I placed an order for a 21 F250 Lariat Tremor and was given an 11/9 build week. Just the other day another local dealer offered me $2500 more for my trade. I plan to at least let the original dealer match the new trade offer if they want. Nothing has been signed and my order isn't anything crazy that I think this dealer would have trouble selling if I backed out of the deal.
But would you agree that if the ordering dealer didn't match or come close to the new offer that it would be acceptable to back out of the current order and go to the new dealer offering the better trade? Only other difference is new dealership is $300 more for total price of new truck. Thanks for the input.

 

If the new 2021's are the optioned exactly the same and have the same sticker, isn't the lower total price what you're shooting for? If one truck is substantially different than the other it's not really an accurate comparison.

 

Business is business, but consider all aspects of where you deal....not just the bottom line.

 

Sorry tried to keep the original post short. New dealership would be ordering the exact same truck as the one I have on order now. So I would be looking at a difference of essentially $2200 less with the new dealership ($2500 better on trade but $300 extra on cost). Both are within 10-15 minutes of me, it's strictly price, they are good dealerships that I would have the truck serviced at.

 

Understood now. I'd say $2200 is a pretty substantial amount. Giving the first guy a shot at matching is a fair thing to do. But if he can't or won't, then I'd definitely take the second guy's offer. You're under no obligation to the first guy.

 

OP - did you have to put a deposit to order the first truck? I did two years ago for my ‘19.

But like mentioned above, give a chance to match, then gone if not. In my case I shopped around the state for a truck with The exact options I wanted with no luck. Probably almost every dealer in Florida heard from me. It was the last dealer who tried to locate something then said, “why not just build one?” Only dealer to mention that. So I stuck with them at over 100 miles away, but had to put a $500 non refundable deposit to order.

 

You are changing the deal but give them a chance to match.

They will probably tell you less on your trade as you will need to wait for another order and they know it. Pretty common sense.

 

Deal breaker for me. I've ordered a few trucks in my life. I was never asked for a cent in deposit money on any of them, much less a non refundable one. I'd have been out of my chair and heading for the door at the mention of "non refundable".

 

i also vote to give your original dealer a chance to match the offer.

it’s possible that the higher trade in value is due to a new Ford incentive, in which case the original dealer would have access to the program too.

Ford had one of these trade in incentives back in April 2019 when I bought an Explorer


to answer your question though, it would not be wrong to buy from a lower priced dealer if you don’t have a signed contract. happens every day.

 

So I don't need a new truck just figured I'd get one since trade is so high on mine. So waiting for the new order is no big deal for me.

And I was initially asked for a $500 refundable deposit and when I questioned why would I need to leave a deposit when it's refundable, I wasn't given an answer. So no deposit was left to order the truck.

 

Are both deals contingent on trade in? When I was dealing with ordering my truck any trade in was a completely separate transaction.
Maybe dealer #2 will just buy it for $2500 more and dealer #1 will sell truck for less.
I'd also shop carmax, vroom, whatever else to see if you can hit dealer #1 with multiple competitive offers.

 

Yeah I understand. I actually offered a non refundable deposit on mine because the truck arrived before funds to pay for it came in but they held it. They said they would hold it a couple weeks and it worked out that way. I don’t understand refundable deposits in the least bit.

Anyway with the market the way it is I have considered taking mine to carmax or something. Paid 76 out the door for it almost 2 years ago and if I could get 68 for it I think that would have been a good carry cost on a vehicle. So I understand the sentiment. Watching the elections really before doing anything.

 

Got a trade in offer from a couple dealers. Then ordered from what I thought was the best deal. By the salesman's advice, sold my old truck, outright, for $5500 more than offered by dealers. Then. I informed salesman of such. Point to consider, when talking about a possible $2200 savings. There may be more.

 

OP - I think you can feel good about your decision, regardless of which dealer you buy from. Provided you're simply transparent with everything, let their decision give you the facts you need to do the math, you're operating honorably in my book. That's critical to me...open/transparent fact-based transaction where ANY games or nonsense immediately disqualifies the dealer even if it's 5 mins before money changes hands.

I've got a 2021 on order with a dealer's GM, referred to me by a friend, selling to me at invoice. I got a wild hair and ran the same truck through the Costco program and ended-up with a $1,000 lower quote. I just let them know about this and while I'm not willing to jump to that deal yet mainly because of starting the clock over for a new order, I'll revisit when we get closer to make sure it's a deal that's still available (more apples-to-apples). We will re-visit but I'm always going to double check the market. No deposits were required, they told me they'd have zero trouble selling my maxed-out Tremor for more money, so no problem. I guess it's that good 'ol "trust but verify" thing.

I can easily let myself start feeling a sense of obligation in these things but in the end, the reality is that after the truck is delivered and they've got their money, they lose your number. It's purely business. You're not doing anything unreasonable at all.

I put the quality of the shop above the whole buy/sell stuff and don't really care where I buy as I'll be taking to the best shop in my area either way. That relationship is more important to me.

My $0.02 anyway...

 

It’s all good. That dealer has a great rep in FL. They were the only ones to even suggest the build, the only ones to spend a while searching for a truck, and they offered the most for my trade that I was wicked upside down in because I just bought it a year earlier trying to be cheap. So once I made the decision I wasn’t even worried about any refund. The truck was coming home from that dealer. And after dealing with 30+ dealers in the state, that service was refreshing.