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.

Overall experience was good in purchasing a new truck in May 2025. Carlos Conejo, Service Advisor, was excellent in facilitating the repair process after almost 5 weeks working with sales person and her boss. Once Carlos got involved in our situation there were phones calls and arrangements were made to repair our truck immediately. He was able to get me a loaner car. Originally I was told by Joel(don’t know his title) that I would have to wait in his showroom all day and wait for my truck to be repaired. I knew that was not going to happen, and was called by Carlos to tell us that we would have a loaner car. Our truck was ready the next afternoon and probably 4 phone calls from Carlos with updates about the repairs. Also met with GM Reggie Ford and voiced our concerns about the lack of communication in those 5 weeks. Mr.Ford was very intent on listening to us about our conversations with his car dealership and was so professional in doing so. Left his office with better feelings than before. Thank you Mr. Ford and Carlos Sue and James Gurka

Purchasing the truck was an ok experience . However, after that things became less than pleasant. We stopped by the dealership and pointed out some issues that that needed to be repaired. Both, the salesperson and her boss examined our concerns and agreed that repairs were required and they would coordinate the work and get us a loaner and call us when these arrangements were completed. Over a week goes by and no one from the dealership contacts us and we have to initiate a call to request an update on work on our truck.Again, another week goes by and we have to call the dealership to discuss the timeframe for the necessary repairs . We are once again informed that they are still trying to coordinate the necessary work. Days go by and we call again and were told work would be scheduled but they could not provide us a loaner car. We were told that we could hang out in the dealership till work is completed, an offer we declined. The next day we received a call from Carlos Conejo, an employee in the service department, explaining that he was now assuming the the responsibility of completing the necessary work on our truck and that he would provide us with a loaner car . Carlos called us several times that day with detail information as to when we should bring the truck,procedure of repairs , and the time frame for work to be completed. We delivered the truck the next day to Cavender’s , Carlos provided us with a loaner and would call us to report on the progress of repairs. He called us again to inform us that work would not be completed today and that work will be completed tomorrow. The next day Carlos called to tell us that the work has been completed and we can come to get our truck anytime we wish. When we arrived at the dealership we met Carlos and he took us to inspect the repairs completed on our truck to make sure everything met our satisfaction. Carlos not only oversaw the necessary repairs in a very timely manner, but, he also had our truck completely detailed. Carlos proved to be a man of his word. Carlos introduced us to the general manager. Reggie Ford, who listened to our concerns and expressed sincere disappointment in our overall experience at his dealership. Reggie also commented on how much he appreciated our frank and sincere conversation and that he will use it to help make his employees better understand the importance of good customer service. My wife and I both lost respect and confidence in the Cavender Ford dealership in Columbus, but, Carlos and Reggie have restored our faith and trust in them. With Carlos and Reggie in the building we will gladly do business there again.Thanks James

Don't buy online from Cavender: We live in Arizona, and I asked the sales manager at Cavender Ford, Joel Bocanegra, to carefully inspect a 2024 RAM 2500 truck before my wife and I made the 1,150 mile trip to Columbus, TX. Joel went to the lot, called me back, and said, "This is a clean truck. You don't need to worry about any unpleasant surprises from this truck." We completed our purchase on Friday afternoon then left to pick up an enclosed car trailer in Waco where there was a dust storm with rain. On Sunday in New Mexico, we found a wand car-wash high enough for our trailer, and when I used the trailer tongue to climb into the high truck-bed to dry the top of the cab, I found one long cut down to the metal and multiple, parallel scrapes across the roof starting near the back and ending about half way to the front. Even if Cavender did not know about the roof damage (which cannot be seen from the ground) before they bought the truck at auction, they would have found it when they washed the truck during the two months it was on their lot. Cavender should have told us about this damage (which must be repaired to keep the roof from rusting) but instead allowed us to make a 2,300 mile trip based on their word that, "You don't need to worry about any unpleasant surprises from this truck."

it was difficult to attain the information I was searching for on this transaction over the past week

The service center at Cavender Ford has been great. I have been taking my vehicles there for a few years now. Carlos is my service guy; he always goes over and beyond to help me out. I highly recommend the service department, ask for Carlos he will take good care of you.

I’m from California and it was time for oil change, ect. I saw Cavender Ford off the 10 and pulled in. Carlos Conejo helped me. Very professional, and thorough. I didn’t wait an hour and everything is awesome. Great service!!!

Cavender Grande Ford has Awesome service, James Del Bosque Took care of my Wifes 2023 Ranger Tremor in for service. I would recommend Cavender Grande Ford to anyone looking to purchase a Ford truck or SUV