Your insurance is extremely high. What are your deductibles and coverage levels? It appears that you are either under 25 and/or have a poor driving record.

As a comparison I am 30 w/ a clean driving record, 100/300/100 - 500 comp. & coll. deductibles, and pay roughly $75 mo. thru Allstate.

 

One thing to also avoid is all the crap the dealer tries to sell you at the time of purchase. They wanted to sell me gap insurance for $500! My credit union only wanted $120 and that is for the term of the loan. Then there is the alarm which is about double. Then this and that. It all adds up. Don't forget the teflon coating.

 

I waited on a list in two SVT dealerships from Aug of 01 til I FINALLY got one in March of 02. Here in NY you basically had no choice of color either when your name came up, it was take it, or go back to the bottom of the list. Due to me wanting the first of the 02's I paid waaaaaaaaay too much. And just to get this one, I had to have it driven down from an out of State Dealer, mine came from Waltham MA. I'm looking at my reciept right now, I paid 32.5, with 6k down my payments are $514.00 for 72 Months.

of course
Had I waited a month later, I could have had any color and prob saved an easy 5K

Remember, each area is diff, and you CAN NOT compare one to the other. NY seems to be one of the worse, remember when I tried to buy a Mystic Chrome Cobra Convert last yr, (@ 6months before they came out) MF's wanted @ $55K

needless to say, I kept the L and seem to be paying what everyone is. You can not put a price on happiness

YOU GOT A FINE DEAL

 

Everybody wants a good deal. I paid 32,000 for my lightning. Did I get good deal no, do I care NO. Can I afford it yes and I am very happy. I just did not want the hassaling. Now just think of the person who paid 28,000 for their lightning and ended up spending 3000-6000 retail in brand new mods paying 10-14% on their credit card or even paying cash instead of buying used for half the price. If you can afford it who cares on what the other person paid. More than likely the person who paid 28 grand got it on the A plan or some type of plan that most of us can't get anyways....Just be happy and it won't matter anyways.....

 

I'm not saying the dealer can't make a profit, that's what they're in business to do. Sounds like you got a good price on the truck, but the dealers not being truthful somewhere.

Like I said earlier, when we got my wife's car I called the dealer, asked for the term, APR, amount financed it didn't add up to what they said the monthly payment would be. There was an extra $15-20 a month that wasn't accounted for anywhere. So we went to our bank instead and got an APR that was 5% lower and the math worked.

When I looked at a '99 L, (a different dealer) the numbers they gave me didn't seem to add up either. I point blank asked what they were giving for my truck because they hadn't told me. And the salesman pointed to a $14,000 figure on the paper, which I knew wasn't right. The $14,000 turned out to be what I was paying sales tax on. They were trying to short me $3,000-$4,000 on my trade in and cover it up. It took me over an hour and a half to finally figure out what they were doing using the cars.com payment calculator. Then they wouldn't talk to me again!

When I bought my '01 L, the salesman was great, didn't try to hide anything, and seemed to actually enjoy my questions and wrangling. When they told me what they were giving for my truck, I told them I knew its book value. Their offer for it then went up $1,000. They also agreed not to charge for "dealer's paperwork" - they all call it something different.

 

Go to a credit-union or bank for a loan ! the dealers will rip you off it's all in the paperwork Bud ! And if Ford wants to copy dodge in pricing then, we all have the option to start building our own hotrods again! with our own speed parts.

 

You are pretty much right. Dealerships have two kinds of profit, FRONT END and BACK END.

Front End: Is the profit made on the vehicle (selling price minus invoice). In most cases, a sales person is paid commission on front end profit only. Most dealers have other standard charges that add to invoice before commission is paid. My dealership for example has a $400 pack and $68 lock and set-up fee. So if actual invoice is $20,000, then the COST to determine front end profit is $20,468.

Back End: Is the profit made by the Finance Dept. There are many ways to make back end. Some of you have named a few. Extended warranty, Gap, Alarms, Invisigraphics, Paint and Sealant, and finally Financing. Some people still think they can get a better deal if they pay cash. The dealer actually makes more money if you finance.

People talk about dealer holdback and try to negotiate on that. Most times, it's not going to work. Most dealers actually loose money on their holdback accounts. Holdback is designed to help a dealer offset the cost of flooring (interest paid on the outstanding balance of vehicle they have financed from whatever bank they use. Most Ford dealers use floor with Ford). You get a certain number of days from when the invoice is shipped where you pay no interest. After that, it starts adding up quick. I work for a fairly average dealership and we have over $5,000,000 in new car inventory. The interest bill can be huge. If you break even on holdback you're doing good.

Bottom Line: There can't be any hidden costs. The contract must display everything. What you do have to do is listen carefuly, and read everything. The Finance Manager gets paid on the profit for all back end items and must maintain a certain $ amount in backend profit. These people can be very smooth with how they word what they say so you don't understand where you're being charged. Most people are payment buyers, so they will tend to say " it's only $30 a month more, that's just $1.00 a day. Just drink one less soda a day and it's paid for." Sounds great, but $30 a month X 72 months adds up.

