Ford Privilege

Factor25

Has anyone ever had a new Ford on the privilege discount and sold it before the required 9 months. We have had a great offer from a dealer (not a Ford franchise dealer) to trade in for another car. Would Ford know we had sold and if so how much of the original discount could they claim back.

serpico786

i don't know for sure, but i don't think they would find out... unless you sold it back to a ford dealership.. but it might come up on their system if you ever used a main dealer for servicing (which you have to do if its within warranty)

but if they did, they would probably take away your ford privilege entitlement for life. btw what sort of discount did you get? on what car?

Factor25

Its a Fiesta ST, cant remember what % but we saved about £3,000.

Factor25

Still interested in hearing anyone elses experiences on this. Ive spoken to a Ford dealership today who say they dont think it would be a problem.

DealDrivers_company_representative

I am assuming you are not, yourself, a Ford employee (as you'd already know the answers to this!).... to have bought a car on Ford's Privilege scheme you must have had access to a Privilege voucher from an employee of Ford (the scheme is for employees and their families). I suggest you need to go back to the family member who allowed you to use their voucher - you must be a close family member to have been entitled to it, so a conversation with them should be your first, and easiest, action.

There is a minimum timeframe for re-sale to stop abuse of the scheme and profiting from selling cars bought at the employee's staff discount and making an unauthorised profit or gaining personal advantage through early re-sale (it also stops dealers sales and Ford pricing being harmed by a sudden plethora of cheap employee-deal cars suddenly appearing on the open market before they've taken any depreciation to bring them to a more realistic market-value).

There have been instances of employee's who have lost their jobs for abuse of this scheme (by themselves or their family member onward-selling early, to their personal advantage and to Ford's clear disadvantage!).

It would be unfair on your relative who allowed you to use their voucher to not make them aware of your plans, you could land them in a fair amount of trouble with Ford and as they were generous enough to give you the voucher I guess the least you could do is ask them if they are prepared to let you take the risk their voucher being traced back to a breach of the re-sale rules...and Ford do track the cars bought on the scheme. Every manufacturer does on these schemes.

Dealers do not take responsibility for policing what is re-sold. A dealer trying to get himself a new car sale by taking your early-sale car as a PX cannot be held up by Ford by doing so - you were the voucher holder so you are breaching the scheme rules, not the dealer who is buying it from you.

Hope this helps..not the news you wanted unfortunately but do take advice from your relative!

Factor25

Yes we are close family entitled to the voucher. Mother in Law (employee widow) in her 70s hasn't a clue about the rules and regs, and is fully aware of our predicament. Our intention is not to make a profit but accept an offer of the exact price we paid 3 months ago and purchase a desperately needed larger car. I am aware that the Ford dealer is only interested in selling us another car that is why i'm being very careful. We have enquired to privilege who say we can sell but only if its a case of extreme hardship or a medical reason for not being able to drive the vehicle. As the voucher holder I realise we are responsible for our actions as there are other family members who take advantage of the scheme we wouldnt spoil it for them. We have had new cars from this scheme since 1999 and kept them for the full year, its just sometimes in life circumstances change.

Brian_James

1. The 9 month ownership requirement is that of the Treasury, not Ford Motor Company.
2. Both the Treasury & Ford would be made aware of the sale upon registration of the new owner at Swansea. [& you can`t disguise this without committing an offence.
3. The person actually entitled to raise the Privilege voucher would be penalised [heavily] by Ford.
4. The person selling the car before 9 months would be financially penalised by the Treasury.
5. DON`T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.

Brian_James

I forgot to mention the current Privilege deal structure, which is different from past schemes.

Each model has a discount value, which in the case of the Fiesta Zetec S, is £1,000 & the Fiesta Zetec Climate - £750 & similar discounts on the Ka range. As I understand it, you do a normal, retail, commercial deal with a Ford dealer; you are then entitled [via a Privilege voucher] to the additional discount which is appropriate to your model.