Mark Lubenow2/14/22
Repeat Customer
My wife and I have enjoyed your show for many years as we tool around San Antonio Saturday running errands, and we trust your judgment. We have purchased 4 new Fords from McCombs Ford West, one of them going back to when it was Gillespie Ford. Anyway, we purchased a 2021 Ford Edge last week from McCombs Ford West, but the process wasn’t as smooth as we had hoped. I plan to retire in a few months and we had always planned to purchase a new Edge this spring (so we could begin my retirement with a trouble-free car into the future, although we had no issues at all with our current Edge). I recently got a quote from Carvana that they would pay me $17,124 for my current 2016 Edge SE, which I thought was a phenomenal price. We owned the car for roughly 6 years, paid about $25k for it, and ultimately it only cost us about $8,000 for those 6 years. When I realized this, I felt some pressure to find our new Edge because I knew (from listening to you) that used car prices wouldn’t be this high for long. So we went through your process, made an appointment to meet with Henry Finley, and Henry’s son, Curtis, met us at the door when we arrived. Curtis, although young, is a good guy—really friendly and knowledgeable. But we have some concerns: 1. We went to the showroom with the intention of purchasing a new Ford Edge (because we really like our current one and because you speak highly of them). I had seen a few SE’s on their website, and that is what we wanted—we were going to pay cash and really didn’t want to pay the additional for the SEL. We expected to have to order one to get what we wanted and were willing to wait. Curtis took us outside to show us what they had in stock and we saw a silver one with a black interior. We like everything about it except the black seats, but Curtis told us they could change the seats to leather in any color we wanted. We made a down payment and walked away to deal with selling our current Edge. I was flabbergasted the next day to get a text congratulating me on the purchase of our 2021 Ford Edge. I texted Curtis and called off the deal saying our intention was to purchase a 2022 model. 2. Part of the problem is that window stickers were nowhere to be found. If there had been a window sticker on the car, we would have immediately realized that it was a 2021 model and perhaps moved on. In my mind that represents a lack of transparency on the part of the dealer. We kind of questioned the fact that the car had 1009 miles on it, but we liked the car. It also should have been a red flag when Curtis told us that the Ford Bronco sitting a few feet from his desk was stickered at $40,000 but was for sale for $70,000. Perhaps I misunderstood, but I thought I heard you say that your dealers don’t sell vehicles for more than MSRP. 3. When we went back to talk to Curtis the Sales Manager assured us that they didn’t mean to deceive us, that it was just an oversight (and perhaps so). I expressed concern that when we went to sell the vehicle years down the road, that there would be a difference between a 2021 and a 2021. He told us that there were really no differences between the 2021 and the 2022, and that mileage was really more of a factor than model year. I had no facts to dispute his argument so we decided to go ahead with the purchase. 4. The main reason why we went ahead was because we were getting paid so much for our current Edge. I know (from listening to you) that we are at the top of the market on used car prices and I felt some pressure to get the deal done for that reason. The price for our Edge SE was $39,565. I assumed incorrectly (stupidly) that it was higher than the new SE models (on their website) because it had some safety options like the lane-keeping system and the crash avoidance system (but later found out that these features were standard equipment). But without a window sticker, how was a guy to know? 5. Several times during the conversation I asked Curtis if we could order a 2022 Edge SE (for about $35,000) and get exactly what we wanted, and his answer was that all they had coming in were SELs. That of course wasn’t answering my question. I feel they were decidedly unwilling to order the car we wanted and were more interested in pushing us toward the 2021 they had on their lot. We should have got up and walked out, but I’m kind of a non-confrontational guy, and they told me that the 2022 SELs coming in would be $2500 more than what we were paying. Again, they skipped over the 2022 SE issue (never told us what they would cost). So we stayed and bought the 2021 Edge. 6. When we were leaving Saturday morning, I asked Curtis if they had the window sticker of the car. He looked around and found it in the spare tire compartment. I looked at the sticker when I got home and my heart sank and I literally felt sick to my stomach. The MSRP on the 2021 we bought was $34,000. There was a $5,000 “market adjustment” and our invoice was $565 more than that for the $39,565 total. If we had known that we were paying $39,565 for a year-old model car with an MSRP of $34,000, we would have walked away. 7. A couple times during our discussions Curtis told us that we were getting “special pricing” on our new car because of our association with the CarPro. Wow, it sure doesn’t feel like it—I can only imagine what the car would have cost without the “special pricing.” It doesn’t feel like $5,565 over MSRP is “special pricing.” I guess I should have asked if the “special pricing” was higher or lower than someone else would have been charged! Jerry, we have done business with McCombs Ford West for many years and always felt that we got a fair deal. This time I came away thinking I got screwed. I can’t blame them entirely I know, because I could have walked away any time, and should have. Now the deal is done. I don’t want to contact them because they have promised (nothing in writing) to re-do the seats in leather for us and don’t want to rock the boat. But I don’t feel that they were transparent with us at several points through the process, and I definitely feel that we paid too much for our new car (although willingly I admit). I feel like they hid information from us that would have helped us make an informed and intelligent decision. When we left, Curtis asked us if we could give him a 5-star rating. I honestly can’t, so I probably won’t fill out the questionnaire at all. But the whole process has left a bad taste in my mouth and I am pretty sure that we won’t be doing business with McCombs Ford West in the future. Thanks for any thoughts you have, Mark Lubenow
My wife and I have enjoyed your show for many years as we tool around San Antonio Saturday running errands, and we trust your judgment. We have purchased 4 new Fords from McCombs Ford West, one of them going back to when it was Gillespie Ford.