You may have a valid point. I've found some window stickers hard to find -- and even harder to read -- when they're attached inside a crewcab's deeply tinted back-door windows.

HTH,
Jim / crewzer

 

Window stickers are a legal requirement. I've seen pretty good addendum stickers that look like window sticker add ons with accessory prices as well. It's possible if you just sampled one truck the sticker was removed for some reason (prepped for a sale that fell through, removed to be used demo unit, etc). I pulled off a sticker yesterday on the truck I used for plowing, and will be taping it back up today when I get to it.

Thank you pocket for saving me a ton of extra typing!

 

Try never to go to a car dealership unless:
1. You want to LOOK (only)
2. You want to test drive (good luck getting that without getting pressured"
3. You want to sign your purchase agreement when you're buying

Always do all your business and negotiating with dealerships on the phone!

Use www.TrueCar.com to get a very good price point reference (depending on the vehicle their price is almost always below MSRP sticker).

Negotiate on the phone with dealer 1. Reduce that price by $500 (or some amount) and call dealer 2 to get his price and see if they can match or beat it. Call dealer 3 using same tactic. You will soon find the "basement" - the lowest price.

Then call the dealer you want to buy from (can be one of the dealers you called previously) to negotiate the final purchase price.

Do the deal on the phone using your financing or theirs. You don't need to go to the dealership until you're signing the purchase agreement (you can avoid buying any extras this way). And, if you really want to stay home you can have them come to you to sign and they will deliver the vehicle to your door.

Don't go to dealerships unless you're a glutton for punishment

 

Went back today at lunch and this was indeed the case, I was wrong...sticker was barely visible behind rear tint. My apologies everyone. Great advice in this thread which is much appreciated.

 

Thanks for the update. No need to apologize. This makes the most sense. I hope you can find the truck you're looking for.

 

I disagree with this 100% and have bought ALL my cars as 2 separate deals. What I pay for your car and what you pay for mine are two separate deals.

I always tell them I have a trade but that it does not matter what it is at that time. I then get an agreed up on price for their vehicle. Once we agree then we move to my trade. If we can't agree on a trade value there is no deal. By agreeing on the value of their truck first, you have set a base line for negotiation of the value on yours. I want maximum value out of my truck like he does his. If he wants my truck at 20% off retail I get his at 20% off retail. They try to say they "need room" to resale the truck. I say I need room for the depreciation when I drive it off the lot.

Every deal I have signed, I walked away happy.

 

Out of curiosity, are most dealers as willing to negotiate on a built to order truck the same as one on that is already on the lot, or is it full MSRP for built to order? I know it is all situational, just curious.

 

Most are willing to deal on an order as well. Walk in, offer $1k under invoice for an ordered truck, settle for $500 under if necessary, and you've both got a good deal IMO. That's what I did.

 

Most should. If you ask for a commercial account manager/fleet manager you should have an easier time with it, but they are grouchy like me and just want to put an order in and be done, not much of the back and forth time wasting. So know what you want, be ready to buy, know what a fair price is, and go make a quick order! Or you can email 20 dealers and see who comes back cheapest and hope they are being as upfront as the guy who gave a real number and knows their product to help keep you from missing something. Actually takes more times to do it the internet troll way than just to educate yourself quick!

 

Uh huh, that's some good advice right there.

 

make no mistake, some dealers and salesman make berny maddof look like a honest guy. recently i inquired about ordering a truck and the salesman said he couldnt order my specific color and tried pushing me into a truck on the lot. later that day i called another dealer and he checked the computer and said theres no problem ordering the color i wanted

 

