European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday March 22, 1992 the stars and stripes c Page 11 a amps John Millar maj. Steven Schlosser and the troublesome four wheel drive he purchased through the military system. The Ford from hell Safe from Page 10 car As a Way to sell very High priced options and to get used cars at very Low prices he said. The much touted �?o$99 Over dealer invoice is sometimes a scam used to draw in customers who then end up paying extra for options Gardner said. A that can to happen with our program. Everything we sell every Price we charge is checked and approved by cafes a Gardner said. According to cafes officials in Dallas this is not True. Only a few prices Are checked each year and those Are selected at random. There is no policy for How Many prices should be checked or How often they said. In March Gallagher said the last random Check occurred a a couple of months ago i  Gillis also notes that the cafes markups seem especially High in this period of soft car sales. A in the . Its clearly a buyers Market a Gillis said. A a that a because american automakers did such a Lousy Job predicting the Market. You can get a great Deal out  the big three automakers just reported their worst year in nearly a decade. General motors plans to close 21 North american plants and Cut 71,000 jobs during the next four years. Fords losses in �?T91 were nearly $2.5 billion were the worst in the company a history. The military new car program was authorized in 1962 by Congress to allow department of defense employees stationed outside the country to buy vehicles under controlled conditions for delivery either in the states or overseas. Congressional mandates restrict sales and advertising to american made cars. Gillis likens the program to mail order shopping. A a it a really just like ordering out of a Sears and Roebuck Catalon a Gillis said. In his opinion salespeople Are essentially order takers processing the paperwork and ordering the car from the states or from storage in Germany. The dealer in this Case a company hired by the manufacturers a simply orders it from the factory and delivers it to the customer. A minimum expense for the dealer a Gillis said. Minimum expense and healthy markups mean big business for companies involved in the new car program. Based on the average Price of a 1991 automobile sold through the cafes program $14,850, manufacturers Gross sales to the military in Europe this year will total $248 million. Cafes reports that its share of the profits is about $3 million. But cafes and the Auto manufacturers Only provide the Means for new car sales. William Munn marketing manager for cafes Europe emphasized that the Exchange does not sell cars. A fall we do is provide them a place to do business a he said. The meat of the program a sales to customers a is handled by a number of intermediary companies subcontracted to process orders transport and deliver cars and Monitor warranty service. Chrysler and general motors have hired overseas military sales group of Woodbury n.y., to sell their cars to the military overseas and to service the warranties on cars delivered to Europe. The new York company created military car sales for its european operations. Ford relies on its network of German dealerships to handle sales deliveries and warranty repairs. It is at the subcontractor level that the actual markup is determined. The manufacturers sell their cars to oms and Ford deutschland at Normal wholesale prices and these companies raise the Price to satisfy their profit requirements according to Eugene Leavy executive director of oms. Neither company would reveal its annual profits. Cafes is responsible for ensuring that All sales comply with the terms of the government contract Munn said. When disputes arise Between customers and the see cafes on Page 12 maj. Steven Schlosser was not about to drive his Ford Bronco backward for 75 Miles no matter what the German Mechanic said. A i drove it there Forward and i expected to drive it Home the same Way a Schlosser said. But after More than four months of repair work German Ford mechanics in Wiesbaden had reduced the Broncos Balky transmission to one working gear a reverse. Frustrated the mechanics wanted Schlosserr a dream machine now their Nightmare out of their lives. A they told me to drive it Back to Fulda backward or Tow it away but just get it off the lot a Schlosser said. The Bronco became a the Ford from hello at the hands of the German Ford garage said Schlosser who took it in for transmission repairs in june 1990. A ooh yes we can do anything. Our mechanics Are trained in the states a is How Schlosser recalled the promises of the Ford Salesman who sold him the $20,000 top of the line Bronco. A the German mechanics i dealt with had never been to the United states and i doubt they had Ever worked on an american transmission before a he said in a Telephone interview from his new Home in fort Knox by. Officials for Ford Germany said their mechanics Are not trained in the states but do receive specialized training on .