Just bought a used '01 4x4 loaded with everything except leather. Line-X, Ravin exhaust, K&N Filter, 15,000 miles, $23k. I went through the whole dynamic of new versus used, and had convinced myself on a new one, but couldn't stay away from Traderonline. Boom, Private Seller, new ad, jumped on it, and am very pleased with the deal and the truck. Sold my 01 Tacoma Doublecab Limited 4x4 for $21,250 with 36,000 miles. Basically trading dollars. The license, reg, tax on an additional $10k on a new rig also made the used route just seemed to be the best choice for me. Part of that is finding the right vehicle which is timing. I have been looking for awhile, and felt patience would ultimately get me what I wanted! It did

JRR

 

One thing to remember is you get to deduct the amount of tax you pay by the amount of trade-in value you get on your truck.

For example: If you are looking to buy a $30,000 new truck. The dealer offers you $17,000 on your trade. You feel your truck is worth $20,000 from your internet homework. By taking the $17,000 you can also save $1,020 in sales tax (based on 6%). So, it would be the same as if you sold your truck for $18,020 in cash. IF you can sell your truck for the full $20,000 then you have saved yourself about $2,000. If you only get offered $18,500, you save less than $500 and you have had the hassle of tire kickers calling, potential buyers saying they will be there to look it over and never show, etc, etc. At some point, this is not worth the $500 savings and you would have to decide for yourself when to cut your loses and take what they offer for a trade in. Yeah, it stinks, but that is part of the game!

 

Men,
I know how it feels to get low balled by the dealer. (he tried anyway) I went in thinking I was gonna get a 2003 Screw until he offered 18,500 for mine. Hell I have the extended ESP and only 23K miles on my 2001. We traded punches for 30 minutes and I told him to suck an egg. Maybe the market is bad right now for used, but I'm no fool. I'll wait it out until the rates go back up and people go back to buying some used Screws.

 

What do you think the wholesale value is of your truck at a dealers auction? That is what a dealer initially looks at when offering a price for your trade-in. He has a choice of selling your trade-in off his used car lot if he feels he can move it in a reasonable time frame with a reasonable gross profit; or he can send it to auction where he may realize wholesale or maybe a little more depending on condition and market demand.

Now he also has, depending on whether or not its a Blue Oval dealership, between $6,000 and $8,000 to play with on a new SCrew sale. He can move MSRP down close to invoice and keep your trade-in offer at or near wholesale, or not mess too much with the MSRP and up the trade-in offer; or split the difference. You will suffer from the illusion that you are getting a real good deal; but in reality he is getting what he needs to clear his inventory and still make a reasonable gross profit.

Dealerships are not in the business of losing money on each unit they sell; nor do they give their product away. He still has average overhead per unit including the salesman's commision to cover and still make enough per unit to keep the doors open. Like any other business they are entitled to making a reasonable profit on each sale.

So the bottom line is sell the truck on your own, you will always get more money, check true invoice at Kelly (KBB), and then walk in with cash and negotiate that purchase to as close to invoice as possible. By the way if you really want a good deal on a new truck; order one, and wait the eight weeks. Odds are very good you will pay invoice or slightly less. The dealer will still make a profit (holdbacks, volume incentives ETC) as he has nothing in it and the unit comes in his back door already sold and goes right out the front door with no lot time or normal overhead.

Just some thoughts!!!!

 

i agree with mike. i've found it much easier to bargain with a salesman if you plan to order a new vehicle. and go to the dealership armed with info such as trade in value of your vehicle and wholesale cost of the one you wanna order. if you come prepared they usually don't give you much of a run around...

 

Umm... 6-8000? That's a bit much.. MSRP vs Invoice is in the range of 4K depending on the options. Only thing left for the dealer is the holdback which in no way makes up the difference. You must be counting rebates.

 

Jryager,

You are right my error on SCrew invoice vs MSRP. Depending on the model and how it is equipped it is a $4,000 to $5,000 window. However, also depending on the dealer's rating with FORD, there is more per unit profit besides "holdback". There are volume incentives, model incentives, ETC and those percentages are based on vehicle MSRP. They also add on their FDAF and other built in average costs to offset per unit overhead.

