New user. Three time Ford Truck buyer. Went to my dealer here in Louisiana yesterday. They have a 2004 F-150 4X4 on the lot and the salesman says more 04"s are on the way...I asked him to price for me the Supercrew Lariat, it stickered at $34,835 His best price to me was $32183 plus TTL which I believe to be about $2000 above invoice (according to Kelly Blue Book.com). No rebate, no nothing. I am totally offended. I have been a loyal Ford owner and have been waiting for this truck since last year. following every little scrap of information, but but I am right now about one inch from calling that Chevy salesman back because that Avalanche with $4000 rebate is looking pretty good right now...for that matter that Tundra double cab and Titan King Cab are looking very interesting at the moment if I can wait that long....

 

I have leased a f150 for 5 years and if ford don't offer me something i will buy a nissan titan.

 

Let me add that I am talking about a small town dealer, but one from whom I have bought five vehicles in about 9 years (including my wife's two Windstar Vans)...and that is what I get ...$2000 over invoice..thanks a lot.

 

Tell them 1 or 200 over invoice or forget it. If they don't take you up on it your not out anything, but they are out a customer and a sale.

 

Hey DHebert, I think you should mosey on down to the New Truck Buyer forum sectionand you'll see that u can do much better than what that salesman is giving you.

 

i agree that we all want to get the best value for our dollar, but! i do find it amusing that you would allow a discount electronics store to make more money selling you a color tv or digital camera than a dealership that has 100 times more invested- who's technicians have the responsibility of your familys safety and your investment of hard earned coin.
i don't work for free and i don't expect anyone else to. i pay invoice plus 5% - 8% - dealer makes a living - salesman makes a living - dealer has profit to invest in training and business - a good dealer will be there for you if he can afford to be!
$2000 bump on a hot new model is not gouging - it's fair!!$100-$200 is not!!!!- as a result- you get what you pay for!
aloha!

 

The dealer that sold me an '04 loaded Lariat in April for $ 100 over invoice must be really dumb.

However this is a large dealer with 4 locations. But I could have got the same price from a small towen dealer farther away who was officially connected with my Credit Union's Buying Club.

There are too many "internal" rebates from Ford to the dealer in the Invoice price to think he can not survive nicely on these sales.

I am sure others know the details and there web sites that explain them. True dealer's cost is between 80 to 85 percent?

How else would dealer's make a profit on all their X/A/D/D whatever plan sales?

Those who pay closer to MSRP make things nicer for me.

He has every right to charge whatever he pleases and he may get it (even surcharges over MRSP) and I have every right to seek the lowest price, but no one needs to get angry.

However this case did not seem like good customer relations but I found my local small town dealer was not very interested in good CR either. He did not bother to return an email seeking to order the '04, so I went elsewhere.

 

I just found a really good site that will help you out. I'm sure there are others like it too.

carbuyingtips.com

The guy that says 2K over invoice is fair is exactly what type of buyer every salesman wants to deal with, that's ridicilous!

The dealer will make plenty of money even if you get it for Invoice price.

 

Ys 2k over invoice , jeebus .
A while back I walked onto a lot w/ no intention of buying and of course a salesman zeroed in on my position within me taking 5 steps of the lot and told us anycar right now 500 over invoice!

 

My dealer let me see the invoice when I ordered my Lariat.

It showed invoice total 32599.23 (suggested MSRP 37,245.00) of the invoice total the dealer got a holdback of $1,094.00 plus a financning cost credit of $155.00 for a total dealer cost of 31,350.23.

I am waiting to see what incentives are offered for Labor Day weekend and I am working off the $32,599.23 number. The dealer said without rebated he would be slightly above this number.

Before talking about any numbers the dealer is making $1094.00 in a holdback.

 

SCREW this dealer man. A Chevy or another make will satisfy your needs I'm sure. Ford thinks they have the "Holy Grail" here with this new 04' model. Time will tell but I think that ARROGANCE is runnning "wild" here. The Avalanche is a GREAT concept. And with the $4K rebate it even gets better. Competition is awesome today and the buyer has MANY options available to them. USE THEM to your benefit.

 

Hell Id take the Avalanche over a F-150, but Af-250 over anything!!!!
DONT GET JUICED BY THE DEALER !!!!

 

I appreciate all your comments...you guys have been helpful...I even respect "AlwaysBeen"s advice, although I am not persuaded by the suggestion that we owe the salesman a fair living...the salesman owes himself a fair living--I owe my kids a college education, and I could use that $2000. I am 99% on the Avalanche, just could not persuade myself to pick up the phone today, hoping the Ford dealer would call, he did not. Bottom line--guys like me cannot buy until there are more 04's on the market, and a few sitting on the lot a while.

 

hay you don't have too limit yourself to this one dealer check out others. or you can go to forddirect.com and you can even build your own truck and get refered to several other dealers in your aria for a quote. you may find one willing to deal. also you might try telling the dealer you know of a web dealer offering you 150 over invoice. thats what I did and I am getting mine for 100 over invoice. I ordered it last week. gota wait for it though hope it don't take too long.

 

are you guy's talkin about a CH#%Y? how could you even talk about thoses piles of crap?