Some Ford Bronco buyers unable to redeem Ford vouchers for changing orders
This one’s a headscratcher. Late last year, Ford offered 2022 model-year Bronco reservation holders a Model Year Transition Private Offer (MYTPO) that effectively gave them price protection for converting their order to a more expensive 2023 Bronco. The MYTPO was effectively a gift certificate to cover the cost of the MSRP increase to the 2023 Bronco depending on trim — nothing new there, it’s been happening for years. Ford still couldn’t build Broncos fast enough, though. So at the beginning of this year, it created another incentive called the Order Modification Private Offer (OMPO). This gave reservation holders $2,500 to buy a different Bronco trim or de-content their Bronco of all items under constraint, like the Lux Package and Sasquatch Package, or to cancel their Bronco order and order a different Ford vehicle.
After the OMPO offer came out, a Ford rep told Car & Driver the two offers could be combined, saying, “Customers who remove constrained features are expected to receive a 2023 model year Bronco along with a $2,500 rebate toward purchase or lease in addition to existing MSRP price protection they may have.” A FAQ page at Ford’s retail site included the question, “Will the OMPO affect the existing MYTPO?” The answer given was, “You will receive two separate certificates, one for the amount you were previously eligible for under the 2023 Model Year Transition Private Offer and one for the amount you are eligible for with the Bronco Order Modification Private Offer.” Bronco brand manager Matt Winter said twice in a video (at 43:30 and 1:07:20) that both offers could be combined.
Forum posts claim that’s not happening. Based on threads at Bronco6G (also here, and here), Ford gave both certificates the same number. When dealers try to enter that voucher number for two promotions, the system says it can only accept one — either the model year transition offer or the order modification offer, not both. An Autoblog reader got in touch to say he’s still waiting to take delivery of his Bronco, but his dealer can’t combine the reductions as Ford promised based on him doing what Ford laid out. He sent a screenshot of his dealer’s entry into Ford’s voucher system, similar to shots seen on Ford forums, with both a “2023-Model Bronco Order Modification Private Offer” and a “2023 Bronco Model Year Transition Private Offer.” Were he able to redeem both as he was told he would be, he would receive $5,095 off the price of his Bronco. As it is, he’s being asked to choose to save either $2,500 with the first certificate or $2,595 with the latter. He said his dealer and the dealer’s regional rep have tried to find workarounds, without success. As of writing, he still doesn’t have his Bronco.
Forum posters say Ford customer service tells them there’s nothing customer service can do, go speak to the dealers. Those same posters say the dealers can’t do anything. The dealers say that the system won’t count the same voucher twice, and when the dealers reach out to Ford, the dealers don’t get any response from automaker reps. We asked a dealer about it, the dealer didn’t respond. When we asked the same Ford rep who spoke to Car & Driver earlier this year about this, we were told he’d look into it. That was the last we heard — akin to what dealers have supposedly told posters in forum threads.
And that FAQ page answer that said both offers can be combined? It’s been scrubbed from Ford’s retail site, but it remains in its original form at Bronco Nation.
Ford’s not alone in this. Two months ago, when it came out that Lotus had to delay Emira deliveries to the U.S., it also came out that reservation holders for the four-cylinder Emira I4 First Edition would pay more than they were initially quoted. What angered shoppers most was that Lotus had promised — by sending another brand rep to YouTube to make guarantees that the rep would not be able to, ahem, guarantee, a la Ford’s Mr. Winter — that, “The price you’re being quoted is the price you’ll pay for your Emira.”
Nor is the Bronco alone in this. In December, several threads at the F150Lightningforum related how dealers refused to honor both Ford’s private cash offer and price protection offer on the battery-electric pickup. That, however, appears to have been a dealer issue, whereas this Bronco situation appears to be coming from Dearborn.
Some Bronco buyers have bought their trucks anyway, accepting the price increase. Rumors in other threads suggest the same problem won’t happen for the next model year: A thread in Maverick Truck Club claims a dealer said Ford won’t offer price protection on the compact pickup for buyers who don’t get their 2023 trucks built and want to switch to 2024 — which is gonna upset a lot of people, early predictions anticipating Ford will be short around 20,000 Maverick hybrids for 2023 — and some Bronco6G members believe the same will happen with the SUV. Good luck out there.
