Tips on Buying Cars: 0% interest rates, ford motor company, lincoln mercury


Question
QUESTION: Now that Ford is offering this deal does the dealership make any money on the loan or is it a non-profit way to sell a vehicle.

ANSWER: The dealer makes their money on the sale of the vehicle and if you have a trade they may hold money back from what they tell you they are giving you (trade is worth 10,000 and they tell you 9200, they made 800). As far as 0%, Ford pays the dealer a flat of $200 or $100 per contract just for doing the paperwork. Ford made plenty of money selling the vehicle to the dealer.

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QUESTION: My vehicle, a 2009 Mariner V6, was ordered in early October at a better price than the current "Employee pricing" deal.  It is due in by Christmas.  Dealer is now balking about giving me the 0% interest even thought my FICO score qualifies me for it.  His sales manager states that they are losing $2500 (yea right!). As I read Fords' PR statement I qualify.  Who do I talk to at Ford to inform them that one of their dealers it driving me to Toyota?

ANSWER: That is not right, you should of been locked in when you placed order, normally when your credit is submitted at time of order, it's a lock. I need to know the dealer name and location, let's see who owns them. I worked for Ford for 15 years, I'll help you get to the bottom of this.

United States
Telephone
800-392-3673
800-232-5952 (TDD for the Hearing Impaired)

Available 8:00a.m.-5:00p.m. Local Time Monday-Friday

Mailing Address
Ford Motor Company
Customer Relationship Center
P.O. Box 6248
Dearborn, MI 48126


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: GERVAIS LINCOLN - MERCURY
24 Reiss Avenue, Lowell, MA 01851

John B Martin
Sales Manager
tel:


FYI: My credit application was not submitted by him until
I questioned the general manager about this by e-mail this past Monday.

Peter Gervais
General Manager
tel:


Thanks again for the help.

Answer
This is a tough one, they are not Corp owned. You have to deal with this through the dealer principle or general mgr. Either they will stand by the customer, which they should or they are going to stand with the sales Mgr, this is a 50/50 shot. This is a "you can catch more bees with honey than you can vinegar" type of approach. One thing I have learned working at dealers is they are not intimidated by customers with threats because dealers here it all the time and customers never-never follow through. I would try the general mgr but Lincoln customer service is of very little help, unless you can talk them into giving you a rate concession, which I have seen happen sometimes. It would not be worth it to go to any other dealer because the nationwide program has changed, now the general mgr has some pull with his Ford Motor Credit branch, he can talk to the branch Mgr at his branch and push for your concession, I've seen it done. He can also spend some money to help you and buy your rate down and if you decide you want the Lincoln bad enough ask him to meet you halfway on the rate? If all this fails, you would damage them more by buying a car from them and filling out your dealer survey, which comes after the sale, and marking it with the lowest scores concerning the negotiation of the deal only, that actually has the most pull with the Mfg believe it or not. I gave you the customer relation number in my last response and here is what I found on the dealer contacts. Remember the reputation of a car dealer in general, well its very true and they have tough customers  complaining with all kinds of threats "Ill call the BBB" and so on, I tell you that because you will get alot further being smart and holding your temper when talking to either the General Mgr or next the owner principle.Good Luck and I wish I could do more on this one.

Robert Gervais
DEALER PRINCIPAL

 Peter Gervais
General Manager
tel:978-454-5696