What is the best way to get an idea as to actual invoice price on a truck? Dealers seem eager to sell at invoice minus rebate, but invoice seems hard to pin down. Have tried TrueCar, KBB etc but curious as to what others have found most accurate. Any recommendations would be appreciated, thanks!

 

Give us the msrp and invoice

 

MSRP:67325
Quoted Invoice: 63673

 

That's 3700 off, I think you should be able to get 10% with rebates, I dunno, I bet Frantz would know if that invoice is legit or not.

 

If I had the VIN I could probably pull the invoice. The best way is to simply ask for the invoice. I have no trouble sharing the invoice with folks. I say "Here is the invoice, here is the kickback money from ford (Holdback, but that's more of an industry term), I have about $300 in cost billed tot he unit so that leaves $X profit. On cheap work trucks most folks are happy to have a straight forward invoice offer. on the expensive ones it's normally good to "split the holdback", which actually goes to consumer benefit as we still have the $300 cost. That's for PA. Some states will vary because of how numbers are hidden per state laws and sneaky stuff.

Example, I have a $69425 truck on my lot. Invoice is $65292 and Holdback is $2048

So the numbers you were shown sound about right to me. These trucks are darn expensive. Strictly speaking on the sale of a new truck, there isn't that much money to be made for the dealers. True car and the others bring invoice as a pretty common starting place, and less than $2k to work with on a high end truck, the cheap ones really are practically "here's the price" deals. The problem is laws very by state with how things are advertised. Saying you should be able to get 10% off a $67k truck is unrealistic without rebates. Rebates can max out to make that happen, but you have to qualify for several than aren't universally available.

 

Well said Frantz, your expertise and honesty is appreciated.

 

I don't agree with the darn expensive part. I paid 69k for my loaded lariat long bed diesel F350 and I feel like I got an incredible value. For reference, I work in the oil industry where we just paid $45k for a valve that is about the size of a basketball and weighs 250 pounds. It has one sealing surface on a valve plug to cage inside and very little complexity. I know we are industry and aren't retail customers, but watching how much simple pressure sensors cost for us versus what they cost for a truck blows me away. Frankly, for what we get, these trucks are dirt cheap.

 

NP.

Too lazy to look it up again, but I did the math based on $1500 in general rebates, $750 owner loyalty, and $500 for one of the other ones (military/ college/ EAA, whatever). That would make 10% doable. As the year goes on, you can certainly get better. Many states allow pricing to not include the destination cost, which is about $1200. You can normally spot this in the fine print on the bottom of websites. Another thing I see often is adding on lots of options and then discounting them down to show a bigger percentage ($999 pin stripes). These coupled with doc fees of over $500 and advertising with all possible (but unlikely) rebates makes some prices seem fantastic, and they are by the proper definition of the word. Dealers generally make as much on day one of a truck vs when it's a leftover (until its a really really old leftover, but thats a whole different topic). It's the rebates from Ford crossed with availability and flexibility of what you want that matters. I could have waiting to buy my last car and got better rebates, but I didn't want to. I don't feel bad about it. For others it's a bigger deal.

 

Fair enough AK, but the truck in my profile picture is what I can afford =-P So it's expensive to my pocket at this point in my life.

 

Yeah I think I'll disagree. New vehicles are extremely expensive. I'm paying cash for a 51k XL, sure I could buy a platinum, but I cant part with money like that for a pickup truck.

 

Fair enough back at ya. And I understand that fact. But our society needs very few of these big 4 door diesels. People complain about how expensive they are, then go out and buy them. The giant campers (travel trailers/5th wheels), large boats, large enclosed toy trailers, etc., are something relatively new (last few decades). They have only gained huge popularity and have become common place because these vehicle manufacturers have researched and built equipment capable of hauling them. I like it when people tell me that back in the 60's, they paid 3k for a pickup they bought. I like to ask, would that pickup tow a 15,000 pound trailer down the highway safely at 65 miles per hour, while hauling your entire family in lavish comfort, and average 12 miles to the gallon? I think we know the answer. And when people say "they don't build them like they used to", I wonder if they take into consideration that their little classic pickup didn't tow heavy loads and only has 60k original miles on it, while their 1 ton diesel pickup has 250k miles and nearly half of those miles are towing obscene loads.

I'm am consistently amazed at the capabilities, comfort, reliability, and efficiency of my new 2017 super duty. It blows my mind. I smile every time I drive it. Its always fun to consider the fact that the computer in my truck is more powerful than the entire computer system at Johnson Space center used for mission control during the Apollo missions to the moon in the 60's. I'm smiling right now.

 

Start from MSRP and work dealers from there. "Invoice" is a bs number and can vary widely between dealers.

MSRP is MSRP, except for added dealer options.

FWIW, TrueCar used to be extremely accurate. It was so accurate that dealers made them change it.

 

Invoice is identical to any dealer in the US. It may vary by when the truck is ordered, but it's standardized by Ford. "Cost" may vary based on accounting practices and where things are billed as I began to outline above.

 

Agree. I have dealt with dealers like yourself (straight-up types) and I am generally a repeat customer.

That said, cost/invoice (that is the real number) is generally not shared with the customer. That has been my experience, and I find the larger the dealership, the more accurate the previous statement has been.

 

Good point! I'm in the same industry, but I sell those sensors and valves. Our customers are the supply stores and some large OEMs. Depending on the pressure rating and materials....there are valves that cost more than these trucks.

That being said, trucks cost a lot more now than they used to. On the other hand, they have many of the hallmarks of a luxury vehicle and can still pull a house and crash through the mud. Plus, if you are unfortunate enough to be in an accident, the survivability for the occupants is much higher today.