Hi all,
I just found this forum and am impressed with the amount of information here. The folks here seem very willing to help and I hope that I can get some good advice. I have asked this on a couple of other forums but I figure I'll as here as well since I just found it and I need all the advice I can get.

I need a new truck. I have a '94 Ranger XLT 4.0 w/203k, and we have a baby coming in May, so I need to upgrade.

Yesterday I went at lunch to one of the two big Ford dealerships in town. I spoke to the lady who had called me about a so called "private rebate" (which turned out to be $924).

Anyway, she was fairly young (30s I guess) and had only been working there a few months. She showed me most of their selection of 2004 F-150s. They had 15 or so. I had narrowed it down to a few supercab XLTs based on what I saw on their online inventory. They had orange tags hanging from the mirrors with the "sale prices", which I soon found out to be the price after the $3500 + $1000 (ford credit) rebates were applied, for a total of $4500 (that doesn't include the private rebate).

I found out that if I took their low 0% financing that I would not be eligible for the $4500 in rebates and would only get the $1000 private rebate. If I chose to take the cash back, I would pay the price on the mirror tag but would be subject to the higher financing rates.

One truck in particular, a true blue supercab w/ 5.4 V8, 3.55 gears, captains chairs w/ center console, broke down like this:

31,680 list
- 3500 cash back
- 1000 ford credit rebate
- other discounts (??)
-------------------
23,353 mirror tag price
- 1000 private rebate
-------------------
22,353 + tax tag title fees (279.00)

= 22,632 final


Without the $4500 rebates the price was:

27,853
- 1000 private rebate (at low APR charges)
-------------------
26,853 + tax tag title fees (279.00)

= 27,132 final


That's just one example of one truck. The other dealership only has 5 or so trucks according to the website and I don't expect to get very far there. The only real difference between the two that I've seen is that one is in the "city" and one is in the "county" (tax difference - 4.5% city and 3.75% county).

I spent some time yesterday afternoon checking the inventories of Ford dealerships around the area; the ones in surrounding cities (1 hour away or less) didn't offer much of interest.

So I went yesterday after work and had the lady pull the invoice; the price on the invoice that she showed me was 26,575. However, I'm not sure if what she showed me was correct because she couldn't find the invoice for the exact truck I was looking at; instead she found one with the exact same price as the one I liked (31,680) and showed me the invoice for that one. I'm not sure if the invoice would have been any different for the blue truck. Again, I'm not sure if that was some sort of tactic or not.

I forgot what the X-plan/A-plan prices were.

She tried to pressure me into buying before the 31st because she said that the sales managers "would be more willing to work with me" because they all get firm bonuses for any vehicles sold before year end. I also have that private rebate that supposedly expires on 1/3/05.

She kept telling me that she had just sold a guy a truck for under invoice, but I'm not sure if they were willing to go that far on the one I liked. If they did, I could get it (after all my rebates) for 21,000. That would be a good enough deal for me to take it! I'm no cash customer though.

The KBB on my ranger is around 3200 private party / 2500 trade-in. It's loaded but it has a couple of places where the clearcoat is peeling off and it has 203k. Been a really good truck.

What I'm reading here is that the 05s can be had for under invoice, but through the FTE plan I have to take delivery in NY? I can't swing that right now...

What do you folks think?

Thanks for reading!

 

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I would request to see the invoice on the truck you are buying or wanting to buy. I would offer them $500 under invoice less all rebates. . . you should be able to get an awesome deal. Plus it might be eligible for Tow and Go rebate. Search around on this Forum and you should be able to find out more. Good luck!

 

The lady emailed me this morning and told me that she sold the truck I had looked at and test drove Wednesday. I emailed the VIN back to her so that she can confirm that she sold the one I looked at.

Yesterday I went out to the other dealer in town and spoke with one of their salesmen....they have very little instock inventory but he found one somewhere else that is very similar to the one I drove. In fact the only difference I can find is that this one does not have reverse sensing system.

He wouldn't talk rates to me until I did some of the paperwork, that wasn't something I was willing to do on a chance last night so I left with the VIN. I wonder if I can find it myself? He said he'd sell it to me for 22000 after my 4500 in rebates. After tax tag tile and doc fees it would be like 23400.

I read something about the Tow & Go rebate requiring limited slip; can someone confirm this? Neither of these trucks have it.

Thanks,
David

 

Edit-Please do not use the Quote function unnecessarily-Admin
The 2005 require LImited slip for the tow and Go, but the 2004 only require 5.4 and tow package. . .
You can search for trucks in you area in the Ford Website. www.ford.com

 

No deal.

I went back this afternoon (to the 1st dealership) to talk money; the invoice price they showed me (this time with an actual copy of the invoice) was over $1000 more than the price the salesperson gave me yesterday. One of the sales managers came in and threw down the price and wasn't budging no matter what I said; I really had a nasty feeling about the place and the deal. So I left. No sense wasting our time.

I told the salesperson a few days ago on my initial visit that I had X-plan, but I expected to do better without it, so I didn't bother checking the X price until after I was shocked by this invoice price today.

The X-plan price was a bit more palatable, but still brought the truck's bottom line to $23.6k including tax and rebates. They said I wouldn't have to pay doc fees w/ X plan....still. The dealer I went to yesterday showed me a comparable truck (didn't have reverse sensing, captains chairs, but it had limited slip) and said I could have it for 23.1k after tax and rebates, and that's without me mentioning the Tow & Go discount. He may have factored that in, but he didn't say anything about it.

I suppose that it just wasn't meant to be. I'm a very picky and analytical customer; salespeople must hate my guts. Oh well.

 

Here is a good web site that might help you.

http://www.edmunds.com/

 

As long as you're a customer, I'm sure they'll learn to like you.

Picky and analytical is something a good dealer won't be afraid of. I found it fun to point out some things to dealers that they didn't know. Or, they acted like they din't know and were placating (sp?) me by acting underinformed.

I just ordered my truck on the X plan. It was about $200 under invoice, which I thought was reasonable. When it came down to it, I went with the dealer that DIDN'T try to sell me the "Acid Rain Protection" package.


Good Luck in your search!

Truck shopping is fun!

 

That's called a "lowball." They gave you a price to go shop with, a price no legitimate dealer could match. It's a price designed to get you back into THEIR dealership, once you realize that they had the best deal. Of course, they had no intention of selling you the truck at the price. It's as if they had you on a string the whole time, and SURPRISE!- you're back. You did the right thing by leaving, as all they did was lie to you.

 

Well...my take on this is that if one dealer was willing to sell it for less than another, it was because they qualified for the dealer cash that was available at the end of the year for reaching a % of sales. Bigger dealers get there just like the smaller ones...with goals that are attainable, each to his own market. Had you known what the invoice was on what you wished to purchase...and you could have found that out on www.ford.com ....or if you had used whoever gave you the XPlan pin number and gotten the Xplan price...and yes there is one; and a site where you can aquire it....then you would have saved some brain cells.

....and so it goes

RJ Olson