Check out Kevin Hunter's website and videos for good insight on dealership practices to part you with your money. Good stuff, and will help me a lot next time I'm in the market.

 

One of the best ways to ensure you get a reasonable "trade-in" on your existing vehicle is to get a "buy it now" offer from CarMax or AutoNation. Takes about 30mins at either place and you are under no obligation to sell or buy anything. What's good about it is that it shows what another dealer is willing to buy your vehicle for (they'll actually give you a Printout valid for 7 days). I did my former truck through AutoNation's free "buy it now" program and got a $19k quote (it would retail about $21k per NADA, if I could sell it privately), but with our Sales Tax credit here, I got another $1600 towards my trade-in on the truck I Ordered from the Ford dealer. I got within $500 of what I thought my trade was worth in the end. There was a moment of haggling with the dealer on my trade, but when I mentioned one of their own internal Internet Sales folks called and said they would match my offer from AutoNation, it was a locked-in deal. Keep a record of names of people you talk with.

 

My entire deal was done via email and text. I sent pics of my trade and got the bottom line number with it all itemized. I drove there and test drove the truck then did the deal. If done this way you have the numbers in the message so its hard for them to make changes. Everything went down as it was supposed to. They didnt even try to sell me any extra crap.

 

I don’t think it’s just a woman thing. When I bought my truck they tried to tell me that Tremors were selling for sticker price. They even went as far as to tell me they had multiple people interested in the truck. This was after I had been in contact for a couple of weeks with the same saleswoman that I bought my 16 from. I had first dibs on a dealer ordered truck. I ended up walking out of the dealership because we were so far off on pricing. I ended up getting a fair deal on the truck. The saleswoman e mailed me a few days later.It took almost a week of texting and emailing back and forth.

The funny thing is I am sure nobody else took my truck for a test ride after I test drove it. It had 54 miles on it when I parked it after I came back from my test drive and 54 miles on it when I picked it up. I suspect they knew I was going to buy the truck all along , they just were trying to get as much from me as they possibly could and we’re willing to take the chance of me not coming back.

 

Join Mustang Club of America - $25/year and you are eligible for X-plan. Fixed price, you get all incentives, doc fees are set up front. You're just negotiating your trade in and finance rate at that point. Call a few credit unions to get rates - they will try to match the rate you get.

 

I’m truly baffled by it, I’ve been looking to trade for a while and I can’t even get a return call. Wife purchased a New Ford Edge from a dealer 2 hours away a year or so ago, it was the absolute easiest deal I’ve been a part of. I found the edge and worked the deal over text. I called and she had a 2012 Ford Escape w/50k miles For trade-in. Made it clear we wouldn’t be coming in until deal was done, salesman asked for pics of trade-in. Sent the pics and they gave me a price and a price for the Edge. Wife kept telling them no on the Edge price over a week. I thought to myself 3 times “this is it, they ain’t going any lower” and a day would go by and salesman would text with a lower price. Finally made the deal and we drove the two hours, walked in handed the keys of the escape and we paid them. We weren’t there 30 minutes.

I have called 4 maybe 5 different Ford dealers over the last month and it gets as far as me sending pics of my truck.First thing out of the salesman mouth is “when can you come in.” I have 2017 F250 crew 4wd gas w/STX/FX4 package and 27k miles. The dealer wife got her car from doesn’t have what I’m looking for unfortunately.

 

Hi Lin, sorry you've had dealer issues. Even though I live in the Seattle area, I bought my last two cars on the East coast. I bought two Toyota Prius Prime cars and they were each about $6,000 less than in Seattle. (Something about Toyota being required by the state of California to sell a certain % of non polluting cars in other states. Go figure)

Anyway, I emailed and called most Toyota dealers in CT, MA, and RI to try to deal. I found that the dealers in MA simply replied that they weren't interested. They didn't want to deal, they didn't want to work by phone or email, and they often didn't even reply. BUT the dealers in Rhode Island were wonderful. We bought a car in Providence, my wife flew out, and did a road trip home with her cousin. We liked the car and the price so much we did it again six months later at a different dealer in Providence. By the way, we've had those cars over two years, and the local Seattle KBB value is about what we paid new.

Oddly, a couple weeks ago, before I decided to order an F250, I searched the entire country for an existing one. I found a good match of one in Mendon MA and emailed the dealer. They replied they could not sell to me due to COVID19 restrictions.

