Auto Destination Fee ‘Chicanery’ Dupes Consumers Into Paying More, Says Ford Class Action Lawsuit

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A California woman has lodged a class action lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company claiming the automaker misled consumers about auto destination fees. 

Lead plaintiff, Mary Hawkins, filed the class action lawsuit in California federal court last week. Hawkins claims that she and other consumers were duped into thinking they could not negotiate so-called auto delivery fees in violation of state consumer protection laws.  

Ford’s destination fee amounts to an average of nearly $1,000 and applies to all new Ford and Lincoln vehicles for sale in the United States, says Hawkins. She says she paid the whopping fee when she purchased a Lincoln MKT new in July of 2019 thinking it covered the costs of transporting the vehicle to the California dealership and was non-negotiable.  

The destination fee Hawkins and other consumers pay is actually far less than the actual cost of delivering each vehicle to the dealership, says the class action lawsuit, which accuses the automaker of misleading consumers into thinking they need to pay more.  

“Ford’s Destination & Delivery fee has little correlation to the cost of delivering the Class Vehicles to their intended destination (i.e., Ford’s dealerships) at all, and instead, has become a huge profit center for Defendants,” contends the Ford class action lawsuit. “Indeed, the Destination & Delivery fee allows Ford to extract hidden markups on the sale of the Class Vehicles from unsuspecting consumers.” 

Hawkins says that Ford tricks consumers into thinking their vehicles cost less using the auto destination fee, labeled as “Delivery & Destination” on the sticker price of the vehicle. Ford treats this fee as separate from the MSRP of the vehicle. Pulling this so-called fee out makes the price of the vehicle appear smaller. In addition, Ford misleads consumers into thinking the fee covers the delivery of the vehicle and cannot be negotiated, claims the plaintiff.   

“With this chicanery, the vehicle itself appears less expensive, and Ford’s artificial ‘Destination & Delivery’ fee can be used as a vessel for profit that would otherwise appear in the cost of the vehicle,” alleges the Ford class action lawsuit.  

Indeed, the lawsuit points out that, while fuel and shipping costs have not increased significantly over the past decade, Ford’s destination fee has skyrocketed by 50 percent. In contrast, competitors have only marked modest increases of less than 20 percent for their auto destination fees.  

Hawkins accuses Ford of unjustly enriching itself by misleading consumers about its auto destination fees. The Ford class action lawsuit accuses the automaker of violating California consumer protection laws.  

Hawkins is seeking damages for herself and other California consumers who paid these fees to Ford.  

Have you paid unexpected auto destination fees to Ford or any other carmaker? We want to hear from you! Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.  

The lead plaintiff is represented by Jeffrey D. Kaliel and Sophia G. Gold of Kaliel Gold PLLC.  

The Ford Class Action Lawsuit is Hawkins v. Ford Motor Company, Case No. 5:21-cv-00881 in U.S> District Court for the Central District of California.  

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