2020 Expedition Max Platinum Purchase Help

[Brandonw91]

Hello,

I'm a complete novice when it comes to negotiating prices especially on a vehicle of this cost.

My wife has decided she can't live with anything but a 2020 Expedition Max Platinum. We are going to purchase this vehicle and now I am just trying to figure out how to get the best deal.

I can find a few of the exact colors and configurations we want within 250 miles or so but local dealers are also stating they can get one from the other dealers also.

We have a X plan pin but can I negotiate better than this? What is the best way to negotiate these types of deals? I also have a trade in that we took to CarMax just to get a preliminary value on and they offered $14,000. Do you negotiate the purchase price then bring up the trade in and try to play those two against each other?

Basically I'm content just buying the vehicle but would love to feel like I'm getting a deal. I know it seems like inventory is scarce so am I just stuck playing close to MSRP/Invoice?

Any thoughts for me?

 

[AmpForE]

If you have an x-plan then the price is already negotiated, but your trade is not.

 

[Flexpedition]

One Xplan negative is there is no wiggle room for your trade. No smoke & mirrors, no creative math, no overallowing or robbing Peter to pay Paul. So whatever that Ford dealer offers for trade is about the extent of your negotiations. If CarMax is $14, dealer needs to be $14 or better if he wants the trade. Otherwise, simply let CarMax buy it. Shop 2-3 Ford dealers if you want to see if you can do better on the trade, but the X-plan price is going to be the exact same price in Illinois as it is in Florida, Texas, or Washington. If you are trading a Honda, a Honda dealer will generally offer more than a non-Honda dealer. This generally applies to all makes. Honda dealer keeps a nice selection of used Hondas, not so many Nissans. You didn't mention what you were trading, and it really doesn't matter, just putting that out there.

Just watch the deceptive dealers who advertise $10K off. Yes, $10K off beats xplan, but includes STACKED rebates that 99% of Americans don't qualify for. So, unless you are a first responder who recently retired from the military and graduated college within the last 6 months.... and happen to be a member of the American Quarter Horse Association and are trading in a 2018 or newer competitor vehicle, you aren't getting all the stacked rebates.

We've purchased several Fords over the years Xplan. Walk in and identify yourself as Xplan as the program guidelines suggest.

Its easy for a salesman/sales manager to TELL you they can beat X-plan price, especially when they don't show you the invoice which clearly lists the X-plan price, as well as A, D, and Z price, which they may conceal. The X-plan price is never written on the back on a business card or on the dealers "4 square" negotiation sheet. Ask for and you should receive a photocopy of the invoice showing X-plan, which will be an odd number down to the tens, ones, and pennies. Never $56,300. More like $56,305.61

Got two dealers? Keep them both honest. Get the VIN of the truck you are interested in and ask for the Xplan price. If you get two numbers, somebody isn't being truthful.

MSRP and invoice are in two different counties.

 

[PharmerBrown]

Price your trade in with Zoom and Carvana as well. I sold mine to Vroom as they offered me 2k more than Ford. It was especially nice because I was taking the 0% financing.
I ended up going with a limited with 302a because I had trouble getting them to move on the hard to find platinum.

 

[Fozzy]

Good advice [emoji3595] on the X plan. I am not sure if the X plan takes this out of the equation or not. But financing has became a huge pain at the dealerships. They must make some kind of kick back from certain lenders. Even if you payed cash they still may give you a better deal if you use their lenders. Make sure they are up front with you about that. I have seen as much as $3K off with their lenders vs brining my own finance or cash. Seems stupid to me, but they do it and act like they are doing you a favor. Plus the last day of the month at the end of the day you maybe able to sneak out a few extra dollars or free floor mats or something like that. Got a “free” bed cover on my last F-150 last day of the month at 9 p.m. X plan probably not. But you never know. Sales staff has to meet sales goals and so does the dealership.


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[Deadman]

If you have a trade, they can muddy the waters until you can't see the numbers well. Know what you are willing to pay and what your trade is worth, don't write them a check for a penny more than that difference.

 

[Lou Hamilton]

I have an x-plan from my employer but I was able to do better with various rebates and most importantly the 0% financing (which for some reason was not offered on X-plans).

