Rivian experience was very similiar to my Tesla one and really no drop off from my Lightning either. The biggest difference is Rivian and Ford both dropped the trucks in my driveway. I’ve had to pick up every single one of my Teslas..

But sales isn’t where they fall short..service is.

 

[harlano]

I bought a Bronco and a Lightning when both were very much in demand, very much in short supply and when ADM was very much a thing. My dealer, one of the biggest in the San Francisco Bay Area, was a pleasure to deal with, sold at MSRP as they never charge ADM, didn't try to load up the deal with BS "extras" and generally gave me zero cause for concern or complaint. So certainly sympathize when I hear buying experiences that didn't reflect mine but there ARE decent dealers out there. The ones that didn't try to screw you when they could have probably gotten away with it because everyone else getting away with it are the ones to reward with your business going forward.

So a shout out to the Ford Store Morgan Hill for any Bay Area residents reading.

I've had two positive experiences with them. First in 2015 buying my Fiesta ST and then now with the Lightning.

 

[jmc6020]

I went into a dealer today looking to trade my 22 Lariat SR for a 23 Lariat ER and they refused to go a single penny over $33,000 for the trade-in despite KBB quoting around 50K and me having another offer of 48K

 

[Txxthie]

My Rivian experience was very similiar to my Tesla one and really no drop off from my Lightning either. The biggest difference is Rivian and Ford both dropped the trucks in my driveway. I’ve had to pick up every single one of my Teslas..

But sales isn’t where they fall short..service is.

I think Tesla has commoditized the sales experience so much that it’s a non event. They put your name on dashboard so you know what vehicle is yours. Because Connecticut has no sales location, vehicles must be delivered in New York. Picking up a Tesla in Mount Kisco, NY hasn’t changed since 2018. Everything inside is exactly the same. The Keurig is straight out of Walmart and never works. It’s embarrassing how many cars Tesla sells now and they haven’t expanded or improved that location. I prefer if they delivered the vehicle to me, it would save me 3 hours of driving.

 

[flyct]

I had the same experience. Bought a Lightning while waiting for a CT order And now I love it so much that I seriously doubt I’ll buy a CT. Tomorrow is the Tesla 3rd quarter earnings call. Rumor they will announce the CT delivery event. Maybe some details. Nothing I’ve seen so far has me even remotely considering buying one. We’ll see.

I don’t understand why anyone would insist on a new over used. You can get the next level trim for less than a new lower level trim. Four months agoI bought my 22 Lariat for $70k with just 3500 miles. There are listings here and the other Lightning forum for less than $70k. I just don’t get it. You’re not stuck with just a dealer‘s mark up or games. I would have bought new but all of the local dealers were not even remotely interested in selling at MSRP. Maybe the tax incentive is bigger than I realize.

Dealer Markups are a thing of the past. Plus Ford has a $7,500 incentive/rebate on Lariats purchased from 10/3/23-1/2/24

I bought a NEW 2023 Lightning Lariat Extended Range off the dealer's lot 9 day ago to add to my 2ea 2023 Tesla Model Y's . Lightning deal numbers below.

$81,840.00 MSRP
$2,500.00 Dealer Discount
---------
$78,340.00 Cash Price of Vehicle
$399.00 Admin Fee
$249.00 Electronic Registration Filing Fee
$1.50 Florida Lead Acid Battery Fee
$5.00 Florida New tire Fee
---------
$79,994.50 Taxable Subtotal
$4,849.67 Sales tax, 6% + extra $50
$234.39 Florida Title Registration, Tag Fees.
---------
$85,878.56 Grand Total
-$8,250.00 Rebates ($7,500 factory incentive and $750 PCO)
- $339.76 Ford Pass Points from previous truck purchase
---------
$76,488.80 Out the Door, Due on delivery
- $7,500.00 Tax Credit
=======
$69,988.80 Net Cost after Tax Credit

 

[cal]

Used prices so far have not reflected this new world and should drop even more. CT will also have an effect. How much will be apparent by the end of 1st quarter. My original plan was to wait until Ct arrived but I lost patience a few months ago and bit on a pretty good deal at the time. There are not that many used to choose from as production never really hit full stride. I forget sometimes how few Lightnings are around until I actually see another one on the street. Low numbers should help keep the used market up a little bit.

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