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

It is a nice advertisement for Ford. I wonder how many potential buyers will be avoiding Ford dealers after reading it.

Most states have a law that says can return it for a full refund within a certain amount of time

Name the dealership so your readers know to avoid.

This happened to my daughter a few years back.
At 19 She wanted to get something more fuel efficient then the Explorer I got her at age 16.

She found a pre-owned Focus at our local Ford dealership. She wanted me to check it out but I was at work so the dealer pulled her credit to make sure she would qualify and they got her pre-approved for the car and let her take it home so I could look it over.
(She left (my) Explorer there and drove the Focus home to show me)
She liked the car and it checked out good on the Carfax and autochex reports so I was good with it. It was also priced right...BUT the ac wasn't cooling correctly. I told her to have them agree to fix the ac before signing the final papers.

She went back the following day and told her salesman that she will buy the car but they needed to fix the ac first.

He looked at her and said "young lady, you already own the car" it's your car now. You were approved for the loan this morning.
She immediately called me and told me what they said.
I confirmed that they took advantage of her being nieve and a first time buyer, she was told she needed to sign all these papers just to bring the car home to show me the car.

Salesman told her she bought a used car without a warranty so she would have to pay to have the ac fixed.
Salesman also demanded my daughter bring them the title to the Explorer. An Explorer that wasn't being traded in as it was titled to me (Dad)

I told my daughter to get her Explorer back and come home. We will find her another car. She tried and the salesman refused to give her the keys to the Explorer. He then got smart with her telling her that "buyers remorse doesn't work around here"

After work I went down there to get MY Explorer back and the salesman refused to give me the key saying that she traded the Explorer in. I made sure he knew that she did not trade in a vehicle she doesn't own. This salesman basically took full advantage of a 19 year old buying and financing her first car on her own. Not to mention only gave her $500 for a low mileage 4 year old Explorer on trade. My daughter said they never talked about the Explorer because she told the salesman that it was her dad's vehicle.

I called my lawyer. He contacted the owner of the dealership and within 4 hours they were calling her asking her what she wanted to do to move forward.
They offered to kill the deal and she could come get the Explorer. They offered to fix the ac free of charge. They offered her 12 months of free oil changes. They offered her a 24 month, 24k mile bumper to bumper warranty on the car if she kept the Focus.

She decided to keep the Focus. They fixed the ac and gave her the 24k mile warranty on the car free.
They also brought my Explorer to the house while I was working.

The owner of the dealership ended up calling me directly and apologized for his salesmans tactics and assured me it was being addressed harshly. I think they let him go as we never saw him working there again after that.
It ended up working out ok in the end, especially with her getting the extended warranty for free. It needed a transmission replacement like 9000 mile later. All covered under warranty.

What state is this? I can't believe you actually signed every document needed to get the car transferred to you. Plus they don't have the title for your car. I would call your states DMV or who ever handles auto dealerships, and tell them that's tge route you are going. Plus refuse to give them title to your car. Make some noise. That is shady business.

why don't you name the dealership and the "nice salesperson"?

1.Very shady business practices by dealership for trying to dupe customers.
2. Customers who actually believe a dealership wouldn’t practice shady business techniques.
3. Sign nothing before a test drive.
Unfortunate circumstance this young mother has put herself in.
Shame on the dealership for their need to use this style of sale and they need to be called out publicly.

This is why you read what you're signing. The salesman can say anything to you. He can even tell you lies to make the sale. By signing the contract YOU agreed to the terms. Friday to Tuesday means the 3 days has passed and you're now bound by the terms of the contract YOU SIGNED. Hindsight is 2020. She should have driven her car home and came back with her husband on Monday before signing anything. I'm sure the salesman told the lie that 68 other people are looking to buy the car right now and if you wait any one of those 68 people are going to swoop in and buy this cream puff of a used car. Time is of the essence. No, it's not. That POS Ford will still be there on Monday. Then the AC would have broken on that day.

