Invoice Pricing

[thuss]

So I've been reading on this forum and watching reviews and I'm positive that this is the car I want to buy. The dealer didn't have the exact options I wanted, but have a car coming into the lot in a couple of weeks that fits. They are offering me invoice pricing plus the $500 rebate. I didn't have to do any haggling or anything, it all seemed too easy which made me want to post on here and get some opinions before putting down a deposit.

 

The car is a Fusion Hybrid SE with the following:

Equipment Group 505A

Luxury Package

Moonroof

Technology Package

Reverse Sensing System

Driver Assist Package

 

Total MSRP came to $34,115.

Invoice according to dealer: $31,904.60

 

On the invoice itself, it shows the X Plan Price as $32051.98

and the Total Holdback at $1,000.

 

My question is.....should I go for it, or is there still room to get a better price out of them.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

PS: For those of you complaining about sales tax in other States, I'm looking at 9.8% How much does that suck?!?

[jeff_h]

Looks like a good deal -- you can go to edmunds.com or kbb,com and run the same config and see how close they show to the invoice price that the dealer quoted, but I bet it's pretty close. Also be sure to account for fuel and advertising charge if listed on the dealer invoice.

 

Wow 9.8% sales tax, geez... we bought my wife's car before July 1st since the sales tax for cars is going up from 3% to 4%...

[thuss]

KBB.com came back with $31,137 for an invoice price when I put in all the options. Am I missing something or should I ask the dealer why the discrepancy? I know there's a $500 advertising charge and a 54.60 fuel charge on my invoice.

[hermans]

You might want to consider the dealer wasn't telling you the truth.

[neod192]

You might want to consider the dealer wasn't telling you the truth.

Be said he saw the invoice, which is what Ford charges the dealership. Why would the invoice be incorrect? I would be more willing to think kbb.com is wrong here.

Edited June 2, 2013 by neod192

[acdii]

I found discrepancies between various sites regarding invoice prices. The only site that I actually got what I would consider actual Invoice prices was Consumers Reports Auto Buying guide. I dont remember if Invoice is listed on the Xplan Pin site.

[thuss]

Be said he saw the invoice, which is what Ford charges the dealership. Why would the invoice be incorrect? I would be more willing to think kbb.com is wrong here.

He actually printed me a copy of the invoice. Not sure if I can post it.

 

Is invoice pricing about the best I can hope for on this? What deals have other people been getting?

 

And thanks I'll try entering the specs on the other website to see what it says.

 

Haven't bought a new car in 6 years so I appreciate the help!

[murphy]

There appears to be no hard rules on what a car costs the dealer.

Way back in 1968 I worked for Philco-Ford. I ordered a 1968 Ford (Galaxie) XL direct from the factory.

My cost for the car worked out to be 76% of the sticker price plus $100 for a dealer to process the delivery.

By the time I was ready for another car Ford had put Philco-Ford out of business and I was working for a new employer.

From reading the forums it looks like today that would be an A plan purchase and it is no longer anywhere near as generous.

 

Bottom line, there is no way a dealer could sell you a car for less than they paid for it and stay in business.

[hermans]

Be said he saw the invoice, which is what Ford charges the dealership. Why would the invoice be incorrect? I would be more willing to think kbb.com is wrong here.

Here's what he said in his first post:

 

Total MSRP came to $34,115.

Invoice according to dealer: $31,904.60

 

On the invoice itself, it shows the X Plan Price as $32051.98

and the Total Holdback at $1,000.

 

In post #7 he states that the dealer printed the invoice for him.

[hybridbear]

I would imagine that KBB is wrong. Does KBB show the correct MSRP when you build the car and get a lower invoice price from their site? Getting invoice price on an order is pretty good. You can try to negotiate down from there, but the fact that they offered invoice price to start means they might not be willing to go lower. Many dealers won't even offer invoice price on orders.

 

He actually printed me a copy of the invoice. Not sure if I can post it.

Is invoice pricing about the best I can hope for on this? What deals have other people been getting?

And thanks I'll try entering the specs on the other website to see what it says.

Haven't bought a new car in 6 years so I appreciate the help!

[Aquineas]

The difference between edmunds/kbb invoice and dealer invoice in my case was advertising fee and destination charges.

[jeff_h]

Getting invoice price on an order is pretty good. You can try to negotiate down from there, but the fact that they offered invoice price to start means they might not be willing to go lower. Many dealers won't even offer invoice price on orders.

 

 

Maybe that's more of a market-based thing, a price-war with a crosstown dealer that's been undercutting their deals, etc?

[thuss]

They're a large volume dealership. One thing that may be helpful for others was he asked me if I had a Costco card. He said the Costco member price was invoice on the fusion. That might help others. Totally forgot!

 

Sounds like invoice plus $500 rebate is a good deal so I think I'll prob take it.

 

Much appreciated!

Tad

[thuss]

There appears to be no hard rules on what a car costs the dealer.

Way back in 1968 I worked for Philco-Ford. I ordered a 1968 Ford (Galaxie) XL direct from the factory.

My cost for the car worked out to be 76% of the sticker price plus $100 for a dealer to process the delivery.

By the time I was ready for another car Ford had put Philco-Ford out of business and I was working for a new employer.

From reading the forums it looks like today that would be an A plan purchase and it is no longer anywhere near as generous.

 

Bottom line, there is no way a dealer could sell you a car for less than they paid for it and stay in business.

True, so they would be making the $1,000 holdback if I take the deal as it stands, because the rebate is from Ford not the dealership.

 

That is, if I'm understanding it all correctly. Just started researching this whole process...

