Something similar happened to us when we bought our C3: the car was on the forecourt for £8495, but afterwards i found it on the net for £7495.
The dealer honoured the £7,495, but wouldn't give me free VED and something else which temporarily escapes me. We were £750 better off. In our case, the web ad was the dealer's, so we had them bang to rights.
Is the website and the dealer the same entity? It seems not, the website is Ford Direct, whereas the dealer is Anytown Ford, so two different companies. It seems that the £250 difference is a bit of margin for the dealer. Sharp practice maybe, a detail not made clear more likely, illegal i doubt it. However the very name Ford Direct implies that the car is available from Ford at that price, and as you say, if a car is listed at a price, that's what you'd expect to pay.
My most pragmatic advice would be to visit the dealer, point out the obvious price discrepancy and don't leave until you get a satisfactory answer. Play dumb, as far as you're concerned you're buying the car from "Ford" full stop. Let them think you won't do the deal. Then accept a compromise e.g. a free service or mats or something.
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There is 'Terms and Conditions ' page on the Ford Direct web site which states:
"Please note that the vehicle details and the indicative prices do not constitute a contractual offer either by Ford Motor Company Limited or the relevant Ford Direct dealer. The indicative vehicle prices shown have been provided by individual Ford Direct dealers and must be confirmed directly between users of this website and the relevant dealer.
Whilst Ford Motor Company Limited has been informed by the relevant Ford Direct dealers that the vehicle details and indicative prices are correct at the current time, you should in all cases check the vehicle details, availability and the indicative price directly with the Ford Direct dealer who has advertised the vehicle."
My interpretation is that the prices on the site are set by the dealer (the dealer was shown against the vehicle but I presume every dealer can tap in). As I have a print off from the site after my purchase then in simple terms they would seem to have overcharged me from their advertised price.
Anyway I will see what comes of the private interest on my old car before I approach them.
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Fullchat
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Spoke to the dealer today who states that the extra £249.99 is the preperation and delivery charge. "So why was that not itemised on the sales invoice?" "We just include it in the price". Frankly I dont believe him.
When I mentioned that there would be no PX that would not be a problem but that didnt change any figures. We all know when there is no PX then there is more room for negotiation.
Think I've tackled this the wrong way round but its just the circumstances.
Has anyone else bought a Ford Direct vehicle and paid extra for delivery?
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Fullchat
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I've seen a comment about this elsewhere - did a search and this isn't exactly what I'm thinking of, but says the same thing:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=14495&...e
If I recall correctly, the item I'm thinking of said that the same car was offered by different dealers for different prices. The explanation was that the dealer can charge whatever they want to. It's not really a question of ripping people off, it's charging whatever they think their local market will stand.
If you're not happy, then presumeably you can just walk away?
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Not when I paid £200 deposit!
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Fullchat
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And if Trade Sales in Slough had a 55 plate Focus Zetec Climate for £9k... (Or £9260 to you, once you've lost your £200 deposit and paid their admin fee?)
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I know where you are coming from with that one! Have they?
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Fullchat
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Now I've no trade in and know how the Ford Direct system works could even sacrifice the £200 and start again (at a different branch).
Hindsight and experience are wonderful things.
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Fullchat
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I had a look at the Ford Direct site, and looked at Focus Zetec Climate. It comes up with a price, and the following note:
"This vehicle is currently within the Ford Direct National Stock of used vehicles. The vehicle is not presently available at a dealer location but may be purchased through any authorised Ford Direct dealer listed on the site, to whom the vehicle will be delivered. The named Ford Direct dealer has independently determined the price."
However, if I put my location as Chester, then the price is £9500. I randomly also put Birmingham, and the price is £9325! (Same car, by reg number GN05OBY)
So, was the lower price you saw 'attached' to your local dealer details? If so, then I don't see why you shouldn't have that exact price. Although I guess the dealer could then simply revalue your P/X, so you'd be back to square one.