My x-plan for my 303a was around $71k (sticker was just under $79k). I was able to get a few other discounts plus the 0% for a final price of around $67k before trade-in.

Not sure if this works, but I was told negotiate a price before committing to a trade-in. Then say that you have a trade-in and/or purchase offer from CarMax.

I think I ended up “financing” about $60k at 0% for 72 months. I liked that offer since my money accrues interest instead of ponying up the full amount. I was not going to finance if I did not get 0%, BTW.


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[byathread]

I think the x plan is best deal you can get unless you meet the <1% criteria for ALL incentives. Great advice above on trade. Also consider a private party sale if you feel like dealing with that. I drove my trade to Cincinnati from Philly as they had exactly what I wanted color/production date wise (Apr 2019 instead of Nov 2018 w/fancy white) and offered double what they would locally on my trade sight unseen (added $250 to that value once I got there, too, which they clearly didn't have to do).

Xplan you can also order exactly what you want from dealer you want to buy from, too...

Good luck!

 

[Lou Hamilton]

Also, I shopped 3 dealerships within an hour of me. My local small dealership was able to get me the price I wanted to be at. The other “big regional” dealerships were not. They were about $1k lower than the X-plan.

I was happy that I was 5 minutes from my house versus 45-60 minutes away for the purchase.


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[Brandonw91]

Thanks everyone for the posts so far. Very helpful.

I knew that the X plan price was the price... and that I wouldn't get any variation on that once we said we were using it.

Exactly like some of you say, lots of dealers are throwing numbers around and it almost seems like we may be able to get it under the that number but I think it is smoke and mirrors. I appreciate the advice and will keep everyone updated.

 

[LyoddChrissmiss]

Agree with all, additionally it’s nice you are able to work with the dealer close to you. If they don’t have the exact Expedition you want they can do a trade. They do it all day long.
As for your used car. If your up to it and willing, I’d sell it out right. Run it in Kelley Blue Book and price it. If Car Max is offering $14000 it’s likely worth 17,000.
You could benefit a couple thousand for listing it yourself on Craigslist and Auto Trader.
I did it for my Explorer it sold and made out $3000 more than what dealer was going to give me on trade.

 

[wakeboarder]

I was able to do both x-plan along with the ford rebates. Also with x-plan they are limited to about $100 for “dealer fees”.
Log into the x-plan website to see the price before you visit the dealership.

 

[AmpForE]

Good advice [emoji3595] on the X plan. I am not sure if the X plan takes this out of the equation or not. But financing has became a huge pain at the dealerships. They must make some kind of kick back from certain lenders. Even if you payed cash they still may give you a better deal if you use their lenders. Make sure they are up front with you about that. I have seen as much as $3K off with their lenders vs brining my own finance or cash. Seems stupid to me, but they do it and act like they are doing you a favor. Plus the last day of the month at the end of the day you maybe able to sneak out a few extra dollars or free floor mats or something like that. Got a “free” bed cover on my last F-150 last day of the month at 9 p.m. X plan probably not. But you never know. Sales staff has to meet sales goals and so does the dealership.


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Dealerships do make money when you let them arrange the financing. How much depends. If there was a 3k difference in the price of your deal then the sales manager is really messing with you.

Dealership have relationships with banks, and they send their top tier customers to them. Banks offer rate cuts and the dealer can literally pick up the stock phone, call his contact at the bank and the bank may approve a marginal customer with less than perfect credit, but in return, the dealer needs to feed the bank with good customers.

ALWAYS get a quote from your own bank. And if you decide to use your own bank, DO not sign any dealer contract. Dealers will lie to you and ask who your bank is. You tell them Bank Of xxxxxx. they will say we work with them, I can get you a better rate, if they do, great, let the dealer do it. If the don’t get you a rate you like, do not sign a contract. Some will ask you to sign a provisional contract till you bring the check. Be careful, you will likely get a call from dealer saying we need to submit this today or we can’t hold off the price we agree to. Now the dealer is putting pressure on you. After searching for weeks, on the lot of hours, most people say okay cause they don’t want to start the process all over again. And dealers know this.

Just don’t sign a contract with a dealer unless you are comfortable with them submitting it to their bank. Once they submit, things get tough to unwind.

