Hi' I'm new to the forum and have been interested in buying a new lightning for a while and with the low intrest rates I'm really looking. Anyone know of a new lightning in the Houston area for sale, and under msrp? thanks Frank

 

There are 4,,, 1 red, 3 black, at Helfman Ford off of 59 south in Sugarland. (281 240 3673) They dont do X or A plan on SVT models. I was quoted a drive out price of 34730.16 yesterday. I hear thats not a good deal. This weekend I plan on going in and trying to get it down to 30 drove out.

 

You can try Mac Haik over by Gessner and Katy Freeway. I was there today and they have a silver one left. They seem to go through lightnings rather quickly though. I think they are suppose to get some more in within a week or two but you might have to check. Also, I recommend talking to Esteban Ramirez. Suprisingly, he is laid back, doesnt pressure you, works hard to accomidate, and isn't full of B.S..

I got mine for about $500 less then MSRP, but I cant say I am good with the haggling thing. I mean I tried several other places in Houston and Dallas and I could not budge anyone on selling to me less than 34.5k. But I think that is because I look so young (looks are deceiving). BTW, just make sure to eliminate all the extra fees they try to add at the end. They didnt fight me about it except the extended warranty which I ended up getting for $900 for 60k miles but Im thinking of dropping it (20 days to decide for full refund). Also, they were the only place I could find that had a red one at the time other than Helfman so I think that might of clouded my negotiation skills. Also, I didnt like Helfman because they thought I was stupid and would lie about things like saying the L has 20inch rims, only about 4000 made, and everyone pays at least 2k over MSRP because Houston is full of rich people.

I dont know if this is of importance, but my lightning started to pull hard to the right (wont go into what caused it ). I called them about it late yesterday (Wednesday). Brought it in about 10am today. Got it back at 3pm. They diagnosed and fixed the problem correctly. In the mean-time, they gave me a free loaner with no hassles and actually cleaned the L before giving it back. And I was charged nothing during this process. I know when I had my mustang from another dealer, I never ever got service like that. Typically I would have to make an appointment, wait 2 weeks, take my car in the morning, be told at the end of the day that it wont be worked on til the next day, could not get a loaner, they screw up something while trying to fix the car, have to take it back 2 weeks later, etc., and some how I always got charged for something. Actually I have had the same negative process by trying other dealerships especially the one in College Station.

Hope this helps and I am sorry about the book. I am just so happy about my L and I definately feel like I didnt get screwed in some way or another (fingers crossed).

Eric

 

Thanks for the info, I'll call these two dealers today.

 

I put a few car buying strategies up on my site:

http://lightning.f150online.net

It's not a complete guide to haggling, but it answers some of the most frequent questions that I receive.