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

My Dad was a car dealership salesman for @ 30 yrs.
You are wrong about that 'contract'.
Anytime, anyone takes a dealership car home, the dealership salesperson that waited on that person has to explain the contract ......in detail......period! If that salesperson doesn't and then they try to.pull this BS, you can sue and ALWAYS win.

Just find it sad that there are so many basic typos throughout this article. Just careless and rushed imo. How do these make it to the point of publish this way?

The solution to this is simple. No need to hire a lawyer as you have access to the highest law enforcement agency. Simply file a complaint with your State Attorney General. That should take care of it. The SAG will send the dealership a letter asking them to explain the matter. The last thing any business wants is to get a letter from the SAG. I've done this whenever a business screws with me.

As if a Focus isn't bad enough, those Explorers are capital J junk. We recently did 3 timing jobs on 3 fairly late model 3.5 Fords and only 1 was over 100k!. Water pumps leaking, slack in the chain caused by cheap components (and probably poor maintenance). She should have looked for a Mazda-- naturally aspirated, non-cvt transmission -- model. As for what the dealership did, that's also garbage. This world has turned into one giant rip off. Sad

Sad part about this is how shady CAR "STEALERSHIPS" have become now. The maintenance departments are just as shady as the sales staff into scamming you. Talk to the folks over at Soren's Ford in Brookfield, WI. They are experts in the service department on scams when women come into get their vehicle serviced.

I've bought used vehicles numerous times. Not once did I have to sign anything to take a it for a test drive. And when I did purchase any vehicle it came with a warranty. Also, it should be up to the dealership to make sure the vehicle is in working condition before it is even given to the customer.

Had a similar experience 25 years ago. Traded my truck for a smaller vehicle. I needed a smaller payment. Dealership agreed to cover the payoff on my trade in as it was worth more than I owed. Sign paperwork and it's done. Two weeks later I have to go back in because the financing fell through. (They lied to me that i was approved, saying instead that i was pre approved for an extended test drive). Now I owe twice as much and they won't take the car back. Plus my truck was legally theirs now. A relative that works in the car business said it was a tactic to make the Dealership more money. I will never buy from a Dodge related dealer ever again.

So is this click bait or just horrible reporting? No calls to the dealership to put pressure on them? Dealership name not mentioned. So are you protecting the dealership? If you run a story shoeing sympathy for someone at least take it to the next level and contact the dealership so they know others are watching. Do better.

FORD - Found On Road Dead. That's what you get for going to a Ford dealership

My wife and I went to a buy-here pay-here place. We bought a Ford Fusion. The total including tax tag and title was $4400. But while we were doing some paperwork, I realized I needed something (for the life of me, I can't remember what.) So I drove off to get it. I came back and everything was finalized - it was my wife'a car! A couple months later, I was going through our bills and finances and I found the cost still owed on the vehicle was more than our agreed-upon price at the dealer. So I dug through the paperwork to find out how it's possible to owe $4700 on a $4400 vehicle from a buy-here pay-here agreement with no interest. It turns out that sneaky loan shark snuck in an $800 "delivery" fee. We picked it off their lot. There was no delivery! And I was the guy watching out for that stuff - he slippers it in there while I was getting the whatever it was, the sneaky little bastard! My wife, being new add starry-eyed, had no chance of spotting the slipped-in fee. I can't refute it, though. She signed the paper.

Watch for those hidden fees, people.

Should've had her husband there to help if she doesn't understand the process.

In this day and age (sounds like a cop), she should know to record transactions like this, it will CHA in case something invariably goes wrong.
Hire an attorney, sue for the car, repairs, attorney fees and damages. Go to another dealer and buy the new car, trading in this turkey asap.
Post the name, and photo, of the salesman. Doesn't have to be bad, just say this is the "honest" Ford salesman that let me take the Explorer home for the weekend to show my husband. We did all the paperwork in case I wanted to buy in to make things smoother. Sadly, the AC went out on the way home that day but, they are willing to fix it for me for $1300.00, plus any unforeseen problems I'm sure.
Butts like him should be flipping burgers at McDonald's, but, he's the type to spit in the food and smile about it.