 

[JExpedition07]

Do you have any high volume Ford dealers within a good drive of you? Laura GMC comes to mind on the GM front, they will beat the family plan pricing offered by GM for just about anybody..their niche is sell tons and tons of volume for cheap instead of holding out for a few extra dollars. I think I’ve heard Brandon Ford is similar, but I have no idea where Brandon Ford is on gods green earth lol. I’ve gone with my dad to purchase several F-Series trucks for business use and our dealer always does better for us on the commercial end than a private buyer could get with X-plan. You have to find the right dealer/ sales relationship though. Never hurts to ask around. Never be afraid to walk out the door if you aren’t getting a deal either. $10k off sticker isn’t in fairy tail land, it’s done all the time...however you want an in demand truck. They sell a bit higher than something that sits.

 

[Fozzy]

Ya, we walked away from that deal. We had the check cut for the exact amount and they had to bring the SUV in from another dealer. My wife and I where dumbfounded about the entire situation. We got the phone call survey and I made sure they felt it. Hahaaa. So stupid, but I happens. On my Raptor they wanted to add $1500.00 if I didn’t use their lenders. I said that’s fine I am sure another dealer will wave that BS fee and walked out. Floor manager called me 15 minutes later and was a nice guy and “waved it”. “Could get fired for it”. I hate shopping for cars. Did my Expy almost entirely by text and the web. Only way I will shop from now on.


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[Wayne Decker]

My wife has decided she can't live with anything but a 2020 Expedition Max Platinum. We are going to purchase this vehicle

You already lost in the negotiation. Unless you're willing to walk away, you lose.

That being said, I've been in the situation many times and have ended up satisfied.

A fair price is what you and the dealer are wiling to accept, and that different for different participants.

 

[2019 Plat Exp]

As for the trade not sure what state you are in but where I am the trade in value takes the tax off of the vehicle purchase price you would owe. For instance if the new Vehicle is sale price is 60k and they give you 40k on a trade you only end up paying 20k in sales tax on the new vehicle regardless what you owe on the trade. In my state that 40k trade in with the tax savings is effectively getting 2.4k more for it at 6% sales tax so it would be equivalent to getting 42.4k if you sell it out right or to Carvana / Carmax ect.

 

[Craigga542]

As for the trade not sure what state you are in but where I am the trade in value takes the tax off of the vehicle purchase price you would owe. For instance if the new Vehicle is sale price is 60k and they give you 40k on a trade you only end up paying 20k in sales tax on the new vehicle regardless what you owe on the trade. In my state that 40k trade in with the tax savings is effectively getting 2.4k more for it at 6% sales tax so it would be equivalent to getting 42.4k if you sell it out right or to Carvana / Carmax ect.

Yes, definitely depends and worth looking in to. Some states you can sell/trade the car almost anywhere and show the certificate of sale when you go to pay sales tax. Other states require the trade to be at the place of purchase, otherwise you get zero trade reduction.

 

[Dice Roll]

Try looking in the Deep South. I found the best deals in ga and fl. Even with shipping I was still ahead of any of the local guys. As said, check on the trade in tax offset. That saved me a bundle. They actually rejiggered the number more in my favor when it was all said and done.

If you are looking at extended warranty, ask then to match flood ford price. You can print that price out online and hand it to them. I even screen shot red it and got it matched at the place I bought. Otherwise you can just go there. The local guys were enraged by the flood price and wanted 1k more than that. They basically told me to go to hell when I explained I wasn’t donating the extra money to them on that or the expy.

 

[Lou Hamilton]

Try looking in the Deep South. I found he best deal in ga and fl. Even with shipping I was still ahead of any of the local guys. As said, check on the trade in tax offset. That saved me a bundle. They actually rejiggered the number more in my favor when it was all said and done.

If you are looking at extended warranty, ask then to match flood ford price. You can print that price out online and hand it to them. I even screen shot red it and got it matched at the place I bought. Otherwise you can just go there. The local guys were enraged by the flood price and wanted 1k more than that. They basically told me to go to hell when I explained I wasn’t donating the extra money to them on that or the expy.

I was willing to go any where for one at the right price. Hitch up the camper for an adventure getting it and then hitch up and bring it on home.

Problem was that I found very few 4x4s in the South. I was a little surprised that there were so few. Pick-ups were readily available, but Expys not so much.


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