black…MYstory

There was a time when Ford Motor Company enjoyed a great relationship with African Americans. Even to this day, black consumers are a vital part of Ford’s base and, given the the current dire financial situation the company finds itself in, these same black consumers may determine life or death for the company.

However, I wonder what black consumers would say about Ford’s apparent pattern of discrimination against its black auto dealers.

I live not too far from the city of Fairfield, Ohio. I bring this up because there was a successful Ford dealership there owned by former football player Mel Farr. When there was no longer a “Mel Farr Ford”, I assumed that he had retired. I was wrong.

Farr had a total of 11 dealerships. However, he and other black dealerships had trouble getting black customers financed through Ford Motor Credit, the primary lender for Ford dealers. Here’s where the story gets interesting:

Many dealers had complained about disparate treatment of their customer base by Ford Motor Credit Corp. This credit company was the primary financer for purchased autos. If you can’t get the majority of your customers approved by them you weren’t going to close many deals. The adverse treatment of Black customers would have a devastating impact on the sales of a Black owned dealership. We lost a lot of Black dealerships because of this and there have been many discrimination claims because of this choke hold by auto credit companies. Mel had a brilliant idea. He went to Wall Street and formed his own auto financing entity to sell his cars. The alternative was successful – too successful for Ford.

The relationship they had with Mel and his 11 auto dealerships soured to the point that Ford “pulled the rug from under him.” Today, the nation’s best known Black auto dealer is out of business. He is banned for life from owning a Ford dealership. In fact, and so cruelly, his two sons are banned for life also. That is how they treated their “star.” Think about the other Black dealers.

These issues go well beyond the Farr situation though:

Ford has consistently put new Black dealers out into the “boonies.” These rural and mostly White markets have less of a chance for success versus an urban market. The odds are stacked against the young Black entrepreneur from the beginning. The National Black Chamber of Commerce has formed a committee to look into this to determine how much of a racial pattern there is. We believe it is shocking and intentional.

We have also learned that Ford doesn’t fully share its financial information before closing a deal with a prospective Black franchisee which is counter to FTC (Federal Trade Commission) regulation. They also block new franchisees from having their attorneys and accountants review the purchase contracts prior to investing in the dealership with Ford.

Well, I don’t know about anyone else but, I sincerely doubt that my next car will be a Ford.

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