[La Flama Blanca]

So went to the auto show last Saturday, sat in a Sport, my wife liked it.
Monday went to a dealership I’ve dealt with in the past, walked in and talked to a salesman.
Told him I was looking for a sport, Prefer Platinum White, 401A and cooled seats, that’s pretty much it.
I mentioned I already looked in their inventory online and they had nothing, was wondering if they could order or dealer trade for one.
Obviously he said he could, asked if I had driven one and I said no, he said he would bring one around.
I said fine, my wife’s 5 minutes behind be anyway.
He goes out to get a Platinum white, it’s fully loaded, $43,xxx sticker price, I know what it is, I’ve seen it in the inventory online, don’t recall the sales price, think it was $38,000
Of course, battery is dead, scrambling he brings around a black one with a moon roof, I think it was about $32,xxx sales price. For some reason they had 7 Sports, 3 fully loaded and 4 with just moon roofs.
Drove the black one, car feels like driving a freighter compared to my MKZ, moves out though.
Can just tell it’s a heavy car. I saw on the document shipping weight was just over 3600 lbs., felt more like 36,000 lbs. I was a little drawn back by the weight I guess,
Return to the dealership and he brings paperwork on a Platinum white, 401A, I said what happened to the cooled seats, he forgot.
In the meantime they get the Platinum white one started and bring it around, don’t know what for, already told him I’m not spending that money.
Tells me to drive it anyway while he finds another car. Take it out, drives just like the black one.
Get back to the dealership and he finds a Platinum white, 401A and cooled seats.
I get X plan through work, he shows me the price, $35,xxx and asks me if it looks good.
I say no, he keeps working anyway, takes my car to estimate the value.
Comes back with $3000 for my car, out the door $475/month/72 months.
I laugh, already told him no 20 minutes ago. Told him I can go down the street to the other dealership and get the Magnetic they have in stock, 401A, Moonroof, cooled seats, and Navigation for $34,601, price advertised on the website. That’s $2000 in more options for $1000 cheaper.
Of course he bashes the other dealership, saying that’s A plan, your price is more.
He advised me if they dealer trade for a car, you pay sticker price, in my case it’s X plan.
I said OK, I wasn’t aware of that, apologized for wasting his time and asked for my keys.
Not sure if anyone else notices this, but they like to play the game I call the “Key Keep Away Game”, they basically hold your keys hostage while pressuring you into purchasing a car.
He says let me go get so and so, he knows what cars are coming in, I know that’s BS, this guy is what I refer to as the “Closer”. When the salesman can’t close the deal, they bring in the manager to really pour it on.
Guy tells me the same crap the salesman did, I say the same thing as well, I didn’t know when you dealer trade for cars I have to pay sticker price.
Guy says since it’s close to the price as the loaded Platinum white one they have, why don’t I just buy that.
I laughed and said if I’m paying $40,000 for a car, I’ll use my dad’s GM employee discount and buy a Cadillac ATS. Closer asked how long I’ve been looking, I said 2 months and have looked at probably 250 window stickers in a 200 mile radius. I already saw the Platinum white car they were bringing in, it’s in Detroit.
Closer held out his hand, I shake it and the salesman’s hand too and politely leave.
I said if you guys are going to fault me for trying to give you my business, so be it.
Salesman said tomorrow is the last day of the month, (I already know that, I always buy my cars on the last day of the month), if I really want to deal on the Platinum white car they’ll come down on price and give me more for my trade.
They knew I wasn’t screwing around, I feel sorry for people who don’t do their homework, they really get ripped off.
Guess I'll wait till the end of March, I'll have $2000 more to put down on it anyway and hopefully the salt is off the roads.
In the meantime I'm going to go test drive an ATS and see what the employee price is on it. It'll be a lot slower but I've read they can move out with a tune.
For me the only advantage an ATS has over the Sport is fuel mileage. I think I can get a basic ATS AWD for around $35,xxx employee sales price.

 

[Connor1281]

Not sure why they told you that you have to pay sticker on a dealer trade... At the dealership I work at we will give you whatever pricing plan you have no matter if we locate it or not. I wouldn't settle for the X-Plan anyway, you can do better as you already know. Right now we are selling all of our in stock new vehicles for $500 or more under invoice.

 

[D&D]

With an experience like that with a sales person, I say runaway and don't go back, even if they give you the price you want. Bad sales people are just the tip of the dealership iceberg. There are a lot of fairly honest sales people and dealerships out there and with a new car you will be dealing with them for a long time. Shop around for a dealership that will be with you and not against you. My 2 cents worth.

