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Updated: Ford Dealer in Florida Doubles the Price of the F-150 Lightning

Ford is busy fulfilling all those F-150 Lightning reservations, but the progress is slow, leading to dealer abuses. One picture shared on the F-150 Lightning forum shows how a Florida dealer doubled the electric truck price by adding the MSRP as a “market adjustment” fee.
Ford F-150 Lightning 6 photos
Photo: Ford
Dealer markup on the Ford F-150 LightningFord F-150 LightningFord F-150 LightningFord F-150 LightningFord F-150 Lightning
Update: Ford's North American Product Communications Director, Mike Levine, said on Twitter that the F-150 Lightning sticker was an error. The MSRP was input twice into the system, although this does not explain why it was marked as “market adjustment.” Nevertheless, this is not the only F-150 Lightning with a hefty markup sticker.

This is inaccurate. The dealer confirmed it was an error and the MSRP was input twice online. In fact this a demo unit and not for sale. The sticker was removed within 24 hours,” wrote Levine on Twitter.

Dealer markups are the new reality of the past two years. In the case of the most popular models, their value skyrocketed to ridiculous amounts. It’s safe to say that dealers make more money from selling these vehicles than carmakers. Electric vehicles from the traditional automakers are a good example because they are produced in very limited numbers.

The high demand makes people willing to pay huge amounts of money to be among the first ones to get that vehicle. With 200,000 reservations and the abysmal production of the F-150 Lightning, Ford was guaranteed to face problems fulfilling all those orders. The imbalance between supply and demand was quickly speculated by Ford dealers, which started marking up the Lightning like crazy.

The markups started pouring in long before the F-150 Lightning hit the market. As early as last December, some dealers announced to the reservation holders they would charge “market adjustment” fees as high as $30,000. But once the deliveries started, the reality was that the dealers wanted more money from these rare electric trucks.

In Florida, one Ford dealer got particularly greedy with a $69,554 markup on the MSRP, which is, coincidentally, exactly $69,554. This tongue-in-cheek “adjustment” made the Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat reach a $140,603 price when factoring in other dealer-installed accessories. This markup is so enticing that the dealer probably doesn’t care about repercussions if Ford decides to turn the screw on dealer markups.

To be sure, carmakers have very little control over the sales price of a vehicle. Ford has threatened to limit F-150 Lightning unit allocations to dealers that apply markups on the selling price of the cars. The dealers don’t seem to care very much about this. They usually take the vehicle from the new cars’ lot and sell it as a used car for whatever amount of money they want, without worrying about repercussions.

Ford is contemplating giving up the dealer sales model completely, at least when it comes to its electric vehicles, but things are moving too slowly. Ford relies on a vast dealer network, and antagonizing them might backfire. On the other hand, dealers need to understand that these insane markups would only lead to their peril.
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About the author: Cristian Agatie
Cristian Agatie profile photo

After his childhood dream of becoming a "tractor operator" didn't pan out, Cristian turned to journalism, first in print and later moving to online media. His top interests are electric vehicles and new energy solutions.
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