One other note: You can't look at someone else's APR and say it's too high. There are many factors that will effect a customers APR. People with high scores (typically 740 and above) will be fast lane approvals with the best rates. Some people have high scores, but allot of outstanding debt. They will pay a higher interest rate, or may even get turned down. Sounds like BS right, it's not. I personally bought a new '00 Mustang. Dealership sent my contract to Golden 1 Credit Union where I was a member and had had a number of previous loans which were always paid on time. My score was over 700 and they turned me down. Their reason was debt to income ratio. Turned out that one of the GMC leases I had sold was still showing on my credit report so it looked like I had 3 current auto loans. Sometimes you just don't know.

Hope this was helpful.

Peace

 

I got to agree w/Rob on this one I too was on a waiting list in 99 and 01. No choice on color and had to pay sticker. While I wish I had kept the 99 L, it would have been paid for and have a built motor by now. But I just couldn't handle that frigging black paint

I just had to have an 01 when they came out. Paid sticker...again and 7.9 interest. 3 months later, 2.9 financing and mark down to move the trucks that where on the lot...........

Story of my life :-)

 

Any time you think in terms of payments, you probably got screwed. Always, always, always figure out the bottom line first. Then go from there. Dealers LOVE people who come in with a specific payment ceiling in mind. Then the number magic begins...

 

SVT vehicle are just like ANYthing else - They are worth what the market will pay ... MSRP is SUGGESTED price... If the market takes a dive or the interest rates go up or we go to war or the factory makes too many all those things can drive down the MARKET price. In fact all those things HAVE driven down market price...

I bet for every SVT sold under MSRP there are at elast one sold for 5 K over


Doug

 

Most dealerships sell SVT vehicles as a marketing tool. I doubt you can make enough on 17 SVT vehicles to justify the cost. I mean enough above and beyond what you would've made selling 17 "regular" Ford vehicles. SVT vehicles bring in new customers and cause more of a stir than standard Fords...except for the new Mustang..it's going to cause quite a stir.

 

XLT is right about credit ratings & scores as is Mart Man.

In a past life I was a DSM for GMAC and even sold Toyotas, plus considerable experience as a consumer buying cars for over 40 years. There are all kinds of "hidden profits" for the dealer that a salesman may not know about. For instance there are "equipment packs" that the dealers make extra prorfit selling. There are all kinds of dealer incentives that are not "consumer rebates/incentives! The best that a consumer can hope for is to decide on vehicle they want, go to Consumer Reports new car pricing service (more accurate numbers than Edmunds or anybody else). You will see invoice & MSRP for every model and equipment (like F150) They include Adv. allowance, holdback, and "consumer" incentives, but have no idea of any "dealer" incentives. I used to use these numbers to negotiate up from invoice, preferably on last day of the month, but Dec. 31st is even better since another one of those hidden profits, "year-end volume rebates" comes into play, plus many states require inventory tax for any vehicles owned Jan. 1st. Dec. 31st is still best possible time, but I learned last year that "car buying services" like Cars direct. com and others can get you the best deal without usual dealer "gang-tackle tactics". former girlfriend always got screwed on car deals. She wanted a new Honda Accord EX V6 Coupe. I got her a price below invoice, into holdback, confirmed by CR numbers. She was preapproved by her credit union for 3.9, but let dealer have finance deal at same interest rate, plus best extended warranty at 40% off. Numbers were checked on final paperwork with amortization table" No games or hassles whatsoever! Buying services competed against each other and sent "binding bids". I will take this approach when buying my next vehicle.

Someone has said that SVT doesn't represent a big enough profit center for dealers, but used to lure customer into showroof. Absolutely correct! Think ford's GT will be meaninful to a dealer who may get one? Sure as hell will draw traffic! Doubt many dealers lose money on SVT sales. Dealers on all sales use "dollar profit averaging". Some guys will walk in and pay xplan, another will pay list, others somewhere in between. Biggest "back-end profit" is service department. Most dealers make much more money there than profit on vehicles! If shop rate is $80 hr, the tech would be lucky to get $20. That's just labor. Even real profit is greater because "book rate" charged is way more time than needed to do the job. One of major reasons why service work is sloppy because dealer and tech are taking too many shortcuts to "beat the book"! Why do you think the really good techs have a great "side business" charging prices about a 1/3 that of dealer? How about all the SVT dealer sales of Predator, Superchips, Bassani at all those "mod friendly" dealerships? How are their parts prices, especially if installed?

Sorry for long post, but you don't need to worry about any dealer's profits in order to stay in business. Whether the salesman makes good commissions or not is another yestion? Do you realize the $150-500 "doc fees" goes directly into the oner's pocket, regardless of "selling price"?

 

Just throwing in my 2 cents:

IMO - you did ok on the price but got screwed on the trade in and financing.

I don't believe in going upside down on cars - I feel like its throwing money away.

That interest rate is pretty high but I don't know your credit score so that may have been the best you could qualify for.

I was interested in your post since I just bought a left over 03 Lightning.

 

I got my '01 from a non-SVT dealer with 20 miles on it. It was slightly damaged on the trailer and the front valence was changed. Since it was repaired they could not considered it being new. It went through the Ford dealer auction route. Saved me 4K+ off list and I have the reciepts on the few front end parts that were changed. Dealer has a good reputation but I was surprised they were allowed to sell an SVT product. I see other used SVT's at non-SVT dealers, how are they supposed to handle repairs (warranty and non-warranty) ? I guess if you look around you can find a way to save a few $$. CUL - JR