Wifey and I talked about this all weekend and decided "let's take advantage of the incentives and get a 2003 truck"

So I'm going to look at 2 tonight:

both are SCab, 2wd lim slip 4.6

Navy Blue XLT, XTR trim package

- or -

Bright Red XLT, XTR trim with fog lights, power slider, trailer tow package. This one lists for a couple grand more


I'm gonna pay $100 over invoice on either one plus the 0% for 60 months

BUT!!!!!

we decided if we do this we are gonna be a one car family (we commute together) so we trade in the 98 F150 and bring the Focus back early from lease (with a $1500 penalty that could be financed within the zero percent)

Should I jump on it? Or wait a couple of months (let the focus lease expire) and cross my fingers and hope that 2004's will have similar incentives?

Need to make a decision quickly before these trucks are sold.

 

Would it be kind of hard only having one vehicle in the family?

 

It's a tough call on the incentives. I personnally would wait for the 04's but I doubt you will get such a great deal.

The last time I was in a similar situation as you I took both of my cars to a local Carmax and sold them to them for much more than the dealers deal allowed. Then I took the extra cash and bought the 2 new vehicles that I wanted with a much smaller payment because I didn't roll any thing into it.

If you do pick one of the 03's get the one with the tow package. They just seem to have less problems.

Good luck!!

 

I agree that you should get the one with the tow package. I also think that you really have to go by your gut feeling on the looks of the truck as well. I personally like the styling of the 03 over that of the 04. But maybe the 04 will grow on me. Still it is your decision to make and I would go with whatever best fits your family budget and needs over all else.

 

'04's look great! but I still love the look of the '03.

I could be happy with either. I am leaning into the trailer package just to get the extra coolers from the factory. From all accounts it is beneficial to have the extra tranny cooling etc

As far as trade in... the truck has 210,000 on it so haggling will only get me maybe another $1000 in trade in... but I am also walking in at $100 over invoice no matter what I buy so I would probably net out the same as going the Carmax route.

 

what are the rebates?
when we bought the wife's Taurus last fall, it was a better deal to get a bank loan and take the rebates, compared to 0% APR for 60 months.

Find an online financing calulator and figure the difference. The dealer we went through also offered us a loan, but his payment was higher than what we calculated it should be - turned out he had a couple of extra fees added onto his loan.

Don't be in a hurry. Wait to get the truck you want - make the dealer earn your business. If you want a certain color w/ specific options, ask them to do a search for you. The dealer did some sort of 3 way trade to get me my truck, and for the Taurus, he found what we wanted in OH and did a trade for it - then delivered it to us (dealership we went through was ~1 hr away from our home)

 

That’s a real tough questing “should you wait or buy now”. I am no economic expert by any means but have paid attention to it for the past 8 – 10 years. Mostly due to interest in it. In general auto sales are the slowest during the winter months and booming during spring and summer.

We also have the holiday season coming up so people will be focusing more of their money towards that rather then auto buying. The economy is starting to rebound and stabilize however, with exception of retail it gets sluggish during winter (i.e. auto sales, furniture sales etc.) September and October are real volatile times for the stock market so it will be jumping back and forth and with many people having a close eye on that may hold back some consumers from spending money.

In my opinion since auto sales will be slowing down shortly and Ford is hurting for some real good sales numbers by volumes/units sold they will be basically forced into offering better rebates on the 04’s not to mention that Chevy and Dodge are already beginning to offer some big rebates themselves. If that comes to pass and since I believe there will be plenty of 03’s left that means the deals on the 03’s will get even better.

The call is still yours to make and even if you bought now I am sure your going to get an excellent deal. I do feel if you waited another 2 – 4 months you just may get an even better deal. Something to think about and maybe do some research on…

 

I sorta disagree w/ 01. I doubt the new 04 F150s w/ get much of a rebate program. Ford will rely on the newness of the F150s to sell them; however, I expect the dealers will do anything to get the 'old' F150s off of the lot. The rebates on the 'old' trucks may be increased.

 

It really is a hard call, and 36fan very well could be right. However for the record I am going to stick with what I said about Ford offering more in rebates on the 04's. My dealer in Portsmouth has like 10 - 15 of them and they haven't moved yet. Another local dealer has 3. One is gone but it was sold to begin with.

However, time will tell...