Prices are crazy?

[Jfreek65]

Originally Posted by jsmith948

Well - I was thinking that also. If I had paid 93K for a truck, I think I would keep it to myself He was probably quoting the window sticker.

Originally Posted by chunker

If I were going to "brag" about what I paid it would be how little I paid. If I really got sucked into a $93K truck, no one but me would know that.

Agreed. Usually the bragging is more effective if you list the sticker price of $93k then say something to the effect of “but a buddy of mine got me a steal of a deal at $78k out the door.”

[Fishsizzle]

Yes, on truck forums we talk about how to get the best deal and oooooo and ahhhhhh at the guy who gets invoice minus holdback on a new truck

[NH_Bulldog]

If the guy was bragging of his $93k cost, I would also bet that he bragged about his $6k 42” plasma flat screen 10 years ago, or his $4k Timex watch, or you name it. Unlike most of us who brag (if we choose to at all), we like to tell people what a great deal we got, not how much we overpaid and got screwed.

[Hblick48]

Almost 4 years ago we purchased 2005 F250 and 2002 Montana 3280RL from the original owner, both in excellent shape. Truck had 110,000 miles on it with complete records of every maintenance and repair logged. Truck now has 152,000 miles. I had put new tires on, new pads, rotors and calipers, and had auto trans rebuilt (I broke it).

Was looking to buy a (new to me) 2015-2018 1 ton. Prices ranged from $40,000 to $60,000 depending on model and equipment. Found a local Powerstroke mechamic who does work on the side. $8500 later I've got a "bulletproofed" engine, new Bilsteen shocks, and a few other repairs. I've got essentially a new truck and saved $30.000 plus, at least that's the way I'm looking at it. And it's paid for!

[ADQ K9]

$93K California How much of that was taxes?

[jsmith948]

Depends on the county in which you live. In our county the sales tax is 7.25 %.

Originally Posted by ADQ K9

$93K California How much of that was taxes?

[ADQ K9]

That is still a pretty big chunk of change. No sales tax here but our property taxes make up for that.

[Howie]

I was in need of a newer truck 2 years ago when we upgraded to a 34' 5th wheel and my 7.3 F350 just wasn't up to the task. Yes, it would tow it with but it was slow on the hills and really had to work at 65mph. Looked at all the new trucks and prices where depressing. I decided to find an used F350 with the 6.7 and loaded with options and low miles. Looked for a few months and finally found what I wanted, King Ranch, etc. with 50K miles. Paid a third of sticker price of a new one. Added air bags and underbed 5th wheel hitch and two years later the resale value is just about what I paid for it. The depreciation on buying a new one would be just about close to what I paid. Happy camper I am.

[CaptnJohn]

I ordered an F350 Laramie 4wheel drive dually in 2019. Sticker was up in the $70k range. I paid $66k out the door. Only thing for the $1k rebate I had to go through Ford credit, when the payment arrived I paid it off, Ford doesn’t have the 90 day or 3 payment requirement.

[Jim2366]

I had a 2005 Ford F350 6.0 diesel that was listed for $49,000. I paid 42,000 then saved 10,000 on a tax credit. It was still the most I paid. I drove it for 175,000 miles but had to replace three fuel injectors, after the warranty. I was ready to quit on the camping and sold the truck with disclosing the problems at auction.

I then purchased a used 2009 Ram 2500 with a 5.7 and pulled a 26 travel trailer and had no problems except the 6 mpg.

I shopped and upgraded to the new 2019 Ram 3500 diesel, dually with the Aisin and 4.10 axcel. I bought the Tradesmen which is the lowest cost but had all the comfort and power I could imagine. It listed for 60,000 and I purchased it for 50,500 and got a good trade on my 2009 Ram. Being 63 I wanted to upgrade maybe one last time and while I am still working. They had 3 year interest-free from Chrysler.

I like all American Trucks.

[notanlines]

Captain John, from a big Ford guy, please tell us it was a Lariat. My Dodge friends would have a field day with this.

