I worked at Chrysler as an engineer for 12 years and I've been through this well over a dozen times.

EP (Employee Price) is something that was only offered to non-family members for a very short time (one year for sure, maybe two). Dealers have NEVER had REAL Employee Pricing to offer. And any dealer that says they can get you a control number for EP (real Employee price) is lying. They can get in MAJOR trouble for doing so.

As an employee, at one point we had two EP control numbers to give out to anyone to get REAL Employee Price in a calendar year. It saved my buddy almost $8000 on his 2500 diesel. It was almost $5000 on a 300C for my other buddy.

Friends and Family Price (similar to Ford's X Plan) was something that's been around for quite a while and usually we had anywhere from 3 to 5 control numbers to share per calendar year. Sometimes it was unlimited, but it changed from year to year. Friends and Family pricing is some fixed number that is pre-established just like X-plan. My experience has been that Ford's X-Plan is usually more beneficial than Chrysler's Friends and Family Plan.

For reference, X-Plan on my 2011 F-150 XLT was worth $3185 or 7.8% off sticker. Usually Friends and Family was not that beneficial in my experience....but things may be different as of late.

As another reference point, A-plan (Ford's employee price) is usually around 12-13% off sticker in my experience.

As you stated, Invoice Prices are a joke.

As far as negotiating other things, X-plan price is fixed ( I just went thru this three weeks ago when I bought my 2011 F-150). The only "wiggle room" a dealer has is to adjust the trade in value or to offer you other things (oil changes, extended warranties, etc. if they feel compelled to do so). It can't hurt to ask if they'll sweeten the pot.

Good luck!

 

as being "the lowest" price..... I negotiated an "X" plan on a Ford Escape in 2010 because a dear friend of mine retired from Ford wanted to assist me....... I got a low price, but another Ford dealer, without the "X" plan info gave me a better trade-in offer..... I phoned the first dealer to let him know I was unable to accept his "X" plan offer as another dealer had beat him (by almost $200 ).........and he proceeded to put me on hold.... dropped his "can't go any lower price" by offering me another $500 for my trade-in ( a 13 year old F-150 w/ 96,000 miles in excellent condition) ..... I don't see where that "X" price program benefits the buyer who is able and willing to do a hard negotiation.......

 

Sadly, you will have to spend a bunch of time playing a bunch of games with a bunch of idiots that play those games for a living. One would think you could simply send out 8 internet inquiries to these dealerships requesting their best price for what you want ordered/added and get the same. Sadly, what you will get is a bunch of from all 8 of them requiring your presence and time. The only exception I have experienced was with a Honda Dealership about a year ago --- did all via the internet and received a marketable discount over several other dealerships that I had visited after responding to my internet inquiry.

Whether you enjoy negotiating or not, at the end of the day, I value my time and that is the part of buying any new vehicle that just me off. It would be nice if the dealerships were relegated to the scrap heap of other failed ideas, exchanged for a regional distribution center and authorized repair facilities. Alas, it won't happen .......

 

And depending on what discounts a person is eligible for, you may come out better than X-plan. My dad got his '08 Superduty for $500 less than X-plan based on the available discounts without using any sort of plan and his negotiating. So it definitely may not be the best you can do.

It is definitely to your advantage to shop around and work with a couple dealers to see what they are willing to do for you...but as stated, time is money and it just depends on how much of both you have available.

 

Just went through the entire order and delivery process with X Plan with my 2011 F-150 and 2 years ago with my wifes Escape.

The best negotiating you can do is with your trade in. This will drop the bottom line, in turn giving you cheaper payments or, if you intend on buying cash, a cheaper overall price.

My best advice is to do what I did. Pit 2 dealers against one another. I went into each dealer and spec'd out my truck to the letter. I let them test drive and appraise my trade and then walked out. I did all my negotiating via phone at MY leisure. This is a HUGE loss for them, takes away the home field advantage, which is a VERY real advantage.

