Cavender Ford

I had one of the most disappointing dealership experiences I’ve ever had at Cavender Ford in Columbus, TX while trying to purchase a 2025 Bronco Raptor. The truck was advertised and presented to me as brand new. After receiving the dealer walk-around video, I discovered it had 315 miles on the odometer — far beyond normal delivery mileage for a new Ford (typically under 20 miles). When I asked, I was told it was because employees or customers “test drove” it long distances. It got worse: the hood graphic was ripped and peeling, and there was PPF residue all over the truck from a poorly done installation and removal. I was never told about any of this upfront — I had to find it in the video myself. Next issue: the taxes. The dealership provided me with a full written breakdown showing an agreed-upon out-the-door price. After I accepted it, they suddenly raised the OTD amount because their previous tax calculation was incorrect. Instead of honoring the price they put in writing, they tried to pass the added difference back to me. When I pointed out the inconsistency, the GM told me the deal was off. I’ve owned multiple Fords, including a Mustang, and this would have been my first Raptor. I expected better — honesty, transparency, and accountability. Instead, I ended up with a dealership that misrepresented a “new” vehicle, misquoted taxes, and then canceled the deal after being questioned about it. Extremely frustrated with how this was handled. I would strongly encourage shoppers to proceed carefully and ask a lot of questions if they consider buying here.

Carlos Conejo in the service department was very helpful, congenial, informative, and helpful. The waiting area was comfortable.

While buying a car at Cavender's Columbus location is easy enough, getting repairs under factory warranty is another story. In fairness to Cavender, a quick internet search under the topic "Ford dealerships' reluctance to honor factory warranty" will show you it's a pattern emerging at a lot of Ford dealerships, and Cavender is one of them. I bought a new Mustang GT there, and before even the three-year bumper-to-bumper warranty was out and the five year drive-train warranty was certainly intact, I brought it to the dealership because it had developed a noise in the differential. The first question the service manager asked me when I told him it was still under warranty was "Do you have extended or some other warranty?" meaning did I buy any warranty in addition to the factory warranty. Frankly, I don't even remember being offered one, and I think such an offer would have raised an eyebrow on my part considering I had been told, and have in writing, the car comes with factory warranty. Everyone knows that. But as it turns out, after a lengthy passive-aggressive push-back from this dealership trying to get my differential issue resolved, is that Ford warranties aren't iron-clad agreements and that it's up to the dealership whether to honor them. A lot of what Cavender does has to do with whether the dealership is going to get reimbursed by Ford. In the early days of this battle the dealership's general manager flat out told me that a differential repair "takes too much time" with no guarantee of reimbursement from Ford. Going back to the beginning of this battle with Cavender, the service manager took the car in and said he'd need it for a "couple of days." After leaving it for three and hearing nothing, I returned to the dealership to find nothing had been done beyond a short and inadequate test drive that showed up on the dash cam. I called Ford corporate, who got me a second appointment and a test drive with the general manager. He said he didn't hear the noise but would write on the service ticket the noise "isn't loud enough." Ford corporate had confirmed for me you shouldn't hear the differential from inside the car. After I wrote a review on this matter a general manager called me and said he wanted to get the problem resolved. In the course of conversation he asked me if I would "please get rid of (my) review," as I had written one by then. I thought "fair enough if he's willing to help." But as it turned out, he never really said he'd repair the differential, and it became just more smoke-and-mirrors tactics as they still haven't repaired the problem. Now they claim the noise isn't coming from the differential, but from the clutch -- a part that the manager told me Ford is willing to pay for. I find that new diagnosis a little difficult to swallow because the clutch is located behind the engine in the front of the car. This noise is undoubtedly in the back. The technician claims he knows it's a clutch issue because when he depressed the clutch pedal, the noise stops. What he overlooked was that when the clutch is depressed, the differential keeps running but torque is relieved, which reduces noise. I suppose we'll fix what isn't broken because that way Cavender will get its money. Lastly, I made an appointment to ride in the car with the tech so we could sort things out, but after another of my 40-minute drive to the dealership the service manager said he'd forgotten to call to tell me the technician was off that day. And that's where it stands. Had I known this dealership wouldn't be willing to spend a dime to honor factory warranty, I'd have never bought my car there. Sounds penny wise and pound poor to me.