No, not a con. This is the manufactures suggested retail pricing. The sticker that is. I don't like games as much as the next guy, and more so when it comes to spending my hard earned money. Now I can tell you this much, in the first 1/4 of the new model year, you WON'T negotiate a price on a brand new superduty. It's just how it is. They are just now, in March beginning to loosen up some on the prices on these trucks. It doesn't come from the dealership either, it comes straight from FORD. You should start to see some incentives come around as well. I'm not sure as I haven't actually looked at the new trucks and programs lately.
You do run in to some very undesirable characters (Salesman/Woman) at dealerships, I will say that. But not all of them are shady. If you get a bad feeling from a sales person, you have an option to get up and leave.
Back in 2000-04 at the request of a very close friend of mine, I went to work for him at Valencia Ford, now Power Ford in Valencia Ca. He asked me for his help, because of my love & knowledge of the Superduty line. Well being from Texas, it gave me the ability to work with and understand the Country folk North of us in Bakersfield for anyone that know this area.They are an Honest no BS kinda people, just like me, and a lot of you here.
So, now lets begin. I have a suggestion to all that decide to go into a dealership to buy a truck or car. DO YOUR HOME WORK. In this day and age with all of the information available to us via the internet, if you go into a dealer and get taken advantage of. Look in the mirror, because you have no one to blame but yourself. When this happens, people blame the salesman right a way. It's called accountability. It's your fault, not anyone else's. I'm not condoning this practice, so don't anyone misunderstand me here. So moving on. You go to your local dealership and find and drive the truck you need or want. During the drive, the salesman is going to ask you some key questions. He wants to gather enough info here to figure out whether you have any real intentions and or are serious about buying the vehicle or not. Time is money. A very good salesman, during the meet and greet and walk around and prior to the drive is gonna make this assessment very quickly. Is he/she a buyer or just a tire kicker. So anyhow, before the drive, during and after is where the process really begins. So let say you decide to leave out the trade because your not sure if you want to trade it in. No big deal. As long as you don't owe anything on it, your fine. If you do owe on your trade, and you choose to with hold this info, and decide to throw it in later, you will screw yourself in several ways.
1. You will not get the new vehicle for the price/payment that you just spent hrs negotiating on.
2. You will have to start the process all over again.
3. Now you just pissed off the sales person as well, and his time is money.
So my suggestion is, no don't leave out the trade if you are planning on trading it in, if you owe money on it.
One more thing, unless you are paying cash, and you are SEROIUS about buying the vehicle in question, when the salesman asks you for your info to run your credit. It's always a good idea to give it to him. If you don't, and ask him to give you numbers on the car, he's going to give you numbers based of off the sticker price. With out seeing your credit score and history, and or if you can afford the vehicle, it's impossible to "Work the Deal". So let's say the salesman does price out the vehicle according to what the customer told him, "My credit is Golden" and his credit comes back less than stellar. He just spent the last 2-4 hrs with a customer and in some cases all day trying to help this guy that can't afford it in the first place. It happens about 30% if not more of the time.
If you try this, you will not get that vehicle for the down payment and the price you just spent hrs/all day driving and negotiating on. Now you have to start the process all over again, because you weren't forth coming about your info.. So, Now once again, you just pissed off the sales person. Time is money. Remember that?
I know at this point some of you are thinking, Who cares, they're all a bunch of *** hats anyhow. I'll just go some where's else. They're not the only game in town. Well, how would you feel if someone came to your work and treated you like this. Everyone's time is worth something.. This is why most, NOT ALL salesman/woman are the *** hats that we know them as. You do this enough times with people on a car lot, and it gets old real quick. There's a saying in the Automotive sales industry, "Buyer's are liars". Again, I'm by no means condoning this kind of thought/behavior, I'm simply offering another perspective, and filling in some gaps here.
So, let's move on. Once you've gotten thru the negotiation process, you should have in front of you all the info you need to make an intelligent and informed decision on whether or not you can afford the payment. if you have a trade in the price will also be in front of you. If you owe, and how much you owe, and how much they are willing to give you for your trade. If your not upside down on it, (You owe more than it's worth) or you have equity, (the vehicle is worth more than you owe) you have a few options.
Upside down;
1. Take the payoff and add it to your new vehicle loan.
2. Take the trade out of the deal and sell it yourself.
A. depending on how much you owe you could break even.
B. Make up some of your down payment back, money in your pocket.
Equity on your trade;
1. You could negotiate this money back into the deal to reduce your monthly payment.
Ok, moving on. In front of you, you should have all of this info regardless of where you stand, or which option you've chosen. You should see also your interest rate in front of you.
*If you don't see the interest rate on the paper in front of you ask them to see it before you go any further!
*Ask to see your credit score print out! They have too show it you. If you feel that your credit score is good or very good, ask them to pitch your loan to another bank for a better interest rate, which in turn will lower your monthly payment, or come in with a your own pre-approved loan, which is usually a better rate than the dealer can do. Not always, but most of the time it can be.
So at this point, they will ask you to commit to the deal. You say yes and it goes to the finance manager. Here is where you need to be very cautious and very careful, because the finance manager's can be the shadiest guy in this entire process. Everyone lets their guard down at this point because they've finalized the deal right. Yup, but this guy is going to try to upsell you, Extended warranties, Alarms, Clearcoat paint sealer, Bedliner blah blah blah. Most of this stuff you can have installed later and much cheaper somewhere else. I've even heard them go as far as telling the customer that the alarm is part of vehicle therefore it stays and you have to pay for it. BS....Now for the most important part of this entire sale process. When the sales manager put's the paper work down in front of you to sign, take it away from him and go thru all the numbers you negotiated with the salesman/ Sales Manager out on the floor. Ok, now here is where some finance managers try to get a little sneaky, by bumping your interest rate, which will in turn affect your payment. Or change the number on your trade in and so on. You won't know either until you get your first payment in the mail, and now it's to late.. DOUBLE CHECK THESE NUMBERS!!!
Now if you do catch some numbers that are different from what you negotiated and you bring it up, they will simply say something to affect of "oh sorry Haa haa haa, computers, sometimes between finance and sales things get mixed up or some BS like this. No, they changed it on purpose! Again read the contract (numbers)..
Now here's some more info for those who don't want to haggle and spend the entire day at the dealership. You can negotiate yourself just as good a deal thru the internet department as you can going in to the dealer. Sometimes even better. I might have left this out at the beginning, but when you start the process, ask for the invoice on the vehicle, it'll give you a good starting point. Generally if you pay around invoice it's considered a pretty good deal. Once again, don't go into a dealership and the first 1/4 on the new model year and say "Hey show me the Invoice, this is what I'm gonna give you for this Superduty". LOL.. NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!!! They WILL NOT deal on the new trucks at this point in the year. Again, it's not the dealership, it's FMC that will not let the dealership do this.


