After much consideration, I will move forward with ordering a new truck. I have my 2005 V10 F250 listed for sale and will trade in my 2016 F150 3.5 EB Lariat. The plan was to order a very loaded race red Lariat but things got side tracked last night when my wife and I went to look at trucks. We sat in a Lariat first. Of course, it was identical to my F150. That isn't a bad thing but when spending nearly $80K out the door, I like the idea of a new truck feeling as new as possible. We then looked at and drove a Platinum. We were both impressed with the more upscale feel of the cabin and rather enjoyed the massaging seats. I am really torn between the classy feel of the Platinum and my love of bright red Super Duties. At the moment I have a very classy looking F150 and a very red Super Duty. I haven't needed to choose. Now, I only get one. I am leaning strongly towards a Magnetic Platinum. Could go ruby red but that is a very different feel than a true red. Maybe I can buy a race red Mustang in a couple years to satisfy that desire!

Here is the truck I plan to order:



I basically checked all the boxes. This truck will be my daily driver. I currently have a 35', 9000 lbs. bumper pull trailer but I want this truck to be future proof as I will inevitably get a fifth wheel at some point in the next few years. I am ordering the High Capacity Trailer Tow Package because getting a F350 is out of the question. I receive a vehicle allowance through my employer and one of the restrictions is no 1 ton trucks. The HCTTP will give me nearly all of the mechanical capability of the F350 but not the yellow sticker on the door jamb to match. I am an "intent of the rules" guy as oppose to a "letter of the law" guy so I am okay with having the actual capability even if the artificial paper capability isn't there.

There are nine Ford dealers in the area and I have solicited pricing via email from a couple so far. The internet manager from the dealer that I visited last night responded to my request immediately. It was a very positive experience. I told him that I qualify for X Plan pricing but expect a better deal. He said that X Plan is a nice discount but left meat on the bones. He promised a quote by noon today. They should have around $2300 in holdback. If they will go $500-$1000 under invoice, I will probably just order through them and be done with it. Plus I have a $3000 PCO. My goal is to break even on my trade (I've only made two years of payments on a $0 down, 0% six year loan) and use the proceed from the sale of my F250 as a down payment.

I like validation as much as the next guy. Any comments or suggestions? If anyone has any insight into the dark marsala interior, please share. I like the idea of it but pictures on the internet are all over the place. It looks dark brown in some and overly red in others. Hopefully I can find a truck in the area that has that interior so I can see it in person.

 

I've looked at the Platinum and a fully loaded out Lariat. I don't really notice a difference in the interior. The only option you can't get on the Lariat is the massaging seats and they don't impress me that much. Not so much of a massage as it just feels like the lumbar support kind of deflates and reinflates to me. You also get the big badge on the tailgate which I find kind of gaudy, but that's just personal taste. I also don't like the silver badges on the seat.

The real rub comes in the MSRP and the invoice of the 2 trucks. Like you called out, the MSRP is about $5.5K difference. However, the invoice difference on the 2 trucks is more. You'll see about a $6 markup on the Platinum, and about $8K on the Lariat. You get to take more money off of a lower priced truck when you buy. So you're probably looking at a $7-8K difference on the 2 trucks out the door, at least that's what I'm finding. If you look at book value on the 2 trucks over time, that $7-8K doesn't carry over, so it's not like you get all of that back at some point in the future when you sell/trade it either. You get back less than half of it. And that $3K PCO is a larger percentage off MSRP on a Lariat than it is on a Platinum.

All of that said, I'm finding fully loaded out Lariats extremely difficult to find. If you want ALL the options, buying a Platinum makes it easy, and I'm starting to wonder if paying that extra premium isn't worth it just to get this process over with.

 

The platinum invoice is 94% of MSRP. For the very loaded Lariat I built, invoice is 93.8% of MSRP.

 

I too went for the Platinum and have absolutely no regrets! It's a very qualified opinion - I've had the truck all of two days! LOL

I ordered the Trailer Camera/TPMS system to add to my F350. Note however that the lion's share of the installation effort is on the trailer itself. On the F350 side, it is simply connecting a harness and replacing the trailer sockets. I chose my Platinum off of the lot (2018) and it only didn't have the uplifter switches. Thanks to a great thread on this forum, I've already ordered the parts and harnesses to add it.

For a deal comparison...

MSRP on my 2018 F350 was $79,875. Invoice was $75,309. X-plan price is $75,282. They agreed to sell me the truck for $75,000. There's a $1,000 "Bonus Cash" rebate currently and then they also accepted my $3,000 "Personal Cash Offer". So, I was $4,309 BELOW invoice for the F350.... but admittedly still a boatload of money. While the PCO was very significant, the particular dealer was about $2,000 OVER KBB trade-in blue book on my Ram so this pretty much cemented the deal.