Lots of typos in this article for a senior employee didn't know Ford was food lol

If I were the husband I would have went back and used my spare key and took the old car back and call a lawyer

Girlfriend, don't fall for that scam! Additionally, it's the dealership's vehicle and they are responsible for any repairs. This is unacceptable for a Ford dealership to attempt to take advantage of a young mother, interested in purchasing an SUV. I would never go back to that dealership and file a report with the Better Business Bureau.

They ran a scam on her. The rule of thumb when making any large investment like a house or car, is to ALWAYS have your spouse present when signing paperwork. Her husband would've likely questioned the salesman's urgency. She should've been patient enough to wait until his day off so that he could've been there with her.

Thats what you get for buying POS Explorer. Dealership should be shut down and investigated

You’re missing the obvious solution. Publish the name and location of the dealership, the name and a picture of the salesperson, and the name and phone number of the dealer principal. Use the power of social media to resolve this. It’s very easy to fix this.
BTW - there is another side to this story that you have not told. This gal might not be sharing all the facts. $1300 is not enough $ to replace the a/c. Did she run over something, try to fix it herself , and so on.

How is it possible that a contract can be changed after signing? Sounds illegal! Also was she forced to keep the car and being 2022 model didn’t it have a warranty?

Couldn't she have just said "no thanks" and cancelled the order after the weekend? Don't all states have a 3 day rule where you can return a newly purchased car without question?

How is it possible that a contract can be changed after signing? Sounds illegal! Also was she forced to keep the car and being 2022 model didn’t it have a warranty? Who is the ford dealer so I don’t get stuck by their dishonesty?

Something like this happened to my wife and I when we went to look at a Kia at kalidy Kia on edmond ok. They made us wait a long time just to test drive a Telluride as we were looking at different manufacturers for her vehicle. They told us we had to "get pre-approved " just to drive one, a 50k cat when our combined income is 4 times this amount. I was heavily against it and made it very clear if this is anything but a soft pull, if it hits my credit, I'll be incredibly piss off. They said no it was just soft, against all alarms in my head, I said okay. Still having to wait 20+ more minutes after this we finally got to drive this car. When we got back we told them we'd like to know the value of her trade but wete going to get food. While we were gone, I got alerts on my credit reports they did a hard pull. I called fuming and no one seemed to want to explain it. I will never go back there as it took 2 points off of all my scores and im incredibly pissed off at that. It's part my fault because I should have listened to my gut and walked us out.

Do not buy this !! Do not buy anything that's not a Toyota or Honda. I work in the industry, TRUST ME ON THIS !!!

No discussion of loan terms?
Interest rate, or length? No documents signed that show those numbers? Then that is illegal and I would make sure my lawyer punished them for their disgusting practices.

Hey Kalyn you should pay the $1,300 then sue the dealer ship on grounds that they put you and you baby at risk both physically and financially. If you win (which you almost certainly will) you may get enough money to buy a better SUV. Just a small suggestion from a humble plaintiff who has a little experience in court. Sue those shysters then buy a Toyota.

So what was the final outcome, did she pursue this thru the proper channels, in NYS, in most cases you have 72 hours to cancel a contract.

It sounds like aside from the AC that needs to be repaired, that she does want the vehicle. Most if not all dealers will have at least a few days guarantee or similar method to make sure that you are satisfied with your purchase. It's clear that the AC was needing repair before she took it home. I'm sure that the dealer and this person could work out that the AC needs to be repaired at the dealerships expense. That ac was not operating properly before are took out home, so it clearly was not checked over by the mechanic before it was offered for sale. If she literally took the car for a regular test ride, and turned on the AC, it sounds like the faulty AC would've been discovered, and then it would've been due the dealer to fix. Also, the price of the car that the person was looking to buy, would've probably been reduced when more. I know that's what would've happened if it were me that was looking to buy the car. So the dealership eating that repair was really on them in the first place. I also would have the dealership have the entire vehicle inspected again verifying that it was all up to spec before taking redelivery. Otherwise, the other option is to have the dealership have a day in court. So, the option for the dealership is either fix the car at no cost to the new "owner", and dealer paid inspection, and possibly lower final price, or free oil changes for a time, car washes, etc, or the other option have a lot more expenses in court