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Ford dealers can ban F-150 Lightning customers from reselling trucks to discourage scalpers:
Ford is cracking down on anyone with mercenary intentions when it comes to buying an F-150 Lightning next year. In an effort to stop customers from quickly flipping their electric pickup truck for a hefty profit, Ford delivered a notice to dealerships issuing a new clause for soon-to-be owners. The note was posted on the F-150 Gen 14 forum on Friday. Should a dealer opt in, customers will be required to sign a "No-Sale" provision, banning them from reselling the truck within one year of ownership. The key here is, it's not required, Ford told Roadshow.
"Such a requirement is between a dealer and their customer," a spokesperson said. "It is up to the dealer to decide to use it and to consult with local laws in the state they operate should they choose to do so."
The clause reads, "Purchaser hereby agrees that it will not sell, offer to sell or otherwise transfer ownership interest in the Vehicle prior to the first anniversary of the date hereof. Purchaser further agrees that Seller may seek injunctive relief to prevent the transfer of title of the Vehicle or demand payment from Purchaser of all value received as consideration for the sale or transfer."
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday January 10 2022, @11:30PM (3 children)
May is the key word.
The PR and legal cost of giving someone a financial death penalty level of "nuke it from orbit" is so high that they'll never unleash it IRL. It'll be all bark no bite. Or they'll do precisely one financial death penalty to kill one person to scare the rest via journalism, and never do it again.
Too many people die and the kid inherits the vehicle, or "I bought it for my GF as a birthday present" or "She took it from him in the divorce". Its not realistic as a legal attack, the PR cost would be too high.
Also don't forget weird situations like high interest vehicle title loans, and police stealing property either for profit or as a legal although criminal act.
I would further extend my remarks that this is a Ford. Its unlikely there are people lining up to buy them. You could generate massive PR for free by falsely claiming a new model is so popular that hoarders are scalping them. I wonder if this level of deceit might reach the level of false advertising, or if the slap on the wrist fee for false advertising would approach the free PR price.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday January 10 2022, @11:32PM
Sorry to follow up on my own. Trivial example: Privately arranged financing. Not everyone finances thru the stealership. Simply fail to make payments, get repo'd, Ford gives the new owner a financial death penalty by stealing their car, essentially, PR nightmare.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday January 11 2022, @03:51AM
Just one financial death penalty? Why don't they fake it a few times with some shills like they faked [smbc-comics.com] the moon landing? Oh wait, I forgot that modern journalistic fact checking would probably call them out on that :-|
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday January 11 2022, @05:56AM
This. I find the tale implausible. IMHO the real story here is that Ford probably has serious manufacture problems, and reached into the marketing excuse jar to come up with this whopper. Which is too bad for me, since I own an amount of Ford stock.