Good luck on locking your deal in. (Note: I was working with a different dealer on Saturday for a 2019. They too offered a good price on their F350 (around invoice), but they were $3K BELOW KBB on my trade. So, yes, there was a $5K difference between dealerships on the trade-in so you (unfortunately) may need to shop that.)

 

Thanks. I know the trade in thing may require a little shopping around. For what its worth, the sales guy I dealt with yesterday said that the dealership is pretty aggressive on trade in values. At this point, I have not even mentioned trade to them. For the first time in my life, I am dictating how this process unfolds. I'm having fun and it will be a little disappointing once it's over. Then the long wait for delivery will start.

I really wanted the TPMS system. Order that, and you get the camera. Not sure if I will even install the camera initially.

 

I agree. I think the trailer TPMS is a BIG deal. Most trailers are double or triple axles. A lot of tire failures can go un-noticed and you minimally destroy the carcass of the deflated tire in the best case and in the worst case, you don't "discover" the problem until a second tire failure on the same side due to increased loading. Having the piece of mind to display trailer tire pressures at will and/or having a pop-up alarm when they are low is a very big deal for me on long tows... often in very high ambient temperatures.

I've already read through the installation instructions. After mounting and routing wires for the trailer TPMS module (that must be trailer-mounted), the additional effort to mount the camera seems pretty small - so I will do both.

 

 

The camper package isn't even an option when building a Platinum. The heavy tow package adds overloads...maybe sway bar, too? Got the 360 camera.

My folks live up the road from you in Rogue River. I have been to your neck of the woods more time than I can count in the past 30 years.

 

Can I ask why an F350 is out of the question? A 250 6.7 Platinum is going to have about 2000 lbs of payload capacity. Will that be enough? I just went through this with trading in our 2015 F150 for our F350 6.7. An F250 wasn't going to cut it.

Dave

 

I'm not sure of the exact reason. The policy states "no DOT vehicles" then specifically references 350/3500 trucks.. It may be a regulatory issue having to do with how some states view 1 ton trucks. It is a national company that operates in many states. Although it is a construction company, this policy pertains to white collar workers. The vehicle allowance is simply part of my compensation package and is designed to encourage employees to purchase a vehicle that is representative of the company and position. Most of us use these vehicles to visit job sites and entertain clients. There are numerous other restrictions; no soft tops, convertibles, neon colors, lifted, lowered, etc. Until a couple years ago, they provided a company car (think Chrysler 300 or Ford Taurus) so I feel very lucky to be receiving this benefit.

I would love to get a 350 but instead I have built a 250 that is nearly identical to a 350. That is the compromise. Anyways, that isn't what this tread is about.

 

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

I got my offer from the dealer last night.
MSRP = $81,480
Invoice = $76,181
Sale Price = $74,681
PCO = -$3,000
Final Cost $71,681
That is 12% off MSRP

I think that is a really good deal and doesn't include any other available incentives. There may be another $500 or $1000 to be saved. They are going to work up the trade in number today. Honestly, as long as it pays off the existing loan, I will be happy. I'm fairly confident that they will be in the ballpark. KBB isn't the most reliable tool but their trade in value is right around my current pay-off and I will likely make three more payments while waiting for my truck.

Now I need to make final color choices. I am strongly leaning towards magnetic and dark marsala. I want to see the dark marsala in person but dealers don't order that color. Every Platinum in San Diego county has a black interior. The closest one is 100 miles away. We might take a day trip on Saturday to check it out.

 

Worked out the details of my trade in. They wanted the truck right away but eventually agreed that the swap would take place simultaneous to delivery. The truck has 33K miles and I committed to turning it in still under warranty (36K). The order for my Platinum goes in tomorrow morning. Now I can focus on selling my V10 and dreaming of a new truck. I was so excited this afternoon that I invested in my first mod; OEM illuminated sil plates.

 

Thanks for this thread and the information that you have shared; not just the numbers but the process as well. It's very helpful as I get ready to pull the trigger on ordering a 2019 F350 SRW 6.7 CCLB. What is your dealer saying in terms of delivery time? It sounds like maybe 10-12 weeks if you expect to make three more payments ...

 

They are saying twelve weeks...give or take. That is going to be a long wait.

Going to give props to Kearny Pearson Ford in San Diego. As stated previously, the process has been painless. Other than meeting in the middle of their trade-in offer and what I wanted, there hasn't really been any negotiating. I literally didn't even seriously talk to another dealer. The combination of relaxed service and fair pricing sealed the deal. Could I have saved a couple hundred bucks on the sale price by pitting dealers against each other? Maybe. Could I have extracted more from them on my trade? Possibly. That all would have taken time and energy. Instead I am getting the exact truck that I want at a very good price with no stress. I contacted Eric the Internet Director via email initially and have corresponded with him numerous times since. I highly recommend going this route. Also dealt with a couple of their internet sales managers. Moe spent a couple hours with my wife and I showing us trucks and taking us on a test drive. Tyler has handled most of the transaction since then. If you are in the SD area, give them a shot.