My New Maverick

[The Flush]

I just bought my first non-used car in over 30 years, a 2023 Ford Maverick.

My first car, in 1983, was a 1970 Ford Maverick, but not quite this nice. It was orangish, but some of that was from the rust.  My sister drove that car before me and hit a parked car with it on the way to school one day.  The damage was never repaired.  It had three on the tree manual transmission. The shifter broke off in my hand one cold morning on my way to school because it was so hard to shift. But it beat walking.

I had been planning to wait until May 2024 to buy a new car because that is when my mortgage will be paid off. I also have had no clue what I wanted to buy. I have been driving a 2007 Ford Taurus with over 257,000 miles on it. I have been getting nervous about how much longer it will last. The COVID induced supply chain shocks and subsequent inflation made me think that I needed to develop a replacement plan for the Taurus since buying a car was not as easy as just walking onto a dealer lot and getting what you want as it used to be.

About a year ago I first learned about the new Maverick. I was particularly interested in the hybrid which gets a combined 37 MPG with many people reporting even better mileage. It was too late to order one by the time I even knew they existed. I had been learning about the Maverick at the Maverick Truck Club forums, so I knew when the order banks opened for the 2023 models, and I placed an order for a hybrid as soon as the order banks opened (9/15/2022).  So did everyone else in the country. A poll at MTC indicated about 70% of the new orders would be hybrids. Ford had already announced that only about 35% of production would be hybrids due to supply chain constraints with hybrid engines and batteries. Fearing I might not get my hybrid, I place a second order for a gas model on the very last day the order banks were open.  They sold out of planned production in only 1 week. 

So like many other people who place orders, I have been waiting for six months for my orders.  Many other people at MTC place orders back in 2021 for 2022 models that have not yet been built.  Getting scheduled for production is dependent on your dealer having allocations, which is based on past sales of Escapes, Bronco Sports, and Mavericks since the Maverick is so new. Past sales is somewhat dependent on the size of the dealer and the population area they serve. I live in a small town and my dealer on sold 20 Mavericks last year, and some of those didn't get built and had to be reordered as 2023 models. I have just about accepted that my hybrid order will not get built, but I assume my gas order should get built eventually since they have more production capacity for those than they have orders.

Most dealers sell these custom orders for MSRP, although some people at MTC report being asked for significant Additional Dealer Markup (ADM) or "mandatory" dealer added options that are pure profit for the dealer and of questionable value to the consumer. Some people have decided not to buy their custom ordered Mavericks due to the long wait and wanting/needing to buy something sooner or because they ordered it without having ever even seen one and then deciding it was not what they wanted. In this case almost all dealers are asking for $5-10K in ADM on these Mavericks. I had decided that I was willing to wait for my order for which I should only have to pay MSRP instead of paying the ADM to get one sooner. However, I did tell my salesman to let me know if he had any Mavericks that the customer decided not to buy because I would at least like to test drive one before my orders get built.

About 2 weeks ago my salesman texted me that he had a used 2022 Maverick that someone traded in for an F150. I told him I wanted to drive it and asked how much it was.  They were asking for $3k over the new MSRP. It sold before I even got a chance to drive it. It really wasn't what I wanted.  It was a gas XL model with about the only option added was a spray in bedliner. It might have been the same truck that was offered to me for $5K over MSRP last year, but I am not sure about that. The 2022 XL didn't have cruise control on which is something I want, although the 2023 XL does have it. A few days later he said he had a new Maverick that the customer might not buy. Again, I said please let me know if I can at least drive it.  I looked on their website and saw 2 Mavericks showing as in transit.  One was almost exactly the same as my Lariat hybrid order except in a different color and the other was a gas AWD XLT model that had more options on it than my gas FWD XLT order.

On Tuesday around lunch time my salesman texted that I could come drive the available Maverick. I replied I would be right there.  I did check their website again and realized it was probably the gas AWD XLT instead of the hybrid Lariat, but I figured it would be nice to at least drive one. I drove it and it met my expectations.  The Maverick is essentially a compact SUV with a truck bed instead of a hatchback. It shares some parts with the Escape and Bronco Sport. It is a FWD/AWD unibody design. In my case, it is a replacement for a Taurus, not an F150.  After driving it the salesman asked if I was interested in it. I asked how much and he said they would list it at $5K over MSRP, but that they would sell it to me as someone who had ordered one for only $3K over. I told him that I can't pay $3K over when it already has $3K in options that I didn't really care about (moon roof, black appearance package, and even the Hot Pepper Red paint cost extra). It also has AWD which I didn't order on my gas model, but at least I find value in that.

I was literally backing out of my parking spot when the salesman came out and offered it to me for $1500 ADM. A few weeks ago, on a warm day I discovered that the AC on my Taurus didn't work. I am not planning to spend any more money on that car. Last week I actually bypassed the AC pulley with a shorter belt to prevent the compressor from seizing up and shredding the belt and leaving me stranded on the side of the road. I was however dreading a summer without AC while waiting for my order to be built, especially knowing that others have had to wait over a year for their orders. I asked the salesman if they could do $1K ADM, he countered for $1300, and I said yes. However, the sales manager said they had to have the $1500 over.  I decided to accept that deal.

So now I own the truck pictured above and so far I am pleased with it.  I haven't bought gas yet to do a manual calculation, but the trip odo says I am getting about 26 MPG, which is the same as what my Taurus gets. It is not exactly what I wanted, but it looks great and I will be happy with it. I will be getting a spray in bedliner and a tonneau cover soon so I can leave my golf clubs (Maverik) in the bed securely. If my hybrid gets built, I might try to sell this one and still buy the hybrid. Or maybe even the gas one I ordered since it costs less than the one I bought. Caravana is still offering some people in some locations $5K over MSRP for slightly used Mavericks, which is part of the reason why some people predict they will be bankrupt soon.  If I could sell it for enough to cover the sales tax and more that I paid, it would make it easier to still buy one of my orders.

 

 

[iacas]

Ha, I thought this was a misspelled Callaway driver at first. Didn't see what forum it was in… 😉

Congrats! New cars are fun.