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see Trade Sales listing at: tinyurl.com/oecex
£8,999
Name-change time: NoWheels + Almera = NowWheels
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..and that particular Focus that I used from the Ford Direct site (simply because it was at the top of the list) has done 24K miles in 9 mths.
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Interesting that BP! The lower price was against my dealers name but as I say when challenged it was stated that the difference was for 'delivery' although that was never mentioned or itemised.
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Fullchat
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I suddenly realise why all you guys are so rich. I feel very inferior.
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Just careful Lud! Although as it transpires not as careful as I would have liked to be.
Thats amazing BP have done the same using a random car and searched different local dealers. GNO50BY ranges from £9075 where I bought mine to £10575 in Lincoln. Thats £1500!
Another KL05XOU was £9825 to £11075 with the same price differentials in the same locations.
Some comfort in that where I bought mine was the cheapest in my list or could have been if I realised what was going on!
Also different branch of same dealer 10 miles apart showed £150 and £250 diffence respectively.
Something else I noticed was that as you work through the site pages of the chosen dealer there is a price differential of about £800 for similar vehicles where mileages and first reg dates are reasonably similar.
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AND the lowest price for the equivelent age/mileage vehicle is £9200 at the same dealer yet he chose to show me ones further up the price scale. The cheaper ones must have been available.
I suspect one or two sharp practices here.
I'm starting to sound a bit neurotic.
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Fullchat
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There's probably so many cars they don't know which is which.
If you don't have a p/x now, then I don't see (from the info on the Ford Direct website) why you shouldn't have the price it showed you at your dealer. Did you get a print out of that - may not be an issue anyway as the dealer doesn't seem to be disputing it. You could try being more forecful with the dealer, or perhaps contact Ford, saying how disappointed you are, that the dealers bringing the system into disrepute etc.
Or you could just console yourself that you could have paid a lot more. Maybe someone clever could write a program that searches the Ford Direct site for the cheapest price on each car (like they can do on low cost hotels, flights etc).
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Wow, what an interesting site Ford Direct is!
Would you be prepared to drive from Verwood in Dorset to Glasgow to save £1,600 on Ford Mondeo Ghia KP05HHU?
V
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By the way, GN05OBY (That now famous Focus Zetec) is £8,875 in Glasgow.
Which is strange, given that they might have to ship it there for you to collect...
V
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By the way, GN05OBY (That now famous Focus Zetec) is £8,875 in Glasgow.
Great if your name is Nobby and you live in the Gorbals.
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By the way, GN05OBY (That now famous Focus Zetec) is £8,875 in Glasgow. Which is strange, given that they might have to ship it there for you to collect... V
More so as it has a Kent registration. From one end of the country to the other!
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>> By the way, GN05OBY (That now famous Focus Zetec) is £8,875 >> in Glasgow. >>
I think Fullchat's point is; are they really the price you see, or can the dealer add something (on his case £250) for deivery and preparation?
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suspect one or two sharp practices here.
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just go in your uniform when you visit to ask if it is possible to have your deposit back ! ;-)
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Car dealers are not alone in this practice. Comet, for example,
quote lower net prices for many of their items and can be irksome when challenged.
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The way I understand Ford Direct to work is that Ford make the list of cars available to their dealers, with 'trade price' to the dealer, and then the dealers put a price on each car - according to the margin they want to take. So you get the same car available at a whole host of dealers but with varying prices depending on the margin the dealer wants. In the Midlands area, one particular dealer (Archers of Ashby-de-la-Zouch) used to be well known for offer FD cars at the lowest prices - this was a few years ago so things may have changed.
Anyway, if you have agreed to buy a car at a certain price and paid a deposit then I don't see a way out (without losing deposit).
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Archers have a good reputation though IIRC they only sell stock on site, i.e they buy in from Ford Direct and sell from their own stock, I could be wrong. Good website.
