The Ford Dealer Is Charging Me $1,300 To Fix A 2022 Explorer I Took On A Test Drive That I Don’t Even Own

I wouldn't go by Consumers Reports as they called the Honda Passport a "best buy" and the Isuzu Rodeo a "worst buy" back when all Passports were made at the Isuzu plant and only differed in available paint colors, interior fabric and tires...
With that said, I wouldn't buy anything that comes with an automatic transmission, especially the Constantly Variable Transmissions by the Import Automakers...
The real issue here is that a dealership is trying to force a young buyer into a sale. I had that happen three times, once by a dealership, once by a private seller and once by a criminal using Craig's list to defraud people. In the first case, the car I test drove was totaled and pulling hard to the left due to a bent uni-body. It turned out that that dealer didn't even own the car it was trying to sell to me. The second was a standard shift GM van that needed a new transmission & linkage which locked up by going into reverse & first gear at the same time during a three point turn. The last was an Audi 4000 Quattro that had a bad wiring harness and its battery was charged just before the test drive. I noticed that none of the gauges worked and with the pushy selling in the passenger seat, I walked away & took a cab to back to my car when it died in an intersection, would not crank over, and had a burning smell and was leaking coolant because the Cooling fan didn't have enough power from the battery to cool the engine...
The moral of the story is that the dealership in this story needs to be investigated and loose their licence, or at least be shamed online for their attempt to force a young buyer into buying a car that they should have sent to the Wholesale Auction...

It's 2025 it's new it's UNDER FACTORY FORD WARRANTY why would the "owner" be paying for anything??????

My daughter had a similar experience. Her car was totaled in an accident, so she needed to get a new car. She went to a big dealership in the area, and they pulled the same crap. They said drive it home and if you decide you dont want to buy it, bring it in tomorrow. Of course, they made her sign papers, and shadily rushed her while signing and pulled papers from her and put them at the bottom of their pile without allowing her to read them. The next morning, I went with her to return the car. The person there admits he told her she could return the vehicle but unfortunately his manager overrode him, and she now has to keep the car. It took us hours of arguing, my daughter crying, and us threatening to tell all their customers there on a very busy Saturday the way they conduct business. After several hours, they finally relented and tore up the paperwork. I need to go buy a car soon, but worried these dealers will try to take advantage of me as well. I dont understand why car dealers are allowed to conduct business in such shady, deceitful ways. The prices should be advertised and the cars should be marked with the price as well. They shouldn't be able to add on all kinds of bogus fees . Should be simply car price-down payment, trade in+ tax title license and doc fee. That dealer also asked if she wanted some sort of paint protection, she said NO. They said too bad because they automatically put that protection on when they receive the car. If that is the case, it should have already been included in their asking price!

Crazy thing I wanted to point out is that normally a "Test Drive", is just that. You take the car out for a quick 10-15 minute drive. So how is it that she took it home for the weekend?? I've been car shopping a lot in the last 8 years, and never has a dealership gave me the option to take the car home for the weekend. If they had, offered it would've been weird and I would've told them no, cause I'm not leaving my car on their lot.

I have a 2022 with close to 80,000 miles. Zero issues. It is a great vehicle for me. What I don't trust is paid adversement reviews.

Personality I don't like to tar all with the same brush, however I old enough to tell you that " whenever you go to a vehicle dealership, take the be aware stance. It's like Safari hunt..you know what animal you are hunting but be aware of the many wild animals around can kill you. Especially Ford Dealerships. If you see a successful dealership you see a red flag. Most likely there will be numerous complaints against them.
Two areas of business you are surely to be vulnerable..one is car dealerships and 2.. law offices; they are both legal ways to screw you.

She needs to also file an official complaint with her local Dept of Consumer Protection Affairs in her city or county where the vehicle was purchased and send them all your documentation and any email corespondences with them and they will investigate. My wife and I had to do such for a vehicle that we purchased over a year ago from a used car dealership which showed a set price $15,888 for the vehicle on their website and also from an external auto listing one listing vehicles. In the end of signing the vehicle was listed as sold but for about $10k more and I confronted the guy. Originally we wanted to pay all cash but where told no because it was a repo previously but found out thru sources this is not so and anyone can pay whichever form they wish. Dealership wanted to finance half of it. My wife had very good credit and said that she wanted to use chase bank but was strange that the finance manager of dealership said it was not approved and had to use Wells Fargo. I believe there is a secret incentive with this banking institution and them which is shady and Wells Fargo been accused of several things in the past. We expected to finance only the $5k difference plus taxes, fees and a $3480 service warranty. In the end it was a $19k finance through them. We didn't understand what happened to the $10k we put down. It just didn't add up so we filed with the the County Department of consumer protection. They investigated and we got back $3480 for the warranty which was supposed to be cancelled by them which wasn't and we actually got back an additional $2500 left on the warranty because they failed to cancel it themselves and a penalty of $2000 which they were ordered to pay. We put everything towards the balance of the financing which came close to about what we expected to pay for the vehicle if we were paying full cash and paid off the loan immediately. There were also many complaints online already with similar cases with this dealership. What helped my Case out was also the external website which they initially posted on with original price was nice to send me via email the original price which they paid for to advertise. I suggest using a credit union or use your own bank instead and insist on it or walk away. Use Cash and don't take any krap about that there is a requirement to be able to finance half because it not so. Hope this helps and many others planning to buy.

It's obvious you never sold a car before. Consumer reports are NOT a dealers responsibility to report. Due diligence is the consumers job

I would like to buy car

I spent 24 years in retail automotive, there is a little known thing called first payment default. If this happens leave the car on the dealers lot,call the lender let them know you left it on the lot and are not making your first loan payment. And the reason why. That voids the contract and the dealer now has ownership of that vehicle again.

The author didn't get the dealership's side of the story so why would the author blame the dealer without the full story? The author can blame the mom because she signed something without reading - an act that resulted in consequences.

The lesson from thelis article is personal accountability... not that dealers are bad. It does not do any good for the reader to learn that dealers are bad because it's nothing that a reader has any control over. However, readers do have control over what they sign.