The statement above (#10) is somewhat true, although I've never dealt with a salesman that wanted me to believe invoice was wholesale. The truth is, there are other moneys involved behind the scenes, besides holdback, that as a buyer you will most likely never know about. MSRP is just a starting point, a base line, invoice can be looked at the same way. While a percentage bellow MSRP isn't the best way to look at it, generally good deals will end up being in the same percentage range. When shopping, I would suggest looking at the "dealer discount" alone, not including any other rebates, and figure out how much that discount is bellow invoice. Invoice is roughly 6% bellow MSRP, but finding the actual invoice amount from the dealer, NADA, Costco or wherever, is the best.

Since Costco was mentioned, they do have an auto program that is supposed to help eliminate the negotiation stage. If the dealer participates, they will tell you what the "Costco price" is. In my area it was $1100 under invoice, back in April when I got a quote. That is before public and private rebates. I've found that many dealers, not all, will beat that pricing.

Some dealers will try to move numbers around, like a shell game, adding random fees, adding dealer installed items. As long as you know what you want and don't want, along with what fees are maybe standard, non negotiable in your area, it shouldn't be difficult. Keep your eyes on the numbers and if something doesn't look right, or you just don't know what it is, ask them. The PCO is yours, it has nothing to do with the dealers discount, in fact, its nice if they don't know about it till after you have their best price. Usually they will know as soon as they have your personal info.

What I would like to know is, what is Z plan, how is the pricing structured?

 

Zplan is the same price as Aplan, but Zplan is for retirees where Aplan is active employees. It’s basically invoice minus holdback minus roughly $300

 

Personal Cash Offer.

Basically, an incentive from Ford to buy their vehicles. It's "free" cash that comes off the bottom line price you and the dealer settle on.

I got mine through a pop-up ad on the Ford site. Put in your name/address/email, and they email you a code to use. Take that code to the dealership and they plug it in. Done.
It may have changed now. There's a current thread on the topic in this forum.

 

Yes..So true!

 

yes of course so selling to everyone at advertised “below invoice sale” and making 3% on the backend... no wonder all the dealerships only build small multimillion dollar stores and have a small army of people working at them. That few hundred dollars a deal and 3% goes along way. Then again the real profit centre might be the shop not the new car sales.

 

Dealerships build those multi million dollar showrooms for one reason, the factory requires them to, not a single dealer I worked for over 30 years wanted to spend that money so the manufacturer could “project an image” but their choice is do it or lose the franchise support. Finance, parts, and service account for all the profit in a dealership nowadays most sales departments are now unprofitable.

 

Also if your state has a safety inspection sticker posted to the windshield , use this as leverage if the vehicle has been on the lot for awhile. Good way to see how long it’s been sitting. Every month that it sits is every month they lose money. I’m also still a firm believer of cash talks and BS walks. If your putting down a down payment. Use the cash as king. walk out if needed. They will call you back. Took me a month to get my deal done.

I WON!!

 

So I got right around that off, without knowing it. But the truck was on the lot for almost 4 months and I had to do some negotiating. Much nicer to just get that pricing without hassle.

I've seen posted on here where some have said, they saw what the dealer paid for their truck, and it was something crazy like 24% bellow MSRP. If invoice is roughly 6% bellow MSRP what could they possibly have seen that would show such a difference?

 

Thanks this helps a bunch.

So if Dealer tells me Invoice price I want to get below that and then start adding in incentives and PCO... correct?

Lets say invoice was 63k what’s a good deal below as a starting point $61,500?

 

here is HOW I do it:

Walk in the door, tell the fender lizard or janitor who ever is talking to you HERE is MY deal:

Invoice minus any eligible discounts, PCO, Rebates etc, plus Tax, Title and license = out the door. From this point you can add in a 'Doc fee', licenses and stuff required by your state or law, but NO Chrome Muffler Bearings or other BS...Are there dealers that will do this...YES there are, be it a Superduty or a Corvette Z06 In this case I had to pay $1000 over invoice but beat the "market-adjusted price of $10,000 over MSRP at that time and this dealer did not have an allocation for a Corvette at all, so he had to wrangle one out of the Zone mgr for me.

Take away is you can get a great deal I have done so on many cars over many years...

If the sales guy says Huma Huma, turn around and walk out, you did not come here to shoot the chit, next dealer same procedure.

 

On a 19 I would say your example would be a little light on the discount. Its going to depend on the market where you live, you might have to contact several dealers or at least search their sites. Maybe see what others from your area (state) are paying, I'm sure there are a few on here. I could tell you that here in CA. my truck was advertised with a dealer discount equaling $2k under invoice, I was able to get them down another $500. That was in May, with a sticker of over $72k. I would expect that kind of discount and more, being end of year. Some areas are even more aggressive on pricing, upwards of $3K+ under invoice, some less. You'll have to figure out what its like in your state.

 

Finding out the "invoice" price the easy way: IF the dealer is on the up-and-up, they'll print out a build sheet on the vehicle and it will have the following listed: MSRP and invoice prices on the base truck and the options, fees, and package discounts are listed and priced below. Both columns are totaled at the bottom and, on either side (as I remember), will be the X-Plan and AZ-Plan pricing. Bear in mind that the dealer is eligible to receive an approximately 3% holdback and various incentives known only by the dealer and Ford for meeting various sales goals. After the first month, flooring costs eat into the holdback so a vehicle that sat around a while is costing the dealer monthly flooring costs and returning less in holdback, If you're buying off the lot, the final week in any month is a good time to buy and the final week in December is supposed to be even better.

 

X2, my dealer sent me this:

 

It was a $1000 from Harris ford with Costco price. Bickford gave me $1250 + another $250 for living in salesman neighborhood. If I remember correctly I told you to go there and you saw a different salesman who tried to play you.... or might of been someone else off here.