[rico567]

I found a site called "Fighting Chance" that portrays car pricing as far more complex than even invoice - holdbacks - incentives. Oh, and then there's rebates and loyalty, and don't forget the games played with financing and extended warranties, and some manufacturers offer one thing, some the other. I've hit a day when I wish we really didn't need to buy a car this year.

[thuss]

Just an update. Dealership offered me only $7,500 for my '08 Subaru Outback Sport (in good condition) 78K miles. Listed it on Craigslist at $12,000 and have already had 4-5 serious inquiries. Getting it inspected tomorrow at a mechanic for a potential buyer. Moral of the story, don't do a trade-in!

 

I also got and email from Ford.com that offers $750 cash. Got it in my inbox about a week after I had requested a catalog on the Ford Fusion through the website. I plan on trying to use it after I've gotten the best deal i can out of the dealership. I pasted it below, minus the personal info.

 

Hope that helps people!

 

 

$750 PRIVATE CASH*

It's not every day you get an offer like this: $750 in Private Cash when you purchase or lease a new Ford car, truck or SUV. Don’t let this offer expire. Take it to your dealer and test-drive a new Ford today.

 

Instructions: 1. Print this email. 2. Take it to your Ford Dealer.

*2012/2013/2014 vehicles: $500 on Fiesta, Focus and Focus ST. $750 on most Ford or Lincoln vehicles. Not available on Fiesta S, Focus S, Focus Electric, Taurus SE, SVT Raptor, Shelby^® GT500^®, Mustang Boss^® 302. May not combine with other private or commercial offers, owner loyalty and lease renewal programs. A/Z/D Plan ineligible. Nontransferable out of household. Limit one per household. U.S. residents. Must redeem using original offer; no duplicates accepted. Prior purchases not eligible. Take new retail delivery from dealer stock by 08/02/2013. See dealer for details. Note to dealer: Claim in VINCENT using #34292 and customer ID.

[smr2112]

Also, if I remember, KBB do not include the advertising + fuel charges that should appear on the invoice you saw.

Those are real fees and vary by region. That would explain the difference.

 

[mokee]

I suspect there are too many regional incentives and spiffs to really know what the dealer paid for the vehicle. I'd also be surprised if the dealer agrees to giving up any part of the holdback. You gotta let 'em keep enough to stay in business?

 

The real profit used to be in trade ins, but today most are sold at auction or to buyers who come through with trailer transports. Your trade in is a gamble on the dealer's part, so little wonder they value it on the conservative side.

[acdii]

The trade my dealer got from me on the 13 HyTi was a sweet ride, note, was. Its in a body shop now after the tech taking it on a road test before putting it on the lot got rear ended by some woman texting and not paying attention to traffic. She rearended a car behind him, which pushed it into him, then he was pushed into the car in front of him. Too bad, that car was pristine, all it needed was a vacumming and quick wash. It only had one little mark on the rear left bumper where some moron in a minivan brushed me when he didnt stop in time. So what could have been a quick sale for them will take a few weeks to get repaired.

[hybridbear]

 

Just an update. Dealership offered me only $7,500 for my '08 Subaru Outback Sport (in good condition) 78K miles. Listed it on Craigslist at $12,000 and have already had 4-5 serious inquiries. Getting it inspected tomorrow at a mechanic for a potential buyer. Moral of the story, don't do a trade-in!

 

I also got and email from Ford.com that offers $750 cash. Got it in my inbox about a week after I had requested a catalog on the Ford Fusion through the website. I plan on trying to use it after I've gotten the best deal i can out of the dealership. I pasted it below, minus the personal info.

Congrats on getting the $750 offer!! My parents have one of these too for their Energi purchase which will make their price $750 BELOW invoice because of the Private Cash. We tried to get one but Ford wouldn't ever send us the coupon no matter how many brochures we requested!

 

We got $11,000 on trade for our 2006 Honda Accord Hybrid with 63k miles. With the sales tax savings that was worth $11,715. We listed our HAH for $12,000 on CarSoup and Craigslist for 2 months from when we decided we were getting the FFH till it arrived and no one offered us more than $11,500 so we did the trade-in. KBB private party value was somewhere around $12,000. The dealer listed our car for $12,200 and sold it within a few weeks. I have no idea what they actually got for it, but they didn't make a lot of money on us on the trade in or on the new car. So sometimes you can get a really good deal on trade-in, it all depends on the dealer.

Edited June 10, 2013 by hybridbear

[smr2112]

And in my case, my 2010 FFH creampuff trade-in with just 26k on it, I got the KBB fair trade-in price - no haggling - which was

my target @ $17k. I was happy.... Dealer figured it would be gone in a few days.

 

The car is still on the dealers lot after 2 months at $19.5k. I think except for people own and appreciate the hybrids

and/or us geeks, people generally don't like hybrids and figure the extra price isn't worth it. Even a well depreciated.

used car. Which I am glad I didn't sell myself.

[hermans]

And in my case, my 2010 FFH creampuff trade-in with just 26k on it, I got the KBB fair trade-in price - no haggling - which was

my target @ $17k. I was happy.... Dealer figured it would be gone in a few days.

 

The car is still on the dealers lot after 2 months at $19.5k. I think except for people own and appreciate the hybrids

and/or us geeks, people generally don't like hybrids and figure the extra price isn't worth it. Even a well depreciated.

used car. Which I am glad I didn't sell myself.

Happy to see you got that much money for your trade,. My 2010 is an SE 3.0 and I fully understand the trim level between the 2010 hybrid and SE, but that 19K price is not much less that I paid for my car new in June of 2009. You lucked out.

[tr7driver]

_{In my experience, It becomes harder to sell a used car yourself once the price creeps into the area where the buyer needs to finance it. YMMV}