We get a new vehicle - The Conclusion!

Right after we finished up at Ford dealership #1 I called Ford dealership #2.  I told them I was looking for an F-150 FX4 and noticed they had a few in their online inventory.  I could also see they had an Ecoboost model available with a sunroof.  They had one shortbox model but when I asked about it they told me it was sold.

I told the guy outright that we would be buying something shortly so he should give me his best price, I wouldn't be haggling back and forth and already had a good deal in place from Ford dealership #1.  He asked me what price they quoted me and I gave him a figure very close to that, he said he would get back to me shortly and was confident he could do better.  Sure enough an hour or so later an email showed up and he beat the other price by exactly $1,000.  The model he quoted us on was white with a sunroof and Ecoboost but no naviation or tailgate step which the other one had.  This one was around $1,000 more than the one from dealership #1 but it has the better engine choice, sunroof and the color my better half liked the best.

Everything was looking up, we had a better price on a better vehicle, now all we had left was the dreaded trade in.  The salesperson had the used car manager take a look at the Mazda.... meanwhile he espoused the virtues of maintenance plans and rim warranties.... all of which we politely declined.... even after he explained how they were selling it at cost! I made a point of asking how much an oil change was and when they were required at the service desk beforehand.  I figured we would pay $240 for four oil changes while the maintenance package was $495 for two years, so I'm not sure how they calculate cost.

About ten minutes later the salesguy came back, I could tell he was going to deliver bad news..... but it was worse than I thought.  They were offering $5,500 for the Mazda.  Now lets put this in perspective, if you go to Canadian Black Book it gives you an estimated trade value ranging from 10,500 to 12,000.  There was about $1,000 worth of damage on the vehicle so we were expecting something around $9,000 to $10,000.  Ford dealership #1 had offered $8,600, which was co-incidentally just enough to pay off the vehicle.  I was not happy.

At this point my face must have turned an angry shade or purple, salesguy knew he had lost me.  There was a minute of uncomfortable silence.... then he said something like, where does that leave us.  I told him that leaves us buying the F-150 at dealership #1 and there was no way I was buying their truck with such a ridiculous trade offer.  He apologised for the offer and told us he could get us a better deal if he called around to some wholesalers in town.  In retrospect I think this was all a sales ploy on their part.  Before the lowball offer I wouldn't tell him what dealership #1 had offered but I was only too happy to share (with some minor exaggeration) once I was enraged.   He could blame the evil used car manager and make it seem much better if he came back with a better offer.

In any event we left the dealership telling the salesguy to call us if he could significantly improve the trade offer.  And what do you know...... one hour or so later my phone rang, and guess what his new trade offer was.... $9,000.  The same amount I told him dealership #1 had offered.  Since I had been put in such a foul mood I told him we would think about it but to see if he could do any better.  An hour later my phone rang again, he was offering $9,500.... a full $4,000 more than the original offer.   We thought this was fair all things considered.  Then he asked me for a down payment of $500 to hold the vehicle, I told him I wasn't interested because you never know what might happen and I just don't trust car salespeople in general.  He said it was their policy, again I told him he wasn't getting it.  He said he would go talk to the manager.  Then he called back and said if we came in early the next day it wouldn't be required, I told him that would be fine.

The next day we went in signed all the required paperwork, declined all extras (I warned them up front not to try to sell us any of it) and drove away in our beautiful new F-150 FX4 with luxury package and moonroof for right around $400 bi-weekly.  The MSRP on this baby was over $60k with tax so we got a LOT of truck for the money.  The finance person was very nice, even sharing stories of also declining extras on his wife's new car (which was a Kia he said, I found it ironic).

Next post will detail the new ride and all of its features.