After numerous reports of Ford dealers taking advantage of the high demand for the F-150 Lightning and demanding customers pay as much as $30,000 more to receive their electric truck at launch, the automaker has taken steps to try and avoid customers paying more than they have to.
In a bulletin sent to dealerships this morning from Andrew Frick, Vice President of Sales, US & Canada, Ford says they have been made aware of a “limited number of dealerships interacting with customers in a manner that is negatively impacting customer satisfaction and damaging to the Ford Motor Company brand and Dealer Body reputation.”
Frick explains this bad behaviour includes demanding extra payments from customers who have already made a reservation for the Lightning.
As a result, if they continue to demand extra payments the offending dealerships could lose their allocation of F-150 Lightning trucks for all of the 2022 model year production.
Another step the automaker has taken is to suggest dealers add a clause to purchase contracts that prevents buyers from flipping their electric trucks within the first year of ownership.
The bulletin says Ford is only “offering support” for such a clause, but is not demanding it be included.
Ford began officially taking orders for the F-150 Lightning on Thursday. Prices starts as low as $39,974 for the Pro variant, up to $90,874 for the Platinum.
You can see a full copy of the bulletin below, which was first posted to the F150Gen14 forum this morning.
