This.

A friend of my parents desperately wanted one of the new Broncos, and they were just selling out everywhere, so they decided to work with the small local dealership and order one direct from Ford.

So they picked out every last detail, placed the deposit, and waited.

It was like 5 or 6 months then they finally got the call to come down, it was ready.

Well when they got there, the fucking piece of shit dealer tells them that he's increasing the price by 10k.

They ask why and what happened to the price they agreed on, and the guy tells them that basically these kinds of customer orders are the only way he can get more broncos from Ford, but he knows he can get more for this one so he's going back on their agreement. So they can either agree to the higher price right now, or go home empty handed and he will still sell it within the week.

I don't know how they walked out of that place not in handcuffs, because I'd have assaulted the guy.

They get home and call up Ford and Ford basically said, "Sorry you had to go through that, but we have no control over our dealers, so they can do that and neither you nor we have any recourse or any way around it."

Basically that story alone meant to me that A. I'll never drive a Ford, and 2. I will badmouth that little locally owned dealership any time anyone I know is considering using them, and I hope they go under.

The thing is, Ford can control that shit, they just have no desire or motivation to do so. Contrast that story with Subaru. Post pandemic when car prices were insane and demand was through the roof, Subaru of America mandated that all their dealers were not too MSRP on any new Subaru vehicles. If they found any dealership price gouging, they got one warning, then SoA pulled their fucking license to sell the brand.