My color preference order was Red, White, Black, any other color, then Silver.

My wife wanted Silver only.

So as usual we got Silver...

Chris

 

I still don't understand where those rebates came from. Ford has never had more than $2K on even the most expensive model, and they didn't happen until near model-year-end last year.

The math doesn't add up to me. Where's the profit in selling a $23K vehicle for $13K? Nobody needs the sale that bad. The discount I can see, but the rebate...

Looking at it another way, as of last month before the "Family Plan" came out, the largest rebate available was $5K on the Explorer, a vehicle that has been hurt by slow sales. '04 F-150's hardly qualified as that last year. In fact, even the rebates last month on '04 models didn't hit $5K.

 

So they don't go five large on rebates, Hum

(Glancing around to make sure there are no cops watching)
You, uh, wouldn't want to place a small wager on it?
(Looking innocent, in a shifty way, turning collar up to hide face a little)

Say, a couple thousand bucks? Or any amount worth me getting, err, I mean us gambling on?

(Suddenly realizing he's being observed)

Um, I mean your information is wrong, sir. Just read the posts on rebates.


Care to pay for proof? I’m kidding of course, ten minutes with a search engine and you can verify this stuff. It’s not rare.

Since they dropped to the family plan, it's seldom that much. It's all about advertising.

As to the cost of building one of these things, I could refer you to many, many studies on what cars/trucks actually cost to build, not including 'sales costs' like TV, trips to Hawaii for salesmen, etc. etc.
You would not believe them even if you read them, though. People have had their minds laundered on costs by so many dealers, selling below cost and making a fat profit, that there is no way to show someone true costs.

A tiny example. I used to sell fan belts to the public. Lots of shops told me they couldn't believe we made a profit at 3.49 for a fan belt.
I never told them that we made 80-85 percent gross profit on a belt.
Retail auto parts, with sales, loss leaders, coupons, discounts, etc. average 47-53% gross profit in any given month.
Car dealerships are so profitable that they charge huge franchise fees and force dealerships to 'tow the line' on minor nitpicking details.
All the while, selling cars at invoice that is supposed to be what they pay for them.
This isn't odd.
What is odd is that people believe that they are only making a welfare level return on these trucks.

Really? So how come they buy the dealerships? How come they keep them open?

My favorite is the idea that even though they make no money on the cars and trucks, they make it up in volume...
This is not said as the old joke; I've seen/heard it on these forums, and at dealerships...
Wow.
Chris

 

I wouldn't touch an ex-company car with a barge pole.
Not from what I have seen. Unless you do the whole, replace vehicle every 6 months thing...

 

I dunno- I bought quite a few of them over the years. Of course they weren't driven by friends of yours either.

 

Very good point...
I spose if you choose your models carefully too, that can help - i.e. go for the Crown Vic, who was driven sedately by someone in finance, and not the SVT Focus that was thrashed to death by some lout in Engineering

 

I think you got off track here. I'm still looking for the $5K rebate. Just to be sure, I got out my June 27, 2005 issue of Automotive News. That's before the Family Plan came out. Surely this would be the time of year of the biggest rebates. In the back of the magazine, which is published weekly, is a table titled "Customer Incentives". It lists each manufacturers incentives, including rebate amount and finance rate options. There is also a table titled "Dealer Incentives" listing factory-to-dealer rebates. In the Ford section, there's no F-150 rebate that touches $5K. Maybe it's a conspiracy on the part of the publishers to deliberately leave out this big rebate in every issue for the past 18-20 months that I've been looking for F-150 rebates.

I wouldn't mind a reputable link to the cost of building said truck. I find it hard to believe that the dealer and the MoCo will make a profit that they are willing to take selling a $23K truck for $13K, but hey, I'm open to it. $18K truck, ok...

I've been well-versed in "hidden" money in auto transactions. I know about holdbacks, advertising allowances, spiffs and so on. I'm also probably one in maybe 100,000 customers that does not pay dealer doc fees. Ask any dealer and they will tell you that by law if they charge one customer, they have to charge all customers the same. I call their B.S. on that and I have copies of purchase orders that show a nice fat $0.00 in that column.

I used to be a G.M. employee (subsidiary) and am familiar with their employee purchase plan since I've actually used it. It's exactly as was described by someone else in a previous post.

I don't claim I know everything, but I'll lay claim I know more than 99% of the average auto consumers. Good thing my $39K truck only cost me $22K...or did it?

 

I thought the A-plan was a good deal with the 2,500 cash discount and another $500 Home Depot discount. To top it off, the dealer—at their expense—drove the truck 300 miles to my door and about a mile away from my home stopped and topped off the 37.5 gal. tank.

Cool.

Oh, and I didn't pay any doc fees either because I'm titling the truck myself.

 

Great post- but in my state, at my dealership, the doc fee stands or the deal isn't going down (unless you're titling yourself out of state). The potential fine in a DMV audit just isn't worth the risk.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but I was told by my brother-in-law (GSM @ Galpin Ford So. Calif.) that when using the actual X, D, A plan the dealer cannot charge doc fees.

I've used this info, along with his D plan locally and had the dealer remove the doc fees..............Nevada dealers try to rape you for $395 and we have to chase for the plates!!!

I understand that the current sale still allows the dealers to charge doc fees, however.

 

HEY!!!! I worked finance back in the day. Are you intimating that I drove sedately?

 

No, not at all DOHC, but odds on: If you worked in finance, and chose a Crown Vic as your company car you weren't thrashing the pants of the car. If you did, you were an exception to the rule.

I have known some of my engineering brethren who work for automotive comanies to make challenges such as:
Doing thier 20mile commute, in stop start traffic without using the clutch on thier SVT Focus for anything, except take off.
Seeing how much "air" they can get off a speed hump in thier Monaro (Pontiac GTO)
Finding out the optimum speed in Reverse to do a reverse 180 in a Holden Commodore (essentially a 4 door Pontiac GTO)

Remember, these people aren't normal, ok...

 

DOHC, You are correct. With A and X plans, the dealer can not charge the DOC fee. At the present time, with the family plan however, the dealer can charge everyone a doc fee. Per my wife who works at Ford Credit.

 

DOHC- you're correct- but we've got GM and Ford straight on the std fee up here. Interestingly enough, Ford charges the dealers an Admin fee for the Friends and Family program.

 

People don't seem to mind the dealer making 8,000-10,000 on the truck, but worked up over a document fee? I paid one, 45.00. Didn't actually seem worth arguing about.
I also paid 5.00 California tire fee, didn't lose a lot of sleep about that either...
As to 5000 dollar rebate, that is two rebates combined, which may be confusing you. 3,000 from Ford, 2,000 for financing the truck, for about 25-30 days, till I paid it off.

If you are willing to wait for big city sales, take the color that it comes in, and the option package that it comes with, getting a truck for 9-11k under sticker is not a problem.
And there is no 'dickering' or negotiating involved. The big dealerships run 2-6 '1-3 at this price' sales regularly.
Chris