[LewisB]

Just as is the case with a trailer purchase, so it can be with a truck purchase; the key may be your dealer. We have built a long term relationship with our local dealer - purchased our last 4 vehicles from him. When I am ready, I go to him with my list; motor, transmission, rear gear ratio, 4WD, DRW, trim level, options needed, etc. We set the "baseline" for acceptability. This will work for either new or used vehicles - it means you have to know what you want before you set foot on his lot.

The dealer gets on the Ford Dealer Network and begins a search. Normally within a day or two we have some candidates. He gets LOTS of pictures, a history, a copy of the window & door stickers (so that I can check out the option packages) etc. When he finds one I like, I commit to paying the transportation charges and he gets it. The only problem we have ever had with this is one time it took 4 weeks to find someone to haul the DRW to Arizona - it took "too much space" on the hauler (ha-ha). The down-side to all this is that you are essentially agreeing to pay transportation for a truck sight-unseen.

I always want 1 year old model with less than 30K miles, no accidents, full service record. Our most recent purchase in late 2017 was a 2017 F350 DRW diesel 4X4; trim level is XLT but "nicely equipped" with some other options. Our first choice is always "mechanical capability". This was a "special order" truck with a sticker of $57K. We paid $48K less our $25K trade-in so walked out the door with a 925 ft-Lb 440 HP diesel state of the art DRW 4X4 TV for $23K!

Admittedly, it has taken us several purchases to build a great relationship with our local dealer, but in my mind it has been well worth the effort, both in peace of mind and financially! I could have spent weeks shopping, driving all over, checking the internet, and buying unseen with no guarantees trying to do this on my own. The dealer likes this because he doesn't have to inventory the vehicle. He does the legwork, paperwork, and washes the vehicle - his cost is mostly his time. That brings the cost to me way down!

[Fishsizzle]

Originally Posted by LewisB

Just as is the case with a trailer purchase, so it can be with a truck purchase; the key may be your dealer. We have built a long term relationship with our local dealer - purchased our last 4 vehicles from him. When I am ready, I go to him with my list; motor, transmission, rear gear ratio, 4WD, DRW, trim level, options needed, etc. We set the "baseline" for acceptability. This will work for either new or used vehicles - it means you have to know what you want before you set foot on his lot.

The dealer gets on the Ford Dealer Network and begins a search. Normally within a day or two we have some candidates. He gets LOTS of pictures, a history, a copy of the window & door stickers (so that I can check out the option packages) etc. When he finds one I like, I commit to paying the transportation charges and he gets it. The only problem we have ever had with this is one time it took 4 weeks to find someone to haul the DRW to Arizona - it took "too much space" on the hauler (ha-ha). The down-side to all this is that you are essentially agreeing to pay transportation for a truck sight-unseen.

I always want 1 year old model with less than 30K miles, no accidents, full service record. Our most recent purchase in late 2017 was a 2017 F350 DRW diesel 4X4; trim level is XLT but "nicely equipped" with some other options. Our first choice is always "mechanical capability". This was a "special order" truck with a sticker of $57K. We paid $48K less our $25K trade-in so walked out the door with a 925 ft-Lb 440 HP diesel state of the art DRW 4X4 TV for $23K!

Admittedly, it has taken us several purchases to build a great relationship with our local dealer, but in my mind it has been well worth the effort, both in peace of mind and financially! I could have spent weeks shopping, driving all over, checking the internet, and buying unseen with no guarantees trying to do this on my own. The dealer likes this because he doesn't have to inventory the vehicle. He does the legwork, paperwork, and washes the vehicle - his cost is mostly his time. That brings the cost to me way down!

We do same, but build a new truck on Ford.com and send it to 10 dealers. They the games begins. The just play them out. Who wants the deal? Again invoice, then go for hold back. Then slap down the Ford coupon you get in the mail.