Now, the best times to go into a dealer ship, is on the first Monday of the month, right when they open the door in morning. They're eager to start the month off right, and will usually always give you what you want, within reason of course.
Next, the last day of the month right before they close. They want to finish off the month as strong as possible too, and again, they just want to move a unit, so with in reason they will drop they're pants here too.
The reason they do this sometimes is because the dealership get incentives from FMC at the end of the month and year for the number of vehicles sold. Again a good time to get a vehicle under invoice.
Next to SVT's, the middle to high end Superduty's bring in the most money. This is why I tell you don't expect rebates and incentives and or to negotiate a deal on these trucks early on in the new model year.
One last idea, go see the Fleet manager. Everyone thinks that because he's the Fleet manager he can't sell you a car/Trk. Nonsense, he can't go out in the showroom or the lot and pk up costumers, but if you ask for him, he will almost always sell you the Truck just as cheap if not cheaper than any salesman can and with out spending all day there as well. The process is much shorter because the Fleet Manager makes his own deals. He doesn't answer to the Sales manager like the salesman do. Also, he gets paid on volume, so he will move this unit much cheaper and quicker.
Some of you may have a salesman that you've been dealing with for years, and that you trust. This is very good. It's very hard to find a salesman that you can trust, and that sticks around for years. The turn over on Car sales staff is ridiculous.
Lastly, not all salesman and finance managers are shady or crooks, but just GET INFORMED before you go to the dealership. Remember, these guy do this every day and it's not that they're smarter than you or me, but they are constantly searching for new ways to out smart us to hold their money. They have families to support just like you and me.
If you can find someone that works at a dealership they might help you with one of their D-plans (Employee Discount). I use to get 3 a year, so I would offer them up to my Family and friends. For example, when I bought my 02 Excursion Limited the sticker was 51K and change. I bought in May 02. Using my D-Plan, I got it for 41K. But, here again you won't get these D-plan's, rebates incentives etc etc until about 6 months or so have gone by. FMC has complete control over when these plans/incentives/ & Rebates can be released..
Now, don't expect to use a D-plan on a focus and get 10K off the sticker. It doesn't work that way! The more expensive the vehicle, the bigger the discount will be using the D-plans. Also if you get a D-plan from someone, there is no haggling on the price. It's one or the other. Take your D-plan and go, or go haggle yourself a deal. Anyway, I hope this helps to clarify a few things on how the process works. This process is not set in stone, but most every dealership works this way.

 

CountryCar you offer some good advice, but some of it is dead wrong too!

FMC has nothing to do with what we will sell a car for. We legally, and by franchise rules, give a car away (we sometimes do as a major prize!). We could also sell it for double MSRP if someone was willing to pay it. Frankly I sell vehicles for the same basic figure 24/6 (we can't sell on Sundays, religion or not, I really hope this never changes). So while some markets may warrant tough prices, the general idea is that you can get the same deal from the dealer any day of the year with good success. The rebates do change of course.

I would also differ on the idea that the first Monday of the month is your best bet. The end of month specials are real. Even with Ford ending the volume growth bonus a few months ago, there is still a push to hit numbers. We have some very smart retail sales managers, but they are far more eager for those end of month paddings than logic warrants.

The last thing is on D plan. You get 2 per calendar year, and IDK what it might have been when you were in the industry, but you can't give that out to friends. D plan can be shared with direct family members (Parents, step parents, siblings, kids), but not aunts and uncles even.

Otherwise I think that's generally sound advice, or at least not worth disputing much!

 

I have been corrected here on some of my post. I could be wrong about some of this. I'm sure many things have changed since I last worked at Ford. That's where I mentioned in my post about not keeping up with how the market and or incentives rebates etc have changed.
Now, as far as Monday being the best day. I said Monday being one of the best days as well as end of the month. I merely gave some examples on when the best time to go in and make a purchase is.
As I said, I got 3 D-plans a year. And yes, I gave them out to whom ever I chose to give them too.

 

D plan current requirements per Ford