Similar situation at bmw of bridgeport. I walked in because my x3 had been totaled. I just had for a year with bmw financing at 8.5 percent interest. I told fiance manager I had bmw financing at that's what I expected my credit was better at this time
I explained that my x3 had been totaled and he said it would be bmw then ir was he was having trouble getting through them he would try one other. He didn't he tried 5 lenders because he didn't stop to recognize the fact that my payoff wasn't final
He didn't allow the gap coverage to finish the pay off so that it didn't look like I had an un payed off vehicle on my report. It tanked my credit . I didn't get the paperwork for my deal finalized for a month after i had my car. The fiance manger was fired a month after that I wonder y

I stood outside a car lot in hollywood fl cuban scammer sold me a lemon clunker and refused 2 fix electrical issues .i stood outside with a sign and had them on fb live ! Picketed 2 days on the 3rd day he paid me 2 go far away ! Dont fall 4 shyt.

I sold cars in California for 4 years for infinity one this is wrong on so many levels. Only way this would even happen if she actually signed a deal releasing liabilty on her old vehicle aling with title onvthe new one. Even if she did and this happen it has to be disclosed that a purchase was made and you have to make sure there are no other warranty work or extras are given and or purchased. There has to be much more to this.

Not me personally, but my daughter and son-in-law bought a new Ford Explorer some years back. After a few months the transmission started giving problems. They were told the car was shipped with the wrong transmission fluid and they should take it in for a free fluid replacement. This was done.
Some months later the transmission started acting up again. The car was still well within warranty. They called the dealer again. They were told the vehicle was shipped with a defective transmission and that Ford was aware of the problem. They also said Ford would NOT make repairs under warranty.
They were visiting with someone they knew and the conversation shifted to the problem with their car. The other person said they would trade their slightly older model with them because he liked the features they had gotten with their car. The trade was made.
Some time later the daughter and son-in-law traded the car in - for another FORD!!
I have never been a fan of Ford automobiles, even though I owned one in the 1970s, and only then because it was $100 cheaper than the Dodgy Ram I preferred.
Would I own a Ford again? Only if it was given to me. And then only long enough to get the paperwork together and get it to a Dodge dealer - the brand I’ve solely owned for over 20 years with no problems whatsoever - and get a vehicle I feel comfortable with.

I had a experience where the dealer knowingly sold me a lemon. I only had the SUV for 30 days, of which it literally sat for the first 2 weeks. The vehicle out of nowhere just started making a loud noise. I managed to get it home and called the dealer who said bring it in. They got it in and took the motor apart and wanted to charge 1200.00 for the diagnosis of the noise. I never consented to taking the motor apart. They also never stated nor showed any paperwork that stated what the problem was when I requested it. After I refused to pay the 1200.00 they wouldn't give the car back to me so I ended up having to do a voluntary surrender which has ruined my credit and now it is making it impossible for me to purchase another vehicle.

I went to Tustin Nissan to buy a 2016 four door Nissan Frontier, nothing power, we were approved for the loan, 10 days later they asked for an additional $1,000 deposit, or return the car. We returned the car which went up in prize to almost $48,000 for the basic model.

Yeah, these cars are very nice and spacious on the inside but somehow, wasn't built very well this year. A coworker of mines financed a 2022 Ford Explorer and on that same year, the transmission gave out and he only had 11k miles on it. He then tried returning it for a new replacement because a brand new car should not have any transmission problems and a rebuilt transmission is also a bad idea for a new car but they refused. He then took the dealer to court and sued and got paid out for what for the down payment and what he paid for the car that year.

