Ford Says No
The car dealership business can be cutthroat, with intense competition, demanding sales targets, and even battles over who gets to own a store. Ford recently found itself in one such ownership battle after blocking a buyer who planned to acquire a struggling Maryland dealership.
The latest development is that Ford won the appeal, wiping out the roughly $5.8 million a lower court awarded in 2024 to Charles Winegardner, who intended to buy Hunt Ford in La Plata. According to Automotive News, the dispute centered on the Blue Oval exercising its right of first refusal, which Winegardner challenged under a Maryland law enacted in 2009 that restricts its use.
Different Plans for Hunt Ford
For context, Winegardner agreed to buy Hunt Ford in 2019 after its owners planned to retire. But after evaluating the dealership’s sales performance, facilities, and demand in the La Plata market, Ford exercised its right of first refusal, as the company planned to turn the location into a service-only center instead. The move was also part of the brand’s national dealership consolidation strategy, which essentially means reducing the number of dealers in certain markets and concentrating sales among fewer locations.
Winegardner sued Ford in 2020 for blocking the transaction. He also met Ford’s minimum qualifications and was a dealer in good standing. At the time, Winegardner owned four dealerships in southern Maryland and had “a successful history of turning around underperforming dealerships,” according to a brief he filed with the Appellate Court of Maryland.
Ford argued that while Maryland’s 2009 restriction limits a manufacturer’s ability to exercise a right of first refusal in certain dealership sales, its agreement with Hunt Ford dated back to 2001. The key question was whether the restriction could apply retroactively to that contract. Winegardner initially prevailed in a lower court, but Ford won on appeal in September 2026. Winegardner now plans to seek further review.
Jared Levenson/Autoblog
Live to Fight Another Day
Ford assigned its purchase rights to Tom Kody, who already owned five Ford dealerships in southern Maryland. Kody later purchased Hunt Ford, which currently operates as a service center. Timothy Maloney, Winegardner’s attorney, expressed disappointment in the decision, warning that it could have a “broad impact upon all kinds of dealer regulatory laws.”
Given Ford’s massive U.S. sales and dealership network, the automaker can find itself involved in legal disputes across different parts of its business. One of its legal battles this year involves an Iowa dealer, which Ford and Stellantis’s financial arms separately sued over alleged floorplan fraud involving 81 vehicles financed by both lenders.