 

[mr. e]

Not sure why they told you that you have to pay sticker on a dealer trade... At the dealership I work at we will give you whatever pricing plan you have no matter if we locate it or not. I wouldn't settle for the X-Plan anyway, you can do better as you already know. Right now we are selling all of our in stock new vehicles for $500 or more under invoice.

Yeah, if that dealership told the OP that he'd have to pay MSRP for a locate, that's some shady stuff. Heck, my dealership will do locates on TrueCar and Costco, which are...well, they're definitely mini deals.

 

[Vert]

Once they test drive my trade, Ill ask for my keys back or just take them off the desk if they sit them down.

 

[dlm1984]

With an experience like that with a sales person, I say runaway and don't go back, even if they give you the price you want. Bad sales people are just the tip of the dealership iceberg. There are a lot of fairly honest sales people and dealerships out there and with a new car you will be dealing with them for a long time. Shop around for a dealership that will be with you and not against you. My 2 cents worth.

While I'm younger and relatively unexperienced at buying new cars, I would second that advice.

I've been to at least one dealership where I was more knowledgeable about their cars than the salesman. That's understandable, IMO, if it's a used car lot where you'll sell anything and everything, but when you represent a single brand, that's inexcusable.

I expect there's a certain level of games and theater (or whatever you want to call it) at any dealership, but some are better than others. Same with individual salesmen at a given location.

In my case, when I was looking at new & off-lease/trade-in cars a few years ago at a family of dealerships (representing Ford, BMW, Mercedes at individual locations), I asked the BMW salesman that I met with if he could recommend any salesmen at the Ford location. He gave me two names and I went to talk with one of them - younger guy that knew his stuff. I bought from him, and contacted him again when I bought my Sport.

Maybe I should have held out for a better deal, since I didn't really get anywhere on the price (vs their internet price), but considering it was already $500 (or $750?) under invoice plus several other Ford incentives available at the time, I doubt that he had a lot of room to work with.

 

[dlm1984]

And since the edit time frame expired as I was editing my post, I'll just add this:

At the end of the day, I feel that I got a fair deal and I learned a few things that should serve me well when I go to check out a Raptor, and more likely buy a Bronco in a few years.

And that, in my opinion, is about the best outcome you can get...

 

[your_cousin_vinny]

this is the kind of crap that gives all car salesmen a bad name, just like any profession with a bad rap. Every time I read horror stories like this it makes me glad I have a close family friend in the dealer network who saves me the hassle and the headache. I call her, she gives me (or anyone in the family buying a car) the name of the salesman to go to, the sales manager, and the lowest price they'll do. Its usually not the absolute lowest I could potentially get by haggling and pitting dealers against each other and "playing the game." HOWEVER, being able to buy a car, for a more-than-fair price, and spend less than an hour total in the dealership, is totally worth it.

Best of luck, and try to enjoy the hunt. They can't frazzle you if you enjoy the game and play it better than they do.

 

[La Flama Blanca]

Thanks for the confidence boost guys, I'm not done!
They indeed told me there was no extra discounts on cars they bring in, I had to pay X price.

Found a car about 2 hours from me.
Platinum white, 401A, cooled seats and Nav., $34,689
It does have almost 200, I'm sure, hard driven miles.
My only concern is it appears it was built 6-27-16, that's the date on the bottom of the window
sticker, build date?
Any issues with the early builds?

 

[Connor1281]

Thanks for the confidence boost guys, I'm not done!
They indeed told me there was no extra discounts on cars they bring in, I had to pay X price.

Found a car about 2 hours from me.
Platinum white, 401A, cooled seats and Nav., $34,689
It does have almost 200, I'm sure, hard driven miles.
My only concern is it appears it was built 6-27-16, that's the date on the bottom of the window
sticker, build date?
Any issues with the early builds?

My Sport was built on 6-22-16 and I have about 6500 miles on it with no problems!

 

[La Flama Blanca]

Awesome, that's what I wanted to hear.
Advertised price is $33,939, that's with $750 loyalty cash, I'm trading in a Lincoln, last stealership told me
I couldn't apply that to a Ford, we'll see this time.

 

[Rice]

Awesome, that's what I wanted to hear.
Advertised price is $33,939, that's with $750 loyalty cash, I'm trading in a Lincoln, last stealership told me
I couldn't apply that to a Ford, we'll see this time.