Ford it’s pretty firm on their pricing it seems. The other 2 seem to discount deeper

[SummitPond]

Originally Posted by LewisB

<clip>

I always want 1 year old model with less than 30K miles, no accidents, full service record. <clip> Our first choice is always "mechanical capability". <clip>

Question: What would prompt a person to trade in an apparently perfectly good 1-year-old TV and take such a big hit on depreciation? Also, is this something (almost) any dealer would do, or only one where you had a long-term purchase/service relation?

I've only purchased a TV once, and of course when we were initially looking I was on a steep learning curve. We fortunately found a relatively straight-forward salesman who knew what we needed at a minimum and then oversold us on a bigger truck - for which we are forever thankful.

We bought our 2012 TV used, but it was the at very end of the 2014 (Dec 27). It had less than 50K on it and was previously used to tow a 5er (you could see where the rails were in the bed).

Thanks for helping further educate me.

[chunker]

Originally Posted by SummitPond

Question: What would prompt a person to trade in an apparently perfectly good 1-year-old TV and take such a big hit on depreciation? Also, is this something (almost) any dealer would do, or only one where you had a long-term purchase/service relation?

I've only purchased a TV once, and of course when we were initially looking I was on a steep learning curve. We fortunately found a relatively straight-forward salesman who knew what we needed at a minimum and then oversold us on a bigger truck - for which we are forever thankful.

We bought our 2012 TV used, but it was the at very end of the 2014 (Dec 27). It had less than 50K on it and was previously used to tow a 5er (you could see where the rails were in the bed).

Thanks for helping further educate me.

Perhaps a lot of reasons. Perhaps they wanted the puck system, they wanted the latest/greatest on the block. Maybe one of them became ill and could no longer travel and they knew it was permanent. They had this romantic idea of retiring, hitting the road, camping on that pristine lakeshore you see in CW ads, and reality set in. Uncomfortable cramped quarters. Peoples barking and pooping dogs. Campfire smoke all day and night. Drunk partiers. It costs too much and they want to be home bodies. Get out while the getn's good.

[LewisB]

Originally Posted by SummitPond

Question: What would prompt a person to trade in an apparently perfectly good 1-year-old TV and take such a big hit on depreciation? Also, is this something (almost) any dealer would do, or only one where you had a long-term purchase/service relation?

Good question! There are a lot of trucks purchased by people who, unlike most of us RV types, have no need or desire to keep the truck for 5-10 years. So they rent or lease with the intent of bailing out in the near future. Our current vehicle was a rental - we aren't sure, but we think it was used by a rodeo cowboy who used it a year to pull his horses from rodeo to rodeo through the year. It was equipped just about right for us, had low mileage (for a diesel, about 28K), was less than a year old, had a complete service record and the paint & body were spotless. The only issue was a stained cloth back seat. We used some of our savings to purchase a 5 year bumper-to-bumper warranty! Once we saw it, our dealer didn't like the condition of the rear tires, so he gave us $1k credit for tires.

I don't know if every dealer participates. My sense is that the Ford Dealer Network is more a way for dealers to market to other dealers. So if someone trades in a dually in New York City, the dealer is not likely to sell it on his lot to a walk-in - but someone in Texas might be very interested. You get the idea. You would need to talk to your local dealer to see if he would be willing to do business this way.

The other issue is YOU - the buyer - that is, you need to be prepared to pretty much purchase a used vehicle sight-unseen. Our dealer has been able to get very complete documentation and large numbers of photos - so it is more like not being able to test drive the vehicle. We have to commit to paying the transportation fees up front; and there is sort-of an unspoken agreement that it would take something really wrong to reject the vehicle once it has been shipped. Our first purchase like this was an F450. It was beautiful but arrived with a dripping rear main seal. So the dealer got with the seller and they pulled the engine and replaced the seal at no cost to us. However, something like "the DW doesn't like the color" wouldn't fly well in this sale. I think that is the part where the purchaser and the dealer need to have a really good relationship going into this deal.

This method won't be for everyone - but when it works, it has worked really well for us! If the sight-unseen is too much, try it with a new vehicle (see Post #33 by Fishsizzle).