-specification vehicles from mechanics who Are trained by Ford engineers. They say Schlosserr a Bronco had a defective transmission and was unrepairable. Schlosser who was stationed in Fulda at the time bought the Bronco in 1988 through the cafes new car sales program. With just Over two years and about 22,000 Miles on the vehicle the transmission would no longer shift automatically the major said. Following the directions written in the warranty Schlosser took the Bronco to the Ford Dealership in Fulda. Mechanics there referred him to the dealer in Wiesbaden 75 Miles away. Schlosser drove the Bronco to the Wiesbaden garage and was told the repairs would take a few Days. During the next five months the Wiesbaden dealer removed rebuilt and reinstalled the transmission at least three times Schlosser said. Each time the major was notified that the Bronco was ready. A on the first test drive it broke Down a he said. A the next time the transmission locked up. A the last time they claimed to have fixed it the transmission locked in reverse and the truck would Only drive  that a when the German mechanics gave up. And that a when the major a went  Schlosser refused to move the Bronco and instead wrote the Ford motor co. In Detroit demanding that the vehicle be replaced. He also asked to be reimbursed for his insurance payments during the months the vehicle could not be driven and for Long distance Telephone Calls from his Home to Wiesbaden and Fords German Headquarters in Cologne. Fords consumer appeals Board responded to Schlosserr a complaint with an unsigned form letter. In the letter Ford rejected Schlosserr a requests on the grounds that a German residents Are not protected by . Consumer appeals Laws. Schlosser now laughs about the a a idiotic response. A a in a not German a he said. A i know that for a  about that same time Fords German Headquarters in Cologne sent an Engineer to Wiesbaden to tackle the transmission. Five months after Schlosser had taken the car in he received his fourth notification that the Bronco was fixed. A sceptical Schlosser went to Wiesbaden and found that his Bronco was indeed repaired. A a it a been driving Fine Ever since a he said. Schlosser is Back in the United states. He has written to Ford asking that it rethink its policy of excluding overseas military members from the consumer appeals process. Ford has yet to respond he said. A Luke Britta Afes car Survey 1992 models Here Are the average invoice prices of various 1992 automobiles compared with the cafes prices. On the right is the percentage marked for each Model. The contractual ceiling for markup Over w Model invoice cafes Price markup Ford Taurus go Wagon $15,702 $16,695 6.3% Mercury Sable is $14,890 $15,828 6.3% Mustang 5.0 $12,930 $14,163 9.5% Mustang 5.0 $12,802 $13,453 6.0% general motors Geo metro Psi $8,852 $9,270 5.0% Chevrolet Cavalier Al $9,565 $10,505 9.8% Pontiac trans sport be $16,490 $17,585 6.6% Pontiac grand am be $11,494 $14,451 26.0% Chevrolet Beretta ghz $15,074 $16,244 7.8% Chevy Astro Van $13,311 $14,755 11.4% Corvette Coupe $31,211 $33,597 7.6% Chevrolet Blazer s10 $19,249 $19,755 2.6% Chrysler Dodge ram Charger 150s $17,598 $18,175 3.3% Plymouth acclaim $11,991 $13,223 10.0% Dodge spirit $12,746 $14,765 a 15.8% Plymouth laser is Turbo $14,229 $15,719 10.5% Chrysler Lebaron conv. $16,197 $17,132 5.6% Plymouth laser Hatchback $12,320 $12,892 4.5% Plymouth laser Hatchback $12,320 $12,892 4.5% Chrysler Lebaron Coupe $14,260 $15,171 6.4% Plymouth voyager be $16,607 $18,027 8.6% a average of Edmund s 1992 Price guide Black Book pc Carbooke and automobile invoice service average markup 8.3% by manufacturer Ford 7% pm 8.7% Chrysler 10.6% cars exceeding 7% 10 models by manufacturer Ford 1 of 4 pm -5 of 8 Chrysler 4 of 9