I don’t have long to espouse this, but my page has a note telling me that I have not posted in over 2 weeks (been more like 6 months), so here goes. I have a 2001 V10 4x4 with 126,000 miles. Thought I’d look at some of the 2005’s since Ford has that “discount” going on, and these are the last of the line. First dealer I went to (Long-Lewis in Birmingham, AL) offered me $6500 for mine in trade for a black limited (diesel, 4x4, dvd, etc.) that they wanted ~$43k for. They would not budge anywhere, so I left. Blue book trade-in says fair ~$8k, and good ~$10k. Went to another dealer (Adamson - there are 5 Ford dealers in Birmingham), they offered me $8k for mine, and matched the first dealers price and this limited also had the $750 second row captains chairs. I said that was fine. They also gave me a payment that I was agreeable to with 4.9% through FMCC. This was after having run my credit. So I stand outside for about 15 minutes looking at the 2 X’s side-by-side. I’m not thinking about how nice a new one would be, but rather about having to tint the windows on the new one, and having to replace the front springs again (I have F-350 springs on mine). The salesman calls me in and tells me now they can’t get 4.9%, the best they can get is 5.9%. They had supposedly already checked that. He talked some more, but at this point all I hear is white noise. So I left, and that is where it stands, he knows my cell phone #. Thanks for listening and y’all are a great source of information and support.

 

Sounds like the dealership may be jerking your chain to get more money through the financing, because they aint making any money due to the family plan. I have been told that car dealers/salesmen will do credit checks and claim that you only qualified (due to credit history) for a higher percentage rate so they make more money, even though you may actually qualify for the lower rate. Your best bet is to run your credit yourself and find out your actual score then go into the dealership and find out the score they tell you. Better yet prior to having them do a check have them tell you what their criteria is to qualify for that lower rate. Then you will definitely know if they are pulling a fast one on ya.

 

It's a widely known fact that you'll get shafted on the trade in, but this is just beyond shafted. Even with 126K miles the dealer will turnaround and probably sell your X for about $16-$20K. I highly suggest selling your X privately, it's worth more than the $8K they're offering you. A couple pieces of advice, if you can, don't focus on your payment. If you do they'll make some serious money off of you with the APR. Instead, focus on the final price of the vehicle (i.e drive out) they can't really play with you much; and they tend to lose sometimes when you do that. Make them a reasonable offer (they have to make a buck somewhere); tell them what YOU want (for your X, APR, and so on) don't let them tell you what you do and don't qualify for. The long and short of it: be firm; you know what you want/need, get it.

 

Is your Ex paid off? If not, how much do you owe on it? If I were you, I would just keep your EX. In my book a V-10 LTD with your add ons is worth way more than 8k. That V-10 properly maintained will go atleast 200k no problems. I know the new Ex's are way cool..I have a 02 Ex XLT Premium and I wanted to trade it in as well..It has 27k pampered miles on it. They offered me 14,500.00. I owe 14,000.00. In 16 more months, I will own it outright and then drive it till it dies.



My wife always tells me..Just pretend it's new!!!I guess I will...

That's my .02 cents..

Big Rig

 

Ya, you gotta watch them dealers and their interest rates. A few months back while dealing for my wife’s car, the dealer came back from our credit check with a best possible rate of 6.59%. I did some checking on the net and was able to get 4.59% on my first try. The dealer was not a listed provider for the online finance company but told me to go ahead and take their deal and they would send me a check to pay off the loan through the dealer’s bank. Went back to the dealer and told them about finding better financing. Got the old "Hang on a second let me see if I can pull some strings" schpeel, and low and behold they were able to get the interest rate down to 3.59% with a different bank.

You gotta take the dealer out of the financing equation and vice versa. To many hands washing each other.<O></O>

 

According to the Ford website, 4.9% is available for a 72 month loan or you can get financing elsewhere and get a $2000 rebate. I use ebay as a price gauge for vehicles and think you could get about $11k for your Excursion although Kelly Blue Book lists it for $12800 if you sell it to an individual. Good luck.