[JRTJH]

There was a time in our lives (way back when) my DW and I always bought a new car, a new truck and sometimes more than one each every year. At that time, money wasn't a concern, driving a new car was what we wanted to do, so we "made it happen" every year, in September, when the new models came out. I owned the second (missed the first by about an hour) new Thunderbird in 2002 and did own the first "retro Mustang GT" (2005). The T-bird was pale yellow, the Mustang is "as close as Ford gets to Candy Apple Red" and I still own it.

So, to answer the question, "Why would anybody trade in a diesel truck with 30 K miles on it?".... Sometimes the answer is simply, "Because there's a new one with 0 miles, just sitting there".....

All that said, sometimes I think back to just how much money we spent living like that. I don't suppose life today would be much different if we'd have saved all that money and had we not bought vehicles the way we did, but, we enjoyed driving a brand new vehicle "all the time", could afford it, and "just made it happen". I'm sure there were some "very happy used car/used truck buyers" around Alexandria back then.....

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

There was a time in our lives (way back when) my DW and I always bought a new car, a new truck and sometimes more than one each every year. At that time, money wasn't a concern, driving a new car was what we wanted to do, so we "made it happen" every year, in September, when the new models came out. I owned the second (missed the first by about an hour) new Thunderbird in 2002 and did own the first "retro Mustang GT" (2005). The T-bird was pale yellow, the Mustang is "as close as Ford gets to Candy Apple Red" and I still own it.

So, to answer the question, "Why would anybody trade in a diesel truck with 30 K miles on it?".... Sometimes the answer is simply, "Because there's a new one with 0 miles, just sitting there".....

All that said, sometimes I think back to just how much money we spent living like that. I don't suppose life today would be much different if we'd have saved all that money and had we not bought vehicles the way we did, but, we enjoyed driving a brand new vehicle "all the time", could afford it, and "just made it happen". I'm sure there were some "very happy used car/used truck buyers" around Alexandria back then.....

^^^^^This would be where we were much of our life; DW didn't care but I as always looking at the "new ones" coming out every model year; roaming the lots, checking the pricing, options and stickers. Seemed they always came out with a new "foo fah" that was a improvement. Bought at least one per year, sometimes 2 because I just liked them. Traded in almost new vehicles, ALWAYS at a poor trade in value, but it didn't matter back then; and really doesn't now if I want to trade.

The criteria one uses, or imposes on oneself, is purely something that the individual has developed over time and feels comfortable with. My dad wouldn't buy a new anything; my mom bought every new vehicle we owned and he lamented all of them. She was happy, he wasn't but dealt with it...I guess.

As always with all of this stuff; we all have different views, we all have different goals, different resources and things that have formed how we think about things over our lives. What I want and do has nothing to do with what another wants or does; I just do what I want to do and figure everyone else should do the same without worrying about the other guy.

[SummitPond]

Originally Posted by chunker

Perhaps a lot of reasons. <clip>

Originally Posted by LewisB

Good question! <clip>

Thanks. Some things I hadn't thought about. When I buy a vehicle it's for the long term, so I hadn't considered some of these other reasons.

My brother has bought vehicles sight-unseen from the web and has had very good luck with them. These new modes of purchase might be something to consider when the time finally comes for a new TV, but at the moment I'm still a fellow that likes to walk into a S&B store to see and feel what I'm buying.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by SummitPond

Thanks. Some things I hadn't thought about. When I buy a vehicle it's for the long term, so I hadn't considered some of these other reasons.

My brother has bought vehicles sight-unseen from the web and has had very good luck with them. These new modes of purchase might be something to consider when the time finally comes for a new TV, but at the moment I'm still a fellow that likes to walk into a S&B store to see and feel what I'm buying.

That makes 2 of us!
Our son & DIL purchase most everything they have online, some good, some bad. I chose to try to skip the bad by seeing, touching & walking around what I'm spending my hard earned cash for, not being surprised when it shows up.