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I wonder if that is due to the proliferation of car supermarkets around them in that part of the midlands (motorpoint, available car etc.)
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If the cars are dealer 'trade prices' then what are the expectations by the dealers of putting those prices in the public domain?
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Fullchat
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The prices listed on the Ford Direct website are what you pay. They are not what the dealer buys them from Ford for - they are not the 'trade prices'.
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Car dealers are not alone in this practice. Comet, for example, quote lower net prices for many of their items and can be irksome when challenged.
That's not the same thing at all, and anyway it's entirely reasonable to have different prices for on-line and in-shop purchases.
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I should be clear; I approve entirely of the pricing differences - I just found it interesting. The free market allows you to offer for sale anything you want for however much you want. If the buyer doesn't want to pay the requested amount, they can either haggle or go elsewhere. So, presumably, people in Verwood are happy in general to pay more than people in Glasgow.
Which dealer should change their behaviour? Should the Verwood chap unnecessarily cut his profits, or should the Glasgow dealer never sell a car because he's uncompetitive?
V
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But then dealer X may start with a higher ticket price then offer a better PX 'cos it plays better with his target punter.
All that really matters is the bottom line cost to change.
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It's not just Ford who have differing prices between the manufacturer's approved used website and the actual dealer forecourt.
When I was looking for a car for SWMBO last year I came across three examples of this. IMO it is sharp practice designed to catch you out i.e. if you haven't seen the website then you are starting negotiations from a higher price and if you have seen it on t'internet at a cheaper price the sales executive will come out with some tosh about how the car has "recently been reduced and we couldn't possibly lower the price further"
Whatever, if the car is marked up higher than it is on the main used website I'm not interested in the excuses or dealing with an outfit like that full stop.
Regarding Ford Direct, when I bought my old Mondeo in 2001, I was told that the dealers have to bid for the cars each morning on an auction basis and that he came in early each morning for this purpose!
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Neither are the differences just between forecourt and website prices! I spotted a 2002 Skoda Superb with 120,000 miles on the clock recently. One owner from new, full service history and in very good condition.
The salesman I spoke to at 9:30am priced it at 10,000 euro. An hour later after I'd test driven it, he'd 'made a mistake' and it was 13,000 euro. That afternoon it was on the dealer's price list at 16,000 euro. The keener they think you are, the dearer it gets, methinks.
Needless to say, with pricing like that, the one place this Superb isn't is on my driveway...
Still, in the OP's case, as he's paid a deposit and Ford Direct's website includes a clause stating that prices shown aren't fixed (or words to that effect), he's left with no option I can see except seeking goodwill from the dealer (not forgetting that unhappy punters talk to friends and neighbours who buy cars too!) or else forfeit the deposit and buy elsewhere.
Presumably a car bought via Ford Direct comes with a thorough Ford warranty which is preferable to buying from a car supermarket unless the price difference is significant?
Regards,
- Gromit
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Today rung round a couple of local sites belonging to the same company.
Salesman stated providing the car was available then t'internet price was what you pay.
Personal visit to dealer tomorrow with some ammunition. keep you posted.
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Fullchat
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An end to this sorry tale!
Re-visited the dealer and spoke to manager. Started blathering on about 'bonnet charges' again. When I showed him my print off showing the price of £6750 he stated that the prices were set by Ford and the dealer added the charges.
As discussed above he was duly informed that the web site stated that the prices were set by the dealer and varied around the country. "Oh do they?"
When I also informed him that none of the other branches added these spurious charges he realised he was trapped and relented.
New invoice issued, I'm £250 better off.
He did itemise the so called 'bonnet' and admin charges on the new invoice but they ammounted to the web price.
Maybe I'm still paying more than the Supersite prices but Ford Direct does have a standard and some peace of mind with the dealer being local.
So hopefully now The Backroom has some information as to the workings of Ford Direct and how it can be make the best use of it.
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Fullchat
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