How are you certain Kaelyn stated the truth? Her word is the only one stated here. Did you verify anything with the dealership or are you just throwing them under the bus? Me personally, I don't believe her.

yup, happened to me. i drove home a buick station wagon, for a weekend "scout out". i called the stealership on monday to check if the financing went through. nope. it took the remainder of the week until they got back to me to let me know the original financing fell through. i was now paying a few more percentage points. plus, my trade in was now at auction. it was a mess and i was pissed. i kept the car for a while and unloaded it. never went back to that stealership. i just couldn't believe that something like that could actually happen. it felt SO underhanded and sleezy.

You have "food dealer" in this article lol

This happened to.my.husband and I in Massachusetts back in 2016. Got approved for a car, 3 days later was told we couldn't have the car. We asked for our old trade in back. They had already sold it over the weekend. Then claimed they can put us in two brand new 2016 escapes with two different banks that didnt know of the other. They ultimately took them back after my mother died and didn't want to work financially with me.

I went to a Nissan dealership to test drive a Rogue. On the test drive with the salesman, a deer jumped out and I hit it. It damaged the whole front of the SUV. Back at the dealership, they tried to get me to sign a paper saying I'll take full responsibility. I refused after calling my insurance and they told me DO NOT SIGN that paper. The dealership has their own insurance for these types of accidents. So the dealership said if I don't sign, they'll call the police. I told them go ahead and call them. They actually did call the police. The police showed up and I said I'll let the dealership tell them what happened to save time bc I know this was an inconvenience of their time. Dealership told them what happened and the police said there was nothing they could do bc it was an animal that jumped out and the dealership is supposed to have insurance themselves to cover it. The officer looked at me before leaving and said I was right and it was an inconvenience of his time. I was then allowed to leave and I didn't pay a dime to that dealership.

Tell the dealership you want your lawyer to review all documents before signing.

Print up your own form stating that until the dealership gets a final signature after the test drive home, that the purchase has not been completed.

Request not only the sales person to sign it but the dealerships' manager sign it as well.

Turn the tables on the dealers practice of having lengthy sales agreements that takes a long time to read.

Request a clause stating that up to X number of days, usually 3, that the contract can be broken. Buyers remorse/regret clause.

Most cars come with less than 40 000 miles are sold with some sort of short term warrant (7 days or 30 days). Request written guarantee.

Tell them you want written proof that if terms change, interest rate, trade in value, test drive experience, that those are valid reasons that the deal goes south.

Make them guarantee that your car remains yours until you sign it away.

Take charge and make the dealership be responsible, respectful, and if they refuse.... walk away. There are thousands of car sellers wanting your business.

I hate it when nowadays every one tries to scam each other.
We the human are going down well.

12 hours after taking my check I called Rivard GMC in Brandon, FL to say there was a problem with the lift kit installed in the 2023 Toyota Tacoma taken home only days before. The salesman said "I don't mean to be smart but I sold you a used truck as is". Coming from a large dealership I couldn't believe it. Asked to speak with a manager.... I am still waiting for them to call back...not holding my breath.
Doesn't seem like there is any recourse.
They cover their asses with the small writing

Dealer tried to pull something like this on my dad when I was a kid. He traded in our SUV on a newer car. Signed all the paperwork and brought it home.

They called a week later and gave him a spiel about he had to sign new paperwork at a higher interest rate.

He drove to the dealer and walked around the back and saw that our SUV was already gone....

He walked into the dealership and the salesman said, "Let me grab that new paperwork."

My dad stopped him and said, "That won't be necessary. You can have your car back. Just give me my SUV back."

The salesman started stammering and tried to tell my dad he had to sign the new paper, to which my dad told him that he already had a signed contract, so either they were going to stay with the current contract, or they were going to trade back.

The salesman knew he was screwed. They had already sold our SUV, and my dad had his signed paperwork. He stayed on the original rate.

Here's how you can tell a car salesman is lying to you. They are speaking.

I have purchased 6 cars in my life. Both new and used. Not a single time has the salesman been completely honest. Every time I either had to have manager or finance guy fix the issue.

Was at another 12 dealerships over same period where salesmen lies were so eregious that they couldn't be fixed.

Don't know who are bigger liars, car salesmen or lawyers.