how long did you look and where did you end up buying? i'm saving as much money as possible right now to put down or pay for entirely, my new truck. trying to find an 04+ FX4 preferably, or a lariat. i know it's going to be a search, but i have some criteria that the truck must meet. i've settled before and didn't get exactly what i wanted, so i'm not doing it again. i've checked cars.com, autotrader, and the local paper's online classifieds, but haven't seen much of what i want.

lastly, i know there isn't much haggle room at a dealer with a used car so they're not going to sell the car for a loss. approximately how much could i talk them down? if they'reasking 22K, would 20K be too low? thanks!

 

Don't base your offer on how much discount you can get off the asking price. Having sold used cars in another life, the asking price can vary widely and has little relation to what you can actually buy the vehicle for. Some of it will depend on the market for that particular vehicle and how much inventory they have of similar vehicles. Decide what the truck is WORTH TO YOU and make an offer based on that.

You never know what a a firm offer will do. A friend of mine had a condo for sale in Florida for a long time and he was asking $450,000 for it. Someone came along the other day and made him a firm offer of $220,000 and he took it.

 

As far as finding something just the way you want it you are better off buying new and ordering all the stuff that you want otherwise you are going to have a hard time finding exactly what you want otherwise you have to compromise somewhere. Knocking 2k from what they are asking is fine and dandy but it would be really better if you had 20k on hand to buy that thing outright at that price but thats just a hypothetical thing, keeping in mind you still have to pay tax and doc fees.

I just happend to come accross this FX4 and jumped right in. Never looked back but I do miss my 2003 GT.

 

yeah, but i'm prepared to look. list of requirements are:

flow through console/shifter
leather
lowish miles
4x4
super cab
5.4
black, but i'll look at other colors

i can forgive a couple of those items if i have to, to get most of what i want at the price i want. for instance, it would be dumb to spend 5K more on a truck just to get one with leather seats when i can get the leather covers on ebay for $300.

i jst can't justify spending $30K on a truck only to be able to sell it for $25K or so when i drive it off the lot. i'll let someone else take the hit and break it in for me if it only means i'll have to look longer and get to save some dough. i agree, the more cash on hand the better. i'm not in any huge rush, so i'll continue to save as long as i can. my 97 expy EB hass 164K on it, but still runs great :knock on wood:

 

i looked for probally 7 months before i finally found one for a good price. it will take you a while to find a good buy. i don't know about your location, but here in Colorado used 04+ f150's are very hard to find. i have actually had dealers calling me wanting me to trade mine in, because they don't have any used ones.

i have the exact truck you are looking for(besides leather). and that was the exact list that i was looking for, and geez was it hard to find a black truck and i had to settle without the leather seats. i bought it from a private party, and the guy really needed to get rid of it.

just keep looking and don't hop on the first truck you see.

 

There is a lot more more room to haggle on a used car than a new one.

 

When it comes down to it, i can tell you from my experience, that the more money you are able to put down the more willing they are to give you the price you want. This doesn't mean that you have to put the whole thing down, but a decent amount always helps, then if you finance the rest, they are make some initial prophet and they may make some money off of the interest from the loan. That's my 2 cents... good luck

 

what you are describing is my truck. I looked for about 6 months before finding one in NJ

28k on the clock, 23,3 out the door, tax/tags/etc. was advertised for 24,9.

All the service records came with it, as well a previous owner document all the mileage at fillups, trips, etc. which was nice to see it wasnt beat.

 

well i've saved about 7K right now and since i'm getting married next month, i was thinking the end of the year would be a good time to buy any kind of car, new or used. i think those are historically the slower months, and they may be willing to wheel and deal. i should have enough saved to make a pretty good down payment while still leaving something in my bank account for emergencies.

 

I had those plus a few: 3.73 gears w/LS, power pedals and power seat(since I am 6'3" and the fiance is 5'0"), mine had to be a FX4, trailer towing package, and had to be bone stock since I wanted to mod it my way.

But here is how I found mine. I wasn't really even looking for a "new" truck, I was just looking through our local trading post/car buyers guide and saw the add that the dealership had for it. Since I was going to town that night anyway we went and looked at it, and it had every option that I had wanted. So I put money down on it and bought it the next day. I paid 19,900 +tax/title/lic, when I bought it the blue book trade-in value was 21,XXX and retail was 27,XXX.

 

The best time to buy a car from a dealership is at the end of the month and preferably at the end of the quarter. I would buy private party, you'll get what you want if you look long enough. I had to look for mine (its 02...the 04+'s weren't in my price range) for about 6 months but i only had 3 non-negotiable features.

Check craigslist.com its where i found mine, and there are new trucks on it everyday.

 

good idea dude! i didn't think about craigslist.

 

2 years. Car Max. Literally I wanted the new F150 the day they came out. I LOVE the way they look...

VERY smart move to pay it all up front if you can. No debt to service.

Narrow that down to EITHER one or the other. Will make your search that much eaiser. For me it was a toss up between Lariat and XLT, and the XLT won on the split bench, and cost factors.

The only thing I settled on with mine is gas tank. The only way I could have gotten the larger tank is by special ordering, and most dealers won't wiggle on special orders at all.

Dunno for sure. I do know I had my dealer throw in the extended warranty for no added dinero. I was happy with my deal to begin with though.

 

I picked up my '06 SCrew XLT 5.4 4x4 about 2 months ago.. It was used had 14k or so no it.. was in top shape except for a lil too much chrome.. I was paving a local Ford Dealership and my '01 Dodge q-cab Sport was about toast.. It had 250k on it and was using oil.. a lil too much oil.. I happened to see my '06 and inquired.. they were asking 25,900.. I ended up paying 23,900 which also included a 100k warranty.,. I really couldn't have come across it at a better time. They even gave me 7k for the Dodge on trade in.

The Screw has 3.73 gears, 5.4l, 4x4, tinted windows, XLT, step boards, clear tail lights, chrome bug shield, chrome bumpers, 18' wheels, factory in dash 6 disk changer, brand new bedliner, clean inside and out... and it's red! worked out perfect for me

 

u can buy mine