So, from an outsider's limited perspective, it seems that MA dealers are not interested in selling cars. You may wish to search a little further afield.

 

You must be a member of Mustangs Club, EAA or any other organization that participated in X-Plan for at least 60:days before you qualify for X-plan.

X-Plan makes negotiating between dealerships when you have a trade as very simple. Just negotiate the trade in value since the new vehicle price, incentives, fees are all the same no matter what dealership you purchase with x-plan. Dealer fees with X-plan are capped at $100.

if negotiating without X-plan then only talk “out the door” price. My last 2019 F150 had a $799.95 “pre delivery service charge, a $199 “electronic filing fee” and a $97.30 “handling fee” but on the $44,550 MSRP F150 there was about $10,000 in dealer discount and $10,750 in rebates, incentives and PCO.

When negotiating by phone I won’t even go to the dealership unless then first send me a buyers order in writing so there are no surprises when I get there.

 

Lin, your experience is not due strictly to your gender, there are a lot of @**** sales people out there. Over the years I have bought quite a few new cars and trucks and I have only found three sales people who deal with me straight on negotiations. Don't get me wrong, they are still making money, but I don't get the games from them you are describing. We negotiate and then do the deal, or don't. The vast majority of sales people I encounter try to pull the same type of BS you are describing. As you mentioned in your post your absolute best defense is to walk when you feel you are being danced around by a sales person.

As mentioned I have been negotiating car / truck deals for years ( I also negotiate deals for family members and close friends) and I still hate the process. Do your research ahead of time as best you can and go armed with good information and it also helps if you are in an area where there are several dealers you can work each one against the other. This is what I do in the final stages of negotiations. I get down to 2 or 3 and when they call back to see if they can seal the deal I tell them "here's the best price I have, can you beat it and by how much?". When I get to a point where they say they will match it or only beat it by 50 or 100 bucks I know I have reached the best offer. It's a lot of work, but I get fair deals this way.

Good Luck.

 

Thanks all,
I looked at Sarat Ford but they don't have what I am looking for. I looked 100 miles around me I don't want all the extra blop crap they put on.
Plymouth only has the 2019's and I don't see any more of a discount for them then on the 2020.
I'm looking at another truck today and see what I can get from another dealer.

Yes the 'bad' dealer is probably a Known bad dealer but really they all are depending on who you talk to.
I used Quirk for my other car, they were not too bad but they have no trucks anyway.
Herb Chambers is who I am dealing with. Will see if they can negotiate today .

Thanks all I feel a bit better, still pissed that after working a 10 hr shift, driving an hour and showing up there in my SCRUBS they were still idiots

 

Good luck, I feel your pain on getting jerked around. Drove 140 miles to look at a Tremor and gave up on the deal after 2 hours of negotiations. I have X plan through work and even with that there were so many tack ons and fees still would have been more than sticker price. Watching YouTube videos on all the sleazy sales tactics and this dealer employed almost all of them. Ended up chalking it up as win since got to take a Tremor for a good test drive.

 

I’ve always found that I can get more money for the truck I need to get rid of by selling it myself instead of trading it in. Dealers make most of their money by selling used vehicles instead of new ones, so they will offer you as little as possible for a trade-in.

 

Look at clean trade-in values compared to average dealer retail. Hugh difference, and the gap is always increasing. NADA, KBB, Black Book, ect, all get their trade and retail numbers from what dealers pay for trades, and what they sell them for. Anytime a few dealers can get your trade for less than the current book trade, the average lower price is what is listed in the next edition. It's in there interest in the current trade, and in the long run, to pay you less now.

 

Yeah, talked to the guy again on the phone and his OWN web site quoted almost $20k, said I would even take as low as 18k.
Guess he still doesn't want to deal since he has yet to call back 2.5 hr later. I did call and left my number again, he's with a client....suuuuurrreee
Oh well, I'll keep looking cuz while they are closed tomorrow OTHER dealers are open

Yes I know how to look up the value of my trade

 

If they will not lower it to 75-80 dollars. "because I have to do the same for everybody, or Company policy. Go take the difference of Doc fee - $75 and take it off the truck price. Also, if you see electronic filing fee and Document fee. Well they are double dipping. Remove it.