There should be no reason why you cant, i traded my 2014 wrangler in no problem for my fusion

 

[La Flama Blanca]

I was referring to the "extra" $750 loyalty cash
Basically if you are trading in a Ford, you can get an extra $750 off the car.
Last dealership told me the loyalty cash didn't apply because it was a Lincoln
Right now in my area they are offering:
$750 "Retail Customer Cash"
$750 "Loyally Owner Cash"
$500 "Ford Credit Bonus Customer Cash"
So that's $2000 of the "Sales Price" of a car
List Price is $38,135
Dealership Sale Price is $35,939
Minus $2000,(if customer applies) from the bonus cash offers mentioned above
Total price minus tax and fees = $33,939

 

[La Flama Blanca]

I've been checking daily on Autotrader, there have been zero Sports delivered within a
100 mile radius of me in the last 2 months.
Running out of time, if I'm buying a Ford I need to purchase before April 3 to get the zero % interest load from
Ford credit.
I've been playing the waiting game, 1) to save up for a bigger down payment, 2) to see if any new cars are delivered optioned closer to what I want, 3) Dealers are a bit more motivated to sell a car at the end of the month
I didn't order a car because they told me it wouldn't be delivered by April 3 and who knows what incentives would be offered after that.

 

[bigblueshock]

I've been checking daily on Autotrader, there have been zero Sports delivered within a
100 mile radius of me in the last 2 months.
Running out of time, if I'm buying a Ford I need to purchase before April 3 to get the zero % interest load from
Ford credit.
I've been playing the waiting game, 1) to save up for a bigger down payment, 2) to see if any new cars are delivered optioned closer to what I want, 3) Dealers are a bit more motivated to sell a car at the end of the month
I didn't order a car because they told me it wouldn't be delivered by April 3 and who knows what incentives would be offered after that.

I like AutoTrader to search for used cars. For new cars, I'm iffy...

You're probably better off using Ford's own website to search for new inventory. They'll also tell you if ones on order and not even in stock yet.

I also like Edmunds. You can option out the car (cooled seats, choose a feature with 401A) and it will narrow down the search.

Edit: I have 85 freaking posts here... I just haven't pulled trigger yet either I'm more active on this forum than any other forum of crap I own!!

 

[Wildcat Birdie]

I've been checking daily on Autotrader, there have been zero Sports delivered within a
100 mile radius of me in the last 2 months.
Running out of time, if I'm buying a Ford I need to purchase before April 3 to get the zero % interest load from
Ford credit.
I've been playing the waiting game, 1) to save up for a bigger down payment, 2) to see if any new cars are delivered optioned closer to what I want, 3) Dealers are a bit more motivated to sell a car at the end of the month
I didn't order a car because they told me it wouldn't be delivered by April 3 and who knows what incentives would be offered after that.

Ford and the dealerships can lock you in at the current rates, and if the new ones are better, you get the better ones, if they aren't you are locked in to the current rates. Talk to them about that and order the car the way you want.

 

[SludgeFactory]

I've been checking daily on Autotrader, there have been zero Sports delivered within a
100 mile radius of me in the last 2 months.
Running out of time, if I'm buying a Ford I need to purchase before April 3 to get the zero % interest load from
Ford credit.
I've been playing the waiting game, 1) to save up for a bigger down payment, 2) to see if any new cars are delivered optioned closer to what I want, 3) Dealers are a bit more motivated to sell a car at the end of the month
I didn't order a car because they told me it wouldn't be delivered by April 3 and who knows what incentives would be offered after that.

I agree with using the Ford site. I found my perfectly optioned Fusion myself at a another dealership and had my dealership obtain it. They didn't find it themselves because they searched 200 miles and this was 205 miles away.

Also, I can't see them dropping that 0%, it either comes and goes or has been around forever. But why save up for more down payment if you have 0% APR?

 

[uncletatty]

I like AutoTrader to search for used cars. For new cars, I'm iffy...

You're probably better off using Ford's own website to search for new inventory. They'll also tell you if ones on order and not even in stock yet.

I also like Edmunds. You can option out the car (cooled seats, choose a feature with 401A) and it will narrow down the search.

Edit: I have 85 freaking posts here... I just haven't pulled trigger yet either I'm more active on this forum than any other forum of crap I own!!

Ha. Same here. Just can't justify getting rid of my super reliable and still fun to drive 2010.

 

[La Flama Blanca]

Ford and the dealerships can lock you in at the current rates, and if the new ones are better, you get the better ones, if they aren't you are locked in to the current rates. Talk to them about that and order the car the way you want.

That's not what I was told at the last Stealership I test drove at.
They told me if you order the car you only get the incentives and rate when you take delivery.

 

[your_cousin_vinny]

That's not what I was told at the last Stealership I test drove at.
They told me if you order the car you only get the incentives and rate when you take delivery.

Only certain dealerships offer that service. I think it works on sort of a merit system... If the dealership has good customer ratings, then it comes with some perks they can extend to the customer.

That's how I did it. My car was delivered after the original incentives had expired, but I had my pick since I locked them in when I ordered. Saved me $750 by by doing so.