atxjoe

I love and hate buying a new truck. My fear of overpaying drives me to spend extreme amounts of time doing pre-buying research. But in the end this equips me with the knowledge I need to do battle with the sales gestapo – and I love torturing shady sales people. Sadly, there are a LOT of shady sales people. I have some great/unbelievable stories I won’t share about the lying liars at two dealerships I encountered here in Austin. And one great story I’ll share here about the dealership I finally bought from.

Thanks to everyone on this forum. I often used this forum to educate myself about all the latest F150 technology and options. I spent many evenings here researching Ecoboost vs. V8 , Cab vs. Crew, Wheel size, and all the other options.

There are lots of articles about how to get the best price on a car. Google is your friend and enemy. Some strategies I knew about, like emailing the fleet managers at 10 different car dealerships and negotiating with all of them, and pitting them against each other. New to me are the websites that offer to do the haggling for you. I tried those strategies, and many more, to try and find the “best” price on a new F150. But in the end, here’s what worked for me, and I feel like I got a great price. But if I didn’t don’t tell me because I think I’d have a heart attack.

Autotrader

I’ve used that site many times in the past to sell my old car instead of trading it in at the dealer. I really dislike dealerships! But my wife found that dealerships were selling new F150s on Autotrader, too. I think some states may not be as competitive. But there were hundreds of new F150s for sale on AT in Texas. And I found they were offering far lower prices on AT then through other sources. Much lower than X-plan, Edmunds, etc., and much lower than I got trying to haggle with the fleet sales managers.
I set AT to search all of Texas for F150 XLTs. I also added “Ecoboost”. Then I sorted by price. I created a spreadsheet that listed the options, prices, dealerships. Once I added enough data I started to see the “true cost” of each of the options. I found this a little better than Edmunds.com but it’s a similar concept to their true market value. Two dealerships really stuck out as having the lowest prices (by far). Planetford in Houston, and Maxwell Ford here in Austin.

I went to Maxwell with the intention of buying a truck. I had an awful will-never-return experience at Maxwell. I don’t know if it was just the one lying salesperson or if they’re all snakes. Enough said. I will also briefly mention that I met an awesome salesperson at Mak Haik in Georgetown. Sadly, he works for a den of vipers. Wolves maybe? Truly a deceitful bunch. **Avoid at all costs.**

While on AT doing research I saw an advertisement for Covert Ford here in Austin. None of their trucks were listed as the least expensive. But the ad said they would match any price in Texas. I sent the Covert Ford online manager an email with the link to an AT price from another dealership in Houston. He said he would match it. It was that simple. I filled out a credit app online and I was in and out of the dealership in less than forty-five minutes. Best car buying experience ever.

So here’s what I got, and what I paid.
Silver XLT SuperCrew 4 x 2 Ecoboost with 302A Option package and a 3.55 locker. Texas Edition, which I think is just the Chrome package for all you non-Texans.
MSRP $39,645. I paid $28,000 before TTL.
I did have to finance through Ford.com, but I’ll refinance for a better rate after 3 payments.

I love my truck! Thanks for the info on this forum!

I don't work for Autotrader or Covert. I hope its okay that I mentioned them by name.

Rooskibar03

At the end of the day I pose the question, how much is your time worth?

TomParisOBC

I have seen some of their trucks on Ebay as well, like this FX2 which seems to be a really good price for what you get!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/F150-FX2-FX-PLus-Package-Rear-Camera-Trailer-Brake-Controller-Reverse-Sen-/251289073917?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3a81fef8fd

Phyer Phyter

At the end of the day I saved about $15K on my truck. If I took a few hours a week for a month. I'ld say it was time well spent. Some was on line and some was going to the dealerships in my area. Kinda like sex, the finish is just part of it - getting there is half the fun....

Adam013085

Sounds like you got a pretty good deal. Most dealers around here are about $10k off msrp from all the rebates now. Especially being an XLT supercrew, the dealership probably pocketed the rebates

atxjoe

My guess is I saved about $4000 for two days of work. It would be great if my time were worth more than that, but sadly I didn't realize "investment banking" was a career choice in back in college.

But, your point is well taken. And I'll admit I've spent as much time researching "the best" toaster oven from Amazon. If you're curious, they all suck.

Legendsk

True that. Also, I wish my daddy would have pointed out that it's just as easy to marry a rich girl as a poor one.

2002FX4

At the beginning of the day, what is your thoughts on your finances and debt to income ratio?

jaconn02

No need to wait for 3 payments to Ford, they told me same thing, I said sure. That was on a Friday, Monday I went to my credit union and refinanced for 2.39%, and paid FMC off a question was never asked.

Coho

Congratulations on a sweet new fancy ride !!!