Franklin Ford Car Dealership Franklin North Carolina

sales Rating

Dishonest practice

by NowNo2Ford on 05/05/2023

I was set to purchase a Ford Bronco based on a reduced price email I received which was confirmed by the sales department on Saturday 4/22/23. I agreed to put $500 down to hold the vehicle while financing and vehicle trade value was pending. I asked for the out the door price with Jerrad on Sat. Then on Monday, only after they ran my credit and being approved, the price of the vehicle went up by $10k. On top of that, my trade in was grossly under valued by Franklin by another $10k. I've had 4 dealerships (just before and weeks after), one as recent as yesterday, value my trade between 31500 and 32000 (even site unseen) yet Franklin offered 21500. I don’t know how they could be so far off. Terrible, dishonest practice by Franklin Ford or maybe just grossly incompetent. I was trying to reduce the times my credit was being run and I was excited to make the purchase but it was a total waste of time and my credit. Very disappointing.

Recommend this dealer? No
Purchased a vehicle from this dealer? No

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Warranty contract forces you to use their service dept for life

by MountainDriver on 04/30/2019

What they don’t tell you about their Lifetime Powertrain Warranty Recently we shopped for a late model SUV at this dealership. Franklin Ford displays large banners by the road touting a “Lifetime Powertrain Warranty” on all their vehicles. They had a good selection of makes and models to try, and the salesman Danny was friendly and helpful during the process of choosing a vehicle. When asked about the details of the warranty, he assured us that it was included on all cars they sold. He referred to a promotional poster in his office listing the systems covered and said paperwork on all the details would be provided later. The cost of the Lifetime Warranty was never shown to us, only the overall selling price of the vehicle. Since the warranty represented additional value, we negotiated a price $1000 above the Carfax list price for the the vehicle, which we believed was fair, and moved forward to complete the sale. Halfway through the signing process we received an unpleasant surprise. The finance manager presented us with a contract that stated in order for the Lifetime Powertrain Warranty to be honored, all scheduled maintenance had to be performed at Franklin Ford, including oil changes, tire rotation, etc. This was unacceptable to us, since we live in Bryson City and have a good relationship with an ASE certified shop closer to home. Had we agreed to this and used our mechanic for even the smallest service their warranty would be void. Obviously this contract is very favorable to the dealer since it forces buyers to use the dealer's service department regardless of price. There was a clause that permitted the buyer to use any certified repair shop if the buyer was located more that 45 miles from the dealership, but we were told we were 38 miles away as the crow flies and they would not make an exception. Given we had included the value of the warranty in the selling price, and that warranty now proved to be worthless to us, we asked for the sale price to be reduced by $1000. Franklin Ford declined, and proposed to sell us another extended warranty plan at additional cost to us. No further option or consideration was offered. At this point we asked for all paperwork back that we had already signed and voided the purchase. All of the employees that had engaged us so enthusiastically earlier in the day refused to even make eye contact with us as we walked out, including our salesman. A few days later we purchased a nearly identical vehicle from a dealer in Asheville. The agreed sales price included a 10 year, 100K warranty that has no restrictions on where regular service can be done. Some buyers might not care about the requirement to use the dealer service department for all maintenance, but we thought it was deceptive for Franklin Ford not to disclose this limitation of their advertised warranty early in the sales process. We can not recommend purchasing from this dealer.