Ford Dealer Damages Ford GT

It's pretty amazing that the Ford GT ever happened, and it certainly puts Ford in a unique position to showcase a $160,000 exotic car in their dealer showrooms, right next to Fusions, Explorers and Five-Hundreds.

But, unfortunately, that doesn't guarantee that theFord GT buyer is assured of premium dealer service -- service worthy of a $160,000 customer. For that, you have to choose your Blue Oval dealer very carefully. I'm lucky, as Santa Monica Ford has provided a first-class experience for me and my GT. However, according to another Ford GT owner from Ft. Worth, Texas, his supercar experience has been anything but "super." You can read all the gory details at the Ford GT Forum, and obviously the testimony comes from the GT owner, so we haven't heard the "dealership's side of the story."

But this much is clear: The owner took his car to Hillard Ford in Fort Worth to address a battery/charging system problem. While the car was at the dealership it was taken on a test drive by their Ford GT tech and damaged (the dealer says the charging system couldn't be checked in the shop, and only a test drive would confirm it was working properly...). Exactly what happened, and how the car was damaged, is up for debate, so I won't try to explain it without all the facts. It was apparently a single car accident, so whatever happened wasn't the fault of another driver/pedestrian.

Obviously it would be rather upsetting if a dealership damaged your $160,000 car during a test drive, and I would certainly expect said dealership to do whatever is necessary to make things right (and anyone who knows the term "dimished value" knows that making this right takes more than rubbing compound and elbow grease). For this buyer's sake -- and the sake of Ford's valiant efforts to step into the world of exotic car production -- I hope Hillard Ford in Ft. Worth, Texas knows this too.

Posted by

Karl Brauer January 5, 2006, 7:33 PM

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