I did exactly what everyone here has mentioned. Got my retail/invoice prices off the net, picked my options and started making phone calls. I called every Ford dealer within 70 mile radius and visited two that were real close to home after getting my best price from a dealer WAY on the other side of town. One of the dealers started playing the back and forth with the sales manager game with me. I told them right up front that I wasn't going to play games and wanted their best price. Their first price was higher than any of the dealers that I had called. I firmly told them that they weren't getting the picture, no games just the price. I told him what I'd pay($200 less than my lowest price) and away he went to the manager again. Of course he came back with a price slightly lower than the first. I guess he expected me to accept that? Once again I stated my price and told them that's it! If you can't do it then I'm leaving. Off to the manager again.... Beleive it or not, he came back with another offer! I didn't say a word. I gathered up the family and headed for the door. Haven't been back since. Sorry for getting long winded... I still get worked up over that experience.

I ended up ordering from the dealer on the other side of town. $800 over invoice. About $500 less than anyone else. Truck took 7 weeks to build/ship/deliver. Another thing to keep in mind is that the dealers get hold back. Hold back is 3% of the retail price. So if your truck lists for $30,000 then the dealer makes $900 plus what ever they sell it for over invoice.

 

I just placed an order for an F250 and they are telling me 10-12 weeks maybe. Appartently, Ford has cut off the fleet sales for this year. Not sure what that means for people like me, but the dealer thought it was good (who knows). Anyway, they are still pending confirmation from Ford that they will build the truck (expect answer 10-12 days). It is cheaper to order and wait rather than seek one on the market, besides they are in short supply. Anyone else ordering or has ordered, does this sound about right for time lines, etc.

 

V10 man, your experience is exactly why I love doing the internet thing for buying a vehicle. I hate dealing with car/truck sales people. I like the fact that you have a price over dealer invoice(sure dealer invoice is just a number that the dealer really does not actually pay but it is a start) and you go from there.

I have an interesting story about the truck I purchased prior to my current truck. I had a car I was going to trade-in and I wanted a truck now...not do the ordering thing. I found what I wanted on a lot and went there one night. We negotiated the price of the truck and then they drove my car. We were very close after a couple of rounds and then the deal killer happened. I was trading in a car that they were going to give me about 40% of the price of the truck on trade-in. The stupid sales manager told the sales lady that he wanted me to show him some money. Just a small amount would be fine, say a couple hundred dollars. When she told me...I saw red. I pulled out my American Express Gold card and gave it to her. I told her to tell him to forget the trade-in, I would just purchase the truck outright tonight and he could put the total price of the truck on my credit card. She took the card to the jerk who still had the keys to my car. He came back and actually threw my car keys at me and told me to get out of his dealership. We were not going to deal on anything. I left and purchased the exact same configuration truck from another dealer at a better price 2 days later.

Sorry for the long post but I still hate car sales jerks.



[This message has been edited by RickK (edited 04-25-2000).]

 

Rick: I hope that after you bought that new vehical,that you rode by that jerks dealership and blew the horn so he could see you had bought from someone else!!! What a jerk!


Bobby: look into selling your truck through the internet. I don't know an address for you but maybe someone here might. I sold my last truck right here on this board.

 

Tina,Rick.V10-WOW!!!!!!!! i am on information overload ,thanks to all,the posts could not be better. tina thought about an internet sale,might have to talk to you about that.left message w/ auto-by tel rep. about ordering a 2001 sd 4x4 cc Lariat,talk to yall soon gota go,be back soon..

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BB
1997 4x4 Reg Cab xlt.4.6
Superchiped,flowmasters
bfgoodrich k.o.2657017
K&N filter w/wms velocity tube,diamond plate UWS toolbox

 

I know after I bought my truck I had to stop by my "friendly Dodge dealer" to thank Sam the sales manager for being such an ...hole and if it wasn't for him I would've been driving that POS Durango I was looking at. And the Ford salesperson Laura who told me "it's normal to pay $1000.00 over invoice for a truck, I can sell them all day long. And we'll give you top dollar for your trade."($2000 for a loaded '95 Ranger XLT S/C) She got a nice letter from me as well.

Hang in there and remember, no matter how nice a dealer is to you, THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND. I'm not saying they can't be decent people. If you feel uncomfortable at any point, just walk out.

 

all44chem- AGREED!!!

 

Shopper: about ordering and time frames: I ordered in Nov when Ford had plenty of 2000's to be able to build. Also when I was looking around for a dealer to order from, besides wanting to get the very best price, the dealer had to have allotments to order the truck. If the dealer said things like: oh, don't worry about it or evaded the question then I didn't order from him. My dealer told me up front that he had the allocations. Then he put in the order and I had confermation back from Ford before I left the dealership that day. I was put on a priority of 10 to be built. Turn around time was 7 weeks and I was driving my truck. Right now seems to be a bad time for ordering because Ford is about ready to stop production on 2000's and regear the plants to start up on the 2001's. After you get confermation, your dealer should be able to tell you a time frame with more accuracy.

 

tina,what do you mean by allotments,not that skilled on terminology yet.thank you, bobby.

 

Dealer allotments. They change monthly, and
are unique for each dealer.. Allotments are based on previous sales of that dealer for particular configurations. There are allotment categories for many aspects, CC, Lariat, Dually, V8, V10, PSD etc..
So, if a dealer has a low allotment % for a particular category, this will likely slow down their ability to get the truck of this type.
Often, what you'll hear a dealership say is 'The factory isn't taking any more order with V10 engines' or something similar..
The reality usually is: This particular dealership doesn't have allotments for V10.

The factory can/often do build trucks for dealers even if it is over that dealers allotment, however, when parts start getting constrained, the factory will build for those dealers who are within their allotments first.

Here is a real world example of allotments in
action (back in Nov of 99):
A local dealer is alloted 12 SD's a month.
The SD v10 allotment for this dealer was 3%.
ie, only 3% of their monthly allotment could be a V10.. BUT! for us mathmatically challenged, 3% of 12 is less than 1. So it would be 2 months before this dealer would even have an allotment slot available for 1 V10. This dealer told me it would be at least 16 to 20 weeks maybe more to get
the truck if I ordered the V10..

btw, same dealer had 87% allotment for PSD.

Allotments explains why some folks only wait 7 to 12 weeks to get a truck, while others waited 6 months..


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Y2K F250 XLT SC 4x2 5.4L 5sp 4.10LS

 

R Bess,thankyou its unreal what you can learn about dealerships/economy on this page, once again thanks.