Of course the X Plan pricing was the same, but the trade in value was vastly different. In the end the dealer that gave me the lower trade in initially won, which is odd. I told them the "other guy: beat him but did not reveal the amount. He then came up pretty significantly, beating the other guy and giving me about $1,500 more than what I felt my trade was worth.

Now, after the trade, other things to consider which you listed. Keep in mind, they arent going to give them to you, but probably discount them to you. So, if you are paying for your truck in cash, its not a big deal, but if you finance, do you really want to pay 5 years of interest on a $200 plastic bedliner? In the end you might pay more for it!

If you intend paying cash like I did, here is what I did.

Spec the truck
Negotiate Trade
Move on to other stuff:
I got Line-X w/ UV top coat for about $100
Free detail of my wife's Escape

Other things I tried to get:
Full set of CD-ROM F-150 repair manuals
Deal on an ARE cap
Neither of these worked, oh well.

I find extended warrantys to be a waste, the oil changes might work, but can be inconvenient going to the dealer to have it done.

Rebates. DO NOT let the dealer tell you that you are ineligibale for rebates, you are. You are "locked in" for the rebates avail. at time of order, or what is avail. at time of delivery, whichever is better. If you intend to pay cash. Finance anyways to get the extra $1,000, then pay it off the next day. Some will tell you you have to wait 3 mos. this is BS. There is no penalty to paying it off the next day, but the dealer will lose $1,000 if you do not make 3 mos. worth of payments. I lost no sleep over this.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.

 

Thanks BucketMan. Love your strategy on negotiating the trade in and am fully aware that I'm still eligible for incentives even if I go with X Plan. The only thing one dealer has told me that I raised an eyebrow over, was that my $750 off brochure coupon could not be combined with the $1000 trade in assistance. I'll have to push that one hard and ask other dealers to see if I get the same response.

 

I got my 2011 in January so they had just recently come out. Still beat X-plan. Didn't special order, found one that had every option available as that's what I wanted.

 

I have no idea what the X Plan is or why I'd need it... I do what Bucketman suggested. I also go through all the local buy/sell rags and clip out all the highest priced vehicles for my trade-in. I don't show them those until AFTER they've made their first offer on my trade... Then I show them why it's unnacceptable.

I work from home, so play the same game. I go in get my trade assessed, test drive the new truck and then ALL wheelin' and dealin' is done over the phone from my home office with the sales manager. I don't mess with sales staff or any of the "wear you out games" that goes on at most dealerships.

This last run when I got my Ecoboost the 2nd dealer, told me if the other dealer wanted to sell an Ecoboost "that bad" he could have the sale... They couldn't touch the price I'd negotiated, or didn't want to.

If they want my money then it's only right to make the right moves so the deal is under my control, not theirs. In the end I retain control with the right to walk anytime if the deal doesn't match my goal.

Carl

 

Then I recommend you negotiate your deal. With some work, you may be able to get a better deal.

The X-Plan is not negotiable (per Ford's X-Plan Rules). The X-Plan price is fixed [Dealer Invoice - (0.4 x Dealer Invoice) + $100 fee]. The dealer is not allowed to offer more than $50 (dealer cost) worth of "extras" items as part of the deal. So, a few free oil changes might be okay, or an accessory of some sort that the dealer paid $50 or less for. It could be an accessory they would sell for $150, but as long as their cost is $50, then it's okay. If they were audited by Ford, they could lose their ability to offer X-Plan.

 

Glad I could help a little. Had to type that out fast, but you sound like you know what youre doing.

I had sought and received advice on another forum about my purchase, which is where someone told me to do it over the phone. I never realized how big of a deal that is to the salesman.

It made for a MUCH more comfortable experience for me and in the end, I think it really got me the most for my money.

Not sure about the $750 and the trade in assistance. I know I got the $750, but the trade in allowance was not available to me.