When I purchased my 2001 SCrew I paid "True Invoice" which was $4,200 below the advertised MSRP. When I purchased my 2003 SCrew the difference was about $4,400. I used the same salesman both times. No haggling, no hassle; just a take it or leave it offer.

I ordered both trucks and did not use a trade-in. Delivery on my 01 took ten weeks. Delivery on my 03 ran at just over seven weeks. In both instances I had sold my "trade-in" on my own to a private buyer, and after satisfying the payoff, rolled most of the extra cash into the purchase. I never dealt with a "lot salesman". I use their "internet salesman (fleet)" which is a much better experience.

I guess the real point of this is to illustrate, that if you want to make the effort and take the time involved selling your "trade-in" on the open market, you can maximize the purchase to your benefit. I you don't want to go through the hassle, and want to go the "trade-in" route using a "lot salesman" then you need to understand you will pay the price. So to speak.

Take the time to educate yourself before selling your vehicle or making that purchase. The "Kelly Blue Book" and Edmunds websites are great places to find out the true market value of the vehicle you plan to sell, and the invoice vs MSRP of the one you wish to buy.

Try using "Blue Oval" dealers whenever possible. They deal in high volume, usually give the best deals, and have higher priority on new vehicle orders. Try contacting several dealerships using the WEB via their "internet sales" section. Describe the unit you want and get their best offer before walking in the door. You can even try using one offer against the other to get your best price without ever leaving your home. These things do work. They just require time and effort.

 

As far as the volume discounts and what you are calling "kickbacks"... not as much of that exists as it used to.. and that's not a guarantee.. so selling under that price with the notion that you'll make your volume isn't good business........ at least from the dealership side...

 

Very true! However, it is done at times if the model is a HOT selling item.

Thanks

 

I think you got that backwards... if it is not a hot-selling model and they have had it more than 90 days... they may be ready to dump it.

If it is hot-selling or in short supply (Harley, Cobra, Lightning).. it is not deeply discounted if at all.....

 

Well I just checked to see what the Kelly Blue Book value is on my truck. I have the 2001 XLT 5.4 4x4 with only 23000 on it. I paid 28,500 on it new and here are the results (it is in excelent condition, not a scratch on it)...

Private party: $26,340
Trade-in: $22,775

So really if you COULD sell it for that, I would say that these trucks keep a decent resell value. Now when I got my truck it was in september when they were trying to clear out the lot, so I got a decent price on it.

Now when the 2004s come out, I may trade up, but to me its worth trying to sell it to a private party first even though its a bit more of a hassle, almost $4000 bucks is a lot of cash!

I do agree if there were problems with the truck or an accident, etc. Then I would trade it in as I would think it would be very hard to sell to a private party for much. Plus I can't lie to anyone and there are things like carfax.

 

actually I've had two dealers tell me they looked at NADA and KBB on the web.

As far as the auction goes - you have no idea what you get at the auction. For that reason, I'd never accept the fact that "we can buy trucks like your all day long at the auction". SORRY - no you can't.

What you can get at the auction ranges from reasonably good trucks to trucks that were totalled and rebuilt in states where salvage titles aren't required and you probably can't tell the difference. (FWIW my 95 Honda Accord was totlaled and it shows up in CARFAX with no accident history. My wife's 98 Mustang - same thing.)

I've met two used truck GEEWIZ dealer guys who didn't even know that Ford offers a power rear window as a dealer installed option. Not one has yet noticed the Expedition console.

 

Um correct me if i'm wrong but on the 2001 didn't you have to install the power slider as a after market thing? I belive it wasn't until 2002 in the lariat that the power slider was an option.

 

No one said anyone knows what they are getting at an auction, but guess what... the dealer doesn't know what he's getting from you either... and I am not worried about whether I can tell what I am getting from the auction (mostly because I don't plan to go there), but you can bet that a good Used Car Sales manager with wholesaler contacts can tell much better what is not worthwhile.

 

what they get from me is what they sold me new, maintained for the last two years and will get back next year when the lease expires.

The real problem here is the used car guy doesn't discrimibate well between different vehicles and he tries to recover margin lost in the XPlan sale.

BTW, there are three S'crews in the paper here over the weekend.

Two of them were 2001 4WD Lariats with 15000 mles on them - dealers asking $26 grand.

Third was a stripped XLT 2WD with 80000 miles for $21900.