AutoNation Ford Miami

I ordered my wife a 2013 Ford Fusion SE from a different dealer (we live in Central Florida) on December 22nd, 2012. We custom ordered the car since the closest one we were able to find with the options she wanted was in Ohio. I understand that when custom ordering it can take between 8-12 weeks just to begin the building process, but the experience I had along the way was miserable. Not only were we treated as "low priority", our order was placed with "low priority". After 8 weeks, I had enough of Ford Marketing telling me I had to talk to the dealer for more information (all they could tell me was that the order was "processing") and the dealer telling me I had to talk to Ford to get more information. I was becoming even more frustrated as I had $2250 in rebates from the factory that were going to expire in two weeks and a locked-in low APR rate from my bank for the financing that would expire as well. On Tuesday I called Ford Marketing and told them enough was enough and I was cancelling my order and going with the Kia Forte (wife's second choice). The call center employee asked if she could find one built with the exact specifications we desired and I told her "sure, good luck" because I had been looking every few days myself. Shoot - I was willing to drive out of the state just to get it if we could get it sooner! I didn't think she'd come back with anything but to my surprise, told me one had just been delivered to a dealership in Miami - AutoNation Ford Miami. I figured I'd give it a shot though the deal I had arranged with the other dealer I initially ordered from would be hard to beat. That Tuesday evening I called AutoNation Ford Miami and Dan S answered, he's in Internet Sales. I described my frustrating situation (he apologized for the other dealerships behavior and my bad experience) and that he had one shot to earn my business or I was going to get the Kia. I told him he had to match the price I agreed to purchase it for with the other dealer and that it had to be that exact car. In just a few minutes he called me back and said they would match the deal, but the dealer fee was a bit higher - I was perfectly fine with this given I wouldn't have to fight for the other deal anymore. Since I live 300 miles away, he offered to drive it to me himself but I preferred to pay to have it delivered on a truck (didn't want the extra miles and usage on it). Dan worked out every detail, had the paperwork overnighted to me with a return envelope for overnight shipping, and wow'd me with every step. By Thursday I had the paperwork in my hands and a check from my bank, by Friday I had the car in my driveway - wow! Dan kept me appraised of everything very well via text message (which was extremely convenient for me) and provided me more than enough detail along the way. He managed to come in on his day off (Wednesday) to get everything prepared and shipped to me - something he didn't have to do but he did. We wanted the car to be delivered that Saturday and he seemed to be having trouble arranging that - but much to my surprise - he had been working to arrange it for Friday night! On Friday morning at 10:30am I received a text message from Dan that said "Good morning. Good news, the car just got detailed, I received your paperwork, and I just loaded it on the truck for delivery tonight." - WOW! I couldn't believe it!!! He followed it up by saying "Also, I threw in a new set of nice floor-mats since this model doesn't include rear floor-mats and I know you'll want to keep the floor clean." - WOW! Later that evening Dan send me a message and told me to be sure to take a picture of us with the car when we got it and send it to him. He called us immediately after we sent the picture and spent an hour on the phone walking us through all of the features and talking us through the setup for the Sync system - WOW AGAIN! It was 8:30pm and a sales person was just as excited to be helping us as we were to be sitting in our new car! Unbelievable! You see, what most sales people and dealerships forget is that it's the little things that really make for a great and memorable buying experience. I work in the automotive industry and in the past I've even built a piece of software that helped make car buying easier, but nothing could be as good as the experience we had this go around. It sounds cheesy but Dan and AutoNation Ford Miami single-handedly restored my faith in Ford (I also own a Mustang GT). They didn't have to go the extra mile and do the extra things that they did, and Dan certainly didn't have to add a personal touch to the entire process, especially given the price I was paying, but they did anyways and I couldn't have had a better buying experience. I'd buy another car with Dan and AutoNation Ford Miami in a heartbeat because we were treated like royalty (even though we never once visited the store) and because it's the extra little things that really made it perfect. Thanks Dan and thanks AutoNation Ford Miami - you guys really helped make an already frustrating situation into an amazing experience! We WILL be buying our next car from YOU. *Note: I will be posting this same review elsewhere (ease of copy+paste) and this is NOT spam. I have nothing to do with Ford and/or AutoNation. I genuinely mean the things I said.